NEGATIVE SPACE

One Is the Loneliest Number ("The Lobster") © Element Pictures

Absteigend aufgelistet sind hier die Cannes-Filme 2015 aus allen Wettbewerben und Nebenreihen, die mich persönlich am meisten interessieren. Die eigene Vorfreude wie auch das Kritiker-Feedback vor Ort sorgen für die Abstufungen, die ich mit Sternen von fünf bis zwei kenntlich mache. Der Ticker wird mehrmals täglich upgedatet:

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Most-Wanted 2015:

01. My Golden Days - Arnaud Desplechin
02. Carol - Todd Haynes
03. Son of Saul - Laszlo Nemes
04. Green Room - Jeremy Saulnier
05. The Lobster - Yorgos Lanthimos
06. The Assassin - Hsiao-hsien Hou
07. Cemetery of Splendour - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
08. In the Shadow of Women - Philippe Garrel
09. Arabian Nights - Miguel Gomes

Kommentar: Die Directors' Fortnight musste retten, was der eher schwach besetzte Wettbewerb nicht einzulösen wusste. Das hatte auch damit zu tun, dass Festival-Chef Thierry Fremaux den französischen Anteil in schwindelerregende Höhen getrieben hatte.

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★★★★½

"My Golden Days" (Arnaud Desplechin): "Guy pieces together youth from love letters. Knock-out. Reeling. AD's most completely satisfying work." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "Several beautiful moments; mostly felt adrift in its nostalgia until years of emotions coalesce in last 40min." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "A Frencher-than-French tale of deeply-anchored yet partially thwarted romance, MY GOLDEN DAYS is touching, involving and very well acted." (Lisa Nesselson, SD) "Marvelously vivid coming-of-age drama." (Justin Chang, Variety) "Does nothing a coming-of-age tale hasn't done before. Just does it much better. Effortless. [B+/A-]" (Jordan Cronk, Cinema Scope) "An amalgamation of confessions, memories, colors, and genres that define a life in constant reflection. [B+/A-]" (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "Best film of Cannes so far? Arnaud Desplechin's MY GOLDEN DAYS, playing in Quinzaine. A sorrowful love letter of a film." (Karsten Meinich, Montages) "Desplechin's MY GOLDEN DAYS is a gorgeous, melancholy wallow in lost love. Also very funny. Lovely, just lovely." (Wendy Ide, The Times) "Bittersweet tale of youth and crazed love, with outstanding skirt falling down scene. Liked it when it was most surprising." (Isabel Stevens, Sight & Sound) "Do we really need yet another great French coming-of-ager? Do we?? Fine. [A-]" (Adam Cook, Movie Mezzanine) "Der beste Film des Festivals bisher und für mich ist das vielleicht sogar der beste Film des Jahres." (Diego Lerer, Microposia)

"Carol" (Todd Haynes): "CAROL is my Cannes #1 so far. Just a dream. As a fan of the book, it distils everything I loved about it and adds touches I never imagined." (Catherine Bray, BBC) "Blue is the Warmest Carol." (Karsten Meinich, Montages) "It hurts to be in love but what a feeling, what a cloud to float upon. Am I overdoing it? I don’t care. Best Picture, Director, Actresses." (Jeffrey Wells, HE) "So far, the two best Cannes 2015 competition movies are beautifully engineered to make you weep: SON OF SAUL and CAROL." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "Is there a director more in control of every frame than Todd Haynes?" (Steven Zeitchik, Arts) "Todd Haynes's CAROL fulfills it's promise for me, full of magnificent tenderness." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "All I wanted and more -- like stepping into a Hopper painting and finding a devastating romance unfolding in the dark corners." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "CAROL might be the most exquisitely unhappy film ever made. A pinnacle for all involved." (Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph) "A romantic melodrama without the romance or melodrama (in a good way). Rooney Mara steals the film from under Blanchett's nose." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "Hoping, w/time, the great final scene might help me forget how passionless this film is for the 115 minutes leading up to it." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "One of the finest things in the very fine CAROL: its New York winter aquarium atmosphere. A film to get under your skin." (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound) "CAROL is the work of an American master in peak form. A delicate balance of semiotics and sentiment. Blanchett, Mara aces." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "Elegant, brilliant, sumptuous – Haynes' CAROL is a well-acted drama, of top quality. Quite small, though, as a story, like 1st act of ADÈLE." (Karsten Meinich, Montages)

"Son of Saul" (Laszlo Nemes): "Formally devastating, thematically pummeling. Makes SCHINDLER'S LIST look like a sunny day at the park. [B+]" (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "Most sensory concentration camp movie ever. A tour de force debut from Laszlo Nemes. Amazing camera, sound." (Jason Solomons, BBC) "It's tense and powerful at first, repetitive in the second half. Visceral experience is memorable, but not as strong script wise." (Eren Odabasi, ICS) "Curious how such a handsome first-person Holocaust thriller (for lack of a more appropriate genre) can be so affectless." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "Still numb after SAUL FIA, a holocaust drama where the terror is in peripheral sound and vision. More impressive than moving." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "Great or not, and it may be, it certainly deserves to be one of the most seriously discussed films in Cannes." (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound) "Gruelling-ain't-the-word POV death camp roundelay (with shallow-focus shield) in the COME AND SEE mode. Prizes." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "SHOAH meets CHILDREN OF MEN. Terrifying, first-rate thriller." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "Laszlo Nemes' terrifyingly accomplished Holocaust drama SON OF SAUL is the Cannes competition standout so far." (Justin Chang, Variety) "IN THE FOG-gy technique spelunks into hot crucible of carnage, peripheral atrocities. Taxing in a good way. Best Director? [B+]" (Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph) "One of the most searing and penetrating Holocaust films I’ve ever seen, and that’s obviously saying something." (Jeffrey Wells, HE) "It may end up being one of the best movies in Cannes, and is certainly the best film about the Holocaust in a very long time." (Steven Zeitchik, Arts)

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★★★★

"Green Room" (Jeremy Saulnier): "Jeremy Saulnier's THE GREEN ROOM: grim, bloody, remorseless, funny and excellent." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "My genre break-out of Cannes is Jeremy Saulnier's tight, tense siege horror GREEN ROOM, which was fucking fabulous. Loved every minute." (Catherine Bray, BBC) "Exhilaratingly nasty stuff, full of cleavers, white supremacists and gore. Gallows humour; skylight body count." (Wendy Ide, The Times) "Incredibly violent, punks-versus-skins thriller ups BLUE RUIN's ante with escalating tension and shocking humor. Bravo!" (Aaron Hillis, Village Voice) "GREEN ROOM is a total riot." (Adam Woodward, Little White Lies) "Here at Cannes 2015 we have been royally freaked out by Jeremy Saulnier's GREEN ROOM: a brutal siege-horror thriller about Nazi skinheads." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "If you like films with punk music and pit bulls ripping throats out, this one's for you." (Leslie Felperin, THR) "Love the way Saulnier handles violence — like it's being carried out by people who have never really committed it before. Fun!" (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "Boasts all the virtues folks claimed for BLUE RUIN without the accompanying idiocy. Good gory fun." (Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve) "Standing ovation for Jeremy Saulnier at late show of GREEN ROOM. And a lot of ewwws and arrghs during the film. Horribly funny." (Kate Muir, The Times)

"The Lobster" (Yorgos Lanthimos): "Premise and first two thirds are deadpan absurdist excellence, then it meanders through a lesser third act. Still pretty swell." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "THE LOBSTER is an interesting experience because watching it feels sort of like getting boiled alive." (Sasha Stone, AwardsDaily) "Loved the concept and Weisz; disappointed Lanthimos can still only direct actors to do one thing." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "Lanthimos' THE LOBSTER is funny, surreal, bunuelesque. A great film." (Dominik Kamalzadeh, Standard) "Yorgos Lanthimos' LOBSTER completes a zany trilogy about the flaws of organized society. Maybe it's time to move on." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "THE LOBSTER, new movie from DOGTOOTH director, is awesome, a deadpan Orwellian satire of the marriage-industrial complex." (Steven Zeitchik, Arts) "Struggling to find as much real-world resonance as I’d like, but this is much more DOGTOOTH than it is ALPS." (Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve) "A macabre and often hilarious black comedy which runs out of ideas." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "Makes ALPS look like Sirk. Entirely contingent on PWQ (Personal Wackiness Quotient). Way, *way* off the chart for me." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "The body-snatchers won; then what? Fab ideas in early going, Buñuelian verve and wit. But dwindles. More Colman! Farrell vg." (Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph) "Bound in the carapace of its own surrealism." (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound) "Buñuel for a post-Tinder world. Nerve-twingeingly funny, meticulously composed. Colin Farrell is In Bruges-good." (Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph) "A potential revelation for critics and audiences...who have never seen a Marco Ferreri movie." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "Black absurdist comedy. Funny and utterly baffling. I loved it." (John Bleasdale, CineVue) "It's purely conceptual, entirely pleasureless cinema. Not for me. [D-]" (Adam Cook, Movie Mezzanine) "The budget boost and all-star cast has done nothing to dilute the trademark weirdness of the Hellenic duo." (Lee Marshall, SD) "Yorgos Lanthimos's first English-language feature is a wickedly funny, unexpectedly moving satire of couple-fixated society." (Guy Lodge, Variety) "Kongeniale Parabel über die Dialektik von Bindung und Freiheit." (Josef Lederle, Filmdienst)

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★★★½

"The Assassin" (Hsiao-hsien Hou): "Hou’s THE ASSASSIN a wuxia like nothing else: impenetrable plot, visually stunning, great martial arts of credible kind. Palme?" (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound) "The wuxia graded to gleaming, abstract perfection. One of the most beautiful films I've seen. [A]" (Jordan Cronk, Cinema Scope) "Hou evokes Jancsó's THE RED AND THE WHITE with this fractured, honorable, striking anti-war film." (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "One of the most beautiful films i've ever seen: Hou Hsiao Hsien's THE ASSASSIN, a slow, hard to follow, painterly ninja tale." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "BARRY LYNDON of Kung Fu movies. Slow, the most beautiful film of the festival and fascinating." (John Bleasdale, CineVue) "Hou's ASSASSIN is transportive, intoxicating cinema of a high order: You don't just watch this movie, you live inside it. Masterful." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "Hou Hsiao-hsien's first wuxia masterfully blends the genre's essence and his own style. (9/10)" (Derek Elley, Film Business Asia) "The slowest martial-arts film in the East and one of the best films of Cannes 2015." (Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice)

"Cemetery of Splendour" (Apichatpong Weerasethakul): " I won't mince words: This is a masterpiece. Transfixing from from frame one. [A]" (Jordan Cronk, Cinema Scope) "CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR is a whispering tragedy, subtly overflowing with emotion. Stunning. [A]" (Adam Cook, Movie Mezzanine) "Legiac and longing tour of one spiritual world with ties to so many more. As above, so below. [A-]" (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "Ambitious, ambiguous poem of memory, dream, myth & politics should wow fans & mystify others." (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound) "The remake of THE POLTERGEIST I never knew I needed. Never change, Joe." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "Political sci fi via Celine & Julie-style exploration of dreams, fantasy, myth, legend, cinema, ghosts… and it's breathtaking." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "More readily parsed and less visually ravishing than his best films. Mysterious on the surface level only." (Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve)

"In the Shadow of Women" (Philippe Garrel): "Maybe PG's funniest film (is that saying much?) Also nakedly confessional, beautifully played. Very great." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "I'll stand up for this as being Garrel's vampire movie (last shot confirmed this feeling). Modest and light." (Blake Williams, Mubi) "Has the textures and trappings of a nouvelle vague relic from the 1960s." (Allan Hunter, SD) "A deeply felt infidelity drama shot through with irony." (Boyd van Hoeij, THR) "IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN is an intimate & deeply felt drama from Philippe Garrel, with a slight comic edge—but always gentle." (Adam Cook, Movie Mezzanine) "Infidelity drama w/ sex elided in favor of self-induced pain/severe irony. Jealously, indeed. [A-]" (Jordan Cronk, Cinema Scope) "Relationship drama like only the French can make, not very deep, but affecting and observant." (Marc van de Klashorst, ICS)

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★★★
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★★½

"Amy" (Asif Kapadia): "This documentary about the late British soul singer is an overwhelmingly sad, intimate – and dismaying – study of a woman whose talent and charisma helped turn her into a target." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "Problematic." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "Gruesome exploitation movie. Mostly detestable." (Jenny Jecke, Moviepilot) "I saw AMY back at home and couldn't get it out of my head for days. A brilliant kaleidoscopic tragedy of wasted great talent." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "AMY is a tremendous piece of work, very inspired in its use of voiceover interviews + sense of a life lived in the camera's unblinking gaze." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "Die Doku über Amy Winehouse ist miserabel. Zwei Stunden unveröffentlichte Bilder von ihren Alkohol- und Heroin-Konsum zeigen. What the fuck." (Diego Lerer, Microposia) "Kapadia's doc portrait-as-oral history approach once again suits a tragic subject, though this felt like it could have been tighter." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed)

"One Floor Below" (Radu Muntean): "Radu Muntean's teasing psychological slow-burner ONE FLOOR BELOW shows that Romanian cinema still has the edge in Dostoyevskian drama." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "The Romanians do it again! Out of competition but Radu Muntean’s ONE FLOOR BELOW is probably best film I’ve seen so far." (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound) "A very fine if not exactly groundbreaking film about perspective and distance." (Leslie Felperin, THR) "Quietly builds into a devastating portrait of a weak man and the weak society he represents, both of which have lost their moral compasses." (Lee Marshall, SD) "Muntean's ONE FLOOR BELOW is a very confident and subtle psychological drama. The best I've seen here so far." (Eren Odabasi, ICS)

"A Tale of Tales" (Matteo Garrone): "Liked one tale out of three. I think. It's hard to be sure given how poorly and pointlessly they're intercut." (Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve) "Garrone's bizarre, baroque fabulist folly TALE OF TALES: like a bloated remake of DAS SINGENDE, KLINGENDE BÄUMCHEN." (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound) "Matteo Garrone's film is fabulous in every sense and Toby Jones has a shout at Best Actor." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "Garrone's INTO THE WOODS, only vastly better shot. Less perverse than expected, but quite entrancing." (Justin Chang, Variety) "Well I loved loved loved TALE OF TALES. Power of imagination and story. Great." (Sasha Stone, AwardsDaily) "Packed to the (sea monster's) gills with gorgeous, evocative, unfamiliar fairy tale imagery, but doesn't cohere into a whole." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "For all its atmospheric riches, TALE OF TALES is a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing save that Matteo Garrone is a good director." (Jeffrey Wells, HE) "Strange, original, uneven but still impressive follow-up to REALITY, a memorable cinematic experience." (Lee Marshall, SD) "Python meets Pasolini in this horrific, hilarious - and very grown up - fairy tale anthology." (Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph) "Finally a jolt of life. Surreal/nutty collision of deconstructed archetypes/sincerity. A dream with a fever." (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "It's grotesque and gory, fantastical but with a human core. As all fairy tales should be." (Marc van de Klashorst, ICS)

"Our Little Sister" (Hirokazu Koreeda): "The film is quiet, understated and gentle, allowing the audience to take pleasure in teasing out its narrative subtleties, and presented with wonderful freshness and clarity." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "A generous spirited, pristinely shot and, quite frankly, somewhat dull effort." (Leslie Felperin, THR) "Cozy, understated drama about four sisters in a seaside town that drifts into the sentimental a little more than I liked." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "Ultra-subtle & a tad too cheery for its own good." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "Kore-eda's OUR LITTLE SISTER a typically sweet (& sour) Ozu-inflected tale of siblings' prospects with men, work, each other etc." (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound) "An intimate, warm embrace of a film, it radiates joy and harmony despite playing out entirely in the shadow of a difficult father's death." (Dave Calhoun, TimeOut) "Enchanting film, which channels the Japanese master Ozu Yasujiro at the same time as it lovingly recreates the world of Hollywood 1940s family melodramas like MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and LITTLE WOMEN. (Nick Roddick, Sight & Sound) "Lovingly crafted small-scale family drama is full of characters you won't want to leave behind. Heartbreaking." (Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph) "Kore-eda Hirokazu is at the top of his game in this graceful rondo of family manners." (Derek Elley, Film Business Asia)

"My Mother" (Nanni Moretti): "Splendid work by Buy, Turturro, Lazzarini in Moretti's warm, funny, very moving MI MADRE." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "Nanni Moretti’s MIA MADRE is surely his finest since THE SON'S ROOM. Again beautifully understated, and with very funny Turturro." (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound) "Moretti strikes perfect balance of drama and comedy, Buy magnificent. Last 15 minutes really affecting." (Marc van de Klashorst, ICS) "This festival is rather lachrymose in its choices. MIA MADRE yet another sweet contemplation of death. It's thin but we'll done." (Nick James, Sight & Sound) "Nanni Moretti's warm and witty MIA MADRE is his best since THE SON'S ROOM and John Turturro is on terrific form." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "MIA MADRE is great. Applause. Not a dry eye in the house." (Sasha Stone, AwardsDaily) "MIA MADRE alternates between joy and sadness, dream and reality, touching drama and smart satire with exceptional ease and grace. Masterful." (Eren Odabasi, ICS)

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★★

"Inside Out" (Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen): "Best Pixar since UP, even w its manic WRECK-IT RALPH tendencies. Strong plea for a full emotional life." (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) "Not UP or WALL-E level daring, but still a gratifyingly inventive, clever return to form for Pixar with a nicely realized theme." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "It's easily animated feature front runner. Will make shitloads of dough. More FINDING NEMO than WALL-E." (Sasha Stone, AwardsDaily) "Best Pixar in years." (Jonathan Romney, Sight & Sound) "Original, joyfull, funny: the new Pixar movie INSIDE OUT is a triumph!" (Christian Jungen, NZZ)

"Sicario" (Denis Villeneuve): "Emily Blunt literally token female in Villeneuve's SICARIO. Mann-lite, lots of brooding process without ever knowing what's at stake." (David Jenkins, Little White Lies) "America the cowardly, America the ugly, America the land of wolves and silencers. Deakins MVP. Bleak and sleek. [B/B+]" (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "Bleak and bloody brilliant. Denis Villeneuve gives the drug war its French Connection. Benicio Del Toro towers." (John Bleasdale, CineVue) "Can Denis Villeneuve please stop making movies that feature women? Or people?" (Jenny Jecke, Moviepilot) "Despite portentous air, ultimately more silly thriller than mythic statement on dark times. But Blunt, Del Toro, Brolin all terrif." (Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed) "Whoa. Did Denis Villeneuve just take Michael Mann's crown? SICARIO is a muscular, brutal action thriller." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "I think I took about six breaths during the entirety of Denis Villeneuve's blistering SICARIO." (Scott Foundas, Variety) "SICARIO is very effective, black-hearted suspense. Silly if you think about it; best not to. Brolin, Del Toro let loose." (Dave Calhoun, TimeOut) "People are calling this conventional; it’s actually quite radical. [83]" (Mike D'Angelo, The Dissolve)

"Youth" (Paolo Sorrentino): "Youth is a warm, poignant, and expectedly ravishing follow up to Bellezza. Surprises in every scene, leaves deep emotional impact." (Eren Odabasi, ICS) "Paolo Sorrentino's YOUTH is a minor indulgence, tweaked with funny ideas and images, beset with a heavy sentimentality." (Peter Bradshaw, Guardian) "Sorrentino’s YOUTH is about effects of ageing on memory, bodies, hopes & relationships. Fun - though I wish he’d use less music." (Geoff Andrew, Sight & Sound)

"Maryland" (Alice Winocour): "The surprise of Cannes 2015 thus far: Alice Winocour's superb DISORDER, which is all sorts of psychologically complicated and studly." (Glenn Heath Jr., Slant) "Sets up many familiar narrative elements and proceeds to sidestep them all. Tough, muscular filmmaking. [B/B+]" (Jordan Cronk, Cinema Scope) "MARYLAND also showcases sharp, who'da-thunk-it genre chops from Alice Winocour. Hollywood would do well to get her number." (Guy Lodge, Variety) "Hollywood does better with this sort of sleekly packaged suspense." (Todd McCarthy, THR)

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"Night Fare": "Favourite film in the Cannes market so far? Julien Seri's NIGHT FARE that's TAXI DRIVER meets MANIAC COP, with a fab twist ending." (Alan Jones, FrightFest)