Away from the today’s film offerings—featuring soulful performances, android children, and gay long haul truckers—my self-made The Substance jacket caught the attention of its filmmaker, Coralie Fargeat, who posted a snap to Instagram that she’d been sent of me proudly sporting it as I scurried along La Croisette from one screening to the next.
All of a Sudden (Soudain) ★★★1/2
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi / In Competition
Hamaguchi returns with another humanistic drama. Exploring themes of aging, death, and late-stage capitalism. Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira) is the director of a nursing home in Paris. She is having little luck with her staff following her new “Humanitude” approach to the job. With impending burnout on the horizon, she befriends Mari (Tao Okamoto), a Japanese director and playwright. A deep friendship blossoms, but is put on a countdown as Mari’s terminal illness worsens. Engrossing conversations, impeccable chemistry, and emotive cinematography make All of a Sudden a bittersweet treat.
Efira and Okamoto’s perforamnces are the heart and soul of the film sustaining its 196-minute runtime with impressive grace. While Hamagushi’s screenplay delves deep into their character’s lives, work, and the effects of capitalism. The empathy on display is raw and human. Unfortunately, the film’s pacing stagnates resulting diminishing its returns.
Sheep in the Box (Hako no naka no hitsuji) ★★
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda / In Comepetion
Kore-eda’s sci-fi melodrama is surprisingly stiff and unfulfilling, lacking the emotional potency of his previous works. In an intriguing premise, bereaved parents Otone and Kensuke (Haruka Ayase and Daigo Yamamoto) are given the opportunity to make an android of their deceased son, Kakeru (Kuwaki Rimu). But while Sheep in the Box seeks an emotional response from its audience, there is a disconnect, the wiring is somehow faulty. The result is rather saccharine, a robotic illusion of sentimentality.
Among the film’s saving graces are Yûta Bandoh’s stirring score and frequent Kore-eda collaborator Kondo Ryuto’s beautiful cinematography. While Kuwaki Rimu makes an impressively nuanced screen debut as the humanoid child. Overall though, this is a disappointing miss from Kore-eda.
Flesh and Fuel (Du Fioul dans les artères) ★★★★1/2
Directed by Pierre Le Gall / Semaine De La Critique / Queer palme eligible
A dreamy debut feature from César-nominee Pierre Le Gall fuelled by its handsome central performances. A chance cruising encounter at a truck stop in France, leads to a genuine and palpable long-distance relationship between two long haul truck drivers, Etienne (Alexis Manenti) and Bartosz (Julian Swiezewski), beautifully humanizing a profession that is taken for granted in the modern world.
Writers le Gall, Camille Perton, and Martin Drouot, emotionally grease us up and let our feelings ride like the wind, with raw, irresistible character portraits that are impossible not to root for. Industrial scenery is lovingly captured by cinematographer Antoine Cormier. Think Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country fused with Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, resulting in a gay trucker fantasy realized that convinces us to chase the ones we love and them hold tight.
By Andrew Pankey
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