After the Storm (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016)

This was one of my favorite films in the festival but I am having a little difficulty explaining why. Perhaps it is the humility of the characters, the realistic and relatable qualities of a flawed individual. Kiki Kilin is hilarious. I think she is like Japan's Betty White, still going and cracking jokes. Even if that's a bad analogy, she is certainly a big star. This is a family drama that is funny about a divorced father trying to reconnect with his son and ex-wife. It is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming and side-splitting without ever being saccharine--a delicate balance. It is simply a well executed relatively simple film. It's faultless. It doesn't need to be flashy, just good acting and good writing. 

The Red Turtle (Le Tortue Rouge) (2016)

Studio Ghibli is back! And in fine form. After closing shop, Studio Ghibli co-produced this film by Michael Dudok de Wit. De Wit, an Academy Award winning short filmmaker, first caught the eye of the Japanese master Miyazaki with a short film. And presented the chance at a collaboration, he made his first feature length film. It is complete devoid of dialogue, save for a few screams, universal in any language. The music is hauntingly magical, even though not composed by Ghibli regular Joe Hisaishi. It is extraordinarily high pitched, ethereal, other worldly. And the animation does transport you to another world. It is a necessarily simple story without dialogue, straight out of Castaway.  It is actually an extraordinarily lovely story once the eponymous Red Turtle is introduced. What it can show us without telling us is very impressive. It is beautifully if simply rendered. And continuing the theme of animals as the manifestation of God (see Two Lovers and a Bear), there is the Red Turtle.

The Wailing (Goksung) (2016)

This Korean film Goksung has a few different names, like the Wailing. The French title is actually another English title, The Stranger. It refers to a Japanese man in a Korean village. The movie has a pretty negative depiction of the Japanese, as expected from a Korean perspective. What is a little more surprising is its commentary on religion. It definitely says something about Christianity and about traditional shamanism, but after sitting through 2.5 hours, I'm not positive what the message is for it is seemingly critical of both.  A number of people left the theater during the shaman ritual, which was admittedly over the top and proved a little too much for their French sensibilities. It really harps on the doubting Thomas, seeing-is-believing story, but I'm not sure if we're meant to believe in the end even after we've seen it. In short, I was still quite confused by the end and discussing it only brought slight clarity. The film opens with a passage from the Bible, which is later referred to in the film. But what we hear in dialogue seemingly contradicts what we see on screen. So then what purpose does the epigraph serve? Is it to throw us off the scent? Is it to mock Christianity or perhaps all religion?

The movie is a gruesome horror film. It was not marketed that way in the synopsis. I thought it was going to be a police detective mystery. But that is misleading because a mystery should have a clever solution, whereas this film offers no clear solution. And though he is nominally a police officer, there is some really shoddy police work in this movie. Why don't you arrest him? I was not expecting to see so many scary movies at a classy film festival like Cannes. And this was probably the scariest one I saw. It isn't a zombie movie how we know them, but there are certainly elements of zombie movies in it. It preys on our fear of the unknown and succeeds in keeping us up at night. 

Two Lovers and a Bear (2016)

Nunavut looks like a terrible place to live. Why would anyone want to live in the perpetual cold, hours away from just about everything? It is in this un"bear"able isolation that this film takes place. The two lovers have just each other. Well, and a bear. It's really strange. So this guy can talk to bears (to a manifestation of God?), but does he really talk to bears or does he imagine himself talking to bears? I think probably the latter cause he's delusional. That's what they all have in common--they're all a little mentally disturbed. Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan both play that type of character convincingly. 

Fiore (2016)

After watching this movie, I'm not entirely sure why it is called Fiore. But that doesn’t detract from the movie. It is a sweet saccharine love story that ends predictably but properly. It follows a young romance that develops in a detention center. At times it almost feels like Orange is the New Black, humanizing criminals. The detention center isn't all bad. There are opportunities to have fun and make friends. It is almost even an uplifting image of Italian social services. I can only imagine that it is probably an inaccurate depiction but I can't say for sure. Daphne Soccia is a refreshing newcomer, playing in every scene and stealing many of them. I wasn't crazy about the male lead, Josciua Algeri. I can't quite say why, cause it's not like he was bad, I just didn't think his chemistry with Daphne worked quite right.

Julieta (2016)

Julieta is an excellent movie about a woman looking back on her life, realizing how little she knows about her daughter. There are two phenomenally emotional performances by Adriana Ugarte playing the younger Julieta and Emma Suarez as the older Julieta. In one fabulous shot, we see Julieta age and transform in a magical switch underneath a towel. It is a movie about a mother-daughter relationship; Pedro Almodovar returns to the theme of family and women (The people who gave us their extra invitations mislead us into believing that the protagonist was a lesbian). The character development is rich and skillfully told. As the story is primarily told in flashback, there is a natural suspense as we wonder how we get from the past to the present. For much of the film, we are left wondering what exactly the drama is. The brilliantly composed suspenseful music doesn't match the tone of the film (but rather cleverly anticipates it) until we finally realize the motive towards the end of the movie. The style is colorful and grand. The cinematography ranges from subtle to epic in the mountains of Spain. And while the ending might not provide the full closure that some clamor for, it was sufficiently satisfying to me.

Hell or High Water (2016)

Hell or High Water is representative of a foreigner's perception of America. The British director David MacKenzie nails all the Texas stereotypes to the point of hilarity. I think the racism is meant to be funny, but there are some other observations that are accurate and ridiculous but probably not meant to make you laugh, like the ubiquity of firearms.  I really liked the screenplay. It starts at a bank robbery gone wrong. And slowly, the story unravels giving us insight into the process and motive behind the protagonists' actions. And it is actually very clever. Thinking back, I think they drop us hints along the way if you're astute enough to pick up on them. It is not just some heist film. There was some genuine thought to put into this story. And Chris Pine and Ben Foster execute their roles with care. There is also a good use of country music to move along the story. I don't really like country music, but it undeniably works in this context. Like I said, it's stereotypical Texas.

And the cast was there! Minus Jeff Bridges. But we saw Chris Pine, Captain Kirk himself! He was having a grand old time. And why shouldn't he? It's a fun movie.