The 2024 Cannes Film Festival (So Far), "Megalopolis," "Kinds Of Kindness" & "Emilia Perez"

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[00:01:35] conditions apply. And the Oscar goes to... Oh, thank you so much. This might be the one time I'm speaking.

[00:01:41] This is not a joke. Moonlight is one best picture. Could you double check the envelope? And I can't

[00:01:46] deny the fact that you like me. Thank you life, thank you love. You guys are just standing up because

[00:01:52] you feel bad that I fell and that's really embarrassing, but thank you. This is nice.

[00:01:57] It's a tie. I'm the king of the world. And the Oscar goes to... And the Oscar goes to...

[00:02:05] My only object in being here is to try and get out of trouble.

[00:02:08] Flashlight, go watch lightning. He's looking at you, kid. Right there, right here. I don't give a...

[00:02:12] Could have been a contender. Passing you a... I could have been somebody. They can only kill me with a golden bullet.

[00:02:18] What have I done? Call me Mr. Tibbs. I'm gonna make him an offer again.

[00:02:22] A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver. Are you not entertained?

[00:02:28] For Frodo. With a nice beard. Don't laugh! Can't stop what's coming. This ain't reality TV!

[00:02:34] I will not fall into despair. You hate bloggers, you mock Twitter. It's time, Robbie, this is fast!

[00:02:40] Welcome to the Next Best Picture Podcast. And may I see Oppenheimer?

[00:02:49] Hello, and welcome to episode 393 of the Next Best Picture Podcast.

[00:02:54] I am your host, Matt Neglia. The time of recording is...

[00:02:59] Wait a minute. What day is it? What time is it? Josh Parham and I are in Cannes for the Cannes

[00:03:06] Film Festival, the 77th annual edition. Josh, are we going crazy?

[00:03:13] Absolutely, because it's all blending together. That is the film festival life for us. And yeah,

[00:03:19] we're just in a black hole of time right now. But we love it though.

[00:03:22] Wouldn't trade it for the world. No, it's been a great experience so far. And

[00:03:25] we are coming here today to give you all a recap of the first week of... Well,

[00:03:30] it's technically not a full week, but part one, let's say, of our recap of the Cannes Film Festival

[00:03:36] since we arrived on opening night. Josh and I are going to take you through all the films that

[00:03:41] we have watched so far up until this point. We are not going to do a traditional episode here,

[00:03:46] so no fan questions, no polls. I apologize. What have you been watching this week? Well,

[00:03:51] Josh and I are going to tell you what we've been watching this week. And there is going to be just

[00:03:55] one trailer posted for Megalopolis, which we are going to get into detail on, I imagine.

[00:04:00] But yeah, Cannes. Josh, let's start off with the experience itself so far. This is your first

[00:04:06] time here. This is my second time. What has it been like for you so far? Well, like with every

[00:04:11] film festival that you attend for the first time, there is a bit of a learning curve and especially

[00:04:17] with the ticketing system, which we're not going to get into right now, but it was causing much

[00:04:21] stress for me in the beginning. But, you know, after a while, you sort of find your footing

[00:04:27] and you realize that everybody's sort of in the same boat and you learn as you go.

[00:04:32] And once you get over that, you just are able to experience this festival for what it is. And

[00:04:38] I am having a really, really good time with it. It has always been a dream of mine to come here,

[00:04:43] and I am very much valuing this experience. I think it's really, really good. Well, I'm really

[00:04:48] glad to hear that. I'm glad that we were able to give it to you, and I'm happy to hear that.

[00:04:53] Despite whatever the reception to the films are, that there is at least an appreciation for the

[00:04:59] art form in general still. And believe me, I understand how the experience of a film festival

[00:05:05] with travel and ticketing and staying out in the sun and where can I get water? Like all these

[00:05:10] things that just contribute towards stress, they never extinguish our passionate flame for the art

[00:05:17] form that is cinema. So you ready to get into it? Let's do it. So opening night, as I mentioned

[00:05:25] earlier, was the second act. Not a strong opening night film for me. I was not a big fan of this one.

[00:05:30] This was a meta comedy about four actors who are making the first movie written and directed by

[00:05:36] artificial intelligence. I found it to be somewhat amusing at times. Léa Seydoux and Vincent Lindon

[00:05:42] were standouts for me. But it's really funny how the biggest reaction this movie got, I think,

[00:05:47] from its audience was the Netflix logo at the very, very beginning. I imagine it's for international

[00:05:52] distribution and not for domestic, which, you know, because this essentially is the first time

[00:05:57] that a Netflix logo has appeared in front of a film it can since what, 2017? I can't remember when

[00:06:04] was the last time they were here. It has been a while. Yeah. And that definitely got, I think, a

[00:06:10] bigger reaction than any of the jokes in the movie. I detested it. I hated that movie so much.

[00:06:18] And it was at a disadvantage because I'm not a big Depew fan. His movies have never really worked

[00:06:24] for me, but this one, man, was maybe my breaking point with him. I found it to be so annoying,

[00:06:31] so grating, really had nothing of value to say about modern cinema and just felt like

[00:06:39] it was kind of wasting everybody's time. And yeah, unfortunately, not a great opening to

[00:06:44] the festival. Some might say an omen to the rest of the fest, but I certainly did not really have

[00:06:50] a great time with that film. Historically speaking, the opening night film has never

[00:06:54] really been all that per se anyway. So I didn't really take too much into account with it as far

[00:07:00] as indicative of the rest of the festival. But the next day we started off with the opening film

[00:07:07] in one of the sidebar sections, which is the director's fortnight here for This Life of Mine.

[00:07:15] This was a movie that, you know, it's pretty small all around. It explores the deteriorating

[00:07:21] mental health of a middle-aged woman. I thought it was perfectly fine for what it was.

[00:07:28] It was a bit meandering though, I thought overall. And it was something that,

[00:07:32] although it has a really good performance at its center, it just wasn't for me.

[00:07:36] Everything it could have been, I think. And that's kind of a shame too, considering this

[00:07:40] is the last film from its director, Sophie Filiares. I very much agree with that. I thought

[00:07:45] it was a movie that had a really great central performance in it and that carried me through

[00:07:50] a lot of it. But I think that movie just eventually kind of gets lost in its scope that it wants to

[00:07:56] tell. And instead of going for something very simple, it became a little bit more complicated

[00:08:02] and expansive. And I think that took away a lot of the impact of that character study.

[00:08:06] And unfortunately, it lost a lot of steam towards the end.

[00:08:10] Ghost Trail. It's a gripping true story that I thought was pretty decent all around. It's about

[00:08:19] a secret group pursuing Syrian regime's fugitive leaders. And it has Adam Bessa in it as the lead

[00:08:27] performance. He was in the extraction films. Pretty good. I would highly recommend you check

[00:08:32] this one out when you get a chance, if you hadn't seen it. I had not, so that one is on my radar.

[00:08:37] Then we watched Simon of the Mountain. This was another film that was in one of the sidebar

[00:08:42] sections here. This was like, how do you say? This was a slice of life kind of character study,

[00:08:49] if you will, about a young man who is disgruntled, he's awkward and he's having trouble

[00:08:54] fitting in. And so what he does is he basically pretends that he has a mental or physical

[00:09:00] disability to fit in with this other group of young people. He's having trouble at home with

[00:09:07] his mother. And this was another one where I was like, I thought it could have just been a little

[00:09:12] bit tighter and cohesive in its messaging. But all around, I thought this was a really solid effort

[00:09:17] with a pretty great lead performance from Lorenzo Ferro. I remember liking this movie a little bit

[00:09:24] more than you did. And I think at the center of it, it has a really interesting discussion about

[00:09:30] society's treatment of individuals that are in this group and how much credit we give them in

[00:09:37] terms of their own wants and desires. And I found that to be a really interesting conversation it

[00:09:41] brought up. It's not perfect. I do think that the movie does have some slow spots. It doesn't really

[00:09:48] coalesce all of its ideas perfectly, but I found myself really connecting to it in a surprising way.

[00:09:53] And I think if more people watch it, it would inspire a really good conversation.

[00:09:58] Our first competition film for the Palme d'Or was Wild Diamond, which is the directorial debut

[00:10:05] of Agatha Reininger and also the acting debut of Malou Kébézi. Pretty strong work from both of them

[00:10:14] overall, I thought here. This was a movie that was about this young woman's quest, if you will, to

[00:10:21] try to become like an influencer and become famous and dealing with the harsh realities of what that

[00:10:26] of what those challenges are and attempting to do that. And I liked it. I liked it quite a bit,

[00:10:32] actually, more than I was expecting to. I thought it had a really, really ominous strings-based

[00:10:37] score which helped to give it like this dramatic tension throughout. And overall, I thought this

[00:10:42] was a very strong directorial debut. I liked some parts of this movie. This was one that you liked

[00:10:48] more than me. I found that while I did appreciate the filmmaking, I appreciated that lead performance,

[00:10:54] it was a movie that you have absolutely seen before. There's really nothing that inventive in

[00:11:00] its storytelling. You kind of know exactly where it's heading. And for that, I was a little

[00:11:05] underwhelmed by it. I appreciated many aspects of it, but the storytelling kind of held me back

[00:11:09] a little bit so that I couldn't like fully recommend that film. I then took a detour at this point,

[00:11:15] but this will also give you an opportunity to talk about another documentary film.

[00:11:19] I saw Faye, the Faye Dunaway documentary, which is just your basic typical celebrity doc about

[00:11:25] a Hollywood icon who was just a normal woman with dreams of being famous, who now is famous

[00:11:31] and so desperately wants nothing more than to be normal again, which I thought was an actually

[00:11:35] pretty interesting concept of how to frame the documentary. But at the same time, it felt like

[00:11:43] it was holding back. And there were moments where she was refusing to answer questions and wasn't so

[00:11:50] forthcoming about certain things. And I was like, Faye, this is your documentary in your 80s.

[00:11:56] Come on, let it loose. And it just played it safe for me a little too much. But I mean,

[00:12:02] it's a fine watch. It'll be coming to HBO Documentary Films. But you and I also watched

[00:12:08] Jim Henson, Idea Man. Yeah, and that one was also just fine. It is a Jim Henson documentary

[00:12:17] produced by Walt Disney. So you know that it's kind of basically a puff piece on the man. And

[00:12:23] there's like some good behind the scenes footage that I really appreciated. But for the most part,

[00:12:27] it's very glowing. It's very, you know, respectful, obviously, but I feel like to a fault in some

[00:12:36] instances. So it's a charming enough doc, but you're not going to get much out of it than what

[00:12:42] you are already expecting. And then we saw the competition title, The Girl with the Needle.

[00:12:49] This was a harrowing watch at times it felt like an unrelenting descent into

[00:12:56] a woman's nightmarish hell shot in black and white with this very tension filled

[00:13:02] soundscape with the score of a sound work. It featured two really good performances, in my

[00:13:07] opinion, from Victoria Carmen Sony and Trina Deerholm. I thought they were both spellbinding

[00:13:14] in this. It's got I mean, I don't want to reveal anything too, too much. But this movie like,

[00:13:20] just progressively got darker and darker and darker as it went. And it was starting to really

[00:13:26] freak me out with what directions it was going to take. It felt like it was, you know, like something

[00:13:31] like taking the best and worst tendencies of Gaspar Noé and Bella Tarr and just like fusing them

[00:13:36] together at times for me. Oh, man, that that one was such a wild ride to go on. And I do think it is so

[00:13:45] so incredibly bleak that it can be it can be tough to get through. And in fact,

[00:13:52] very memorably, there are moments in this movie during our screening where people actually

[00:13:57] gasped at what was happening. So we don't want to say what those moments are. But if you ever do get

[00:14:02] to see this movie, just like you will know it when you see it. And and so that makes it a tough watch

[00:14:08] at times. But yeah, as you said, Matt, it is really strikingly shot. The imagery reminded me a lot of

[00:14:14] actually the Night of the Hunter because it has this kind of dreamlike fairy tale quality to it

[00:14:20] that's so dark and twisted. And I think that the narrative does take some leaps that are kind of

[00:14:27] hard to swallow at some points. And that's what kept it back from being like top, top tier. But

[00:14:31] this was actually one of my favorite movies at the festival so far. I think it's really,

[00:14:35] really well done overall. I like that night of the Hunter comparison. I would also throw Rebecca in

[00:14:39] there as well. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know who's going to pick this up for distribution, but

[00:14:45] I think they might have something here down the line, maybe for an international feature play,

[00:14:49] if anything. We're going to refrain from talking about Furiosa Mad Max saga because you and I are

[00:14:54] going to be delivering a review of that. But let's just say this. That was a hell of a way to start

[00:14:59] Thursday morning at 830 a.m. That it was. And as you said, we'll have more thoughts on that later.

[00:15:05] But it's a very good movie. We can at least say that I went off and saw this Civil War movie

[00:15:12] called The Damned. It's a very subdued movie where the soldiers that we follow are never actually see

[00:15:19] the enemy or rarely do. I'll say instead they grapple more with like the harsh environment

[00:15:24] that they are treading through and in their own moral convictions about the brutal conflict and

[00:15:29] how they feel about it as men. It's meant to be conversational. It's meant to be subdued.

[00:15:38] It didn't offer much excitement for me or resolution in terms of what it was actually

[00:15:44] going for. I could see why some people would find this thought provoking, but I found it to be quite

[00:15:49] tedious and I was a bit disappointed by it overall. That's a shame. It sounds like you weren't the only

[00:15:54] person who felt that way too. No, no, there were definitely a few. I remember there were a couple

[00:15:59] of people thinking it could be like The Settlers or something like that from last year, but it didn't

[00:16:03] turn out to be that way. Then I saw, and you eventually saw this one, On Becoming a Guinea

[00:16:09] Fowl. Yes, a really fascinating movie that I feel like is going to have the potential to divide some

[00:16:17] people just because its story does take a little while to get into. There are some very culturally

[00:16:24] specific moments in it and I do wonder how people will tolerate it, but while I was watching it, I

[00:16:30] still found it to be a really interesting experience. I also believe that the performances

[00:16:38] all around are really captivating and the aura that that movie creates, the atmosphere is so

[00:16:44] tension-filled, but it really lets you lean into at the same time. It's a movie that the more I

[00:16:49] think about it, I do kind of appreciate what it was going for even if I think the execution is a

[00:16:55] little...it doesn't really come together quite as much as I wanted to in that regard. No, I get that.

[00:17:01] It's a basically funeral drama through a very, very specific lens. I'm not a witch director,

[00:17:11] Rungeno Nyoni, she takes basically familiar tropes that you've seen in other movies before but

[00:17:16] puts it through this Zambian lens that I just found to be quite interesting and made

[00:17:24] this feel very unique at times. It is an ever film that progressively gets darker as it goes

[00:17:30] and it kind of recontextualizes everything that you saw before which I really appreciated.

[00:17:34] There's some good performances here, I love the final scene of the movie particularly.

[00:17:38] A24 will be releasing this one, not sure when as of yet but that will make its way to theaters eventually.

[00:17:47] The last movie that...actually no, this was the last movie I saw on this day. Yeah,

[00:17:52] all right, I guess we can talk about this now. Let's do it. Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.

[00:17:58] Oh boy. So they also released a teaser trailer for this which we're going to play for you

[00:18:03] all right now to kind of set the tone here.

[00:18:09] When does an empire that does it collapse in one terrible moment?

[00:18:26] Don't let them out and destroy them forever. Is this society,

[00:18:47] is this way we're living the only one that's available to us?

[00:19:03] And when we ask these questions, when there's a dialogue about them,

[00:19:11] that basically is a utopia. All right Josh, so let me ask you this question. When you saw the

[00:19:16] teaser, did you watch the teaser before watching the movie? I did watch the teaser. And what were

[00:19:20] your thoughts when you saw the teaser before you saw the movie? My thoughts were basically what I

[00:19:25] had been thinking up until that point and right up until I sat down to see the movie which was

[00:19:30] this looks really interesting, it's probably going to be a giant mess. Okay, so I thought

[00:19:36] the same exact thing too. I didn't think it was going to be this giant of a mess.

[00:19:41] Like I expected mess but this was not just mess, this was bad at times. Now when I say bad,

[00:19:49] for me, I think that there are some really poor line readings in this film from actors who have

[00:19:58] not only delivered better performances in the past but like I feel like are just capable of doing so

[00:20:03] much better which only tells me that Francis Ford Coppola either wasn't concerned with the performances

[00:20:11] that the actors were giving in this or there was just a lack of clear direction in terms of

[00:20:18] how they were supposed to be playing scenes because I'm telling you like I saw these comparisons made

[00:20:22] to like The Room at times and yeah I felt that on not the whole film consistently but a few occasions

[00:20:29] just in terms of dialogue, line delivery, editing. I was like what are some of these scenes and why

[00:20:37] are they playing out like this? There's some really big ideas in this film that I appreciated

[00:20:42] right but it presents all these ideas but then never actually finds a way to

[00:20:47] have them all tie together. I don't disagree with any of that but I do think that I was able

[00:20:56] to engage with the movie on a slightly kinder level than you were. I still think the movie has

[00:21:02] a ton of problems and I don't even refute much of what you said but I also think that it's a film

[00:21:10] that is intentionally not trying to be like a conventional work and I think that that is very

[00:21:17] evident in much of what Coppola has tried to do in his later career and you can fully disagree with

[00:21:24] that ethos. You can say that it's terrible and that it doesn't work but I know that that's

[00:21:28] his intention and I think if you try to meet the movie on those terms, not that it's going to all

[00:21:36] work but I think that there is something to appreciate about that and yes it has like

[00:21:42] decades worth of ideas within it. It definitely feels like this is something where he kind of took

[00:21:48] every single thought that has been on his mind in the past 50 years and just threw it all into one

[00:21:53] movie so it's a mess, it's very disorganized but I will admit that I still found myself

[00:22:01] respecting what it was trying to do and I also really admired the swing of it and

[00:22:08] I would even watch it again, maybe not too many more times. I don't know if I can stomach that

[00:22:13] but I think that it's a fascinating artifact. I truly do believe that. Okay I don't disagree with

[00:22:20] any of that in fact I myself might even give this a re-watch at some point. I'm not ready to do that

[00:22:26] now. There's only so much Shia LaBeouf dressing in drag that I can handle okay. There's like one

[00:22:33] moment with Jon Voight too involving like a boner joke. I was like what are we doing here? Like

[00:22:38] what is this you know? Best joke of the movie although I would say. It eventually turned into

[00:22:43] one but at first the setup I was like what are we doing? There's chariot races, there's wrestlers,

[00:22:50] there's toga parties, there's Adam Driver stopping time which is never explained by the way

[00:22:56] which is you know like what? Ah man it's a big swing and you know what on some level I do appreciate

[00:23:04] the grandiosity of it all. I can't help but appreciate it right? I've given a lot of

[00:23:10] filmmakers credit for taking swings even when they don't fully work but I think for me the thing that

[00:23:16] kills me with this movie is unlike something like Babylon which I saw so many comparisons to

[00:23:20] by the way. The acting is actually bad in this. I can't say that about Babylon. The writing is

[00:23:26] actually bad in this. I can't fully say that about Babylon, not fully. There's some parts of

[00:23:31] the filmmaking even where I'm like this feels completely directionless or as you mentioned it's

[00:23:42] just a bunch of ideas that were all just thrown together because this might be you know maybe not

[00:23:48] but like he's treating this like this might be the last thing he maybe makes and so no stone is left

[00:23:54] unturned. It's all there in this movie. All these ideas, all these filmmaking techniques,

[00:24:00] the amount of split screen. It's a lot but at the same time it's an experience. I do not want

[00:24:09] anybody, not a single person listening to this to take my word as the gospel truth on this movie.

[00:24:15] Yes I did not give it a good review. Should that determine how you feel about it? No. You should

[00:24:20] go watch the movie for yourself and decide how you feel about it because there are some people who

[00:24:24] are mixed. There are some people who hate it. There are some people who love it. I know people

[00:24:29] were comparing my and David Ehrlich's reviews side by side on Letterboxd for fun. I get it

[00:24:37] I totally get it and you know what? Don't listen to either one of us. Go see for yourself when the

[00:24:41] time comes. Make up your own mind. We're not the definitive authorities on this and I feel like a

[00:24:46] lot of people when they see these first reactions it's like well that's it you know and everybody

[00:24:52] is like that's just like the fate of this movie now. It's like no it's not. The movie's going to

[00:24:57] have a life force well beyond their film festival run, their theatrical run you know and they can

[00:25:03] evolve and be reappraised over time. I'm sure a lot of people will be talking about this for many

[00:25:07] years in Francis Ford Coppola's filmography. In my case I just don't know if it'll be for all the

[00:25:13] right reasons. True but I think that is always going to be the mark of a great artist is that

[00:25:19] if they can give you something that is going to be talked about after it's done and I think

[00:25:25] Megalopolis will be that. I don't think I don't know if we're going to go into the whole reappraisal

[00:25:31] of it like it's a secret masterpiece. I don't think that will happen but I think we will

[00:25:35] appreciate that it does exist and I don't know how they're going to do the live element that

[00:25:42] we experienced during this movie but um that'll be interesting going forward. That was a first.

[00:25:47] I have never experienced anything like this before. Yeah we can confirm that there is a moment where

[00:25:52] somebody walks on stage and interacts with the movie and it was very very surprising. At first

[00:26:00] when I saw a figure just walking on the stage I thought to myself is that Francis? Turned out it

[00:26:06] was not and I realized that very quickly. But then I was wondering is it an actor that they paid for

[00:26:11] this? Is it somebody who works at the theater? Is it someone who worked on the film? Like who is

[00:26:16] this guy? Or is there like a malfunctioning happening and they're about to stop the movie?

[00:26:20] It was very disorienting. I was wondering are we about to get an intermission or something? Yeah

[00:26:25] yeah it was very very confusing but then when you saw what it actually was and how it played out it

[00:26:30] was like this head-scratching WTF oh my god what is this moment? And it's very brief. It takes place

[00:26:38] during a Q&A moment during the film. Adam Driver's answering questions from the press and this guy

[00:26:43] literally just came out on stage though as if he was an actor in the movie asked a question to the

[00:26:49] screen and Adam Driver up on the screen responded to the guy that was in front of us with our very

[00:26:55] eyes on the stage like John Hammond in Jurassic Park. Right it was it was honestly something I

[00:27:03] feel like if the movie was going to do that it should have done more. I agree it should not

[00:27:07] have been the one time because that would have made it all the more memorable. The other thing

[00:27:13] too Josh you got your first ever canned experience of a mixture of applause and booze after a

[00:27:19] screening. Yep that is now across off the list too I have experienced the famous canned booze.

[00:27:26] Oh man so beyond that then the next morning because we were having scheduling issues with

[00:27:33] trying to fit both these films in on the same day you and I Josh we both watched Andrea Arnold's new

[00:27:38] film Bird starring Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski but also this amazing young actress named

[00:27:49] Nakia Adams who leads this film and carries it all on her shoulders. I was very moved by this movie

[00:27:57] and I quite liked it a lot. There's a we'll save it there's like this metaphorical fantasy element

[00:28:05] that happens later on in the film that I talked to some people afterwards and that certainly lost

[00:28:09] some audience members didn't lose me. I fully bought into it and I actually did have a single

[00:28:15] tear dropping down my cheek by the end of this film. It reminded me of this one particular moment

[00:28:21] of the ending of Tony Urman so from that standpoint this really got to me and I really

[00:28:28] enjoyed this one a lot it's actually one of my favorites of the festival. Yeah I liked the movie

[00:28:32] I have to admit I did not find myself loving it quite as much as other people did. I respected

[00:28:38] a lot of what Arnold was building with that movie and with this kind of very intimate

[00:28:45] portrait that she was creating and I liked those kind of magical elements there too. I loved all

[00:28:52] of the performances. I think there was just something in its emotion that for me was a little

[00:28:58] bit distant and I do actually struggle to kind of put into words why that is like it should really

[00:29:04] work for me. This kind of a movie normally is something I really respond to but for some reason

[00:29:09] I felt a respect for it more than loving it but I would still recommend it. I still think that it has

[00:29:17] a lot of elements that are really really well done and especially those performances I think

[00:29:21] are incredible. I want to take a moment to just take a quick detour here with some of these movies

[00:29:27] that we're talking about to talk about some other ones that we saw along the way here. One in

[00:29:32] particular was Armand which starred Renata Ranzva and this one was a story about a woman who gets

[00:29:40] called into school because of an issue with her son and another boy at school. You eventually

[00:29:45] find out what exactly it is that the one kid did to the other but as far as where this film goes

[00:29:54] and the tension it creates between the parents and how that all gets resolved by the end, I'll

[00:30:00] say this it had me in the beginning and it lost me completely by the end. Yeah that movie had such a

[00:30:08] really great start to it. It's so intriguing of a premise that really lets you lean into this mystery

[00:30:15] that they were creating but eventually it just really really lost me. There's a pretty big acting

[00:30:22] moment that happens about halfway through that it's impressive to watch but it it takes a lot

[00:30:30] to kind of get through and I think that will determine whether or not you stay on board with

[00:30:34] this film and I kind of immediately checked out and it was unfortunate because I think it started

[00:30:39] off really really strong but it really then kind of lost the plot for me towards the end and got

[00:30:46] far less interesting. It's crazy too this is from Halfdan Olav Olman Tendal and he is the

[00:30:54] grandson of Liv Olman and Ingmar Bergman and I can see the talent like I see the promise for

[00:31:02] a better film at some point and like I said this was just man there's been so many disappointments

[00:31:08] I feel like so far at this festival where I'll be either really enjoying something and then by

[00:31:13] the end I'm like oh man they didn't stick the landing or it's just bad the whole way through

[00:31:20] for me but like this was one in particular where I was like holy shit like I might be rating this

[00:31:24] like a seven or an eight and by the end of the film on a grade out of ten scale I was at like

[00:31:29] a four that's how much this movie lost me but you know I think for those of you that want to see

[00:31:35] more Renate Ranzva after you know we all fell in love with her and worst person in the world

[00:31:39] I think that you know this is definitely an acting showcase for her that's for sure.

[00:31:44] And I would agree with that.

[00:31:46] So another film I want to also mention here is a smaller movie called When the Light Breaks.

[00:31:52] This was a film that I didn't like as much as you did you were much more positive on this one for me

[00:32:01] compared to me what was it about this one that spoke to you because really it's about you know

[00:32:08] this accident that occurs there's a death in the community well several deaths actually but one

[00:32:15] person in particular is this guy who this girl that we're following named Una she's having an

[00:32:21] affair with him while his real girlfriend and him are still together and so after he's gone

[00:32:30] then the two women are bonding a bit over you know their grief over this but it's also like

[00:32:36] one doesn't know that the other was with him and it's like you know a little messy but

[00:32:40] yeah I liked it I didn't love it but it was fine.

[00:32:44] I mean to be fair I don't think I liked it quite much more than you did I think I just appreciated

[00:32:52] the one I really appreciated the imagery of that movie I think it's really really well shot.

[00:32:56] Agreed.

[00:32:58] So I liked that I liked the idea that this young woman was processing grief in this very kind of

[00:33:06] tricky way and I did really like that exploration I do think that it like some of the side characters

[00:33:14] weren't that great and I it's another movie where it should have ended like two scenes earlier like

[00:33:20] it went on far too long which was unfortunate so there's definitely some sloppiness in the

[00:33:25] storytelling but I liked enough elements in its characters in its imagery that I was able to kind

[00:33:32] of go with it for the most part and kind of like mildly recommend it.

[00:33:37] So then I saw a movie called Christmas Eve in Miller's Point this was Tyler Taramina's

[00:33:44] film that warmly captures the joys traditions and nuances of an Italian American Christmas in

[00:33:51] the suburbs highly specific but one that I instantly related to so many of the traditions

[00:33:58] that are shown in this movie as far as celebrating Christmas I was like oh my god my family and I

[00:34:02] used to do the exact same thing the bickering that takes place over various family drama oh

[00:34:08] my god me my family would do the exact same thing the Christmas caroling but going outside and

[00:34:13] waiting for Santa to drive by on the fire truck like all these little details that I'm like man

[00:34:20] that's like for me as like a kid growing up that's what Christmas was here's the problem

[00:34:26] that's what the whole movie is there is no conflict there is no drama I mean there's a

[00:34:32] little bit of it but the movie doesn't ever follow through with any of it and so it feels

[00:34:36] like it's like this extended montage that stretched out to a feature length then you have

[00:34:42] Michael Cera and Greg Turkington who are playing these cops who you think they're going to get

[00:34:48] involved somehow because you you feel like you're waiting for the other shoe to drop you're like

[00:34:52] wondering is something bad going to happen that these two cops have to get involved in the story

[00:34:56] nothing like that at all and I just was very underwhelmed by this I kept asking myself why

[00:35:02] was it a feature and not a short but you know it's got a very likable cast and you know everybody

[00:35:08] does I guess a good job with what they're given like I didn't think anybody was giving a bad

[00:35:13] performance or anything like that it's just that this is a movie that's very thin on story and

[00:35:16] character for me and it's just all about Christmas vibes and that was just not enough for me well

[00:35:22] that's a shame because you really talk about target audience you should have been

[00:35:27] squarely in the center for that one truly I thought so as well

[00:35:32] Yorgos Lanthimos kinds of kindness Josh are you going to be kind to kinds of kindness

[00:35:40] I'm going to be mostly kind to it yeah and this is definitely a movie where

[00:35:46] you kind of want to just give it a round of applause for being

[00:35:51] for being Lanthimos coming back to his really dark twisted roots that have kind of evaded him a

[00:35:58] little bit with the favorite and poor things with him working with Tony McNamara this is him back

[00:36:03] to writing his own movie and it definitely feels like somebody who wants to return to those areas

[00:36:11] that he started with and I don't think this movie works completely it's an anthology film

[00:36:16] and like every anthology movie not all the sections are equally strong but I did find myself

[00:36:24] engaged with it for the most part I do like all the performances that are consistently in in the

[00:36:30] different sections I think Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are just really incredible truly and I

[00:36:38] even kind of just liked this whole Twilight Zone ish premise to all these stories that were quirky

[00:36:45] and interesting and weird and yeah and as I said I think thematically some of them are stronger than

[00:36:50] others but I still found myself thinking that it was a pretty good movie overall man and here I was

[00:36:56] thinking I had just recently watched the curse with Emma Stone and watching kinds of kindness

[00:37:01] I felt like I was watching the curse like all over again where you don't know what the fuck is going

[00:37:05] on you know that it's something twisted and something is afoot here in terms of like where

[00:37:10] these stories are going to go but you really don't know like you just know it's going to get dark and

[00:37:15] weird and bizarre um and I love that I love being on my toes throughout uh this two hours and 45

[00:37:23] minutes worth of three movies basically yeah and I can understand why some people would be turned

[00:37:30] off by this I can understand those who dug what Lanthimos was doing with the favorite and poor

[00:37:36] things might feel that this is overlong it's too weird too out there um it's definitely not as

[00:37:47] mainstream is not the right word for it but it's not as audience friendly I'll say um but for me I

[00:37:54] thought it was audience friendly but but for an audience of one this was very much appealing to

[00:37:59] my specific sensibilities of dark uh sometimes bloody shocking uh absurd like there there are

[00:38:07] some hilarious sight gags in these uh three short films that I was just howling with laughter over

[00:38:14] I dare not reveal any of them here and that's the thing I don't want to get into specifics because

[00:38:19] at the end of day I want to preserve as much of the stuff that happens in these for people

[00:38:23] as possible so they too can have that same experience that we had watching them but um

[00:38:28] all I will say and to end it off here is Jesse Plemons I thought completely dominated the first

[00:38:34] story and I think that's actually part of the reason why I'm hearing a lot of people say that

[00:38:37] they they think the first story is the best which also works against the movie because

[00:38:43] if you're going to come out strong that early on and your film's never going to reach that point

[00:38:47] again you know that's obviously not good but I like how then Plemons and Stone share the second

[00:38:54] uh the second story and then Emma Stone dominates the third so there's like this nice

[00:38:59] even split between the two of them and I agree I think they're both really fantastic here as is

[00:39:04] the whole cast the whole cast brought their A game to what must have been very challenging

[00:39:08] material to play because so much information has to be withheld from the audience regarding

[00:39:15] what exactly is going on here because they're all like these mysterious stories about how

[00:39:21] these characters are like seeking affection and adoration from somebody else and it's all about

[00:39:27] like the lengths that they will go to to achieve it the price of achieving it and if that is

[00:39:34] warranted or not and I really really liked thematically what it was getting at here

[00:39:39] it's very interesting to watch a two hour 45 minute movie with a budget of only 15 million

[00:39:46] because really what it just amounts to then is good filmmaking and actors talking in rooms with

[00:39:51] a script that gives them a lot to chew on and this is going to sound like a weird comparison here but

[00:39:57] I was reminded a lot of like Pulp Fiction watching this at times you know like kind of segmented

[00:40:03] actors mostly just talking through dialogue it's entertaining it's got these shocking moments that

[00:40:09] kind of come out of nowhere I would not be surprised if that was even an influence given

[00:40:13] the wave of titles for the movie open you know and with the Sweet Dreams track playing over them

[00:40:21] it just I don't know like it felt like it wanted to be like this pulpy kind of a film in an

[00:40:26] infamous sort of way yeah I think that's an accurate comparison to bring up I mean especially

[00:40:31] because it's like three different stories that have a loose connection to them you know we won't

[00:40:37] spoil that either but there there is a loose connection between all three of them but I do

[00:40:43] think it gives just a great showcase to those performers uh Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe

[00:40:47] as well you know they're not as prominent in those sections but they still have a lot to do and

[00:40:53] are very good um in the film as well.

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[00:41:58] Oh Canada

[00:42:02] Hell yeah

[00:42:05] Paul Schrader baby what do you think he's gonna say on Facebook about this?

[00:42:11] This is Paul Schrader's reflective commentary on mortality, art, memory, regret. It's a lot

[00:42:20] and judging by the news that announced this week this will not be his final film either

[00:42:26] but with so much on this film's mind why does it feel so thin? How? He's like one of the

[00:42:35] great writers of our time and I'm like astounded that this movie did not come together. I'm like

[00:42:42] really astounded because there's some really powerful stuff at play here you have Richard

[00:42:46] Gere delivering what could have been this late stage all-time career great performance but it

[00:42:53] gets um uh cut out from under the knees. Jacob Elordi too! I thought he was quite good in his

[00:43:00] but he does not have the breathing room to tell this character's story convincingly and in an

[00:43:08] emotionally satisfying manner and I think that actually ends up hurting the performance uh too.

[00:43:14] It's really really disappointing this is another one where I was like man this really the way it

[00:43:19] starts with this filmmaker who's on his deathbed pretty much being dragged out to give one final

[00:43:26] interview recapping his entire life story. I was thinking to myself wow like this this could be a

[00:43:33] meta reflection for Schrader possibly this could be something really special for Gere. The opening

[00:43:39] title set me in a mood that was far different than Schrader's previous three films that had

[00:43:45] me pretty excited for where this was gonna go but man by the end of it I was like how can this be

[00:43:51] so undercooked? I am gonna say that this probably for me was my most disappointing film of the

[00:43:59] festival so far. I was really looking forward to it and as you said in the beginning it kind of

[00:44:04] does hook you with what it wants to talk about this discussion of mortality and in juxtaposing

[00:44:12] that against an artist's journey and it really had this very intriguing setup but at like barely

[00:44:19] over 90 minutes it doesn't really have the runway to go into that and it just seems like it's

[00:44:25] sidetracked with all of this other stuff like his relationships that just didn't really seem all that

[00:44:31] important to me from a thematic standpoint and you know we had the conversation following the movie

[00:44:37] it felt like one of those one of those examples where this movie either needed to be longer so

[00:44:43] that it would have more time to talk about all this stuff or it needed to be more streamlined

[00:44:48] with like one thing that it wanted to hone in on really really specifically and instead it sort of

[00:44:54] has the worst of both worlds and it just felt very undercooked and all of those elements that I really

[00:45:01] did want to like like those performances and like some of the themes just never came together because

[00:45:07] the movie did not really have a good it didn't really have a good grasp of investing itself

[00:45:14] fully in talking about those themes that was really really disappointing so then we head into

[00:45:22] our latest day the date of we're recording this starting off our morning with three kilometers

[00:45:30] to the end of the world which I did not do any pre-research on this I didn't even know what

[00:45:37] this was outside of it being a competition title that worked in its favor because this was a

[00:45:44] it's one of those movies where like the walls are like constantly closing in you feel like

[00:45:50] and the situation is becoming more complex with less ways to get out and find a resolution

[00:45:57] because everyone's like tightening their grips around this uh really really tense situation

[00:46:02] around this Romanian village where this young man is brutally assaulted and he's assaulted for being

[00:46:09] gay and it's something that the family is trying to keep quiet the police are trying to keep quiet

[00:46:17] and this poor guy is just stuck with all these forces uh coming down on him and not giving him

[00:46:25] the justice that he deserves uh for what happened to him and it's it's a pretty hard watch at times

[00:46:30] you know because it does a really good job of investing you in both the situation but also to

[00:46:36] from uh the guy's point of view as far as you know you want to see you want to see justice be

[00:46:43] done for him and when you are presented with not just institutions like the police system and the

[00:46:49] bureaucratic element that goes into like this small town nic community where everybody knows

[00:46:54] everybody so everybody has hands in people's pockets and favors that they can call in to make

[00:47:00] stuff go away but then his own family too you know you think that you can find some safety and security

[00:47:06] and solace in that but uh this movie unfortunately does not provide that and uh i honestly found it to

[00:47:12] be one of the strongest offerings of the festival overall so far yeah i think at this point it is my

[00:47:18] favorite uh movie from the fest really i i think so yeah i was really really taken by it and like

[00:47:26] you met i did not know a single thing about this movie going into it and i just really responded

[00:47:33] to the atmosphere that it was creating this like very claustrophobic almost kind of um setting

[00:47:39] even though it's all out in the open you just really feel the pressure that this young man is

[00:47:44] under and then this investigation that they start but then once you find out what is actually going

[00:47:49] on there's just this really dark set of circumstances that happen from that and i really really found

[00:47:57] myself becoming invested in it i think it stopped short of being like really really great because

[00:48:02] some of the character work was a little pedestrian for my taste like it's not bad characters but they

[00:48:08] were kind of just sort of a little flatly drawn for me and that was the one thing that kept it

[00:48:14] from kind of crossing the threshold into like a really great film but from what i did see in the

[00:48:21] movie i thought it was a really really well done piece then we watched uh one of the midnight films

[00:48:26] starring nicolas cage called the surfer uh man this was this was quite an energizing film to watch

[00:48:34] uh early on in the morning um nicolas cage plays a guy who's trying to buy a beach home in australia

[00:48:41] that he grew up in that his family lost um and he's got a son and a wife who he's getting divorced

[00:48:50] from he's hoping to win them back by getting this house and building for them like this

[00:48:55] idyllic uh life for them on this beach where he grew up and was a surfer and he wants to take

[00:49:01] his son out onto the surf you know all well and good the problem is that the locals definitely

[00:49:08] don't want him there and as the movie progresses he's having all these things stripped away from

[00:49:16] him including his dignity and by the end of the film he is completely unrecognizable

[00:49:22] and this character goes on quite a metaphorical journey let's just say this was not the action

[00:49:28] revenge film that i thought it was going to be heading into it but if you want to watch

[00:49:35] nicolas cage be humiliated and embarrassed for almost two hours and i can assure you that is

[00:49:42] entertaining for reasons that you can probably uh deduce i think you'll have a good time with this

[00:49:49] yeah it's not the movie that i expected to get even though we also had this conversation we kind

[00:49:56] of feel like it will be sold as that movie and create that expectation for other people to maybe

[00:50:01] be disappointed in but it does offer a really fascinating perspective otherwise and to watch

[00:50:10] nicolas cage just devolve throughout the film just like crumble before your eyes as he's on

[00:50:16] the receiving end of this abuse i think for some people that will be hard to take it it does get to

[00:50:22] a point where it's like kind of repetitive in terms of how much he's getting beaten down and

[00:50:27] then the movie does get to a point where it also feels like it's then going on too long and sort

[00:50:32] of runs out of steam by the end but for what it was like nicolas cage is always going to be

[00:50:38] entertaining i thought that i i still thought that some of the ideas to introduce in this story that

[00:50:45] wasn't your like just typical revenge uh tailwhip cage just going ape shit on these like assholes

[00:50:53] on the beach like it's not that and i actually did appreciate that it sort of swerved in another

[00:50:57] direction i just think that it didn't wrap up as quickly as i wanted to and that was was quite

[00:51:03] underwhelming as we got towards the end of the film but it was still a really captivating watch

[00:51:08] like i was never bored by it even if i did lose interest a bit in like the last 20 minutes

[00:51:13] then we saw another competition uh title called caught by the tides here this is the new film from

[00:51:18] jia zhang qi ah man i i could totally see why this movie will work for some people i get it

[00:51:27] um i saw another stream of consciousness uh film uh right after this that i liked a lot more

[00:51:33] this one fell flat for me mostly free of dialogue lacked character um it features a very unconvincing

[00:51:42] central romance that i could not get invested in i appreciated the many styles of filmmaking

[00:51:49] that was used to show the change that china has been through over the last i don't know how many

[00:51:56] years he was covering in this one but you pointed out that this was stuff that you've seen him do

[00:52:01] in other films before i've only ever seen ashes the purest white um so i have not seen any of his

[00:52:06] other uh work other than that so i can't speak to more but um i was expecting a lot more out of

[00:52:12] this and i was very very disappointed but um i've seen some people say that as far as it being like

[00:52:18] this i'll put it this way it's certainly unique i'm with you matt that this was very very

[00:52:26] disappointing and yeah i did find it to be kind of repetitive from some of his other works i think

[00:52:33] in particular the movie mountains may depart is one of my favorite movies i love that film and i

[00:52:39] think this one explores very similar themes of kind of tracking this personal story throughout

[00:52:45] these many decades and seeing the change in technology and globalization within the country

[00:52:52] but i think something like that movie did a much better job of tying it into that more personal

[00:52:58] journey that it was exploring and this one just felt very ethereal and i can imagine it working

[00:53:06] for a lot of people but this was definitely one where i kind of stop and think like am i am i dumb

[00:53:12] for not liking this is this going to be one of those movies that people accuse me of just not

[00:53:16] understanding and being up to the intellectual level and if if so then then i admit it because

[00:53:22] i just feel like this movie did not have a clear through line with tying those themes and characters

[00:53:28] together and i was extremely restless with it i could understand a lot of the ideas that it wanted

[00:53:35] to tackle and i applauded for it but it did not work at all for me i i just felt like it was

[00:53:43] it was too spread thin in terms of making those connections to have really any significant impact

[00:53:50] for me and as somebody who liked those previous movies that was that was quite disappointing

[00:53:56] zeltao though she was great yes absolutely loved her and she's always great she might win best

[00:54:02] actress i mean i could see it i would not be mad about that because i think she is the best part

[00:54:08] of that movie and i really did love her performance i just wish i connected with her character more

[00:54:14] but i'm not gonna fault the actress because i think she does do an incredible job so right after this

[00:54:20] the other stream of consciousness film i saw was actually a short from leos carax called it's not

[00:54:25] me and this is a 40 minute short film where you literally are just getting a snapshot into how

[00:54:33] this man's mind works and my god i could have spent another 40 minutes watching it i loved it

[00:54:39] i had so much fun with it you know there's just this intriguing uh assembly of images and clips

[00:54:49] and his voiceover and he's talking about his jewish heritage he's talking about film he's

[00:54:55] talking about comparing himself to other filmmakers who i will not mention here i kid you not baby

[00:55:03] annette made her return and the audience went insane both for the physical puppet in the audience

[00:55:13] which was quite awesome but then in the movie itself and for it to be set to david bowie's

[00:55:19] track modern love i mean this was just so much fun you know when it was over he gets up they

[00:55:26] show up up on the big screen everybody's applauding guy lights a cigarette and i was just like man

[00:55:32] this this dude just embodies cinema at its purest right here that's an artist you know and that was

[00:55:37] like something that i just i i couldn't get enough of it you know it was like one of those brief

[00:55:42] things where it's like 40 minutes in and out didn't have to sit through two and a half hours

[00:55:46] or whatever it was and i got everything i needed to get out of it believe me when i tell you there's

[00:55:51] like no story here this is literally just an erratic assembly of clips and images set to some

[00:56:00] music set to his voiceover it's not that it's incoherent it just you know some people will

[00:56:07] probably say oh this doesn't make any sense like it's not because that's the thing it's not telling

[00:56:11] a story it's just giving you a peep into this man's mind i can't wait to see it i i was already

[00:56:18] excited beforehand and hearing your reaction to it which kind of surprised me a little bit because

[00:56:24] you weren't even really anticipating it yourself beforehand that just makes me even more excited

[00:56:29] yeah no it was recommended to me by uh somebody and i didn't have it on my radar i wasn't planning

[00:56:34] on doing it i mean to be fair i don't really watch shorts at festivals anyway i usually wait until

[00:56:40] the academy drops their short list to watch shorts but this was one that i'm glad that i did

[00:56:45] uh then you and i watched amelia perez the new jack audiard film wow yeah kind of the surprise

[00:56:53] of the festival it seems like at this point for me it was and when i say that this was a surprise

[00:57:00] i mean it in the truest sense of the word because i had no idea that this was a musical

[00:57:05] none that shocks me matt i cannot believe you didn't know that i really did not i did not

[00:57:12] so when it opens up with zoe saldana singing and like there's this musical number and there's

[00:57:16] dancing extras in the background i was like what but yet this is crazy to me like this movie

[00:57:25] is insane because i think it features odiards most lavish stylistic camera work of his entire

[00:57:35] career i've never seen him be like this dynamic with the camera before i mean but you kind of

[00:57:40] have to be for shooting musical numbers full-blown musical numbers and it's not um an upbeat musical

[00:57:48] by any means i've seen people say that this is pedro almodovar beats uh sicario i think that's

[00:57:53] what kyle buchanan like compared to two right yeah it's it's dark and it's you know definitely

[00:57:59] heavy material and it's not like characters are busting out in the song over happy shit

[00:58:05] but there is a big swing element to this where i appreciated the sincerity in the story the

[00:58:13] filmmaking uh what it was going for it's melodramatic and heavy-handed as hell i will

[00:58:19] fully admit to that but i quite dug it a lot more than i was expecting to i think the three

[00:58:26] performances especially from zoe saldana who i feel like i haven't seen her give like a really

[00:58:31] really good performance outside of a franchise film in eons uh selena gomez i thought was

[00:58:38] excellent and i wish she was in the movie more to be honest with you but the movie really belongs

[00:58:44] to carla sofia gasson who i just unbelievable now if i was voting on a best actress winner for

[00:58:51] can this year i would say that that's the choice i would go with i think that is something to

[00:58:57] highly consider because she is absolutely the breakout element of this movie it is an

[00:59:02] incredible performance it is fierce it is i mean it is loud but it also gets to a really deep sense

[00:59:11] of humanity too which you wouldn't expect to come from this character and in fact when it first

[00:59:16] you first see her you're a little apprehensive because there is a trans element to this

[00:59:23] character into this story and you get a little nervous about that but they managed to find a

[00:59:28] really endearing way to portray that and it really comes from her performance and i agree that i think

[00:59:35] that like the movie's musical sequences are very fun they also feel a little like a little

[00:59:41] amateurish to me but in an endearing way i still think that but they also did kind of feel a little

[00:59:47] rough around the edges but what really gets this movie is her performance like that's what really

[00:59:53] makes it ascend to a new level and i i can't wait for more people to see this movie just to discover

[00:59:59] her performance yeah in terms of the music and you know the numbers looking cheap or whatever it

[01:00:05] is this is not a big studio musical no it's got a smaller budget so i understand the limitations

[01:00:12] regarding that but also too you know i saw some people saying the lyrics were quite poor for some

[01:00:18] of these songs people got to understand that the english translation is always going to result in

[01:00:24] odd lyrics it's not going to be like if you were writing this specifically in english if you

[01:00:30] listen to it in spanish it flows exactly as it should you know to the spanish ear but yeah when

[01:00:36] you read the english subtitles and you're like what what are some of these lyrics yeah yeah it

[01:00:41] i did feel like it was at times a little like high school musical if you will uh forgive me

[01:00:50] bringing that up but it did it did kind of feel like that just a tad in terms of the production

[01:00:56] but at the same time i still found that to be like really charming too the fact that it wasn't

[01:01:01] this very polished you know well choreographed thing that they were putting on that it was

[01:01:07] as i said a little rough and i think that that added to the overall aesthetic well

[01:01:12] and i could even forgive that when i wasn't really into it because i just loved

[01:01:16] the performances so much and then finally our last film um that we're going to talk about here

[01:01:21] is the film that we just saw prior to this recording uh which is rumors uh which was uh

[01:01:28] directed by guy madden evan johnson and galen johnson this has a pretty uh stacked cast here

[01:01:36] that includes names like kate blanchett alicia vikander charles dance dennis uh metachet um it's

[01:01:43] something that quite honestly i thought wow we are in for a wild fun time like in the first

[01:01:52] 10 minutes or so because the actors all playing off of each other the comedy i was here for it

[01:01:58] the premise of this group of world leaders who are coming together to draft a statement on a

[01:02:03] crisis that the world is facing right now and the satirical element of that i thought was going to be

[01:02:09] so so so funny like i was thinking this could be like like a new in the loop style comedy at a

[01:02:15] certain point you know but as it went it eventually did become a guy madden film and the laughs

[01:02:24] started to feel more spread out they weren't as funny anymore the movie started to do way too much

[01:02:30] it became too long and by the end once again another reoccurring theme of this festival

[01:02:37] i started off at a very high score and i ended it at a very low score by the end of it

[01:02:42] yeah i went into this movie a bit guarded because i'm not a big fan of guy madden's movies but as

[01:02:49] you said in the beginning it was quite funny i think the in the loop comparison is very apt

[01:02:55] with how the tone was playing initially and i was willing to go with it i thought that there

[01:02:59] were even some very funny bits involving world politics that were amusing but as it went on

[01:03:06] it just seemed like all of that commentary in the first 15 minutes basically was the following 90

[01:03:13] minutes and i found it to be very tedious at that point i didn't really engage with the very thin

[01:03:21] characters that we already got like they didn't really expand on them anymore and yeah thematically

[01:03:26] it was just got very very repetitive and tiresome and i i did not like it i did not expect to to be

[01:03:35] honest i was hopeful in the first like 15 minutes but it did as you said matt it it devolved into

[01:03:41] a guy madden film which for some people is a really great thing but for me it just unfortunately

[01:03:47] does not work hello this is gary chajot welcoming you to check out the french history podcast

[01:03:53] our main show covers the history of france from the first humans until present if you like mike

[01:03:58] duncan's the history of rome and wanted a similar program covering the land of beauty culture and

[01:04:04] love we are exactly that we also host world-renowned scholars who have delivered guest episodes on their

[01:04:11] specialties including 18th century pirates revolutionary booksellers in 20th century paris

[01:04:18] the special friendship between the marquis de lafayette and thomas jefferson and numerous

[01:04:23] others learn what you love and listen to the french history podcast today is there anything

[01:04:34] that we didn't touch upon that you wanted to bring up you know the i think the only movie that i saw

[01:04:41] that you didn't is a movie called locusts yes i had a ticket for this originally yes and this is

[01:04:48] a movie that is set in taiwan and it does deal with a lot of the political unrest happening there

[01:04:54] it's another region of the world that is going through a really big kind of globalization change

[01:05:01] and a lot of outside money coming in to disrupt these communities and and this one is specifically

[01:05:06] about a young man who gets himself involved in these like local gangs but he's got a relationship

[01:05:12] too that he's trying to get started and there's family problems it's one where lots of interesting

[01:05:19] ideas but also has a lot of avenues that you have seen already and i didn't think the movie really

[01:05:26] did much to cross that threshold into something truly unique and i i think it's well shot and i

[01:05:34] do think that most of the performances are pretty good but outside of that i just didn't feel like

[01:05:40] narratively it had much to offer that i had not seen previously and for that i i ended up kind

[01:05:46] of actually feeling like it was a pretty underwhelming effort even though it was handsomely

[01:05:50] shot it didn't really offer much for me to grab on to all right so since we don't have fan questions

[01:05:55] for this episode my question to you josh is which film do you think we disagree on the most honestly

[01:06:03] i think it's megalopolis yeah i think so too yeah yeah because we talked a lot about this after it

[01:06:08] was over uh we actually went out and sat down and talked about it for like an hour um and i

[01:06:14] definitely came away from that conversation with the conclusion of okay josh definitely was a lot

[01:06:19] kinder to this than i was uh yeah but you know what i think that's the beauty of that movie even if

[01:06:25] we have a disagreement about its intentions i think that's what makes it really fascinating and

[01:06:32] that's what we should get out of cinema yeah absolutely i like that there's been a range of

[01:06:37] opinions on this movie for sure yeah it's gonna make revisiting it and talking about it with the

[01:06:41] rest of the mbp team i think a lot more fun which film i think you already answered this before too

[01:06:47] which film uh is your least favorite and which film disappointed you the most

[01:06:51] uh well old canada absolutely was the one that disappointed me the most um my least favorite

[01:06:59] is probably the one that we started with uh the second act i i detested that movie so so much i

[01:07:07] was furious walking out of that movie josh's first can experience everybody oh man well i should have

[01:07:14] known with the pew but like it really felt like i might be done with him after this i might have

[01:07:21] reached my breaking point i'm gonna assign another film of his for you to review it's of course um

[01:07:28] favorite uh i think it's three kilometers i that one kind of stuck up on me because i didn't know

[01:07:34] much i didn't know much i didn't know anything about it and i just was really taken with the

[01:07:40] filmmaking the storytelling i thought that was really really special i would not be shocked if

[01:07:45] romania submits that for international feature this year i think that it has a really good shot

[01:07:51] at that and i yeah i think that is my favorite so far movie that does not have distribution that

[01:07:57] you want to take a stab at its distribution prediction oh you know i think we had a

[01:08:09] conversation about this earlier but i think that emilia perez could be netflix i think so too

[01:08:18] yeah i could see it yeah yeah i could definitely see it it seems right up their alley i could also

[01:08:25] see them going for the girl with the needle i could see that too yeah yeah i think those are

[01:08:31] both like the the two top options i could see for them who's gonna get megalopolis

[01:08:37] is megalopolis gonna be gotten by anybody at this point that's that's a good question i mean

[01:08:43] there was that story about how imax has committed to its own exhibition for that movie you know

[01:08:51] regardless of whatever it gets stateside and it has already some foreign markets

[01:08:59] the problem with that movie is that coppola wants a really big platform for it and the

[01:09:05] studios that can give him that don't want to and the ones that would partner with him don't have

[01:09:10] the resources to get in on all those screens so i'm sure a compromise will have to be met

[01:09:17] somewhere i will be fascinated to see where that eventually ends up because i have a feeling like

[01:09:23] it will get some kind of release i do think that is going to happen you can't have big names such

[01:09:29] as this and with uh aubrey plaza playing a character called wow platinum and not have it

[01:09:34] get a big release yes the world needs to see wow platinum wow yeah it will go platinum yeah um the

[01:09:43] other thing too i'll say about you know megalopolis outside of its cast too is that i mean it is a

[01:09:47] visual effects you know heavy film it has uh sweeping big visuals i can see why this is getting

[01:09:54] an imax release and once again power to anybody who loved it here power to anybody who watches it

[01:10:02] on their own and formulates their own opinion on it please like i said do not let anyone sway you

[01:10:09] one way or the other i just looked at the toronto mato score 37 reviews it's at a 51 right now that

[01:10:14] is literally down the middle so i can't tell you where you're gonna fall but i think i think it's

[01:10:21] worth checking out one way or another whenever you get a chance because it might be the last film we

[01:10:27] get from this great artist you gotta see it to believe it that too there are certain things in

[01:10:32] it you really do need to see um okay so um would you say emilia perez was the surprise of the fes

[01:10:40] for you i think so yeah i i did expect to maybe kind of like that movie jacques audillard is a bit

[01:10:47] hit or miss these days but i think i did not really expect to love some aspects of that movie as much

[01:10:52] as i did particularly the performances outside of the movies it can itself uh anything about

[01:10:58] the experience for you that's been let's say something that has matched your expectations

[01:11:05] based on stories you've heard over the years and something that has completely uh subverted your

[01:11:11] expectations um i think in terms of matching my expectations i do just think the whole hustle and

[01:11:20] bustle of it definitely seemed to to come into what i expected it it's always a busy time like

[01:11:27] every festival is very busy but it did always seem like can was a particular kind of busy

[01:11:32] especially in terms of how you kind of have to pivot in on the last minute for certain days and

[01:11:38] yeah it maybe wasn't quite as difficult as i thought it would be but it definitely

[01:11:43] lived up to some expectation of what i did expect um but in terms of something that subverted it um

[01:11:53] this is a funny one but i honestly it would be um how helpful the staff is because i had heard

[01:11:59] some horror stories about that uh in previous years and i personally so far have not experienced

[01:12:05] any of that that makes me very happy to hear yeah uh most hours you've seen matt negley asleep

[01:12:13] um more than i ever thought i would

[01:12:18] i've been working on it i really have been working on it

[01:12:23] we have one more week left what are you looking forward to the most over this next week

[01:12:29] well it's me so i have to say limonov the ballad yes yes yes uh i'm just that's an obligation

[01:12:37] contractual you know i've already signed it i need to say the ben wishaw movie i'm absolutely

[01:12:42] looking forward to but outside of that i think it would have to be in aura i would say anora

[01:12:50] i would say the substance yes i'm hearing a lot of positive buzz on that uh the shrouds from david

[01:12:56] cronenberg after that second trailer that dropped this week i'm actually more curious than ever now

[01:13:03] to watch kevin costner's horizon i don't know if my curiosity has increased at all but i am

[01:13:09] i'm still intrigued by it oh and uh there's an animated film in a film in a certain regard

[01:13:15] called flow that i'm looking forward to and um michelle has an evanavisius uh film the most

[01:13:22] precious of cargos i think we're about to watch like all the animated films over the next couple

[01:13:26] of days i think that's going to be really special and then uh muhammad rasul is um

[01:13:31] the tree of the sacred fig uh which just recently got picked up by neon so

[01:13:36] oh who anyone that's been paying attention to the podcast i mentioned that this was one that i was

[01:13:42] very very curious about and was saying watch out for it because you know he's been in the news

[01:13:47] recently because he's been persecuted by his own government he now recently fled his government what

[01:13:52] a badass and will he show up here i'll tell you this right now if he shows up here if that film

[01:13:59] is not winning the palm he's winning director he's winning something he's got to win something

[01:14:03] absolutely and i think neon probably sensed that and they were like let's get that fifth palm

[01:14:10] but i'm with you though anora is another shot that neon has at getting the palm

[01:14:14] and i do think that they might have a shot with that as well um sean baker just seems to be on a

[01:14:19] trajectory where that's going to happen at some point i imagine so yeah looking forward to that

[01:14:24] too it's it's it's hard because once you get past this halfway point now it's like you know

[01:14:29] it's all gonna feel like it's a lot because you've been here for so long but also you're

[01:14:34] gonna start getting sad that it's coming to an end too so yeah you're always gonna get sad when

[01:14:40] it starts winding down but you just still appreciate the time that you have spent here

[01:14:45] and yeah regardless of the quality of the movies this is not an experience an experience i would

[01:14:50] ever have traded i think it is still amazing yeah and you know as someone who can definitely

[01:14:56] testify that the movies have not been as good as they were last year in my opinion

[01:15:00] um i'm still having an amazing time i'm glad that you're here with me i'm glad that this is our

[01:15:05] first time in seven years that we had a chance to meet in person and we're spending a lot of time

[01:15:11] together eating and talking about movies and uh trying to get sleep wherever we can including

[01:15:16] tonight which as of this recording it's now 1 10 in the morning yeah you don't need to remind me

[01:15:21] that we have to be up at 6 00 am so uh yeah why don't we uh why don't we call it here uh josh

[01:15:30] uh thank you very much for joining me for this conversation uh to discuss the first week of

[01:15:34] can 2024 tell everyone that's listening right now where they can find you on the internet

[01:15:38] you can find me on twitter and letterboxd at jr parham and you can find me at next best picture

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