Position Paper #4
When someone mentions French films, people tend to think of the Festival de Cannes. Festival de Cannes is a huge film award show in France. Some would call it the Oscars of France. Winning a Cannes legitimizes filmmakers and puts their name out into the world. American classics like Pulp Fiction and Les Misérables both were awarded in the past and prove that the Cannes represent great films and filmmakers.
This past year the winners of Cannes were expansive and grabbed films from all over the world. The winner of 2021’s Best First Film was Croatian filmmaker, Antoneta Kusijanovic for their debut film Murina. The contemporary coming-of-age is about a teenage girl, who has to navigate her controlling, abusive father. The film is praised for its hidden symbolism and complex character tropes.
The 2021 winner of the Cannes Jury Prize award was shared between two creators; Israel’s Nadav Lapid for Ahed’s Knee and Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul for Memoria. Both films were awarded because they encaptured the spirit of the Cannes. Ahed’s Knee has been described as Lapid’s “most radical film yet.” The film touches on trauma and oppression in real-life situations. The movie is a love story, in the most authentic way it can be told. Memoria, a film starring Tilda Swinton, is a fantasy film about a woman finding herself. Critics describe it as the perfect parody of an art film.
Best Screenplay was won by Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Takamasa Oe for Drive My Car (Japan). This drama is about a famous stage actor and director. It’s a story of love and loss when Yusuke begins to find hidden truths his late wife left behind. The film is based on Haruki Murakami’s short story. The film also won two other awards at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Below is the official trailer for the movie.
The winner of Best Actor was America’s Caleb Landry Jones for his part in Nitram. This psychological drama is based on the Port Arthur, Tasmania mass shooting in 1996, where 35 people were shot by a mentally ill young man. Jones plays the leading character Nitram, (Martin spelled backward), that was bullied and pushed to the edge after years of neglect at school and home.
Best actress was awarded to Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve for her role in Worst Person in the World. The film is a dark romantic comedy-drama directed by Joachim Trier. The movie is about a medical student going through an existential crisis and her journey to find who she wants to be and what she wants to do with her life. Vanity Fair and The Atlantic declared The Worst Person in the World to be the ‘Best Movie of 2021’
Leos Carax (France) won Best Director for their work on the film Annette. Stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and his opera singing wife (Marion Cotillard) are the parents of a daughter with a special gift. One critic, Ben Kenigsberg, had this to say about the film, “With ‘Annette,’ visually, tonally and musically, it’s difficult to define what you’re watching.” I think that summary of the film encapsulated all of what the other critics had to say. They all hated the timing of scenes and the musical numbers, but those weird, off-scenes, were what made the film different and unique.
The Grand Prix award is the second-highest award a filmmaker can receive for their film. The winner of the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes was shared between two films, Ashagar Farhadi for A Hero (Iran) and Juho Kuosmanen for Compartment No. 6 (Finland). According to IMDB, A Hero is about a man, Rahim, who is in prison for not being able to repay his debt. During a two-day leave, he tries to talk his creditor into withdrawing the complaint made against him, but things don’t go as planned. The moral of the movie, ultimately, is no good deed should be expected. Compartment No. 6 is about a young woman trying to escape a love affair by leaving on a train to Murmansk. On the journey there, she shares her time with a Russian miner. This story isn’t your typical love story, but instead a story of how two strangers learn to trust each other because they have no one else.
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