If there's one thing people have been talking about a lot at Cannes this year, it's Netflix.
The distributor's inclusion in the festival's main competition has kicked off a huge back-and-forth debate -- stoked by comments from jury members Pedro Almodovar and Will Smith -- that doesn't look like it'll be dying down anytime soon.
Now that their two films have been shown, one thing is clear: whether you agree or disagree with them being here, Netflix has certainly brought something special to the festival.
The Meyerowitz Stories, which was shown on Sunday, is Netflix's second film In Competition. It's moving, it's funny, it's incredibly well written, and -- perhaps most memorably -- it's a reminder of just how damn good Adam Sandler can be when he's cast in the right role.
The story revolves around a messy, fractured family who are all suffering their own identity crises: Dustin Hoffman is an aging father tormented by his waning artistic career; Adam Sandler is one of his sons, Danny, an out-of-work dad who's recently separated from his wife; Matthew (Ben Stiller) is his half-brother -- a man whose choice of career has made him successful financially, but has left him isolated from his siblings. They're all successful in their own way, but they all feel like failures.
Everyone in the film, in fact, is bruised to some extent. Emma Thompson has a small (but entertaining) part as Hoffman's alcoholic wife, while Emma Marvel plays his daughter Jean -- a damaged woman quietly dealing with her own past trauma. They're interesting characters, and one of the film's few weaknesses is that their stories feel a little underdeveloped.
The relationships between the trio at the center of the film, though -- Hoffman's character and his two sons -- is handled perfectly. Writer/director Noah Baumbach has a beautiful way with dialogue, and Hoffman, Stiller, and Sandler all put in excellent performances. Their characters are raw, vulnerable, likeable/frustrating in equal measure, and -- above all -- believable.
"In my movies I'm interested in the gap between who we want to be and who we are, and how far that gap is" said Baumbach at a press conference after the screening.
Ultimately, The Meyerowitz Stories is a devastatingly well-observed expression of that theme.
