Cannes as Cultural Artifact
Neruda, Pablo Larraín (2016)
"When the revolution comes—will the people live like you, or like me?"
- Neruda
Self-coronated it may be, the Cannes International Film Festival remains the world's most important festival insofar as it celebrates cinema as a lens into contemporary zeitgeist. Indeed, this particular fortnight in the Côte d'Azur is especially festooned with celebrities and red carpets and galas and it's all a bit much. Cannes ends, however, with awards—informing how we reflect upon the festival not as extravaganza, but as cultural artifact.
The accolades of Cannes 2016 propose economic disparity as the most universally resonant topic in the world today. From champagne communists to the guilty elite, whether auteurs lived or fell by their swords depended principally on how authentic their portraits were. I, Daniel Blake marks the apotheosis of the unique brand of social-realist cinema Ken Loach has been making for decades. His Palme d'Or is well deserved.
Below are Filmatique's Top Films of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival:
American Honey, Andrea Arnold
Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho
Bacalaureat, Cristian Mungiu
Clash, Mohamed Diab
Divines, Uda Benyamina
Harmonium, Koji Fukada
Hell or High Water, David Mackenzie
I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
Inversion, Behnam Behzadi
The Lives of Thérèse, Sébastien Lifshitz
Loving, Jeff Nichols
Neruda, Pablo Larraín
Paterson, Jim Jarmusch
Raw, Julia Durcournau
Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu
Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade
Wolf and Sheep, Shahrbanoo Sadat
American Honey, Andrea Arnold (2016)