2023 Cannes Movie Reviews: ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’, ‘Indiana Jones 5′, More

UPDATED with latest: The Cannes Film Festival kicked off this year with opening-night movie Jeanne du Barry, and concluded Saturday evening with Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall scooping the Palme d’Or. Deadline was on the ground to watch all the key films. Here is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year saw Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness win the coveted top prize on its way to an Oscar Best Picture nomination.

Check out the reviews below, click on the titles to read them in full, and keep checking back as we add more.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Nuri Bilge CeylanCast: Deniz Celiloglu, Ece Bagci, Merve Dizdar, Musab EkiciDeadline’s takeaway: For Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s many fans, this is another opportunity to slip into his world, spot his sly political references and subside for a while into the life of the mind. That life isn’t an easy ride and — with three-plus hours of dense dialogue — certainly not too quick, but it is a rewarding one.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Justine TrietCast: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner, Samuel TheisDeadline takeaway: Were this a simple whodunit, Triet’s film would be just as enjoyable, if a bit overlong, but the director’s masterstroke is to subvert the pleasures of genre convention to explore issues of schadenfreude and plain morbid human curiosity (it makes especially interesting viewing after the many conversations about the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard court case that accompanied the screening of Cannes opener Jeanne du Barry).

Section: Un Certain RegardDirector: Thomas CailleyCast: Romain Duris, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul KircherDeadline’s takeaway: It’s certainly a testament to Cailley’s spellbinding magic-realist fable that The Animal Kingdom can be enjoyed at face value without being battered over the head by subtext. Dig a bit deeper, though, and its rich and strange barrage of images and ideas just becomes more and more remarkable and compelling over time.

Section: Cannes ClassicsDirectors: Alexis Bloom, Svetlana ZwillCast: Scarlett Johansson (voice of Anita Wallenberg)Deadline’s takeaway: Anita Pallenberg says in her memoirs, “Writing this has helped me emerge in my own eyes.” Benefiting from a surprisingly rich archive, the documentary allows her to emerge in our eyes as well, perhaps not fully out of the shadow of the Rolling Stones – that isn’t possible – but in enough light for her to shine.

Section: Special ScreeningDirector: Wim WendersCast: Anselm Kiefer, Daniel Kiefer, Anton WendersDeadline’s takeaway: It’s hard to imagine seeing Anselm in any format other than 3D, and if it fails in broadening the reputation of its already internationally known subject, it’s an extraordinary post-pandemic endeavor that succeeds in reminding viewers of the thrill of being in the presence of great art.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Wes AndersonCast: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Jeff GoldblumDeadline’s Take: You can always tell an Anderson film from the get-go, and scene after scene has a snap and urgency to it that matches the speed of the dialogue delivery and gives the film a sort of stylized urgency that is both distinctive and funny. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up, and yet somehow it doesn’t matter at all.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Ramata-Toulaye SyCast: Khady Mane, Mamadou DialloDeadline’s takeaway: There’s a lot to absorb in this beautifully realized production, and on a visceral level alone it’s quite sumptuous, from the gorgeous bright clothes of the Senegalese to a sandstorm that seems to pop out of the screen in 3D. But it’s as a performance piece that it really gets under your skin.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Jean-Stéphane SauvaireCast: Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan, Mike Tyson, Michael Carmen Pitt, Katherine Waterston, Raquel Nave, Gbenga AkinnagbeDeadline’s takeaway: The idea behind Black Flies is admirable. It does serve to remind us of how screwed up America can be. But despite the obvious gritty filmmaking skills of its lauded French director, something was lost in translation that keeps this from really soaring.

Section: Special ScreeningDirector: Sahra ManiDeadline’s takeaway: Whether a documentary about women in Afghanistan can effect any change in the country seems too much to hope for. But at the very least, it will help ensure their ordeal is not forgotten.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Nanni MorettiCast: Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Mathieu AmalricDeadline’s takeaway: The fitfully funny initial momentum doesn’t really hold, and Moretti’s film soon becomes directionless. Finally, he seems to give up altogether, finishing with a silly dance routine that morphs into an endless circus parade. Is the director finally saying goodbye to his trademark film-within-a-film-shtick?

Section: CompetitionDirector: Jessica HausnerCast: Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Luke Barker, Ksenia Devriendt, Elsa Zylberstein, Matthieu DemyDeadline’s takeaway: There is a great deal to admire here in all this. At the same time, you long for her story to explode into something stranger, a story that will take us somewhere we have never seen. Or perhaps that is desire for resolution, dressed up as criticism.

Section: Un Certain RegardDirector: Rodrigo MorenoCast: Daniel Elias, Esteban Bigliardi, Margarita Molfino, German De Silva, Laura Paredes, Mariana Chaud, Cecilia Rainero, Javier Zoro Sutton, Gabriela SaidónDeadline’s takeaway: Rodrigo Moreno is a slippery customer. The Delinquents presents a box-office challenge — a three-hour film that refuses to deliver any of the usual genre payoffs — but the director should be high on anyone’s list of ones to watch.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: Peter SohnVoice cast: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou AthieDeadline’s takeaway: There are bits that are just plain dull. Then there are the oft-repeated pieties about hard-working immigrants and moments when we see how nasty racists are, signaling a worthy message of inclusivity with all the subtlety of a pipe bursting under the sink. vElemental could, in fact, simply have been called Sentimental. It would have saved time.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Aki KaurismakiCast: Alma Poysti, Jussi Vatanen, Janne Hyytiainen, Nuppu KoivuDeadline’s takeaway: If there is any justice, Fallen Leaves will bring the filmmaker, responsible with his brother for most of the country’s cinematic success in the past four decades, the kind of recognition he deserves. It is a true gem and the first time this year I have heard applause at the end from the usually stone-faced press who attend the early morning pre-premiere screenings at the Palais.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Karim AïnouzCast: Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Simon Russell Beale, Eddie Marsan, Sam Riley, Erin DohertyDeadline’s takeaway: Far more accessible to those who might not be drawn to this kind of costumer, Firebrand is what its title suggests and is consistently engrossing. It also is a fine showcase again for the talents of Vikander, and for Law, who is truly becoming the consummate character actor of his generation.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Kaouther Ben HaniaCast: Olfa Hamrouni, Hend Sabri, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Ichraq Matar, Nour KarouiDeadline’s takeaway: It’s been nearly two decades since any nonfiction film earned the right to contend for the Palme d’Or, but there are two documentaries in the Competition this year. If Four Daughters should earn that honor, it would be a deserving winner.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Catherine CorsiniCast: Esther Gohourou, Suzy Bemba, Aissatou Diallo Sagna, Lomane De DietrichDeadline’s takeaway: There is a brisker, tougher and more succinct story buried just out of sight in Homecoming, 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.

Section: Un Certain RegardDirector: Kim Chang-hoon Cast: Hong Xa-bin, Song Joong-Ki, Kim Hyoung-seoDeadline’s takeaway: With its needless violence and road-to-nowhere story, Hopeless is an apt title for this Korean slice-of-life drama. The premise had potential, but the execution doesn’t work in tandem with the story, so it draws the audience into 120 minutes of Yeon-gyu’s misery without offering much else.

Section: Un Certain RegardDirector: Molly Manning WalkerCast: Mia Mckenna-Bruce, Lara Peake, Samuel Bottomley, Shaun Thomas, Enva LewisDeadline’s takeaway: The dominant theme here in Walker’s subtle but powerful deconstruction of teenage dreams and desires re is the rub between self-image and reality; everyone here, in a world without any adjacent adults and in true teenage fashion, feels themselves to be older and wiser than they really are, and the drama comes entirely from the tensions that arise whenever reality becomes too real to ignore.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: Sam LevinsonCast: Lily-Rose Depp, Abel Tesfaye, Jane Adams, Suzanna Son, Hank Azaria, Eli RothDeadline’s takeaway: One part giallo, one part erotic thriller and thus two parts Brian De Palma. We can also put Paul Verhoeven in the mix. Lily-Rose Depp is quite rivetingly game with a highly sexualized performance that also is grounded and often vulnerable.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: James MangoldCast: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen Deadline’s takeaway: However much action swirls on the surface of this kind of film, its foundations are built of reassuring nostalgia. Just hearing John Williams’ score, yet another variant on the heroics and theatrics of the original, makes anyone of a certain age feel that everything is momentarily right with the world.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: MaïwennCast: Maiwenn, Johnny Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Richard, Melvil Poupaud, Pascal Greggory, India HairDeadline’s takeaway: The film’s pageantry can’t quite cover up the fact that there isn’t much glue to the story, which unfolds as a series of vignettes, and feels more like we’re looking at scenes from a life in retrospect than being invested in watching a wild life being lived to the fullest.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: Anurag KashyapCast: Rahul Bhat, Sunny LeoneDeadline’s takeaway: An enjoyably grim if overlong and detail-weighted wallow in a half-imaginary world of wickedness, the greatest challenge of Kennedy is the plot — who did what to whom, when they did it and why.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Marco BellocchioCast: Leonardo Maltese, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Filippo Timi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Enea Sala, Paolo PierobonDeadline’s takeaway: Marco Bellocchio has the bracing anti-clericalism that only reaches full flower in those raised as Catholics, but he also conveys how seductive the bells and smells, poetry and music of the church can be. A sense of the spectacular infuses the whole film, even if too much happens.

Section: Out of CompetitionDirector: Martin ScorseseCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, William Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Tatanka Means, Michael Abbott Jr.,Pat Healy, Scott Shepherd, Jason Isbell, Sturgill SimpsonDeadline’s takeaway: Killers of the Flower Moon is a landmark motion picture achievement, if only for the care and handling of how it tells the story of the Osage Nation.

Section: Cannes PremiereDirector: Takeshi KitanoCast: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Ryo Kase, Takeshi Beat, Shido Nakamura, Yuichi Kimura, Kenichi Endo, Asano Tadanobu, Nao OmoriDeadline’s takeaway: There’s a fatal sense of disconnect here, but it’s not enough grounds to write off Takeshi Kitano just yet. His dark energy needs an outlet, and, as frail as he might seem here, there’s no reason to think that he doesn’t have at least one more killer film — if not another trilogy — inside him.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Alice RohrwacherCast: Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher, Vincenzo NemolatoDeadline’s takeaway: Dealing with the past is a theme that clearly intrigues writer-director Alice Rohrwacher, and she takes to new and ever changing levels with La Chimera, a treasure itself and a remarkable entry into an ever-impressive and growing filmography.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Catherine BreillatCast: Lea Drucker, Samuel Kircher, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde CourauDeadline’s takeaway: Catherine Breillat certainly hasn’t pulled back from her vocation to dumbfound the bourgeoisie, but it would be a mistake to think of her as merely a cinematic shock jock, going for effect over substance. Outrage is her weapon. In Last Summer, every shot finds its target.

Section: Special ScreeningsDirector: Wang BingCast: Wang XilinDeadline’s takeaway: One of the most unique “biographical” documentaries the reviewer’s ever seen. It’s not an assemblage of archive clips and interviews, the kind of stuff typically seen in films about artists. This is more like an evocative tour of a man’s mind – a man who bravely pursued his art in defiance of a regime that tried to control or silence him.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Todd HaynesCast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Cory Michael Smith, Elizabeth Yu, Gabriel Chong, Piper Curda, D.W. Moffet, Lawrence ArancioDeadline’s takeaway: Much of the fun though is watching it all slowly play out. You could see Cukor or Sirk latching onto this material, just as Haynes has done in sparking to screenwriter Samy Burch’s first produced script.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Hirokazu Kore-EdaCast: Ando Sakura, Nagayama Eita, Kurokawa Soya, Hiiragi Hinata, Tanaka YukoDeadline’s takeaway: Monster represents Kore-Eda’s first movie since his 1995 debut feature Maborosi that the director has not had a screenplay credit on, but clearly with its humanist family-centered themes is right in this master craftsman’s wheelhouse.

Section: Un Certain RegardDirector: Warwick ThorntonCast: Aswan Reid, Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Wayne BlairDeadline’s takeaway: Warwick Thornton’s eye can find the beauty in a window frame. He is also telling — without stridency and with broad compassion for all his characters, all of them broken in their own way — a version of Australia’s founding story.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Ken LoachCast: Dave Turner, Elba Mari, Trevor FoxDeadline’s takeaway: The Old Oak is not asking us to settle our differences but to accept our similarities in a world being carved up by the wealthy. If this is Ken Loach’s legacy, it’s a good one, and you can sum it up in just three words: strength, solidarity and resistance.

Section: Special ScreeningsDirector: Steve McQueenNarrator: Melanie HyamsDeadline’s takeaway: We are entering a new era when few people with direct experience of the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust remain alive. This era calls for a new kind of film about that time – a new way of preserving memory and cautioning us against a repetition of crimes against humanity driven by a racist ideology. Occupied City is that film.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Wim WendersCast: Koji Yakusho, Arisa Nakano, Tokio EmotoDeadline’s takeaway: Working with screenwriter Takuma Takasaki, Wenders is concerned with the simple pleasures of life and the ripples caused by small gestures. The reason it works at all is down to the foxy, gracious Koji Yakusho, who commands the screen with a largely silent performance.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Tràn Anh HùngCast: Benoît Magimel, Juliette BinocheDeadline’s takeaway: Despite the obviousness of its storyline, and the admirably one-note nature of the telling of it (there’s really not much in the way of subtext here), The Pot-Au-Feu somehow succeeds as a celebration of the senses.

Section: Special ScreeningDirector: Pedro AlmodóvarCast: Pedro Pascal, Ethan HawkeDeadline’s takeaway: The ghosts of John Ford, Howard Hawks, John Sturges, Anthony Mann, Raoul Walsh and Sam Peckinpah may be surprised at the twist that this 73-year-old fanboy has given Strange Way of Life. That is because though the work of those directors is liberally addressed and tributed in different ways, the plot here is something you would never find in any of their classics.

Section: Critics WeekDirector: Stéphan CastangCast: Karim Leklou, Vimala Pons, François Chattot, Michaël PerezDeadline’s takeaway: You can read the set-up of Vincent Must Die as an metaphor for office politics, and the rest of it as allegory for the internecine nature of social media, where the mildest of opinions can ruin lives and reputations. Most of all, though, it is a joyfully absurdist tale of everyday alienation writ large.

Section: CompetitionDirector-screenplay: Wang BingDeadline’s takeaway: Youth’s purpose isn’t to expose abuse in the clothing trade (although it might make you deeply skeptical next time you go shopping and spot a Made in China jacket, say, selling for a suspiciously cheap price). Wang’s intent is more subtly sociological – Youth explores the connections and even culture, in a sense, that can develop among people thrown together in arduous circumstances.

Section: CompetitionDirector: Jonathan GlazerCast: Christian Friedel, Sandra HullerDeadline takeaway: Yes, Holocaust movies are virtually a genre of their own, but I can safely say I have never seen one, sans any visuals of violence and suffering, that still manages to be just as harrowing and frightening, maybe even more. The Zone of Interest takes its place among the great films made on the Holocaust and will probably haunt you long after seeing it.

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