The Cannes madness officially kicked off last night but the festival really gets underway today. We've already taken a quick tour of the Official Competition as well as the rest of the Official Selection. Today we'll look at the Sidebars (all this is explained back in Monday's post if you're already confused). See you on the Croisette.
To Live to Sing
Canadian director Johnny Ma more than impressed with his feature debut Old Stone. His follow-up again explores the specificity of life in contemporary China, this time focusing on a woman managing an opera troupe in the outskirts of Chengdu.
Quinzaine
First Love
Takashi Miike's latest returns him to the world of Japanese crime in this story of a boxer who falls for a call girl who finds herself mixed up in a Yakuza drug smuggling ring.
Quinzaine
The Unknown Saint
The setup for Moroccan director Alaa Eddine Aljem's feature debut is pretty great. A thief buries his loot in the desert and when he returns after a trip to jail, finds that a shrine has been erected over the spot and an entire village grown around it. Sounds fantastic.
Critics Week
Deerskin
Quentin Dupieux is perhaps best known for his 2010 film about a tire, Rubber. His latest is about a man turning to crime over his obsession with a deerskin jacket. Oh, and that man is played by Jean Dujardin.
Quinzaine
Vivarium
Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg starred in Riley Stearns' SXSW premiere The Art of Self Defense. Now they show up together in this trippy-looking story of a young couple stuck in a strange housing development. It's helmed by the Irish director of Without Name, Lorcan Finnegan.
Critics Week
The Lighthouse
The much-anticipated follow-up to The Witch by Robert Eggers, this Robert Pattinson, and Willem Dafoe starrer is set on a New England island in the 1890s. A24 will be putting this out in the US later this year.
Quinzaine
A White, White Day
Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason impressed with his debut Winter Brothers. His follow-up is a story of a rural police chief who suspects a man of having an affair with his late wife.
Critics Week
Wounds
It seems like just about every year, Directors Fortnight features one title from Sundance's Midnight program. This year that spot goes to Babak Anvari's (Under the Shadow) New Orleans thriller, starring Armie Hammer and Dakota Johnson. It was picked up by Netflix after its Park City debut.
Quinzaine
The Halt
Set in a crime-filled Southeast Asia of 2034 after a volcanic eruption blots out the sky, this latest film from Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left, Season of the Devil) looks like an interesting sci-fi drama.
Quinzaine
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
Gu Xiaogang's feature debut is this lyrical Chinese tale of a family in the mountains.
Critics Week
Dogs Don't Wear Pants
The latest from Finnish director Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää (The Visitor, They Have Escaped) is this black comedy about a man turning to a dominatrix after losing his wife in a tragic drowning.
Quinzaine
Give Me Liberty
Set in segregated Milwaukee, this film by Kirill Mikhanovsky follows an ambulance driver during a riot. It premiered at Sundance.
Quinzaine
I Lost My Body
This feature debut from Frenchman Jérémy Clapin is an animated tale about a cut-off hand, traveling across Paris to find its missing body.
Critics Week
Litigante
The Critics Week opener is Colombian director Franco Lolli's (Gente de bien) story of a woman confronted by unexpected love.
Critics Week