The 74th edition of the legendary Cannes Film Festival kicked off last week in the south of France after 2 years of suspension.
Here’s a look at six films that will eventually make their way to become award-winning art works.
‘After Yang’
The artist and video essayist known as Kogonada, who delivered an auspicious first feature four years ago with the meditative character study “Columbus,” returns with this science fiction drama starring Colin Farrell as a father trying to repair his young daughter’s friend: a robot named Yang. “After Yang” co-stars Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”), Justin H. Min and Haley Lu Richardson.
‘Annette’
The iconoclastic French filmmaker Leos Carax (“Holy Motors”) makes his English-language debut with this hallucinatory rock opera starring Adam Driver as an explosive stand-up comedian and Marion Cotillard as his wife, a famous soprano. The wildly experimental “Annette” features original songs by Sparks, the quirky duo recently profiled in a documentary by “Shaun of the Dead” director Edgar Wright.
‘Flag Day’
Sean Penn directed and co-starred in this drama about a young woman (Dylan Penn, the actor’s real-life daughter) struggling to make amends with her father, a prolific con artist. “Flag Day,” based on a memoir by reporter Jennifer Vogel, was adapted for the screen by Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth (“The Ferryman”) and features music by Eddie Vedder, Cat Power and Glen Hansard.
‘The French Dispatch’
Wes Anderson cultists, rejoice! The auteur returns with this ensemble dramedy set at the French bureau of a fictional Kansas newspaper. “The French Dispatch” follows a star-studded ensemble cast — including Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray — across three storylines. The project, originally set for a 2020 rollout, has been described as a love letter to journalism and a hat tip to some of the legendary reporters at The New Yorker.
‘Val’
Val Kilmer spent decades shooting home-video footage that chronicled his childhood, film career and private life — and now those old recordings are the centerpiece of this feature-length documentary portrait co-directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. “Val” revisits Kilmer’s Hollywood highlights — “Top Gun,” “Heat,” a Batman franchise entry — and takes an intimate look at his present-day challenges as a throat cancer survivor living with a breathing tube.
‘The Velvet Underground’
Todd Haynes, best known for directing acclaimed queer-themed period dramas (“Far From Heaven,” “Carol”) and idiosyncratic takes on musicians (“Velvet Goldmine,” “I’m Not There”) turns to nonfiction with this tribute to one of the defining rock groups of the 1960s. “Haynes puts his distinctive stamp on the material while crafting a work that could almost have come from the same artistic explosion it celebrates,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote in a review.
