Blue is the Warmest Color
Abdellatif
Kechiche’s Palme d’Or-winner gets into its character’s faces and under their
skin. In a festival with several terrific female lead performances, Adèle
Exarchopoulos stood out.
Gloria
Paulina
García is a blast as a 58-year-old divorcee navigating the singles scene in
this film by Chilean director Sebastian Lelio.
Young and Beautiful
A
sly, stylish and surprisingly funny look at a young Parisian who leads a double
life as a call girl. Directed by Francois Ozon, who casts one of his regulars
in a jaw-dropping (for cinpehiles) cameo.
The Selfish Giant
This
film by British director Clio Barnard is about as depressing and intermittently
transcendent as Ken Loach’s Kes.
Short Term 12
The
sleeper hit of the festival, with Brie Larson and The Newsroom’s John Gallagher, Jr as supervisors at a foster care
facility, and Kaitlyn Dever and Keith Stanfield as two particularly
troubled teens.
Closed Curtain
Jafar
Panahi follows This is Not a Film
with another cinematic mind game that protest his house arrest and the filmmaking
embargo imposed on him by the Iranian authorities. The dog in this film beats
the cat in Inside Llewyn Davis as the
most winning quadruped performer of the festival.
Before Midnight
The charm dissolves apace. If you were among
those who hoped that Celine and Jesse got together after Before Sunset, their protracted fight here will make you wonder whether
it was worth it. 