The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most illustrious events in the entertainment industry, in part because of its prestigious history of celebrating many of the greatest films ever produced, and in part because it’s in France and the trip is expensive and the odds are exceptionally good that you aren’t going.
We keep seeing images from Cannes that sell you on the glamour of the events – the styles, the parties, the premieres – but none of that matters. Seriously, none of it matters. None of those superficial displays of peacockery would be getting caught on camera if it weren’t for the impressive schedule of films that are premiering at Cannes 2016 (or any other year). Cannes is about the movies, and the movies… as usual… look absolutely fantastic this year.
We scoured the schedule to highlight seven of the most exciting films playing at Cannes 2016, to give you an idea of what you’re missing (sorry about that) but also to remind you that most if not all of these movies will be arriving at a theater near you eventually, probably before the end of the year. Let the buzz begin, and let’s just hope that these films live up to their extraordinary potential!
Films That’ll Make You Want Go to Cannes 2016:
Top Photo: Amazon Studios
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Cannes 2016 Films That'll Make You Wish You Could Go
-
Agassi
Chan-wook Park's follow-up to the acclaimed thriller Stoker would be highly anticipated no matter what it was, but the man who gave us Oldboy is adapting the Victorian crime novel Fingersmith - about a woman who falls for a petty thief - and that's such an unusual marriage of filmmaker and material that we can barely contain our fascination for how Agassi has turned out.
Photo: CJ Entertainment
-
American Honey
Andrea Arnold proved herself to be one of the most exciting filmmakers in the world with the acclaimed dramas Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights. Her new film American Honey is about a teenaged girl who falls in with hard-partying traveling magazine salesman, and it's a concept that would seem utterly baffling in any other filmmaker's hands, but it sounds just about right coming from Arnold.
Photo: A24
-
Elle
The director of Basic Instinct is back with a new kind of thriller, a revenge film starring Isabelle Huppert as a victim of sexual violence who starts stalking her own assailant. Verhoeven has never shied away from controversial topics, and he usually elevates even the most unsettling concepts into smart, engaging art.
Photo: SBS Distribution
-
Loving
From the acclaimed director of Mud and Midnight Special comes the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, who in the late 1950s were sentenced to one year in jail for the crime of interracial marriage. Nichols' films are always insightful and beautifully acted, and the timely topic of marriage equality is likely to make Loving one of the most talked about films of Cannes.
Photo: Focus Features
-
The Last Face
Sean Penn may be best known as a two-time Oscar-winning actor, but he's also an accomplished director. His first film since 2007's Into the Wild plays at Cannes this year, and stars Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem as relief workers making difficult decisions in a politically turbulent mission in Africa. If Penn can keep The Last Face from getting too preachy, he just might make his most potent statement yet.
Photo: River Road Entertainment
-
Neon Demon
Nicholas Winding Refn defiantly refuses to be anything but an art house director, but perhaps The Neon Demon will have more crossover appeal than his strange follow-up to Drive, the divisive Only God Forgives. The giallo-esque tale of an aspiring model (Elle Fanning) whose beauty puts her in the crosshairs of her rivals, looks like one of the most visually stunning films of the year, either way.
Photo: Amazon Studios
-
The Salesman
Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi makes astounding movies about the fascinating mysteries in our everyday lives. He's following up the Oscar-winning A Separation and the equally brilliant The Past with a new film that is rumored to be inspired by Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman. Whatever it is, whatever it's about, it's on our list of the must-see films of the year.
Photo: Memento Films
