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Last month on the sunny shores of the French Riviera, Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 75th edition between May 17th and 28th. Following two years of scaling down in the face of the global pandemic, Cannes bounced back this year with its usual sense of enthusiastic hype surrounding the premieres of some of the most significant new movies from all corners of the globe.
A variety of dramatic and experimental new works of cinema at this year’s edition of Cannes provided many showcases of talent from some of the world’s most influential actors and actresses, and these were some of the best.
6 Donkeys in EO
When Isabelle Huppert, aka the “French Meryl Streep,” appeared in a minuscule role three-quarters through Jerzy Skolimowski’s latest movie EO, patrons in every screening gasped in delighted surprise. However, Huppert’s immense stardom was not enough to distract from EO’s most incredible performances; the six real-life donkeys portraying the film’s titular character.
EO, an experimental, daring remake of the 1966 French film Au Hasard Balthazar, delighted Cannes this year with its fascinating visual approach. The film’s narrative centers around an ex-circus donkey and his cruel travels through modern-day Europe as he is passed from owner to owner. The film is nearly void of dialogue, allowing audiences to ponder the donkey’s outlook without fully anthropomorphizing his animal perspective. As an epic animal tale, the six donkeys playing the part of EO enchanted the film with the uniquely cinematic qualities of horses and other equines. When EO was awarded the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes, director Skolimowski was sure to thank the six donkeys who brought his film’s protagonist to life.
Austin Butler in Elvis
Millennials may recognize Austin Butler’s many roles on children’s television from the early-mid 2000s. This year at Cannes, the thirty-year-old actor solidified his A-list Hollywood status with his leading role as “the King of Rock N Roll” in Elvis. In Baz Luhrmann’s latest exercise in over-the-top filmmaking, Butler’s exceptional breakout performance as Elvis Presley balances a movie that ambitiously stretches the boundaries of spectacle with mixed success.
Elvis chronicles Presley’s blastoff to international stardom, with Butler portraying the singer throughout many decades of his illustrious career. Butler’s embodiment of “The King” is handled with such detailed expertise that it is enough to upgrade Elvis above just an excessive biopic. With the difficult task of portraying a celebrity such as Presley with such an iconic persona in popular culture, Butler expertly captures Presley’s speaking and singing voices and his captivating stage presence.
Song Kang-ho in Broker
In his last appearance at Cannes Film Festival in 2019, South Korean actor Song Kang-ho’s most famous performance debuted in the Palme d’Or winning Parasite. This year, Song returned to Cannes with his latest work, Broker, a Korean-language movie by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda. Song became the first South Korean actor to win Cannes’ Best Actor prize in the festival’s 75-year history.
Known for his social realist dramas, Kore-eda’s Broker adheres to the filmmaker’s oeuvre but relocates from his homeland of Japan to South Korea. As one of Broker‘s central characters, Song plays Sang-hyeon, a laundromat owner who schemes with a friend to abduct unwanted infants left at a church “baby box” to sell the children on the adoption black market. As Song has proven in his collaborations with filmmakers such as Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, the talented actor can embody flawed characters to whom film viewers can feel a conflicting sense of attachment and sensitivity. Audiences will experience Song’s Cannes Best Actor-winning performance as Broker as the film is released across the globe this year, with Neon handling the US distribution of Broker.
Vicky Krieps in Corsage
Since her 2017 breakout role as Alma in Phantom Thread, actress Vicky Krieps has impressed with her skills and affinity for choosing quality roles. This year at Cannes, Krieps received the Best Performance Prize in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section for her latest role in Corsage. Directed by Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer, Corsage is an ambitious period drama centering around the revisionist history of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, one of the most influential European aristocrats of the late-19th century.
Krieps expertly embodies the royal’s anarchistic spirit. Elisabeth’s character is depicted as discordant with her husband, Emperor Franz Joesph’s, ideas of how a woman in power should feel and behave. However, Kriep’s spirited performance does not wash over Elisbeth’s shortcomings; the Empress was known for her indulgent behavior and unpredictability as she traversed the tedium of aristocratic life.
Margaret Qualley in Stars at Noon
At Cannes this year, Claire Denis‘ latest film, Stars at Noon, premiered to mixed reviews from journalists and cinephiles. Based on a novel of the same name set during the later years of the Nicaraguan Revolution, Denis chose to update Stars at Noon for modern times in a pandemic-era world. Unfortunately, audiences scrutinized Stars at Noon for its meandering narrative approach and muddled political messages. Regardless of the film’s tangled themes, a significant highlight was the performance of budding actress Margaret Qualley.
Qualley stars as Trish, an American journalist with mysterious origins and motives working in Nicaragua during a turbulent Presidential election. Trish’s visa allowing her to work in the country has been revoked for reasons not entirely explained, leaving her trapped in Nicaragua. While wandering about erratically, planning her next movement, Trish becomes enamored with a British businessman (Joe Alwyn). The two embark on a plan to escape Nicaragua while falling into a twisting romance of desperation in a land where they both do not belong. As Trish, Qualley delivers a remarkable performance as a hopeless young woman whose actions and reactions simultaneously leave her unlikeable and pathetic. A24 will be distributing Stars at Noon in the US later this year.
Michelle Williams in Showing Up
Michelle Williams received much positive praise at Cannes this year for her latest role in Showing Up, directed by Kelly Reichardt. In her fourth collaboration with the American auteur filmmaker, Williams stars as Lizzy Carr, a budding sculptor living in modern-day Portland, where the character faces creative crises leading up to her biggest art show to date.
As with Reichardt’s other works, Showing Up has a quiet, unrushed sensibility that contemplates modern American life. As Lizzy, Williams tactically delivers a performance that evokes reality in a manner that meshes with Reichardt’s down-to-earth oeuvre. Williams’ interpretation is a fully-realized artist who juggles doubt in her creative process and feelings of inferiority on top of the everyday stressors of life. All in all, Showing Up is another exceptional Reichardt work that perfectly showcases the remarkable talents of Williams.
