| Date | |
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| Author | DCM |
| Categories | cannesupfrontsFilm FestivalsFilm ReviewNew Releases |
The Cannes film festival is over for another year and as many attendees reflect on what was yet again a stellar year for the festival, it’s easy to identify a number of films which will be making different sized waves at the UK box office and awards ceremonies over the coming months.
It may seem obvious but for any film fan Cannes is a wonderful place to watch films. The cinemas are comfortable, with huge screens the width of the room. The audience are respectful, almost to the point of reverence and the films are more often than not of an extremely high quality, and even when they’re not you can witness a spectacular failure. Here’s a selection of some of the highlights which we can expect to see in UK cinemas over the next year.
With both The Proposition and The Road, John Hillcoat has made quite a name for himself making brutal, bleak and masculine dramas. Based on the novel ‘The Wettest County In The World’, Lawless once again very much fits this description and features a stellar cast, including Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf.
Brad Pitt is becoming something of a Cannes veteran with Inglourious Basterds in competition in 2009 and The Tree Of Life picking up the Palme d’Or last year. He was back again this year, once again teaming up with Kiwi director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford). Killing Them Softly is a dark, gritty crime drama with a strong political undercurrent.
It’s quite possible to argue that a person’s response to the film adaptation of On The Road will depend entirely on their reaction to the revered book upon which it’s based. Not being a fan of Kerouac’s autobiographical opus, the film had to do a lot to win me over and whilst it doesn’t eradicate many of the issues I had with the book, I was pleasantly surprised with much of the adaptation...
If I were awarding my own top prize for best film at Cannes 2012, it would go to Jacques Audiard’s Rust And Bone. A romance between a killer whale trainer and a bare knuckle boxer may not sound like a recipe for cinematic brilliance but I found Rust And Bone’s rough edges and raw emotion a good deal more affecting than clinical precision of the Palme d’Or winning Amour...
On the final Sunday of the festival, Michael Haneke’s film was the winner of the coveted main prize – The Palme d’Or and it’s not difficult to see why it was the choice of the jury. It is also Haneke’s second golden palm in three years (after 2009’s The White Ribbon), a spectacular achievement for one of Europe’s most singular film-makers...
Ben Wheatley’s Kill List was one of the most striking British films of 2011. A dark, lean hitman film which takes a wild turn two thirds of the way in, it deserved all the plaudits that came its way and heralded the arrival of a notable new talent in Wheatley. Less than a year after that film’s release the follow up is upon us and features a not dissimilar brand of pitch black comedy and violence. Although with leading comedy production house Big Talk behind this one, it’s no surprise that the comic elements are much stronger in Sightseers...
In 1999, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg announced himself as a major talent with the devastating family drama Festen. Adhering to the strict code of Dogme 95, the film eschewed the use of such unnecessary tools as lighting and special effects in favour or story and raw, emotional storytelling. The film was a tour-de-force and many predicted a long and much vaunted career lay ahead for Vinterberg, much like his compatriot Lars Von Trier. It’s taken him thirteen years to produce a film of comparable quality but The Hunt is comfortably Vinterberg’s best film since Festen...
Of all the films on this list The Sapphires sticks out like a sore thumb. An unashamed and genuine crowd-pleaser, the film has already been picked up for UK distribution by Harvey Weinstein who has proclaimed it ‘this year’s The Artist’. Talk is that it’s planned for a January release, much like The Artist, and I wouldn’t bet against it making a similar splash at the box office...