Cannes Film Festival readies a blockbuster edition

CANNES

The Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off today, is such a colossal extravaganza that taking measure of its ups and downs is notoriously difficult. It’s a showcase of the world’s best cinema. But by at least some metrics, Cannes, following a canceled 2020 festival, a much-diminished 2021 edition and a triumphant 2022 return, is finally all the way back.

This year’s festival is headlined by a pair of marquee premieres: Martin Scorsese’s Osage Nation 1920s epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” starring Harrison Ford in his final performance as the character.

But as blockbuster as Cannes can be, even those films suggest the wide spectrum of cinema on hand. Both Scorsese and Mangold were first in Cannes decades ago to premiere their early breakthrough films in the Directors Fortnight sidebar. Scorsese with 1973’s “Mean Streets,” Mangold with 1995’s “Heavy.”

This time, though, they’ll debut much bigger films, sure to be the hottest tickets on the Croisette. Scorsese has his $200 million epic for Apple TV+. And Mangold will premiere, as he says, “a more splendiferous project” than his minimalist debut.

The “Indy” celebration will include a tribute to Ford. He, along with Michael Douglas, will be given honorary Palme d’Ors. To Mangold, it’s a chance for Ford to embrace the franchise’s international following. The “Indiana Jones” films’ essence, the director says, is rooted in golden-age cinema.

This year, 21 films are competing for the Palme d’Or, which will be decided by a jury led by last year’s winner, Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund. Seven are directed by women, a new high for Cannes in its nearly eight decades of existence. Among the most anticipated is Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini.

The festival, running through May 27, will unspool against the backdrop of labor unrest on both sides of the Atlantic. France has been beset in recent months by protests over pension reforms, including raising the retirement age. In the U.S., screenwriters are on strike to seek better pay in the streaming era.

The prospect of a prolonged work stoppage could potentially drive up prices for finished films at Cannes, the world’s top movie market. Among the titles seeking distribution is Haynes’ “May December,” which stars Natalie Portman as a journalist who embeds with a couple (Julianne Moore, Charles Melton) once renown for their age discrepancy.

AUTEURS AND A-LISTERS

As usual, this year’s competition lineup returns plenty of Cannes heavyweights, including Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Monster”), Wim Wenders (“Perfect Days”), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“About Dry Grasses”), Ken Loach (“The Old Oak”) and Nanny Moretti (“A Brighter Tomorrow”).

Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” shot in Auschwitz, is one of the festival’s most eagerly awaited films. It’s his first since 2013’s “Under the Skin.” Pedro Almodóvar will premiere the short “Strange Way of Life,” with Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. Wes Anderson, flanked by another starry ensemble, will debut “Asteroid City.”

There’s also the upcoming HBO series “The Idol,” from “Euphoria” filmmaker Sam Levinson starring the Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp; “Firebrand” with Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr and Judd Law as Tudor King Henry VIII; and the Pixar movie “Elemental,” which closes the festival.

Steve McQueen, the “12 Years a Slave” filmmaker, will debut the longest film playing at Cannes and one of its most thought-provoking. “Occupied City,” which McQueen made with his wife, Dutch author Bianca Stigter, is a four hour-plus documentary that combines narration detailing violent incidents across Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation with present-day footage from those locations.

Argentine filmmaker Rodrigo Moreno, 50, will be making his first trip to Cannes with “The Delinquents,” a heist drama sprinkled with existentialism and cinematic flourishes. It’s one of the highlights of the Un Certain Regard section.

The film took Moreno five years to make, partially because of the pandemic. But its Cannes selection is a long time coming in another way. Moreno’s first feature as a solo director was invited to both Un Certain Regard and main competition at Berlin. The producers chose Berlin.