"While Cannes of the recent past have featured at least one splashy, Tom Cruise-y premiere and several star-studded Hollywood features, there are noticeably fewer American films this year (and zero big studio films to speak of). Festival director Thierry Friemaux blamed it on Hollywood being "quiet" over the last five to ten years, but maybe it's also a symptom of the USA's rapidly declining international reputation? Still, there's plenty to look forward to, including new films from Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, as well as an Ira Sachs musical starring Rami Malek, a crime drama from James Gray, and a sapphic horror film from Jane Schoenbrun."
"Cannes mainstay Pedro Almodóvar is back for the first time since 2023's gay cowboy short Strange Way of Life, and for his first full-length feature since 2019's Pain and Glory, which won Best Actor for Antonio Banderas's moving performance. Almodóvar's latest is billed as a tragicomedy, starring Bárabara Lennie and Leonardo Sbaragli as writer-directors exploring autofiction. There's a film within a film, stealing from friends' lives for material, and, of course, death."
"In his native Spain, where the film was already released, called it his "deepest, rawest, and most complex film," which is really saying something for the man who made The Skin I Live In. With their first two features, We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun established themselves as a singular voice in queer film, telling haunting and visually arresting stories about sexuality and gender and self-denial."
"Their third promises to be just as compelling, if a bit lighter than her first two - Teenage Sex and Death is, according to Schoenbrun, "essentially a movie about learning to enjoy sex after transition," as well as "funnier and grislier" than their previous film"
Cannes has fewer American films than in recent years, with no major studio releases. Festival director Thierry Friemaux attributes the change to Hollywood being quiet over the past five to ten years, while declining U.S. international reputation is also suggested. Anticipation remains high for multiple international filmmakers and genres. Pedro Almodóvar returns with his first full-length feature since 2019, a tragicomedy starring Bárbara Lennie and Leonardo Sbaragli as writer-directors exploring autofiction, including a film-within-a-film that draws from friends’ lives and involves death. Jane Schoenbrun’s third feature, Teenage Sex and Death, follows earlier queer works and centers on learning to enjoy sex after transition, described as funnier and grislier than prior films.
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