Between weak films, absent Americans and a French cinema on the brink of collapse, the Cannes Film Festival appears to be facing a rare crisis of authority.
Cannes Is In Crisis
Competition
Theatre at War
Lukas Dhont’s follow up to Close (2022) is a touching tale of art-making during war, touching on themes of sexuality, fantasy and the harshness of reality.
The Kieślowski Universe
Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales has been critically panned, but our reviewer found its tribute to the work of Kieślowski remarkably touching.
What Remains from Cannes 2025?
Jafar Panahi’s Un Simple Accident Palme characterises a Cannes line-up that will be better known for its political potential than its aesthetic content.
Cannes Competition Week One: Surrender to the Rhythm
From the overhyped Eddington to German sensation Sound of Falling to the techno-infused Sirât, here is week one of the Cannes 2025 competition.
The Phoenician Scheme. Wes Anderson’s Most Inessential Film.
The Phoenician Scheme is a spy caper that feels like a glorified cameo-fest, and is the first Wes Anderson film that feels completely inessential.
Sean Baker Does It Again with Anora
Sean Baker continues his deeply humanist exploration of sex workers’ complex inner lives with the touching and charming Russian-American fairytale Anora.
Oh No, Canada
Paul Schrader’s latest Oh, Canada is a self-reflexive work that fails to combine its various threads into a satisfying treatise on life’s regrets.
The Substance Has Never Met a Real Woman
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance boasts impressive technical sound design and monster work but suffers from a lack of compelling female characters.
Megalopolis Invites You To The Future Of Cinema
Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited, soon-to-be-endlessly-debated, epic Megalopolis asks you to consider the power of art to change the course of time.