You know it well: we at Movieplayer we will follow the 76th edition of Cannes Film Festival up close, telling you about the best films, the great encounters, the cult (and sculptural) moments. We will take you to the red carpet of the Palais, we will share with you – also through our social channels – what could be the most original Croisette for several years now. An edition that, as mentioned by Thierry Frémaux, also wants to shift its gaze towards other territories, exploring contemporary stories without renouncing the pop soul. At the centre, as per tradition, is loyalty to the cinema. Absolute point of reference and guiding spirit.
As always, there are dozens and dozens of films that will be screened during the ten days of the festival, divided between the Official Selection, and then the Quinzaine des Cinéastes and the International Critics’ Week. So, to orient you within a rich program, here are the ones that for us are the 15 unmissable films of Cannes 2023. Any titles? From Wes Anderson with Asteroid City to Hirokazu Kore’eda, up to Martin Scorsese and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Without forgetting the indie cinema of new and more interesting authors. And the Italians? Precisely because of our being “biased”, we have temporarily chosen to keep them off the list, but reminding you that we will see The maltdirected by Alice Rohrwacher, Kidnapped Of Mark Bellocchio e The sun of the future Of Nanni Moretti. All three in Competition.
1. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Clear: it needs no introduction. Among the most anticipated films of Cannes, there is the last (?) Chapter starring the world’s most famous archaeologist. Harrison Ford Dr. Jones returns in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, directed by James Mangold, but defined by Steve Spielberg “a film to be proud of”. History? Between the space race and the Cold War, Indiana will have to contend with a former Nazi and now a member of NASA. With filming also carried out in Sicily, and with a cast that also features protagonists Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, John Williams will then return to the soundtrack, making us vibrate thanks to the legendary and immortal “march”. We can not wait.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, our commentary on the new commercial: comedy and die-hard Nazis
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
Where there is Martin Scorsese, there is cinema. La Croisette once again embraces the director of Taxi Driver, and does so by presenting a world premiere Killers of the Flower Moona western/noir drama based on the best-selling novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, written by journalist David Grann. History? We are in Oklahoma in the 1920s, and the Native American community is shocked by a series of heinous murders. To investigate, the FBI. In the (super) cast: Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprioLily Gladstone e Robert De Niro. Masterpiece air?
3. The Sweet East
Eyes on indie cinema: in the Directors’ Fortnight section we find The Sweet Eastby Sean Price Williams. It promises to be the most classic American independent film, centered – according to the official plot – on a picaresque journey that cuts through the cities of the East Coast of the United States. Protagonist, Lillian, a high school student, who discovers the USA during a school camp that has Washington as its destination. To sign the screenplay, the critic Nick Pinkerton. Watch out for the cast: Ayo Edebiri, Simon Rex, Jacob Elordi.
4. Hypnotic
Not a world premiere (it moved to South by Southwest) but a find Hypnotic, directed by Robert Rodriguez, in the Screenings section of Midnight, is nonetheless a cinematic joy. From the convulsive production (the Pandemic didn’t help), the film promises well: protagonist Ben Affleck, a detective who goes in search of his daughter. Meanwhile, he will be involved in an intricate plan that has to do with a secret government program. Appreciated (and much) at SXSW, the film marks Rodriguez’s return to directing after the flop We Can Be Heroes of 2020.
5. May December
Todd Haynes he is a great director. Sublime in his gaze, exceptional in directing his actresses and actors. AND May Decemberwhich we will see in the Competition, promises emotions thanks to the duet between the protagonists, that is Natalie Portman e Julianne Moore. The first, she plays an actress who, traveling to Maine, will go to find the woman she is supposed to play in the cinema. The screenplay is written by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. Fun fact: for the film, Todd Haynes was unable to work with his trusted cinematographer, Ed Lachman, who was injured on the set of Pablo Larraín’s new film. In his place, another top name: Christopher Blauvelt.
6. How to Have Sex
As soon as the news came that How to Have Sex had already been caught by MUBI, the antennas raised. In fact, the streaming platform, which has always been linked to quality cinema, seems to have fished very well. Today the teen genre is continuously deconstructed (thanks to Euphoria?) as a function of a more disillusioned and less fairy-tale approach. And Molly Manning Walker’s film, at its debut, seems to slip into a very controversial channel, telling the story of three friends and a typically British widespread phenomenon: losing one’s virginity as a rite of passage. Between hangovers and discos in a neon Majorca. Premiered at Un Certain Regard.
7. The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something has Passed
Great authors, pop cinema and Hollywood stars. All beautiful. But Cannes 2023 also offers us a springboard towards new authors to discover. An example? Joanna Arnow, who presents in the Quinzaine des cinéastes The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something has Passed, centered around a woman who works as a clerk and, meanwhile, engages in casual BDSM relationships. Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker Joanna Arnow made the film through the Berlinale’s talent promotion programme.
8. Love and Forests
Valerie Donzelli is among the most crystalline talents of French cinema. An excellent actress and a refined director (see War is declared), she arrives at Cannes 2023-section Cannes Première-con love and forests, which is the adaptation of Éric Reinhardt’s novel which tells the story of Blanche, played by Virginie Efira, who believes she has found love by meeting Grégoire (Melvil Poupaud). However, she gradually finds herself under the influence of a very possessive and above all very dangerous man.
9. Jeanne du Barry
Among the expected Cannes, we could not fail to mention the opening film. And let’s say it right away: Jeanne du Barrydirected by Maiwenncould be the title that (hopefully) relaunches the career of Johnny Depp who, guess what, wears the period clothes of that Louis XV who will open the doors of Versailles to Marie-Jeanne Bécu, a social climber who aims to be the King’s favourite, bringing scandal to the cohort. The film also stars Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair.
Jeanne du Barry: because it’s the perfect project to relaunch Johnny Depp
10. The New Boy
The Oscar for TAR vanished, Cate Blanchett try again (already) thanks to The New Boy by Australian Warwick Thornton, in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. The plot of the film revolves around a nun who, going against the orders of the Church, runs a remote monastery. It will be the arrival of an Aboriginal child to change and shift thinking, creating a furrow between faith and justice. For Warwick Thornton it is the second time in Cannes: in 2009 he won the Camera d’Or for the controversial Samson and Delilah.
11. Monster
A film of hidden truths, of characters, of obscure relationships. All seen from Hirokazu Kore’edacompeting for the Palme d’Or with Monster – Kaibutsu, five years after winning A Family Affair. The story written by Yuji Sakamoto focuses on little Minato who starts behaving strangely, causing his mother to worry. The woman discovers that the teacher and a friend of the child are involved. What’s behind it? The reality of things will gradually come to light. On the soundtrack, the unforgettable Ryuuichi Sakamotohere at his latest work.
12. Four Daughters
Cannes 2023 could be the most African festival in years. African, but also Eastern and Middle Eastern. A non-random choice, it exalts a new generation of authors. Among them, many women. Like the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, who leads to the Croisette Four Daughters, i.e. the only Arabic title in Competition. Between documentary and fiction, the film traces the dramatic true story of a mother who faces the disappearance of her two eldest daughters. What if she were among the most likely candidates for victory?
13. Asteroid City
Wes Anderson to the nth degree with Asteroid Citya film that brings together the most glamorous cast expected on the famous red carpet: from Scarlett Johansson to Tom Hanks, from Tilda Swinton to Steve Carell, up to Maya Hawke, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright and Bryan Cranston. The trailer, between schematics and saturated colors, takes us to 1955, to an imaginary American town lost in the desert. Here, according to Wes Anderson, an astronomy conference will be staged that brings together students from all over the United States. We will see it in Competition.
14. Elemental
After Inside Out (but we also loved Soul), Elemental may be the most ambitious title of the Disney Pixar. The reason? Think of the plot: directed by Peter Sohn, the film is set in an imaginary city where the Four Elements live together. Defying the laws of nature, an impossible love will be born: the one between Ember, a girl of fire, and Wade, a boy of water. The inspiration came from the melting pot of cultures in the Bronx (the director’s parents, Koreans, opened a grocery store there), and tries to give an answer to the fateful question: can the elements be alive?
Elemental: what we expect from the new Pixar film
15. Bad
Takeshi Kitano directing, Ken Watanabe in the role of the protagonist. It’s bad is already among the highly anticipated Cannes 2023, if only because it is based on the book of the same name signed by Kitano himself. History? It tells us a story that really happened in Japan in 1582, mixing action, revenge and imaginary retelling: when the warlord Oda Nobunaga is forced to commit suicide, General Araki Murashige will be accused of disloyalty. Kubi can be found in the Cannes Première section.
