The Cannes Film Festival awards will be announced tomorrow and the closing ceremony will be held. The final two films of the festival will be released today. Almost all of the likely award-winners have been screened, and it seems that Drive My Car is the favorite among critics. The town of Cannes is slowly returning to normal. The commercial and market sections of the festival are empty and other sections are seeing fewer attendees. Among the notable films that we watched last night and on the ninth day of the festival were France by Bruno Dumont, Casablanca Beats by Nabil Ayoush and Our Men by Rachel Lang.
France, the latest film by Cannes favorite, Bruno Dumont, is a film that shows from the very beginning a female reporter, played by Léa Seydoux, confronting the French President Emmanuel Macron. The sequence in which the two confront each other makes it clear that the film has a direct connection to its title and that the character of France will be its main theme. In fact, the journalist’s character can be considered a kind of reflection of contemporary French society. We watch as the protagonist deals with her celebrity status and follows various stories. She’s a famous anchor in her own right, and faces many ups and downs in her life. Bruno Dumont’s France was a film that seemed to have a more traditional and broader style than the director’s previous films. Unlike many of his earlier efforts, it is easier to connect emotionally with the characters here, and this is likely because the screenplay marks a departure from Dumont’s earlier work.
Another film released last night was Casablanca Beat, starring French Tunisian director Nabil Ayoush. The film follows a school teacher who prepares his students to perform a hip hop program. And through hip hop gives the children the power to express their feelings and to feel a certain sense of freedom; a particular challenge in a traditional religious community like Morocco. Through hip hop, Girls are given an opportunity to speak about their oppression in a patriarchal society and boys talk about the freedoms they seek in this repressing society. The film takes place in the school and includes various conversations between students and their views on freedom and its limits. The film occasionally feels pedantic, telling viewer how to look and think. But the combination of these conversations along with beautifully made singing and dancing performances gives this film a special sense of excitement.
Our Men was another French film starring Louis Garrell in the Directors’ Week at Cannes. The film is about an army family in France and the effects that military life had on the family life of the protagonist and his wife. The title, Our Men, refers to the situation of wives whose husbands serve in the Foreign Legion, and the special rules and regulations that are meant to strengthen their families. The film attempts to take a critical look at these issues. The performances were remarkable, especially that of Louis Garrell, who played the role of a committed army commander who’s immersed in his own work, he is able to hook us and we’re quickly invested in his character. Through the battle scenes, the director introduces viewers to the presence of the French army in other, especially Muslim, countries and also shows how families are broken up. It shows the unpredictability of army life. There is no mercy and soldiers may lose their lives at any moment. But we also see that the women are victims of this situation; victims of their own choices or the military system in which they live. The film was the director’s first work and showed his outstanding ability in a challenging film.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.