The Best of Cannes 2018

BY: Claire Connors

It’s always hit and miss at the Cannes Film Festival and 2018 was no different. But this year, some brilliant movies rose to the top and will most likely be showing up at the Oscars next spring. We’ve gathered the most provocative to watch for in the coming months.

Blackklansman (opens August 10)

Spike Lee is back! Actually, we literally just said that last year when Spike wrote, directed and produced the evocative and sexy Netflix version of his first film, She’s Gotta Have It. But this time, the auteur who brought us Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing has truly out done himself. Based on a true story, Blackkklansman is about the first African American police officer in Colorado Springs (John David Washington—Denzel‘s son), who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan and becomes the head of the local chapter. How does he accomplish that impossibility? With the help of his fellow white officer, Flip, played by the hilarious Adam Driver. The comedy/thriller has many outstanding performances but the one that got everyone’s attention at the festival is Topher Grace‘s, playing the milquetoast Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke.

Blackkklansman won the second highest honor at Cannes, the Grand Prix, and is the first movie of 2018 that has people whispering “Oscar.” Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that the movie is produced by Midas-touched Jordan Peele (Get Out).

Knife + Heart (opens this spring)

Actor/singer and French icon, Vanessa Paradis stars in this over-the-top thriller/comedy set in the raunchy gay porn industry in 1970s Paris. In it, Paradis runs a production company providing the blue movies for a willing audience, all the while lusting after (and stalking) her ex-girlfriend, Lois (Kate Moran). Meanwhile, someone is cruising the gay bars and picking up her young, handsome porn stars, then murdering them in the most gruesome ways. Wait, this is a comedy?

Cold War (opens this spring)

From Pawel Pawlikowski, the director who won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film for 2013’s Ida, returns with another beautifully shot black & white drama, Cold War. Set in the 1950s in Poland, Paris, Berlin, and Yugoslavia, the film is a passionate love story between a couple destine to be together, no matter how wrong they are for each other.

Climax (opens this fall)

If a film described as a French/horror/musical sounds completely insane, it can only be brought to us by the provocative Argentinian director, Gasper Noé, the man responsible for the highly controversial film, Irreversible. Our favorite asskicker of the moment, Sofia Boutella (Atomic Blonde) stars as an urban dancer caught up in a rave fueled by hallucinogenic sangria and deep house music. As the evening progresses, so does the madness.

The World is Yours (opens in late summer)

Speaking of Irreversible, the star of that 2002 film, Vincent Cassel plays a small-time hood who dreams of being a Kingpin in this very French heist/comedy. Iconic and always-sexy actress, Isabelle Adjani (The Story of Adele H) co-stars.

The House that Jack Built (opens this fall)

Missing Dexter? Then Lars von Trier‘s latest thriller will satisfy your bloodlust. Matt Dillon, who we didn’t even realize was in need of a comeback, stars as the crazy-eyed serial killer whose insatiable drive to viciously murder is his only reason to live. Lots of awesome cameos play his victims including Uma Thurman, Riley Keough, and Bruno Ganz.