This year’s festival runs Tuesday, May 17 through Saturday, May 28. The Cannes Film Festival is back in its usual plum May spot, and with an enviable lineup to match. This year’s festival includes new films from some of cinema’s biggest names, including David Cronenberg, Kelly Reichardt, Claire Denis, Arnaud Desplechin, the Dardenne brothers, James Gray, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ruben Ostlund, Park Chan-wook, and more.
“Forever Young”
Actor-director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi last brought “A Castle in Italy” to Cannes competition in 2013, when she was the only woman director with a movie in competition. Fortunately, she has a bit more company now, and deserves singling out for other reasons that have to do with her singular focus.
“The Innocent”
French actor extraordinaire Louis Garrel has a face for the movies, and usually surfaces in a lot of them at Cannes, but his skills behind the camera have been less appreciated. Nevertheless, Garrel has made quiet headway as a filmmaker in recent years with humorous portraits of misguided people who make radical choices: His playful marriage comedy “A Faithful Man” was a memorable look at infidelity, while last year’s “The Crusade” offered a satirical take on climate change activism.
“The Silent Twins”
Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska knows a thing or two about unraveling complex tales of womanhood on the big screen, thanks to her previous outings “Fugue” and “The Lure”. For her next feature, Smoczynska turns those skills and obsessions to a fascinating true-life tale with no easy answers. Born in 1963, twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were always close, but as their lives got more fraught — a family move to Wales, where they were the only Black family in town, being top of mind — the pair only turned more firmly toward each other.
