Collider is back at the Cannes Film Festival to discover the crème de la crème of international cinema, debate with other critics about the various films, interview stars and see new ones on the rise, complain about the long lines, party (a bit), and walk (a lot) down the Croisette to watch the massive billboards and video installations of upcoming blockbusters.
So slather on some sunscreen and let’s take a walk.
Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories, the two Netflix productions in competition, which caused much controversy among French distributors after the selection was announced, are prominently featured. Considering the quality of the series produced by Netflix, they are two of the most anticipated films this year.
Further down is Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó’s Jupiter Moon, hanging right next to a Renault ad. Does that mean the French automobile company will provide the vehicles for outer space road trips?
On the rotating kiosk, we see festival opener, the off-competition festival opener Ismael’s Ghosts by Arnaud Desplechin and the in-competition L’Amant Double by Francois Ozon.
“Careful who you trust”, announces the South Korean out-of-competition flick The Merciless, directed by Byun Sung-hyun, while next to it a cute bear looks caught-in-the-act guilty as he is told “You are what you eat” on the poster for Animal Crackers, the animated feature voiced by Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Danny DeVito, Ian McKellen and Sylvester Stallone. Perhaps he had one cracker too many?
Paul Verhoeven’s upcoming French-language film Blessed Virgin, starring Belgian actress Virginie Efira (an A-list star in France), overlooks a typically Riviera building, and then we see red. Slated for a 2018 release, the animated flick Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs may appeal to shoeholics and is voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz.
On the way to the Carlton, Ryan Reynolds is carrying Samuel L. Jackson in the poster for The Hitman’s Bodyguard, while next to it real-life couple star as a fake-like couple inspired by another real-life couple on the poster for Loving Pablo, Hating Pablo. Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen is announced for 2018 and he sees red.
The Carlton Hotel is the amusement park of movie billboards and video installations. On either side of the palatial hotel, Transformers 348 (I have seriously lost count) stand guard as billboards and large screens running the lengthy trailers.
Speaking of lengthy, this summer’s Cars 3 trailer is over 5 minutes long and introduces two new characters, the ominous Jackson Storm (voiced by Armie Hammer) and race technician Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonso). Wlll she get Lightning McQueen’s (Owen Wilson) motors revving again?
And these cars will not be crushed by the replica of the Orient Express. Announced for November, the remake of Murder on the Orient Express, its director Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom, Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer and Daisy Ridley.
Lying on the edge of the Carlton’s roof is a superhero on a break. Spider-Man: Homecoming has some time to rest before its June release.