Cannes 2024

[Mister Tee]

Greg wrote
You've been coming up with a new Palme d'Or frontrunner every day for the last few days.

Greg... don't deny me one of the few pleasures in life my boss can't take away from me.

It's the kind of Cannes it is: nothing storming to the front, so anything that gets excited reaction from anyone could be The One.

[Mister Tee]

And now, the new Paolo Sorrentino film, getting at least some very good reviews:

https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/p ... 236011840/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235903750/

https://deadline.com/2024/05/parthenope ... 235926030/

[Sabin]

Greg wrote
You've been coming up with a new Palme d'Or frontrunner every day for the last few days.

Greg... don't deny me one of the few pleasures in life my boss can't take away from me.

[Greg]

Going off of first reviews but I could definitely see the Gerwig jury going for Anora.

You've been coming up with a new Palme d'Or frontrunner every day for the last few days.

[flipp525]

The Shining should have been ignored, what Kubrick did to Stephen King's novel was a travesty.

Kubrick improved upon the source material and even King has finally come around to admitting that the film adaptation is great after lambasting it for decades and saying he had to turn it off when it appeared on his hotel television once. I re-read it a couple of years ago before I read Doctor Sleep (which is much scarier in some ways) and there are several elements that would simply not have worked in a 1980 adaptation such as the roaming topiary animals which Kubrick smartly turned into the infamous maze.

Wendy is a blonde cheerleader in the book.

[Sabin]

Going off of first reviews but I could definitely see the Gerwig jury going for Anora.


https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/a ... 236011025/
https://deadline.com/2024/05/anora-revi ... 235925716/
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 67f4510774
https://www.theguardian.com/film/articl ... SApp_Other

[Big Magilla]

It's a refined horror movie. Did you not get the references to Dorian Gray, The Shining, and The Fly?

1) "Audacious, and Insanely Gross Body Horror Masterpiece" -- that's the headline of the IndieWire review

"Grisly Body Horror Caper" -- Guardian headline

How do you get "refined" out of that?

2) Even if I were to accept your analogy to those other films (which I don't):

Dorian Gray, with a literary pedigree, got 3 nominations, only one above the line, nearly 70 years ago.

The Shining was 100% Oscar-ignored.

The Fly got (and, to be fair, won with it) a single nomination, for make-up.

That leads you to 13 nominations?

Could get doesn't mean will get, although from the comments at the press conference in which all those elements were praised by critics from all over the world, suggests that the film will be campaigned in all 13 categories, provided of course that the momentum holds.

The Shining should have been ignored, what Kubrick did to Stephen King's novel was a travesty.

The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Fly still hold up. But in terms of awards, the reaction to this out of nowhere sleeper sounds to me to more likely to approach The Exorcist's 10 nominations and 2 wins or The Silence of the Lambs' 7 nominations and 5 wins.

Although the critics compare it to Dorian Gray, The Shining, The Fly, and John Carpenter's version of The Thing, the story reminds me more of 1966's then underappreciated Seconds which only got one nomination for James Wong Howe's cinematography, but that was then, this is now.

It also reminds more of Lanthimos' past films than his own Cannes submission this year.

So, like everything else, we will see what we will see.

[Sabin]

Speaking of body horror, Cronenberg's The Shrouds sounds both old school (it sounds gross) and personal (it's' about his late wife) and except for Ehrlich it sounds like muted praise at best.

https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 235007047/
https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/t ... 236010116/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/articl ... tival-2024

[Mister Tee]

It's a refined horror movie. Did you not get the references to Dorian Gray, The Shining, and The Fly?

1) "Audacious, and Insanely Gross Body Horror Masterpiece" -- that's the headline of the IndieWire review

"Grisly Body Horror Caper" -- Guardian headline

How do you get "refined" out of that?

2) Even if I were to accept your analogy to those other films (which I don't):

Dorian Gray, with a literary pedigree, got 3 nominations, only one above the line, nearly 70 years ago.

The Shining was 100% Oscar-ignored.

The Fly got (and, to be fair, won with it) a single nomination, for make-up.

That leads you to 13 nominations?

[Big Magilla]

Magilla, are you on uppers or something? Did you not get from the reviews that The Substance is a horror movie? An apparently quite gross horror movie? Hasn't the experience of Hereditary and Us demonstrated that even horror movies critics rally behind just don't fly with Academy voters? Never say never, of course, but 13 nominations? Come on.

It's a refined horror movie. Did you not get the references to Dorian Gray, The Shining, and The Fly?

It's also a Me-Too movie which Moore, Quaid, and the director were quick to point out at the press conference doesn't mean anti-men but anti-jerk.

And Sabin, MUBI has streaming rights, not so sure they have theatrical distribution rights even though IMDb. says they do. Universal produced the film. They might want to take charge of the film's U.S. distribution as well as its Oscar campaign.

[Sabin]

dws1982 wrote
Jia Zhangke's film Caught by the Tide has quietly become one of the most acclaimed films out of the festival, although it got buried in the discourse between Emilia Perez and The Substance. Jia has been an international mainstay for about twenty years now, so I could see him being a compromise choice for a big prize.

The Cannes grid has Caught by the Tide at 2.6, The Substance at 2.7, and Emilia Perez at 2.5. So yes, I could see that happening. Jia Zhangke really has been under-rewarded at this festival.

[dws1982]

Jia Zhangke's film Caught by the Tide has quietly become one of the most acclaimed films out of the festival, although it got buried in the discourse between Emilia Perez and The Substance. Jia has been an international mainstay for about twenty years now, so I could see him being a compromise choice for a big prize.

[flipp525]

The Apprentice is out. Reviews don't seem great. Gleiberman seems to like it okay.
Also, the film depicts him as a rapist.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/articl ... 1716225924
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/mov ... 235006848/
https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/t ... 236010185/

Well, I mean, he IS a rapist so that depiction works just fine for me.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
Beyond that...Magilla, are you on uppers or something? Did you not get from the reviews that The Substance is a horror movie? An apparently quite gross horror movie? Hasn't the experience of Hereditary and Us demonstrated that even horror movies critics rally behind just don't fly with Academy voters? Never say never, of course, but 13 nominations? Come on.

I think there's a bigger problem working against the film. It's being distributed by Mubi. If Neon or A24 got the rights then we'd be talking. Obviously, there's a first time for everything but... it's Mubi. Until they demonstrate what they're capable of, I'm going to assume it doesn't crossover.

The only rationale I can see for any kind of showing is the Academy is warming up to the grotesque, bizarre, and niche more these days. But thirteen for a body horror film? No way.

I love Cannes Film Festival speculation because you're never right. But right now, I'd be surprised if one or two variations didn't happen. We could be looking at The Substance taking the Palme d'Or and Karla Sofía Gascón taking Best Actress or Emilia Perez taking the Palme and Demi Moore taking Best Actress.

Mister Tee wrote
I knew we'd end up paying for the abundance of good films last year, but 2024 seems headed in the wrong direction with consistency. The plethora of unnecessary sequels that dominate the next two months is numbing to even contemplate. We could really have used some surprise hits, but nothing's turned up so far.

If the Oscars turn into a game of the tallest kid in kindergarten, this could bode well for Challengers, Civil War, and the upcoming Hit Man. I find pondering that scenario more appealing than sight-unseen Joker 2 vs. Gladiator 2.

[Mister Tee]

The thing working in Demi's favor here would be that her film/role's subtext is to some extent exactly what Sabin is talking about here: the discarding of babe actresses when they age out of what-gets-male-execs-and-audiences-hot.

Beyond that...Magilla, are you on uppers or something? Did you not get from the reviews that The Substance is a horror movie? An apparently quite gross horror movie? Hasn't the experience of Hereditary and Us demonstrated that even horror movies critics rally behind just don't fly with Academy voters? Never say never, of course, but 13 nominations? Come on.

In other Cannes "news", the opening salvo of Costner's projected epic-on-epic Horizon appears to have flopped with critics -- 50 on Metacritic, a painful 20% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Renate Reinsve has got great reviews for Armand, but it's (I believe) in Un Certain Regard, thus ineligible for prizes.

I knew we'd end up paying for the abundance of good films last year, but 2024 seems headed in the wrong direction with consistency. The plethora of unnecessary sequels that dominate the next two months is numbing to even contemplate. We could really have used some surprise hits, but nothing's turned up so far.