The timing of the Melbourne International Film Festival has always meant some excellent Cannes Film Festival grabs, and this year is no exception. Leading the pack is the Palme d’Or winning THE SQUARE from Ruben Öslund, a film that is sharp, satirical, and hyper-aware of itself.
Film fans will go nuts for Yorgos Lanthimos reteaming with co-writer Efthymis Filippou (The Lobster, Alps) for THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, bringing The Beguiled‘s Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman together in a darkly comic modern rendering of an ancient Greek morality play. Julianne Moore reunites with Todd Haynes for the enchanting WONDERSTRUCK, an intoxicating, visually ravishing adaptation of Brian Selznick’s (writer of Hugo) illustrated tale of two deaf runaways and the glimmering, redemptive magic of cinema.
24 FRAMES, the final work of Abbas Kiarostami, is a is a minimalist hymn to the capturing of images, starting with a series of stills that Kiarostami took himself. The diretcor died in July last year.
BRIGSBY BEAR is already one of our favourite films of the year. From several SNL crew, it’s a charming and disarmingly funny film about a person who is obsessed with a TV show made for an audience of one. This film, on the other hand, should appeal to just about everyone. (Read the Full Review >>)
Japan is well represented with three films, including Takeshi Miike’s 100th film, BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL. Atsuko Hirayanagi’s affectionate expansion of her MIFF 2014 short of the same name in OH LUCY!, while festival favourite Naomi Kawase (Still the Water) returns with RADIANCE.
LOVELESS is the must-see winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes – a razor-sharp portrayal of a marriage in the state of collapse from one of the greatest Russian filmmakers working today, Andrey Zvyagintsev. There’s also GOOD TIME, starring Robert Pattinson, who is said gives a career defining performance; CLAIRE’S CAMERA from Hong Sang-soo reunites the Korean director with Isabelle Huppert for a stroll around the town of Cannes, in one of the most appropriate additions for the stream.
IN THE FADE, from Germany’s Faith Akin where Diane Kruger delivers her Best Actress-winning performance as a mother dealing with the aftermath of her Kurdish husband and young son’s death in a neo-Nazi hate crime.
The full program is announced on 11 July 2017 with tickets on sales from miff.com.au. You can also find the full list of 33 titles there.
