The 15 Films We Can’t Wait to See at the Cannes Film Festival
FjordPersonally, we can never get enough Renate Reinsve. And luckily, the Sentimental Value Oscar nominee will star in this drama as one half of a couple (her husband is played by Sebastian Stan) who face scrutiny after moving to her remote Norwegian hometown. Director Cristian Mungiu is beloved by the festival: He won the Palme d’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and also won other awards at Cannes for both his 2012 film Beyond the Hills and his 2016 movie Graduation. —RFHer Private HellDirector Nicolas Winding Refn has taken some time away from narrative feature film since the release of The Neon Demon, which premiered at Cannes in 2016. He’s back at the festival with a premiere out of competition that stars Charles Melton, Sophie Thatcher, Kristine Froseth, and Havana Rose Liu. The film is rumored to be a take on the slasher film genre, but with a Refn-ian touch. With an ensemble cast of bright young stars, this will surely be one of the edgiest premieres at the festival. The question is, will it be good? —JRJohn Lennon: The Last InterviewThe film centers on the RKO Radio interview John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, did on December 8, 1980, the very same day that the former Beatle was killed outside his New York City apartment building. The three-and-a-half-hour interview was tied to the release of the couple’s album Double Fantasy, but covered a wide range of topics: creativity, art, love, and much more. While there will likely be a lot of eyes on this film due to its use of AI-generated imagery, it could also be a great Beatles amuse-bouche as we await the hotly anticipated Beatles film series from Sam Mendes that’s currently filming and set for release in 2028. —RFThe Man I LoveIndie veteran Ira Sachs returns to Cannes with a drama starring Rami Malek as an actor taking on his final role. The film is set in the 1980s and costars Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Sachs is one of the most influential LGBTQ+ filmmakers working today, whose work includes Love Is Strange, Passages, and Peter Hujar’s Day. This film feels a little bigger than his previous work, but it is still undoubtedly indie. Malek took some hits after winning an Academy Award for Bohemian Rhapsody, and this film might be his path back toward critical favor. —JRPaper TigerDirector James Gray has had five of his films—Armageddon Time, The Immigrant, Two Lovers, We Own the Night, and The Yards—premiere at Cannes, so it’s fair to call him a regular at this point. He’ll return this year with Paper Tiger, a drama starring Miles Teller and Adam Driver as brothers in 1980s New York. After they partner with some shady Russian entrepreneurs, they soon find themselves entangled in a web of corruption that threatens to rip their families apart. As with many of Gray’s films, you can expect rich, nuanced performances from both Teller and Driver, along with Scarlett Johansson, who plays Teller’s character’s wife. —RF
