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by Alexa Dalby
BlacKkKlansman
by Spike Lee
Director Spike Lee received a six-minute standing ovation after the Monday night premiere…
The movie, which tells the true story of an undercover African-American detective (John David Washington) and his Jewish partner (Adam Driver) who team up to infiltrate Klu Klux Klan in 1979, is incredibly timely. It even ends with footage of Donald Trump refusing to condemn the actions of white nationalists during the deadly 2017 Charlottesville riot. There are a lot of digs at the current president throughout “BlacKkKlansman” — one KKK member talks about embracing an “America first” policy and the film makes parallels between the rise of Trump and the political ambitions of former Grand Wizard David Duke…” – Variety
“With Lee’s knockabout treatment, this stranger-than-fiction story lights up like a barroom pinball machine, pinging and flashing and clattering with N-bombs, blaxploitation tropes, strategic anachronisms and unsubtle premonitions of the New Trump Order” – Guardian
Out of Competition
The House that Jack Built
by Lars Von Trier
USA in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack over a span of 12 years and are introduced to the murders that define Jack’s development as a serial killer. We experience the story from Jack’s point of view, while he postulates each murder is an artwork in itself. As the inevitable police intervention is drawing nearer, he is taking greater and greater risks in his attempt to create the ultimate artwork.
Along the way we experience Jack’s descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge – a grotesque mixture of sophistry mixed with an almost childlike self-pity and psychopathic explanations. The House That Jack Built is a dark and sinister story, presented through a philosophical and occasional humorous tale.
“Dozens of people walked out in disgust when The House That Jack Built premiered at Cannes, and while I can certainly understand their reasons, I was happy to stay all the way until the jaw-dropping ending” – BBC
“Lars Von Trier is no stranger to controversy. But even by his standards, his latest movie, “The House That Jack Built,” managed to alienate enough people to prompt more than 100 walkouts and simultaneous groans at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday night” – Variety
“Lars Von Trier serves up a smirking ordeal of gruesomeness…The Danish provocateur, back at Cannes after a seven-year ban, is on maddening form with a dreary, nasty serial killer thriller partly redeemed by its spectacular finale” – Guardian
Amin
by Philippe Faucon
Amin is from Sénégal. He travels to France to find work. The money he sends home provides his wife and children with food. But far from home, his own life is solitary, with nothing but work to fill his days. Then one day he meets Gabrielle.
“In a style which is anything but ostentatious and far removed from the world of sudden, dramatic twists, Philippe Faucon (co-writer of the screenplay with Yasmina Nini-Faucon and Mustapha Kharmoudi) seamlessly and methodically brings together a highly insightful picture, steadily incorporating the many issues inherent to this subject (exile, money, emotions, family, the invisible barriers created by skin colour and social strata, economic exploitation, sometimes at the cost of lives or, at the very least, causing isolation, the sense of solidarity that is felt in hostels and among immigrants who play a role in efforts in their countries of origin to ensure the education of future generations, etc.). With its many strengths and highly controlled, stripped-back filming style, which homes in on what counts – looks, attitudes, gestures, and words – Amin is, first and foremost, a film about people and a cinematographic project of very high standing” – Cineuropa
The Snatch Thief (El motoarrebatador)
by Agustin Toscano
A robber regrets having brutally hit an elderly woman in order to snatch off her handbag and attempts to make up for the damage he inflicted. But his past deeds as a snatch thief haunt him, keeping him from restarting his life anew.
“…nicely plotted, unpretentious…” – Variety
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Di Qiu Zui Hou De Ye Wan)
by Bi Gan
Luo Hongwu returns to Kaili, the hometown from which he fled many years ago.
He begins the search for the woman he loved, and whom he has never been able to forget.
“Mesmerizing…This is bold and rare filmmaking. A slow and steady rollercoaster ride through memory, melancholy and movie magic. There is a shot that will be talked about, at least in cinephile circles, for quite some time. What makes this 50-plus minute sequence-shot here so special is how it blends depth-defying camerawork (Steadicams, zip-lines and drones are involved), exquisite lighting and production design — all of it captured in 3D! — with a deeply poetic style that recalls both Wong Kar-Wai and Andrei Tarkovsky, tracking the main character’s gradual descent into melancholic bliss.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Remarkable. A beautiful, smoulderingly romantic film. The sweet ache that comes from trying to hold on to a reverie is both the theme and the effect of a film that is ostensibly about a man’s search for his lost love, but gradually casts off the ballast of narrative to become an extended audiovisual poem – in 3D.” – Screen International
“One of the most beautiful and virtuosic in the history of cinema.” Les Inrocks
En Guerre (At War)
by Stéphane Brizé
Despite heavy financial sacrifices on the part of their employees and record profits that year, the management of Perrin Industries decides to shut down a factory. The 1100 employees, led by their spokesman Laurent Amédéo, decide to fight this brutal decision, ready to do everything to save their jobs.
“…a stridently, bafflingly cacophonous movie…” – Guardian
