Cannes 2015 – Days 5 & 6

After the manic excitement of Saturday on the Croisette, Sunday was a much more relaxed affair as we mostly spent the day in cinemas or in various pavilions in the International Village.

The first screening of the day was Maiwenn’s MON ROI, the tale of a sweet and romantic relationship turning sour and emotionally abusive over time. The film stars Vincent Cassel and Emmanuelle Bercot, who are both on exceptional form, and you can read our full review here.

After emerging from the Palais, blinking in the morning sun, we found Rooney Mara mooching around near the Disney Press Office in the Carlton, and later in the Palais after the press conference for her film CAROL. We would say she is following us, but we don’t want to give her an excuse to go all Lisbeth Salander on us!

We joined a queue for Jeremy Saulnier’s GREEN ROOM and quietly blistered in the sun. The film was worth the wait however, as the director of BLUE RUIN has somehow outdone himself with this dark, gruesome and often screamingly funny survival flick starring Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Macon Blair. The audience seemed to be as enamoured with it as we were, cheering their approval in the screening room.

Pausing briefly to put more sun block on –28 degrees on the Croisette is no laughing matter – and stock up on water, we joined yet another queue, this time for Joaquim Trier’s LOUDER THAN BOMBS. As we waited, we got talking to some lovely Dutch journalists who had also stumbled across the B-Movie joy that is SKY SHARKS – currently being funded through Kickstarter and at the Marche – which led to a rather silly, sundrenched conversation about which movies would be improved by sharks. THE GUNMAN came out tops, and we all agreed that BEFORE SUNRISE would actually be made worse with sharks.
Watch the trailer for the wonderfully silly looking SKY SHARKS, due for release in 2017, below.

LOUDER THAN BOMBS, Joaquim Trier’s English language debut, starring Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert and Jesse Eisenberg tells the story of a family coming to terms with the death of one of their number. Although the film has good ideas, it never truly comes together, and left the Cannes audience ambivalent.

Monday morning was another bright a clear start for us, as we headed to the Palais for the screening of MEASURE OF A MAN. Focusing on a man searching for work to support his family, MEASURE OF A MAN is a film with good ideas, but is plagued with messy pacing and scenes that don’t know when to end.

After MEASURE OF A MAN, we joined the queue again to catch the Out of Competition screening of Disney Pixar’s INSIDE OUT. Directed by Pete Docter and starring Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Bill Hader and Phyllis Smith as the emotions within a young girl’s mind, INSIDE OUT is a wonderful return to form for Pixar, with plenty of laughs and tons of heart. Read our review here.

We encountered Rooney Mara again, this time walking through the Palais, and after spotting John C. Reilly looking rather dapper in a suit, Panama hat and carrying a cane, we spent the afternoon on the Quinzane Beach with Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat, chatting about their fantastic film GREEN ROOM. We’ll publish the interviews closer to the film’s release, but both actors were full of praise for director Jeremy Saulnier. Shawkat also revealed that there may still be an ARRESTED DEVLOPMENT movie on the way, and she doesn’t mind if people call her ‘Maeby’ for the rest of her life, since working on the show was such a pleasure for her. We also grabbed Macon Blair for a quick chat, who seemed genuinely humbled and surprised by the high praise coming out of Director’s Fortnight for GREEN ROOM.

The party for INSIDE OUT took place on the Carlton Beach on Monday evening, and we were there to rub shoulders with the stars. The set of for the party was brightly coloured and beautiful, the food plenty and the champagne flowing. Although the hottest goodies at the party were badges with the INSIDE OUT characters on them, we didn’t see John Lasseter join in the hunt for a full set, instead he was taking pictures of the beautiful French Riviera. We knew the famous were just like us!

Words: Brogen Hayes