My sixth Cannes was unique in that, as opposed to previous editions, I wasn't in much agreement with my colleagues about what were the festival's best and worst films. I quite liked Little Joe and Frankie, two Competition selections that didn't receive much love elsewhere, while being duly impressed (but not blown away) by Parasite, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Pain and Glory, which were probably the consensus favorites. And yet, the fact that all four ended up ranking relatively high on my list suggests something I'd suspected over the last two weeks: Every Cannes you get to go to is amazing, but the overall quality of this year's films was below-average. It happens.
Another thing that made this an outlier Cannes: My favorite film wasn't part of the official selections. Over at Directors' Fortnight, Robert Eggers' follow-up to The Witch, The Lighthouse, was the big story, and I finally caught up with it last night. There will be more to say later, but it's a knockout -- and further proof that Robert Pattinson is one of our most exciting and surprising young actors. (While I was at Cannes, news broke that he probably, maybe will play Batman, and if comic-book nerds think he's just the "the Twilight guy," then they don't deserve him.)
I look forward to catching up with a few films that fell through the cracks, including Beanpole, I Lost My Body and The Unknown Saint. I confess there is still a part of me that wants to experience Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo. I enjoyed seeing colleagues and spending time at my favorite annual festival. And I thank you for reading. My ranking of everything I saw, including films screened in advance, is below, with links leading to individual reviews.
33. Wounds
32. Matthias & Maxime
31. Rocketman
30. The Traitor
29. Les Misérables
28. The Climb
27. Atlantics
26. Tommaso
25. The Dead Don’t Die
24. Zombi Child
23. The Bare Necessity
22. Vivarium
21. Bull
20. Adam
19. The Swallows of Kabul
18. Deerskin
17. Share
16. Bacurau
15. Give Me Liberty
14. Sorry We Missed You
13. Young Ahmed
12. A Hidden Life
11. Pain and Glory
10. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
9. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
8. Oh Mercy!
7. Ghost Tropic
6. Parasite
5. Little Joe
4. Frankie
3. The Wild Goose Lake
2. The Whistlers
1. The Lighthouse
