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Theme of Cannes 2019

Considering the films I watched when I was at Cannes, I would say that the theme of this year’s films was the idea of culture in the face in a modern era. This year’s festival featured many young filmmakers who either are of multiple cultures or feel the need to explore what place tradition has in modern society. This idea was a prominent part of almost every movie I watched here. Probably the most notable example of this idea was Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced , which was Akin’s attempt to promote the celebration of Georgian culture, but remind young Georgians that they have an opportunity to redefine their culture. Inspired by the attacks on LGBT groups in Georgia, Akin decided to create a film that would inspire hope in the younger generation, rather than turn them away from Georgia entirely. In doing so he created a beautiful film about not only self-acceptance, but acceptance of one’s country and people as well. This duality of culture was prominent in other f
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Give Me Liberty Review

In a long tradition of the depiction of American life, director Kirill Mikhanovsky throws his hat into the ring with his new film, Give Me Liberty . The film follows a driver of a disability van in modern-day Milwaukee, and through portraying protagonist Vic’s day in the city, Mikhanovsky explores a deeply divided America in a nuanced and moving way. Chris Galust makes his acting debut as Vic, the woe-begotten protagonist of Give Me Liberty , as he suffers through the seemingly never-ending day at work. After the bus cancels on Vic’s grandfather and his grandfather’s friends, they demand that Vic takes them to the cemetery in his disability van in order to attend their friend’s funeral. Thus begins a zany ensemble comedy as Vic attempts to pick up his clients while keeping his eccentric, elderly passengers at bay. On the surface, the comedy itself is enough to propel this film forward. The culture clash makes for consistent gags in the first act of the film, but it also establi
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Cannes Film Festival LAST DAY

Today was the last day, and it felt really weird that it's just over now. I woke up to get in line to see The Traitor , which was this really entertaining film about the Cosa Nostra bust in the '80s, one of the largest mafia arrests in Italian history. Honestly, it was just a fun movie, nothing really more to it than that, but I had a great time watching it. After that we had to go straight to the line for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (seriously though, where did all of these random people come from for the last three days? You had to get to every movie at least two hours in advance to have any hope of getting in), which was amazing . So happy I got to see it here, it was one of the top films I wanted to see. We came back to JLP for dinner and then went back to Cannes for the last movie on the beach. It was a movie about Jim Morrison (and The Doors but mostly him), and it was definitely an interesting approach to his life. I appreciated that it was not glorifying him at all,
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Cannes Film Fest Day Eleven

I'm still pretty sick, but I still was able to see a couple movies today. I started the day seeing Zombi Child , and this is somehow the second zombie film that I have gone to...and I still really, really hate zombies. This movie was cool in the sense that it returned zombies to their cultural roots, but the protagonist was so odd and tonally the film was all over the place. Right after, we saw Give Me Liberty , which I really liked (I disagreed with some of the artistic choices) but no one else I saw it with did. That was pretty much all I did today, but I planned out the movies for tomorrow (the last day!!) and am hoping for a good day.
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And Then We Danced: A Celebration of Tradition and Hope for the Future

In his third feature film, Swedish-born Levan Akin returns to his familial roots of  Georgia in order to explore the issues faced by the Georgian LGBT community. And Then We Danced is an achingly sweet and thought-provoking film about self-acceptance in the face of external intolerance, all set against the backdrop of the deeply conservative tradition of the Georgian ballet. Levan Gelbakhiani is magnetic in his performance as Merab, the young Georgian dancer who falls for his new duet partner, Irakli, played by other first-time actor Bachi Valishvili. Both being gifted dancers, Gelbakhiani specifically shines in every dance sequence, selling the emotional arc of both the character and the film in every motion. Both leads captivate in their respective roles and deliver phenomenal performances. The direction and cinematography of the film take inspiration from the dancing on which it focuses, gradually changing throughout the film. It employs close angles and sharp cuts in the begin
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Cannes Film Festival Day Ten

One thing I've learned about myself during this festival is that I am amazing at rallying. Also, if I feel terrible, I have good karma. I woke up this morning, still not feeling great but considerably less nauseous, so I took that as a sign that I should jump back into the swing of things. And we got into the 11:15 screening of Parasite , so I got to see it after all! We had to get in line two hours before but after seeing it, it was so worth it. After the last couple of days I've had, seeing a film that was so amazing was just really what I needed. After that, Rachel and I went to Starbucks to work on our reviews. After working there for a while, Rachel got an update from the Cannes app that Leonardo DiCaprio would be presenting another one of his environmental documentaries in a special screening, so we last minute sprinted over to the Salle du 60 and got in and saw Leo and Orlando Bloom (as in, they were right next to us and there is a video somewhere of us looking like
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Cannes Film Festival Day Nine

So today was kind of a wash. I woke up pretty early (considering how late we were out before) to go see Parasite , but we did not get in. Not to be discouraged, we immediately went to the screening of Particles , a film I was going to see tomorrow. That was an interesting film for lack of a better term, and it definitely had cool aesthetics and concepts but I can't say the story made all too much sense. After Particles,  I had started feeling bad again so I went back to JLP to nap, only to realize that I might actually have a stomach bug or virus. I really wanted to go back to Cannes to see the 8:00 showing of Parasite , but after almost passing out trying to stand up I decided not to do that. I'm trying not to dwell on it because I will hopefully feel better tomorrow and we still have three more days of the festival (and Parasite is definitely coming to the states now, along with Portrait of a Lady on Fire , another film I didn't get to see), but it's definitely a li
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