Between big names, horror, shootings, murderous thrillers or zombies, this Cannes 2022 promises to be exciting. We take stock of 10 (in reality a little more) films not to be missed.
After a completely crazy year 2021 where Julia Ducournau left with the Palme d'Or for Titanium, the new edition of the Cannes Film Festival promises to be quite crazy once again with lots of prestigious films. After a monstrous selection of more than 70 films, the Cannes 2022 edition promises to be a little tighter with around forty films (and certainly a few additions by the start of the festival on May 17). For the race for the Palme d'Or, there will be 18 feature films to fight for.
We can obviously regret the absence of big names expected or rather hoped for at this stage: Ari Aster and his Disappointment Blvd., Lars Von Trier and the third season of his series The Hospital and its Ghosts, Yorgos Lanthimos and his Poor Things, Jordan Peele and his Nope or even an out-of-competition Netflix presence (even if we knew it was dead, we wanted to). However, nothing prevents this selection from creating great impatience within Large Screen.
So we had fun listing ten films (actually thirteen) that we don't want to miss in this 2022 edition. And obviously with thirteen films, we had to make difficult choices, so much so that we would have could easily add a good twenty. So don't blame us for not necessarily seeing your favorites. Let's go !
When you discover the Cannes 2022 list
armageddon time
The return of James Gray after Ad Astra
A James Gray film is always an event. Between Little Odessa, The Night Belongs to Us and The Lost City of Z, the filmmaker has established himself as one of the most exciting directors in the American film landscape. This year, the man will return to the Croisette with Armageddon Time, an autobiographical film that will immerse us in New York in the 80s, in the high school where he grew up.
In front of the camera, a beautiful cast composed, among others, of Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Strong, just that. Enough to promise a magnificent red carpet, in addition to a potentially more personal work for James Gray, and therefore all the more sensitive and intimate. According to the author, Armageddon Time will also be warmer than his very beautiful Ad Astra. Anyway, the film is expected in official competition of the festival.
BROKER
A road movie in Korea for the Japanese Kore-eda
The first Korean film by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, and perhaps the second Palme d'Or following Une Affaire de famille (2018), Broker, which Thierry Fremaux defined during his announcement as a sort of "road movie for adoption will orient its plot around “baby boxes”, a Korean device intended for parents wishing to anonymously place a baby in a box so that it can be adopted by another family. What promise again one of the moving family odysseys of which the director seems to hold the secret.
Sang Hyeon, played by the size of the Korean interpretation Song Kang-ho (Parasite, Memories of Murder), and his colleague Dong Su (Kang Dong-won), try as best they can to find a new family for one of these kids in a box. As the duo reach an agreement with new parents, the baby's biological mother, Yeong So, played by the sublime Bae Doo-na (Sense 8, Cloud Atlas…), resurfaces.
THE CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
The announcement had led to an unprecedented wave of priapism: eight years after his last film and more than 20 years after his last foray into the genre, David Cronenberg is returning to body horror. In truth, he had not completely forgotten the New Flesh, as evidenced by his excellent novel and the short film that accompanied it. But it must be recognized that the scale of Future Crimes and the quality of its cast (Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart) give it the air of the return of the triumphant king, which is moreover on a red carpet warmed up by the one of his most respectful heirs.
dream team
The announcement of the pitch (in a world that adapts to CGI environments, Sault Tenser is an artist who works directly with organs!) and the unveiling of the trailer following the festival press conference complete to make it one of the biggest cinema events of the year, of the decade, of the millennium. Organic mutations of all kinds and strange sexual tension ooze from the first images, which are bathed in a visual patina that is almost reminiscent of Le Festin Naked. If he only reclaims 50% of his creative freedom, we can expect a great movie.
And if the return to horror of an author who had to wait to move away from it to be respected by the institutions finally earned him the supreme reward? A fairy tale which we would like to attend, alongside moviegoers from France and Navarre, since the film will be released simultaneously in theaters on May 25th.
decision to leave
A dark look
Six years after the sublime and captivating Mademoiselle, Park Chan-wook finally returns to grace our screens with his poetry with the romantic thriller Decision to Leave. Selected at Cannes in official competition, the Korean master of angst returns to bewitch audiences with his elegant staging through a plot that breathes drama and conflict at the top of its lungs. An honest policeman, played by Park Hae-il (The Host), investigates a suspicious death in the mountains. While the latter leads the investigation, he comes to suspect the deceased's wife (Tang Wei), despite his attraction to her.
Initiated in 2020 before the world suddenly stopped spinning, the film finally triumphs over its difficult production with multiple postponements, and promises a free fall jump within the pangs and tumults of this multidimensional relationship. Underpinned by a narrative with subtle density and, no doubt, obscure eroticism, Park Chan-wook could well win a Palme d'Or.
smoking makes you cough
The French Power Rangers
After the amusing Mandibles and while waiting for Incredible but True, Quentin Dupieux returns with a new candy that also promises to be completely crazy and funny, Smoking makes you cough. The pitch makes you dream: a group of superheroes called the TABAC FORCE will face the Emperor of Evil, Lézardin, while the cohesion of their group begins to deteriorate. This re-reading of the Super-Sentai genre (the Japanese version of the superhero) promises to be completely wacky.
This first appearance of Quentin Dupieux in the official selection will be an opportunity for the filmmaker to bring together a truly mind-blowing cast, made up of Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anaïs Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra, the Palmashow, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Doria Tillier , Jérôme Niel, Blanche Gardin, Anthony Snogio, Raphaël Quenard, Alain Chabat and Benoît Poelvoorde. Smoking makes you cough will be presented out of competition, in a midnight session, enough to offer a refreshing little tablet of 1h20 for festival-goers.
holy spider
Facing death ?
Ali Abbasi had already been widely noticed by fans of the fantastic at the Cannes Film Festival via the Un certain regard section. His Border combined remarkable black poetry and a rather subtle exploration of the frontiers of humanity, of which nothing must be revealed at the risk of spoiling its major force. Beyond the intelligence of his narration and his way of digesting his mythological influences, he revealed a sharp sense of staging and undetectable and therefore quite impressive special effects.
His new essay, Holy Spider tells the personal quest of a seriously lit family man, who intends to cleanse the city of Mashhad from prostitution, if possible in blood. But he is irritated by the indifference of the general public for his divine mission. A very intriguing pitch that could well shake the Croisette in its own way.
leila's brothers
The gentleman had created a small sensation during the summer of 2021 in French theaters with The Law of Tehran, and well Saeed Roustayi will squarely land on the Croisette with his new film: Leila's Brothers. Because yes, he has already completed his third feature film since The Law of Tehran was filmed in 2018 and was released in 2019 in Iran (well before the pandemic and well before us in fact). For his first visit to Cannes, the Iranian will therefore have the joy of competing for the Palme d'Or.
At this stage, we don't yet really know what the film will be about, no element having filtered through and Thierry Fremaux not having lingered on it during the conference. However, in view of the first two films, we can assume that Saeed Roustayi will continue to explore contemporary Iran and in particular the flaws in its system. The first photo unveiled by Wild Bunch in any case suggests a small passage through the prison box and therefore possibly a further in-depth examination of the Iranian judicial system.
november
After Bac Nord, Jimenez tackles an equally touching subject
After the earthquake caused by the out-of-competition screening of Bac Nord at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Cédric Jimenez could still be talked about. Leaving aside police violence, he tackles an equally sensitive subject with Novembre, a film about the attacks of November 13, 2015 and more specifically about the five days of tracking that followed the attacks. In the screenplay, we find Olivier Demangel who was the co-screenwriter of Mati Diop's film, Atlantic, winner of the Grand Prize of the 2019 edition of the Festival.
If Cédric Jimenez once again calls on recognized actors, including Jean Dujardin and Sandrine Kiberlain, emerging actors such as Anaïs Demoustier, Lyna Khoudri and Sami Outalbali will also be on the bill. More surprisingly, Michaël Youn will also play a role. Because of the controversy created by his previous feature film, the return of Cédric Jimenez to Cannes could well create new debates. The film is set to be released on October 5, 2022.
top gun: maverick
Temple of cinemas from all over the world and high place of consecration of the most prestigious authors, the Croisette is also the setting of a prestigious and eminently spectacular entertainment cinema. Rare will have been the editions not to host at least one blockbuster, traditional or animated, capable of making the Grand Théâtre Lumière squeal like an otter in a sanibroyeur.
This role will be held in 2022 by Top Gun: Maverick. Sequel to the classic of the 80s, which transformed Tom Cruise into a planetary superstar, the feature film is all the more awaited as it promises to imprint technically stunning images on our retinas. Sold as a technological tour de force, the film, postponed for several years due to the health crisis, is all the more eagerly awaited as its star provided some of her aerial stunts herself, directed by the very talented Joseph Kosinsky. The film will be released on May 25 in France.
triangle of sadness
A vacation gone wrong
After having largely divided the Croisette in 2017 with The Square for which he received the Palme d'Or, the Swedish Ruben Östlund will make his big comeback in Cannes with his new film: Triangle of Sadness. And of course, we can expect the film to trigger some more heated debates.
According to Thierry Fremaux, it is a "politico-global, politico-economic comedy... in short, a great mockery of what we have become". Indeed, according to the first official synopsis, the black comedy should follow a couple of models during a luxury cruise before events take an unexpected turn and the balance of power is reversed when a storm rises. A great cynical delirium in perspective therefore where we will also find Woody Harrelson in the skin of a communist captain refusing to leave his cabin.
three thousand years waiting for you
Pointy ears for a pointy film?
Back after the explosive Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015, George Miller returns to Cannes screens with Three thousand years waiting for you. A film considered astonishing by Thierry Fremaux, who described the story as "a kind of reflection on the history of the world, how it began, how it will perhaps end, how we live surrounded by things in which we believe , or do not believe”. A film-thought therefore, with philosophical consideration, and with progression governed more by dialogue than by action. A sort of anti Mad-Max even, according to the words of the filmmaker himself.
On a trip to Istanbul, a solitary and bitter scholar (Tilda Swinton) discovers an ancient bottle. Out comes a Djinn, played by Idris Elba, who offers him three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Apathetic and with no other desire than to be alone, she remains incapable of imagining the slightest wish. A long conversation ensues between the walls of his hotel room, leading the two individuals to consequences that neither of them could have predicted. The hype is huge!
Z (like Z)
First welcomed freshly by the community of cinephiles who had the curiosity (and happiness) to discover Ne Coupez pas!, Michel Hazanavicius' remake will therefore have the honor of opening hostilities in Cannes. We bet that this enthusiasm for the festival means that the director of the first two OSS 117 and The Artist has won his bet to pack a Frenchie reinterpretation of this little cult from Japan with Z (Comme Z).
And if the company could raise fears of a form of opportunism, especially since the suspension of disbelief of the original film was logically based on the discovery of both a cast of strangers and a mischievous staging device, let's not forget who is in charge. The French director has in fact made a specialty of interacting with the different forms or motifs of cinema, and remains a master of pastiche. So many reasons to hope that his game of massacre will give the Festival a good blow, as soon as it opens.
SOME OTHERS FOR PLEASURE
There will be a bit of Netflix in Cannes with Hunt and the Squid Game star
We are also very curious about Taril Saleh's new film, Boy From Heaven, which will immerse us in Cairo and the merciless war of influence to succeed the great Imam, who died suddenly. But we are also expecting Tchaikovsky's Wife by Kirill Serebrennikov, Brother and Sister by Arnaud Desplechin, Stars at Noon by Claire Denis or Showing Up by Kelly Reichardt. The film by the American filmmaker will tell the daily life of an artist whose chaotic existence will become her first source of inspiration.
It's also hard not to be intrigued by the series by Olivier Assayas, Irma Vep, or simply Hunt by Jung-jae Lee. The Squid Game star signs his first film, a political thriller where the two Koreas are on the verge of implosion as espionage and state secrets threaten to change their history.
We will also be keeping a close eye on Godland, the film by Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, where a young priest whose mission is to build a church in an inhospitable countryside will be confronted with an improbable love story and a violent conflict, just like the modern version At random Balthazar by Robert Bresson by Jerzy Skolimowski
How can we not also mention the long-awaited Elvis by Baz Luhrmann who will return to the career of the King or in a more Franco-French delirium, Masquerade by Nicolas Bedos, described as a "Nice detective comedy" led by Pierre Niney, Isabelle Adjani, François Cluzet or even Marine Vacth.
Here's a fine program, not to mention the selections from the Directors' Fortnight, Critics' Week and ACID, which promise sublime discoveries.
