🍿94: La Chimera
This week: Best films at Cannes, the award nobody talks about and a Megalopolis trailer!
“X never, ever marks the spot.”
~ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989
Cannes I get a hell yeah…
With the first week of the 77th Cannes Film Festival well underway, we’ll be using this week’s intro as an opportunity to highlight the films we’re most excited to see. No, we’re not in Cannes (sadly), but there are several films premiering at the festival that have caught our eye.
With Greta Gerwig presiding over the jury, there’s plenty of competition for this year’s Palme d’Or. Other jurors include Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Ebru Ceylan, Nadine Labaki, Pierfrancesco Favino, Juan Antonia Bayona, Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Omar Sy.
So, in no particular order, here they are:
Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act)
This year’s festival opened with The Second Act, written and directed by Quentin Dupieux. In it, Florence (Léa Seydoux) wants to introduce David (Louis Garrel), the man she’s madly in love with, to her father (Vincent Lindon). But David isn’t interested and wants to palm her off onto his friend Willy (Raphaël Quenard).
There’s a wonderfully unorthodox promo for this one too.
Kinds of Kindness
Following the critical and commercial success of Poor Things (and the hilarity of Mark Ruffalo), we can’t wait to see what Yorgos Lanthimos and Emily Stone have in store for us with their new film.
The Apprentice
Directed by Ali Abbasi and starring Sebastian Stan, only so much is known about the upcoming Donald Trump biopic — but we’re willing to bet the former president won’t like it.
Megalopolis
Last but not least, Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded passion project has been in the works for more than 40 years. There’s a lot at stake for the legendary director — who is arguably the most committed artist in Hollywood — as his film is due to premiere tomorrow. A teaser trailer dropped earlier this week (scroll down to watch).
Got a film you’re most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
What’s Popping
Andy Serkis is set to direct and star in The Hunt for Gollum, with Peter Jackson attached to produce. Read more.
Edgar Wright is in talks to direct a Barbarella reboot, starring Sydney Sweeney. Read more.
Luca Guadagnino is in talks with Andrew Garfield to star in his next film, After The Hunt, alongside Julia Roberts. Read more.
And finally, Meryl Streep was awarded the Palme d’Or d’Honneur, and was greeted with a two-minute standing ovation on Tuesday. Read more.
Coming Soon
Megalopolis
UK: TBC // USA: TBC
Adam Driver leads an all-star cast in the long-awaited sci-fi epic written, directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Following an accident that destroys the decaying metropolis of New Rome, Cesar Catilina (Driver), an idealist architect with the power to control time, aims to rebuild it as a sustainable utopia. Meanwhile, his opposition, corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), remains committed to a regressive status quo.
DÌDI
UK: 26 July // USA: 26 July
Written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sean Wang, Dìdi is an American coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old boy (Izaac Wang) learning the things his family can’t teach: how to skate, how to flirt and how to love your mum.
Fact of the Week
Every year, Cannes coverage seems to focus more on the outfits than the actual films (seriously, did people not get their fashion fix from the Met Gala?). And if that wasn’t bad enough, nobody is talking about the Palm Dog Award. That’s right, the Cannes Film Festival has a prize dedicated to cinema’s best canine performance.
While we think they missed a trick by not calling it the Paw d’Or, last year’s coveted leather collar went to the very deserving Messi, who played Snoop in Anatomy of a Fall.
Other previous winners include Sayuri as Brandy in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Britney as Beast in War Pony and Tilda Swinton’s three springer spaniels — Snowbear, Dora and Rosy — in The Souvenir Part II.
Review: La Chimera
Star Rating:
4.5 (out of 5)
Where to Watch:
USA: Only in cinemas
UK: Only in cinemas
Runtime:
2hr 13m
Director:
Alice Rohrwacher
Blurb:
British archaeologist Arthur (Josh O’Connor) works with a group of Italian grave robbers who sell recovered Etruscan treasures on the black market.
The Review:
Nominated for the Palme d’Or (and Palm Dog!) in 2023, La Chimera is a dreamy folktale about love and loss, from Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher. While anyone expecting Indiana Jones might be disappointed, this surrealist slow burn makes for a wonderful story that could only be told on screen.
Josh O’Connor plays Arthur, an Englishman who fell in love with archaeology but also fell in with a ragtag gang of grave robbers (the ‘Tombaroli’) reminiscent of Fagin’s gang in Oliver. As a relatively grumpy character with bad luck (or bad karma), it isn’t clear at first what’s tying him to Italy and his motley crew, other than perhaps his empty pockets.
It’s a quiet film, for the most part, with O’Connor spending a noticeable amount of screen time in silence and less music than one would expect. This isn’t a bad thing however, as O’Connor proves he can act without needing to do — giving us a performance full of subtlety and feeling. Tormented as Arthur is, O’Connor needs few lines to express his character’s inner battles, and any actor who can convey so much, while saying and doing very little, deserves high praise.
Meanwhile the absence of music leaves room for the sounds of the scene and surrounding nature, which helps make the film feel more real, despite its surrealist nature. It also means that when music does play, we really notice it. From interspersed ballads that provide narration, to upbeat EDM that plays during one particularly long grave-robbing montage, the score is a mixed bag but aligns with the tone remarkably well. I particularly enjoyed the ballads, which help give us some of the backstory while breaking through the film’s symbolism.
Shot on 35mm and 16mm film, there’s an antiquated grainy quality to the visuals that makes it easy to forget you’re watching a modern film. It all feels very much of its time (or rather, of the time in which it’s set) and the style helps ground Rohrwacher’s more experimental scenes. From a Benny Hill-esque police chase, a growling match and even breaking the fourth wall, it’s a wonder how it all ties together so well — but it does.
There’s a lot to unpack, and film students will likely be talking about La Chimera for a long time. This near-charming fairytale is a flawless piece of cinema that explores the humility of its characters with poignant blend of realism and fantasy.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked La Chimera…
Happy as Lazzaro
2018 | UK: AppleTV+ (£3.49) // USA: Netflix
La Chimera is one of a kind, but if you’re looking for something similar to watch this weekend check out Alice Rohrwacher’s award-winning drama about Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo), one of a group of Italian peasants who work on a tobacco plantation owned by an aristocrat who constantly exploits her workers.
In the UK, this one is also streaming on Channel 4, for free.
Streaming Picks
If you’re across the pond, you’ve got just one more week to catch Minari before it leaves Netflix on 23 May. We reviewed this way back in 2021 for SP#11. Spoiler alert: we loved it.
The film follows Jacob (Steven Yeun) and his family as they move to Arkansas to grow and sell Korean produce. However, they face several challenges in their quest, which also threaten to tear the family apart.
If you’re in the UK however, you can rent Minari for £3.49 on Apple TV+ and Prime Video. Trust us, it’s worth the money.
Next Week:
Hoard
UK: 17 May // USA: TBC | Watch the Trailer
Have loved Josh O’Connor since he came into my view on The Crown in 2019, so exciting to see him doing so well. La Chimera is on my watch next list now!
hugely agree with the comments on the soundtrack and the absence of it at times! audibly one of my favourite films of the year