★★★☆☆ One of the most unmistakable filmmakers currently working, Wes Anderson is the go-to stylist for A.I.-generated parodies. His distinctive colour palettes, flat, lateral camera moves, diorama scene design and starry deadpan performances of witticism clipped from The New Yorker mean that most can pre-visualise his films before they even buy a ticket.
★★★★☆ When asked why he called his novel How to Be Good, novelist Nick Hornby replied because having “how” in the title boosts sales significantly. We’re all looking for guidebooks, even when we read novels or see films. The world is a scary and confusing place, and we need someone to show us the way.
★★★☆☆ American director Todd Haynes returns to the Cannes Croisette with the recently Netflix-acquired May December, a Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore two-hander that asks the question: what if Brian De Palma remade Persona but as a comedy?
★★★★☆ One of numerous films to make its way to London from the Cannes, Alex van Warmerdam’s Borgman (2013) is the darkest of dark horses: an obsidian black comedy with a surreal and genuinely vicious ‘eat the rich’ ethic that...
★★☆☆☆ Following on from Baz Luhrmann’s tipsy take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic The Great Gatsby, actor/director James Franco offers Cannes the second major literary adaptation from a canonical American author. Adapted faithfully by Franco himself from William...
★★★★★ American director J.C. Chandor first made a name for himself with 2011 talkathon Margin Call, which strove to present the 07-08 financial crisis to us as if we were, “a small child, or a golden retriever”. His follow-up film,...
★★★☆☆ Following the success of Un Certain Regard favourite Drive back in 2011, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn returns to the Croisette with Only God Forgives (2013), a stylish if ultimately shallow essay in extremism. Julian (Ryan Gosling) is a...
★★☆☆☆ “Vive la révolution!” No single culture betters leftist subculture than the aged liberals of France. Many would refer to it all as misguided historic romanticism. But there are those like Olivier Assayas where their movies echo an intrinsic disconnection...
★★☆☆☆ Little do the oversized world of galumphing humans realise that living in our forests are legions of tiny ‘Leafmen’, in armour, protecting the natural world from the evils of decay. Under the benevolent rule of a magical queen, this...
★★★☆☆ Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s latest feature, Cannes contender Grigris (2013), recounts a tale of hope against despair in the director’s native African country of Chad. It tells the story of the titular Grigris (played by Souleymane Deme), a young man whose ambition...