If cinema is somehow retracting, contracting, or diminishing, don’t tell the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival and all its many sidebars. Thank god for them because when you look at the Cannes 2024 line-up, cinema seems to be in great health and shape. As is always the case, France’s Croisette offers an eclectic and diverse line-up of films from all over the world, from every genre, style, form, and medium.
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The nearly 80-year-old George Miller returns with another “Mad Max” saga, “Furiosa,” Kevin Costner dusts off his directing cowboy hat for his first feature in 21 years (“American Horizon”), and Yórgos Lanthimos premieres his second new feature in less than nine months (“Kinds Of Kindness”).
This is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. English filmmaker Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) returns to drama following a documentary detour with “Bird,” French Palme d’Or winner Jacques Audiard returns with a daring-sounding musical crime comedy, American filmmaker Sean Baker continues to look at the life of those on the fringes of the sex industry in “Anora,” and Paul Schrader takes a vacation from his “man in a room” series, to contemplate another existential drama in “Oh, Canada.”
That’s not all. Navelgazing, self-referential, and meta-filmmaking are also very much on the table, especially from the French; no surprise given their adoration of cinema. French disruptor Leos Carax examines his own filmic legacy and oeuvre in ”It’s Not Me,” Arnaud Desplechin creates “FilmLovers!” the third in his docu-fiction series about the character Paul Dédalus, who appears in “A Christmas Tale” (2008) and “My Golden Days” (2015), this time as a young boy in love with cinema, and Christophe Honoré directs “Marcello Mio” a film about French actress Chiara Mastroianni, playing a version of herself and considering the weight and legacy of her real-life father, Italian cinema acting icon Marcello Mastroianni.
Additionally, Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi will confront the legacy of young Donald Trump (“The Apprentice”), French director Coralie Fargeat (“Revenge”) directs a body horror about aging seen through a feminist lens, and Francis Ford Coppola’s finally mounts his decades-in-the-making utopian/dystopian epic “Megalopolis.” There is literally something for everyone.
In no particular order, here’s our list of 22 Films to watch at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, with a robust and bountiful honorable mention to boot. Cannes 2024 runs Tuesday, May 14, through Saturday, May 2024. Stay tuned for our coverage.
“Emilia Perez”
Renowned French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, a Palme d’Or winner for his 2015 film “Dheepan,” is set to make a highly-anticipated return to Cannes with his latest work, “Emilia Perez.” Audiard’s films have become a staple in the Competition section at Cannes, and this year is no different. The film features a stellar cast, including little-known Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón in the title role, along with Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Édgar Ramírez. More importantly, the entire premise is wild and ambitious. The film is a musical crime comedy and centers on a woman who is tasked with assisting an escaped Mexican cartel leader to undergo sex reassignment surgery to both evade the authorities and affirm her gender. French singer/actress Camille wrote the songs, and the score was composed by musician and percussionist Clément Ducol.
“Anora”
Following “Red Rocket,” writer/director Sean Baker’s first Cannes competition film, the filmmaker returns with “Anora,” yet another film centered on the lives of sex workers, one of Baker’s stock and trade. The film stars Mikey Madison, the breakout star of Pamela Adlon’s “Better Things” FX series, who also played a role in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” as one of the Manson family killers at the end. The drama centers on a young sex worker from Brooklyn (Madison) who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Her fairytale marriage is threatened when the man’s parents travel to New York to force an annulment. As is often the case with Baker films, much of the cast is relatively unknown. However, it includes “Compartment No. 6” actor Yuriy Borisov, plus Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Ivy Wolk, and Luna Sofia Miranda. Drew Daniels, who shot “Waves” and “Red Rocket,” is the cinematographer. Neon has already acquired North American rights.
“The Substance”
Just acquired by MUBI before the festival has even begun, French writer/director Coralie Fargeat, known for her bloody 2017 debut feature film “Revenge,” seems to have another much-anticipated title on her hands. “The Substance” is a body horror film Fargeat wrote again and stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, who replaced Ray Liotta, who passed away before filming began. Most of the details from there are under wraps, but it is said to be a feminist take on body horror, which wouldn’t be much of a surprise given the similar angle of “Revenge,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017. The Cannes press site does have a few more details, too, with a synopsis that suggests a drug that can create “another you: younger, more beautiful, more perfect. You just have to share time – one week for one, one week for the other” which also suggests body swapping-like metamorphosis, presumably between Moore and Qualley. Fargeat jumping straight into competition with her second film is pretty remarkable and bodes well. British composer/producer Raffertie wrote the score.
“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1”
If you wanna use the “we used to be a country meme,” writer/director Kevin Costner used to make big, ambitious movies, obviously cleaning up at the Oscars with “Dances with Wolves” with his directorial debut. But that quickly dried up after the one-two punch failure of his follow-up “The Postman” and “Waterworld” (which he did not direct but starred in, and the narrative didn’t help). Thanks to his “Yellowstone” renaissance, he returns with a big epic two-part, Civil War-set romantic drama and passion project with a massive cast about expansion and settlement of the American West. Costner stars alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, Jamie Campbell Bower and Thomas Haden Church. Cannes audiences may be left dangling, depending on how much closure the film provides because Chapter 2 doesn’t premiere until August 16.
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
79-year young Australian filmmaker George Miller follows up 2022’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” with another much-anticipated Mad Max film. A prequel to 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” this version centers on Charlize Theron’s Furiosa, this time played by Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”). Set 15-20 years before the events of ‘Fury Road,’ the action drama is essentially the story of how this young woman was snatched into the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus and eventually became Imperator Furiosa. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke play two tyrants who are warring for dominance over the Citadel while Furiosa tries to make it home through the Wasteland. Junkie XL returns to write the score, and this time, Simon Duggan (“The Great Gatsby”) takes over the cinematography from John Seale, who retired after “Three Thousand Years Of Longing.”