Checking Cannes / Ethan Coen and Jerry Lee

 CHECKING CANNES

I'm continuing to monitor the critical reactions to films unspooling at the 75th Cannes Film Festival which hits its half way point today.  The fest is set to end on Saturday.

Looking at the combination of critical responses that is curated by Reini Urban here are some of the films that I have on my TFF #49 radar and their current combined rating (on a 10 point scale) as well as their position on the overall Cannes chart which includes virtually every film that is screening within any part of the festival:

10) Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 9.08

14) Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.40

24) Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 7.91

34) Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius)

42) One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.17

52) Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.94

55) All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 6.84

59) Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

68) R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.66

Still waiting for enough critical responses to evaluate The Dardennes' Tori and Lokita and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker.

For a closer look at individual responses to the Palme d'Or competitors I have linked the charts for that from:

Screen Daily

Ioncinema

The Palme d'Or winner and Telluride cross over in recent years:

2019: Parasite

2018: Shoplifters

2013: Blue Is the Warmest Colour

2012: Amour

2009: The White Ribbon

2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, Two Days

2005: L'Enfant

2003: Elephant

ETHAN COEN AND JERRY LEE

Ethan Coen's documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind dropped yesterday at Cannes with a second screening scheduled for today.  The film is being produced (in part) and distributed by A24.  That and the fact that Coen and his co-producer T-Bone Burnett were co-recipients of a TFF Tribute for TFF #40-2013) gives a glimmer of hope that the doc could be a selection for TFF #49.

Coen was interviewed recently by Deadline's Mike Fleming, Jr. about the project.  That is linked here.

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At Cannes: Acquisitions for TFF Possibilities: Return to Soul and R.M.N. / Early Reactions from Cannes

 AT CANNES: ACQUISITIONS FOR TFF POSSIBLES RETURN TO SOUL AND R.M.N.

Variety reports that Sony Pictures Classics has taken distribution rights for David Chou's Return to Soul.  That moves into the "in consideration" position vis-a-vis TFF #49.  Variety describes the film as follows:

"The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions."

The Variety story is linked here.

Meanwhile, Indiewire has reported that IFC Films has acquired R.M.N. the latest film from Cristian Mungiu. Mungiu was at Telluride in 2007 with his 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.  The IFC acquisition could set the stage for return to T-ride in September.

The description form Indiewire:

It "follows the return of Matthias (Marin Grigore) to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village, where he wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son and to rid the boy of his unresolved fears. When new workers arrive at a factory owned by Matthias’ ex-lover Csilla (Judith State) the peace of the community is disturbed and fears, frustrations, and conflicts erupt."

The Indiewire article is here.

EARLY REACTIONS FROM CANNES

As is common for this space, I'm keeping an eye on the collective critcal response through Reini Urban's Cannes Critics Ratings. The early response for some films that could play Telluride that are rating a combined 6.0 or better on a 10 point scale include:

One Fine Morning

Brother and Sister

Showing Up 

Return to Soul

You can find the complete rundown linked here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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