Cobweb By Kim Jee-soon
There are a handful of South Korean directors that have claimed true international prominence over the last few decades. Among them, of course, are Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, two of of the most beloved auteurs alive. There’s the famously prolific indie filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, the late provocateur Kim Ki-duk, and Lee Chang-dong, who, in our humble opinion, pretty much has a perfect filmography. Then, there’s Kim Jee-woon, who Notre radar has quietly been making some of the best modern action thrillers on the planet right now (I Saw The Devil, A Tale of Two Sisters etc). His latest features Parasite star Song Kang-ho as a film director who becomes obsessed with re-shooting the ending of his most famous film. We can’t wait.
Strange Way of Life By Pedro Almodóvar
Running at a cool 30 minutes, Pedro Almodóvar’s queer cowboy drama Strange Way of Life is one of the most anticipated films at the festival this year and also happens to be the shortest. The first outing from luxury fashion brand Saint Laurent’s new production company Saint Laurent Productions, the film will follow Pedro Pascal’s Silva as
he rides across the desert to visit Ethan Hawke’s Sheriff Jake, an old friend and potential flame that he hasn’t seen in 25 years. Billed
as Almodóvar’s answer to Brokeback Mountain (he was one of the original filmmakers considered to direct the 2005 western), perhaps the most exciting thing about the short is that all the costume designs and production will come straight out of the prestigious Saint Laurent laboratory.
Asteroid City By Wes Anderson
Symmetrical, twee, saturated: you only need a single still shot to know it’s a Wes Anderson film. When a 1950s stargazing convention is disrupted by world-changing events, Asteroid City’s desert setting and ironic Old World charm radiates that Anderson aesthetic to the next level. A hot favourite for the Palme d’Or, long-time collaborators Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Willem Dafoe are merely the tip of the iceberg in this A-list cast. We’re hoping that Anderson’s French Dispatch and The Darjeeling Limited co-writer Roman Coppola can keep the ideas flowing in this high-stakes premise.
And of course, if you’re interested in Wes Anderson dreamy process, read all about it in our interview with him here.
The Pot Au Feu By Tran Anh Hung
If you’ve had the pleasure of seeing The Scent of Green Papaya, Vertical Ray of The Sun, Cyclo, you’ll know that Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung is one of the most visually-minded filmmakers working today. A festival favourite, his adaptation of Norwegian Wood received acclaim at the 67th Venice Film Fest (any filmmaker who dares adapt a Murakami earns our admiration by default), and Green Papaya won the Camera d’Or prize at Cannes back in 1993. Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel will star in The Pot Au Feu, a historical romance set in 1885 that follows the relationship between a cook and the gourmet she works for.
There’s no trailer—yet—for this lovely film, but we’d be amiss not to point you towards our charming profile on Juliette Binoche.
Monster By Hirokazu Koreeda
Hirokazu Koreeda is back at the festival for the second year in a row with Monster, his return to his motherland of Japan after the Korea-set Broker. The film follows single mother Saori (played by Shoplifters alum Sakura Andō) who confronts a schoolteacher after noticing disturbing changes in her son’s behaviour—quickly discovering there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. Koreeda is one of
our favourite auteurs making movies right now, and after winning the Palme d’Or in 2018 for Shoplifters, his presence at Cannes is never one to let fly under the radar.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny By James Mangold
It feels like most big-time studios and streamers have virtually given up trying to convince audiences that their reboots, remakes and legacy sequels are anything more than empty nostalgia- bound cash grabs (though last year’s Top Gun: Maverick is a favourite of the A Rabbit’s Foot team). And yet, dare we say that Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny doesn’t… look…terrible? After all, James Mangold’s last foray into franchise filmmaking resulted in one of
the most artistically sound superhero sequels of all time in Logan. This instalment sees Harrison Ford’s adventuring archeologist return to his Nazi-fighting roots, going up against Ex-Nazi-turned-NASA scientist Jurgen Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen.
Killers of the Flower Moon By Martin Scorsese
With the exception of, maybe, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, there isn’t really another film being teased this year with as much sizzling hot anticipation as Scorsese’s Killers of The Flower Moon. Information about the film is scarce. We know it’s three and a half hours long. We know it’s an adaptation of the David Grann book of the same name. And we’re all sick of seeing that still of Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone sitting at a dining table. It matters not that the film isn’t in competition this year—like every Scorsese release, Killers of The Flower Moon is undoubtedly the event feature to watch this year.
Last Summer By Catherine Breillat
Though her last feature was released just over ten years ago now, French director Catherine Breillat is returning to in-competition with a feature that feels perfectly in line with much of her acclaimed 40-year spanning filmography, exploring taboos, sexuality and coming-of-age through the female lens. Her latest follows Anne, a respected lawyer who begins an affair with her 17-year-old son-in-law after he moves in with her and her husband, Pierre.
La Chimera By Alice Rohrwacher
Isabella Rosselini and Josh O’Connor star in the latest from Italy’s most promising director Alice Rohrwacher, exploring the train of events after a young British archeologist gets involved in an international network of Etruscan artefacts. Alice’s previous feature-length Happy As Lazarro, established Rohrwacher as an exciting new cinematic voice and earned the director a Best Screenplay award at Cannes’ 2018 edition. Alice’s sister and frequent collaborator Alba Rohrwacher, who is as much a force in front of the screen as her sibling is behind it, will also star in the film.
May December By Todd Haynes
Two decades after being embroiled in a tabloid romance,
a married couple with a large age gap between them face new challenges after an actress arrives to research a film about their past. Starring Natalie Portman and frequent muse Julianne Moore, Todd Haynes’ anticipated new feature looks to continue his thematic obsession with the crossroads between identity, sexuality and the social outcast. Haynes’ style has been closely associated with DP Edward Lachman, whose fingerprints are noticeably missing from this film—still, with Kelly Reichart collaborator Christopher Blauvelt (First Cow, Meek’s Cutoff) stepping in to take his place, we still have faith that May December could end up being a 2023 festival favourite.
Perfect Days By Wim Wenders
It’s been over half a century since Wim Wenders released his first full-length, Summer in the City, and news of a new feature from the German filmmaker remains to this day an eagerly anticipated occasion. For Perfect Days, he turns his lens to Japan for a series of short stories starring Kōji Yakusho as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo who goes about his days indulging in his few hobbies: listening to music, reading books, and photographing nature. Through a series of encounters, his past is unravelled. In many ways, this feels like Wender’s stab at the Japanese slice of life film—a welcome detour to an already sprawling filmography. We have a great feeling about this one, be sure to keep an eye out.
The Zone of Interest By Jonathan Glazer
After releasing three films over the span of two decades, the announcement of a new Jonathan Glazer film is like finding gold dust. His last feature Under The Skin was a meditative sci-fi story told from the perspective of an alien (Scarlett Johansson) visiting Earth. Lyrical and patient, the film wowed critics, featured on multiple best-of-the decade lists, and was a massive box office flop—go figure. His return to the big screen, The Zone of Interest, is shrouded in secrecy, but we know it’s an adaptation of Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, which tells the story of a Nazi officer in Auschwitz who falls in love with the camp commandment’s wife.
