Apparently, nothing can stop French director Quentin Dupieux. He’s made about 12 feature films in 13 years. Americans have seen none of them.
His reward? The newest one, “The Second Act,” will open this year’s Cannes Film Festival. God bless.
“The Second Act,” stars Lea Seydoux and Vincent Lindon. The latter was head of the jury a couple of years ago, a head scratcher for sure.
Last year’s opening film was “Jeanne du Barry,” directed by Maiwenn, the ex wife of Luc Besson. Johnny Depp made a brief appearance in it but the film was not warmly accepted. It still hasn’t been released here.
There are definitely tensions in the Cannes inner circle of how the festival will move forward. On one hand, several of of last year’s films, like “The Zone of Interest,” did well at the Oscars even if they didn’t make any money. “Killers of the Flower Moon” made a splash as well. But “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Asteroid City” were not exactly gangbusters.
This year doesn’t look so promising, especially after last summer’s strikes. I feel for the bookers who have to come up with the goods. It seems like the Big Marquee title will be Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis.” That will cause the biggest stir, certainly. Is it any good? Does it matter? There will be a seven minute standing ovation, no doubt.
I am not going to Cannes this year. Last year between the rain and the ticketing system, I needed a vacation after the movies were over. This year I’m sure it will be sunny every day and we’ll only hear stories about how easy it was to see movies! I expect nothing less.
