The Cannes Film Festival proved itself to be strong on resilience this year, but short on big surprises.
Dial back to 1985: “What am I doing here?” asked Clint Eastwood, whose French hosts seemed puzzled that the cowboy star was also becoming an ambitious auteur. Fest cinephiles were stingy on ovations for his new movie Outlaw Josey Wales, and the media fired rude questions — ”Who are you sleeping with?” was the first. They also mocked Josey’s heroic line: ”When things get bad, get mean.”
Eastwood never needed to “get mean.” He was thrilled by the films he saw and by the intense competition. “It’s a whorehouse of sales,” he said. A decade later he was invited to be jury chairman.
Eastwood’s lively journey exemplified the festival’s habit of turning to U.S. stalwarts when “things get bad.” Tom Cruise’s eighth iteration of Mission: Impossible this year contributed much needed pizzazz to the fest, which lacked the usual manic promotions. And Wes Anderson fourth fest entry, The Phoenician Scheme, with his familiar cast of characters, played like a cool and comfy revisit – one that mandated a 10-minute ovation. Benicio del Toro heaped thanks on Anderson for casting him in a film in which he doesn’t get killed – a rarity.
Cannes this year offered some heralded debuts from actresses: Kristen Stewart (The Chronology of Water) and Scarlett Johansson (Eleanor the Great) unveiled their first directing efforts to appreciative reviews.
The film that commanded the most serious bidding, Die My Love starring Jennifer Lawrence, was also directed by a female veteran of the indie scene, Lynne Ramsay. Works of trusted fest veterans like Richard Linklater, Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar were also revered. By contrast, a doc on Shia LeBeouf’s acting school prompted petulant walkouts — the sort the actor seems to covet.
Missing from the program, some felt, was an exercise in sentimental Francophilia – a Man and a Woman from a Claude Lelouch or an Umbrellas of Cherbourg from a Jacques Demy. Was the fest French enough? It was up to Linklater to push Nouvelle Vague about the New Wave.
Also missing: A frenzied surprise like Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, which could never have been completed in time for a Cannes premiere, according to rumors. Coppola was still editing his ending.
Indeed, the entire Coppola generation seemed lacking a presence – Ridley Scott, Michael Mann or Martin Scorsese. Their absences seemed an eerie reminder that the troubled motion picture economy could no longer sustain either their soaring production budgets or their daring aspirations.
Perhaps a revisit by Eastwood, now 94, would have appeased the hardcore cineastes, who fear that things may be “getting bad.”
Content shared from deadline.com.