2023 Cannes Film Festival

Matt Neglia: Get the tissue boxes ready again! Hirokazu Kore-eda superbly crafts a complex tale of how insecurity & suppression can lead to lies & consequences. Told from multiple perspectives, each layer is more emotionally devastating than the last. A heartbreaking film with a perfect cast.

Ema Sasic: MONSTER delivers another classic Kore-eda humanity-focused film that slowly reveals itself through RASHOMON style. Each part adds another layer to a grand tale about secrets, lies and friendship. Solid acting and writing, but kids Soya Kurokawa & Hiiragi Hinata steal the show

Lee Marshall: Hirokazu Kore-eda brings emotional nuance to a moral tale about school bullying, scored by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. There are some fine performances, including Sakura Ando.

Tomris Laffly: MONSTER is not the best Kore-eda, but it’s still a pretty good Kore-eda. Like a wobbly but earnest mash-up of CLOSE, and a Farhadi film. The young leads are terrific, and so is the score by the late great master, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Antoine Rousseau: We love getting lost in Monster. Kore-eda confronts points of view to deal with the difficult construction of oneself as a child. A remarkable writing that oscillates between disorder and sweetness. First Cannes tears

Jean-Baptiste Morel: Ah yes, the competition starts strong. Well-deserved ovation for Monster, a marvel of writing by Kore-Eda. Sometimes serious, sometimes mischievous. It is, on the spot, a great film about childhood. If the competition vintage is like this, then we’re going to love it

Philip Bagnall: A structural gambit too far for Kore-Eda, whose retelling of events from different viewpoints highlights the script’s weaknesses. Some characters are played too broad, & it’s too dependent on happenstance. Improves as time passes, but a slight disappointment

Pete Hammond: With superb casting Kore-Eda gets excellent work again from Sakura, as well as Eita. Monster also benefits from a first association for Kore-Eda with the late great Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, bringing a moving final musical score that turns out to be pitch perfect here.

Julien Lada: The presentation of Monster from the first day of competition raised fears of a minor Kore-Eda, sacrificed by the Cannes schedule. Nay, it’s brilliant mastery, emotion and efficiency. And is savored all the more when you reveal as little as possible

Charley James: Another successful Kore-eda with Monster, a Rashomon-like drama that turns out to be more and more touching as its story unfolds, and on its play of perspectives on the parental, school and child point of view which moves helped by the ultimate score of Ryūichi Sakamoto

Marine Bordone: The competition starts strong with Monster from Kore-Eda. A sequence of points of view to finally reveal the truth. It’s sweet, violent, intelligent. Important. Somewhere between Stand By Me and Close

Matt Neglia: THE DELINQUENTS charts the 3.5 years following a bank heist committed by its employees with patience, humor & passion. An unconventional film of its kind with some unexpected choices but always rooted in character & story. Not sure it’s worth the three hours, but I admired it.

Tomris Laffly: Cannes folk: turn your attention over to Rodrigo Moreno’s DELINQUENTS, a crime-thriller that’s slick, impeccably written and filled with wisdom & a droll sense of humor. Don’t let the runtime turn you off—it very much earns it. (Congrats to MUBI on the acquisition.)

Jordan Cronk: Rodrigo Moreno’s THE DELINQUENTS is an early Cannes highlight and one of the best films to come out of Un Certain Regard in years. Also answers modern cinema’s most pressing riddle: what if Corneliu Porumboiu remade WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY?

Ankit Jhunjhunwala: Bank robbery plot sparks inventive tangents about yearning for a life of freedom. What r they putting in the water in Argentina? Aftr TRENQUE LAUQUEN, another original deeply engrossing work of imagination.

David Fear: To the people at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 — I can’t recommend THE DELINQUENTS highly enough. Amazing Argentine film, takes a lyrical left turn around the midpoint, sticks the landing in the most beautiful way imaginable. Great late ’60s South American blues soundtrack, too.

Jessica Kiang: Freaking love The Delinquents. A deliciously bizarre existential heist movie that wants you to steal back your life. At each creative juncture, the director selects the path less travelled, the one that leads furthest away from classic structure and formula.

Stephen Miller: At once a standard French drama (beautiful scenery, naturalistic dialogue, everyone has sex) and a *far more interesting* exploration of the isolation felt by its West African immigrant protagonists, which renders that wistful shit hollow

Simon Santiago: Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming is a class and family drama set in a Corsican summer vacation. Attractive and with great performances, it feels less heavy-handed than her last competition entry

Peter Bradshaw: Despite some warm and sympathetic performances and lovely cinematography, there is something weirdly glib in director and co-writer Catherine Corsini’s new film.

Eric Lavallée: Working (not always overtly) with themes of colonialism, racism, power dynamics and first loves while brimming with light-heartedness but nonetheless, a tonally serious synergy, Le retour (Homecoming) is a drama that details what happens in Corsica should maybe stay in Corsica.

Guy Lodge: For all the secrets and lies that shape the narrative of Corsini’s straightforwardly told but consistently intriguing new film, its most interesting tensions often emerge from things its characters already know, even if they haven’t acknowledged them out loud. A terrific trio of performances go some way toward making the film’s more neatly schematic plotting feel organically, messily human.

Justin Chang: Corsini leans a little too hard on narrative convenience, but she also has a gift for illuminating everyday racism — the matter-of-fact microaggressions, the unspoken anxieties — in a story of youthful alienation and restlessness. Whenever believability falters, Corsini and her fine actors manage to pull you back in.

Jordan Mintzer: A moving and meaningful summer holiday. It has Corsini doing what she does best — guiding actors toward intense and stirring performances, telling stories that can be dark and light at the same time — in a way that feels nearly effortless.

Stephanie Bunbury: There is a brisker, tougher and more succinct story buried just out of sight, somewhere on the beach where the jet-skis blast through the waves. Not that there isn’t plenty here to enjoy, but too much time where we feel like Farah, running sand through her fingers and wondering if there’s anything to do in this village.

Ewan Graf: Le Retour (Homecoming) ticks off every box on the film festival checklist. Cliché overload and left some of the more interesting storylines by the wayside.

Ella Kemp: HOW TO HAVE SEX is really special, knockout debut that’s just so long overdue for all the post-exams holidays we’ve been on (Tenerife 2014) and how those feelings and mistakes and desires live forever. One for the girlies and anyone who cares for a girlie

Caspar Salmon: Impressed by Molly Manning-Walker’s HOW TO HAVE SEX – teenage rite of passage as an unblinking horror movie, in which the monster is patriarchy and sexual violence. Some unevenness of tone and performance, but really assured & sensitive. Mia McKenna-Bruce very fine.

Ema Sasic: HOW TO HAVE SEX is everything. Molly Manning Walker writes such a powerful film about sex, the female experience and how women are treated. It was difficult to watch and so relatable in many ways, but the humor is aplenty too. Mia McKenna-Bruce is brilliant! A must-watch film!

Luke Hearfield: Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex is easily the best thing I’ve seen at Cannes 2023 (so far). A phenomenal debut feature about sisterhood and consent with a firecracker performance from Mia McKenna-Bruce. It’s thought-provoking, beautifully shot and has a bangin’ soundtrack.

Gregory Ellwood: Mia McKenna-Bruce is quietly phenomenal How To Have Sex. The movie is good but missing something overall?

Yasmine Kandil: HOW TO HAVE SEX is a standout film early in the festival. Such precise direction from Molly Manning-Walker (AUB represent <3), impeccable music supervision and stellar performances from the whole ensemble

The Oscar Expert: How To Have Sex is GREAT. Molly Manning Walker’s debut is powerful and deeply insightful. The performances are authentic, it’s beautifully filmed. First cry of the fest.

Douglas Greenwood: Cried at HOW TO HAVE SEX, best of the festival so far. This really gorgeous, energetic, melancholic portrait of British teenagehood; one of the realest I’ve seen in ages. Touches of Morvern Callar. Mia McKenna-Bruce is gobsmackingly good.

Rafa Sales Ross: Mia McKenna-Bruce is a STAR in Molly Manning Walker’s roaring debut HOW TO HAVE SEX. Her charm is such it has me considering the fashion potential of neon green. Much to chew on here, but what a solid addition to the recent array of outstanding 1st films by UK talent

Manuela Lazic: An uneven but impressive debut, very perceptive about how sex can be a minefield for young women, and how we are rarely given the language to better navigate it and share how it impacts us.

Rory Doherty: HOW TO HAVE SEX is the pick of Cannes thus far for me. Some really complex performances, none more so than a brilliant Mia McKenna-Bruce (like, performance of the year level good). Definitely still reeling a bit from how this made me feel. Sheer emotional filmmaking.

Ema Sasic: THE NEW BOY is not what I expected with its surreal elements surrounding an Aboriginal boy who ends up at a monastery and begins to lose parts of himself. This didn’t keep my interest as a whole, but Cate Blanchett as a renegade nun is a treat. Stellar debut from Aswan Reid

Gregory Ellwood: The nicest thing I can say about The New Boy is it has a gorgeous score. The rest is a strange and often inert mess. Not only can Cate Blanchett not save this one, it’s also a pretty weak performance by Cate standards. If she wasn’t in it, no way this movie plays

Matt Neglia: THE NEW BOY is a sumptuous-looking film basked in the Australian sun with a splendid-sounding score. Plot lines aren’t fully developed. Lacks focus in its overall faith-based messaging. More of a showcase for the mostly silent Aswan Reid than the typically reliable Cate Blanchett

Anna Miller: THE NEW BOY is a gorgeous, atmospheric and extremely allegorical story of an Aboriginal boy who ends up on the doorstep of one habit-clad nun played by Cate Blanchett. Spirituality, colonization and indoctrination come to a head to create a stunning & thought provoking film.

Ali Benzekri: WT was in such a mood when he shot this film. It’s gorgeous but the whole is mixed. Cate Blanchett has a large and substantial role and she excels in it. I never thought that she out of all actresses would give us a sane & grounded nun