Hollywood Reporter critics selected 20 favorites for the Cannes Film Festival

ᲨᲔᲛᲓᲔᲒ ᲨᲔᲛᲓᲔᲒ

(Critical Week)
In the premiere of Charlotte Wales, a young Scottish father (who creates a bright and mysterious life for Paul Mescal) goes on summer vacation with his daughter (Frank Corrio, a real find). The result is a magical duo that explores the gap between the sensory details of a sunny vacation and the characters’ undiscovered inner lives. – Sherry Linden

the time of armageddon

(competition)
James Gray (Astra advertising, yards) He returns to the Queens area where he grew up for this loving but rebellious family photo that shows the seeds the artist grew from and the lessons that shaped his character. It’s an invigorating drama, with live performances by Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Anthony Hopkins and newcomers Banks Repetta and Jalen Webb. -David Rooney

blue kaftan

(Unknown)
Moroccan writer and director Meria Tuzan’s gripping second film depicts a melancholy relationship triangle involving a tailor, his dying wife and his apprentice. The slow-burning but richly emotional and beautifully acted drama should have drawn attention just for the scarcity of stony films in Maghreb cinema. But this is a compelling story from any point of view. – Dr.

Hall

(competition)
This year’s best male actor award winner is Sing Kang-ho (Parasite) Lead the ensemble in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s fierce drama about an alternative Korean family looking for a home for an abandoned child. This is not at the level of the Japanese director’s Golden Palm Branch 2018 owner. thieves, but the engine of his smooth road movie pushes you along and each of the main characters leaves an indelible mark. – Dr.

sister and brother

(competition)
Arno Desplechin’s gripping drama revolves around middle-aged brothers (Marion Cotillard and Melville Pupa, at the top of their game) who are forced to face the death of their parents and decades-long blood feuds. Desplechin is a keen observer of human behavior, creating judgment-free zones that can cover even the most intolerable self-absorption. – SL

Near

(competition)
Runner up overall, Belgian filmmaker Lucas Dhont’s harrowing, emotionally rich drama is a story about two 13-year-old boys (Gustave de Wael and Eden Dambrin) whose strong connection is tested as they start high school. School. But as the skin viewer was shocked, this also applies to so much more: betrayal, shame, denial, love, and ultimately healing and growth. – Leslie Feperin

the decision to leave

(competition)
South Korean Park Chan-wook (winner of this year’s Best Director award) presents a sweet neo-noir whose understated surface gradually gives way to raging currents of sensuality and danger. Exploring the magnetic attraction between an insomniac detective and a murder suspect who curiously didn’t care about her husband’s death, the film is crafted with insidious humor, charming visuals and commanding maturity. The result is drunk. – Dr.

FACTORY OF HUMANI CORPORIS

(biweekly directors)
Verena Paraveli and Lucien Casting-Taylor take us not only into the world of invasive medical procedures in Paris hospitals, but into the human body as far as a full-body doctor has gone. For those who can figure it out, this fascinating look at modern surgery is a memorable experience that makes us think of our own humanity as we look at people who are pure flesh and blood. -Jordan Minzer

EO

(competition)
Polish author Jerzy Skolimowski describes various adventures in the life of a donkey who travels to Europe as he passes through different hands and tries to find peace. A Glorious Companion of Robert Bresson Au Hassar BalthasarThe film (which won third place overall from the jury) is an exciting and impressive combination of spectacular visuals and minimalist storytelling. – JM

funny pages

(biweekly directors)
The cinematic equivalent of a dark and sick graphic novel, this directorial debut squid and whale Star Owen Klein is about a 17-year-old teenager who leaves his cozy suburban home to experiment with cartoonist Trenton, New Jersey. He’s bittersweet and bitterly funny, with unforgettable supporting characters. – JM

GOD

(Unknown)
The young priest travels from Denmark to Iceland in the late 19th century, where his mission is to ridicule the nature and corruption of his faith in Hlin Palmason’s shocking epic. That description suggests sensitivity, but there’s a surprisingly strange streak of sly humor in the film, along with the unpredictability that leaves it. – Dr.

land of joy

(Unknown)
Saim Sadiq’s debut film deliberately looks at how gender norms, compromises and vague notions of respect are introduced and then smothered in Pakistani family members. The individual and collective consequences when one of them falls in love with a trans woman is a process that the film portrays with painful discussion. -Lovia Giarkie

leila brothers

(competition)
like 19^I Zola, or Dickens’ Romance of the Century, compressed into a three-hour story, Said Rustae’s third feature film tells the story of five brothers struggling to stay in a dog-eating Iran smothered by crooks, clan rivalries and a crumbling economy. crisis. . A drama full of strong alternations that reveals that the 32-year-old writer-director is a masterful filmmaker whose voice is worthy of recognition. – JM

the night of the 12th

(skin debut)
An interesting drama that reminds me of movies like ZodiacDominic Molly’s latest film tells the story of two fortified French detectives (Bastien Bouillon and Bull Bullier), respectively, trying to solve a gruesome murder that constantly eludes them. Tense and penetrating, the film uses a gender model to delve into issues of violence, gender and surveillance in modern France. – JM

Have a nice day

(biweekly directors)
Spirited Lea Seidu stars as a lonely mother juggling the silent, miraculous butt of her ailing father and his new girlfriend Mia Hansen-Love. Bored with a fast pace and a touch of dull and sweet with alternating humor, this is further evidence that various filmmakers evoke the passage of time, the forces of change and how we struggle and struggle, but we end up adapting to this unwarranted simplicity. . – John Frost

NMR

(competition)
Romanian Author and Golden Palm Branch Laureate (2007) 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) Christian Mungiu puts his country’s ecological, racial, social and political tensions under the microscope in this masterfully slow-paced drama set in rural Transylvania, a country at the crossroads of many conflicting nations and languages ​​at Christmas. – JM

Rodeo

(Unknown)
Julie Ledru Primarily the leader of a group of non-professionals, Julie Ledru plays a motorcyclist who asserts her place in the Rodeo fraternity of cool off-road motorcycles. The struggles and riots of the Paris suburbs have been portrayed before, but never in the eyes of such a baseless hero. Lola Quivorone’s exciting mix of genres is a celebration and a duel, sharp and transcendent. – SL

Exhibition

(competition)
Oregon College of Arts and Crafts in Portland creates an elevated environment to explore Kelly Reichardt’s thoughtful, emotional and unexpectedly funny character as she studies a woman (Michelle Williams) who prepares art while in her exciting whirlwind of everyday problems outside. . her studio in the garage. The film proves once again that Reichardt’s work with Williams is the most profitable collaboration in modern American independent cinema. – Dr.

tori and lokita

(competition)
Two West African boys turn against each other as they try to navigate the Belgian immigration system and the tense criminal underworld of Jean-Pierre and Luc Darden. It is probably the saddest film of the brothers, but also the most emotionally involved at this time: a clearly conveyed tragedy centered on characters who fully deserve our sympathy and compassion. -LF

under the fig

(biweekly directors)
Erige Sehir’s intimate and unspecified narrative debut portrays and brings to life the lives of a group of Tunisian women. Following the characters as they pick fruit, gossip and fight, the film is an engaging and engaging portrait of a brother, imbued with detailed realism and a sense of spirit. – LG

A version of this story first appeared in the May 25 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.