From the tale of a mysterious beast to a migrant who finds he can levitate after being shot on a border fence, these are the 19 movies competing in the main competition at this week’s Cannes film festival which gets underway on May 17:
– Wonderstruck –
Todd Haynes in back in period mode after his huge hit “Carol” with the first of two Amazon-backed movies to have made the cut. Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams star in the story of two deaf children living parallel lives in the 1920s and 1970s.
– Jupiter’s Moon –
Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo — who won the newcomers prize with “White God” in 2014 — has turned his lens on the European migrant crisis, with this story of a young refugee who discovers amazing powers when he is shot.
– The Beguiled –
Sofia Coppola’s starry and much-touted American Civil War thriller, a remake of the 1971 movie with Clint Eastwood, features Colin Farrell as a wounded soldier who seduces the women around him, including Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst.
– Redoubtable –
The buzz is also good on this cheeky “comedy” about the legendary New Wave movie director Jean-Luc Godard from Michel Hazanavicius, the man behind the whimiscal multi-Oscar winner “The Artist”.
– Okja –
Netflix are pushing the boat out for their big-budget “E.T.”-like “creature feature” “Okja”, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton, which tells the tale of a girl who risks everything to protect a shy giant animal.
– The Meyerowitz Stories –
The streaming giant has also snapped up Noah “While We’re Young” Baumbach’s story about a neurotic New York boho family trying to deal with their difficult artist father. Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson, Candice Bergen and Dustin Hoffman complete a top-notch cast.
– You Were Never Really Here –
Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay made her Cannes debut with the unforgettable “Ratcatcher”. This year she will close the festival with this drama of a war veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) who tries to save a victim of sex-trafficking.
– Loveless –
Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev wowed Cannes in 2014 with “Leviathan”, a darkly funny meditation on family bonds and religion. Family is again the focus of his new film about a clan with an aversion to affection.
– Good Time –
Billed as a grindhouse movie with a brain, New York indie brothers Benny and Josh Safdie have cast “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson as a bank robber struggling to evade the police.
– Happy End –
No one has ever won the Palme d’Or three times. But with Isabelle Huppert again by his side fresh from her accolades for “Elle”, Austrian-born Michael Haneke could write his place in history with this family drama set in northern France against the backdrop of the migrant crisis.
– The Square –
The Swedish director Ruben Ostlund best known for “Snow Therapy” was a late entry with his dystopian tale of a place without rules where people can do what they want.
– The Killing of a Sacred Deer –
Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell team up for the second time in the competition, this time in the story of a boy trying to bring a surgeon into his dysfunctional family, with disastrous consequences. With Greek maestro Yorgos Lanthimos at the helm, expect the weird.
– Rodin –
Gerard Depardieu has already had a go at playing France’s greatest sculptor. This time Vincent Lindon picks up the chisel to portray the artist in a biopic that marks the centenary of his death.
– In The Fade –
Hamburg’s Fatih Akin of “Head-On” fame returns to home ground in a promising story of vengeance set among Germany’s Turkish community.
– Amant Double (The Double Lover) –
No one does erotic thrillers like French director Francois “Swimming Pool” Ozon. His latest follows a young woman who falls in love with her therapist before realising he’s not who she thought he was.
– 120 Beats Per Minute –
Drama by Franco-Moroccan director Robin Campillo set among a group of people working with an AIDS charity in Paris in the 1990s.
– Radiance –
Japan’s Naomi Kawase returns to the competition three years after her “Still the Water” with a film following a photographer whose eyesight is failing.
– The Day After –
South Korean director Hong Sang-Soo is bringing two films to Cannes. His new feature “The Day After” is in the main competition with a special screening for “Claire’s Camera”, which features Isabelle Huppert, and was partly shot during last year’s festival.
– A Gentle Creature –
A woman tries to learn the truth about her husband held in a remote prison in Russia when a package for him is returned to her in Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s sombre story.
