Advertisement

Cannes to open with feast for art-house movie buffs - from Todd Haynes, Michael Haneke, Sofia Coppola and many others

Isabelle Huppert, Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell among the stars to be seen on big screen at a festival devoid of Hollywood blockbusters, while Vanessa Redgrave steps behind the camera for her directorial debut at age of 80

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Nicole Kidman in a scene from The Beguiled, directed by Sofia Coppola – one of the films in competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. Photo: Focus Features via AP

No Hollywood blockbusters this year, but the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, which opens on Wednesday, has a rich line-up of art-house movies that one critic has called the most appealing in a decade.

Advertisement

While a fight between American streaming giant Netflix and French cinemas has overshadowed the opening, fans of auteur cinema are excited to see the latest works by the likes of Noah Baumbach, Francois Ozon and Lynne Ramsay.

Todd Haynes, director of acclaimed lesbian drama Carol, has the first film in the main competition, Wonderstruck, based on a half-text, half-graphic novel about the interconnected stories of two troubled children, set decades apart.

Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, one of two films screening at Cannes starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell, is a remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood American civil war tale of sexual tension – this time seen through the lens of a woman, rather than the famously macho Dirty Harry director Don Siegel.

Advertisement
loading
Advertisement