Cannes Contenders Split Critics 1-to-4 as Palme d'Or Race Turns Hard to Call
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 19
Cannes Contenders Split Critics 1-to-4 as Palme d'Or Race Turns Hard to Call
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 19
Beach clubs and after-parties at Cannes have turned into debate stages, with journalists and industry insiders sharply divided over this year’s Palme d’Or contenders.
Screen Daily’s 1-to-4 jury grid shows little consensus: competition titles including Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales” and Javier Bardem vehicle “The Beloved” have drawn scores ranging from one star to three.
The split has extended to individual films and performances, from Scarlett Johansson’s turn in “Paper Tiger” to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s 3-hour “All of a Sudden,” which attendees argued over as either moving or self-important.
Na Hong-jin’s nearly 3-hour South Korean action film “Hope” may be the festival’s most polarizing entry yet, drawing love-it-or-hate-it reactions for its alien siege story and motion-capture creatures played by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.
With even strong contenders like Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” provoking derision from some viewers, this year’s Cannes competition appears unusually fractured heading into the Palme decision.
Can the polarizing Korean blockbuster 'Hope' win the top prize with a fellow countryman leading the jury?
As Hollywood snubs Cannes for influencers, can the Palme d'Or still make a film a global hit?