BY: Amanda Jane Stern

The 2021 Cannes Film Festival just ended. The festival took place from July 6 to 17. This year, unlike last, the festival was held in person. Spike Lee served as head of the jury for the festival, and 24 films competed for the Palme d’Or, while 18 films were selected for the Un Certain Regard category. While many films made their mark on those lucky enough to see them, not every movie in the competition was a hit with viewers and critics. Let’s take a look at five hits and five misses from this year’s festival.

 

HITS

 

Annette

Leos Carax’s anticipated new movie opened this year’s festival. The musical drama stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard as a couple who have a daughter with mysterious abilities. Although Annette has received more mixed reviews than Carax’s last film at Cannes (Holy Motors), it nets him a best director award.

 

Titane

Julia Ducournau returned with a sophomore feature almost, if not equally, as provocative as her debut Raw. Titane is an erotic, body-horror film that cannot easily be summed up in just a few sentences. Nevertheless, the film went on to win the Palme d’Or, making Ducournau the second woman to win the festival’s top prize.

 

 

 

Unclenching the Fists

This Russian film from director Kira Kovalenko follows a young woman in the small mining town of Mazur who feels stifled under her father’s strict rules and yet is also afraid of possible freedom. Kovalenko’s second feature and first to screen at Cannes won the Un Certain Regard.

 

Compartment No. 6 (Hytti Nro 6)

This film by Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen tells of a young Finnish woman and a Russian miner who meet and fall in love on a train headed to the Arctic. The film has been described as a beautifully melancholic drama that is somehow also uplifting. It tied for second place.

 

 

A Hero

The other film in the two-way tie for second place was Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero. The film follows Rahim, a man in a debtors’ prison. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditors to vacate the claims against him so he can be released; however, things go awry, and he finds himself heading down a slippery slope.

 

MISSES

 

Blue Bayou

This movie, written by, directed, and starring Justin Chon, follows a Korean adoptee raised in Louisiana who finds himself facing deportation. Critics have described the film as overwrought, although his performance has been praised. Alicia Vikander also stars.

 

Flag Day

Sean Penn directed and starred in this adaptation of Jennifer Vogel’s memoir alongside his real-life daughter, Dylan Penn. The movie follows the fall-out left behind by a con man. While Flag Day has received slightly better reviews than Penn’s last film at Cannes, reviewers are not sold on this one either.

 

Stillwater

This Matt Damon-led film is about an oil-rig worker who travels to France after his daughter is guilty of a murder she did not commit. Unfortunately, it did not win any acclaim from reviewers. Most claim it is made up loosely of disparate genres in a story that is poorly thought out.

 

The Story of My Wife

This movie is an adaptation of the 1942 novel The Story of My Wife: The Reminiscences of Captain Storr. It follows a sea captain (Gijs Naber) who bets his friend that he will marry the first woman who comes through the door. Unfortunately, according to viewers, the film is dull and spends too much time focusing on the boring male lead instead of the mercurial wife (Léa Seydoux). 

 

France

Another film starring Seydoux, this satire is about a famous TV journalist whose life is upended by a freak car accident. Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate with critics. Reviewers have said they expected more from such an interesting director/lead actor pairing, but the film falls flat.