Cannes 2017 - Happy End by Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke is part of an exclusive club of directors who have won two Palme d'or in Cannes (alongside Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August, the Dardennes and Emir Kusturica), and many predicted even before seeing it that his latest, Happy End, would go on to win a third one (a feat that nobody has managed so far).

A tough, topical subject (refugees and bourgeois hypocrisy, Haneke-esque to the max!), with many of his regulars in the cast (Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant...), the writing was on the wall. And yet, Michael Haneke, while still faithful to his roots, takes us down a path few would have expected. Those who feared he might have become comfortable with his advanced age and awards, can rest easy, and while the synopsis could hint at the man becoming a caricature of himself, northing could be further from the truth.

Cannes 2017 - The Killing of a Sacred Deer by Yorgos Lanthimos

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos was arthouse cinema's best kept secret with his first few films (especially cult classic Doogtooth), until he graduated into the semi-mainstream with surreal dramedy  The Lobster, his first English speaking film and with a starry cast, including Colin Farrell, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes 2015, and was a sizeable hit, all things considered.

He is back on the Croisette this year with The Killing of a Sacred Deer. What's so exciting with each new film of the Greek director is that we never really know where he is going to take us next. In his new film, Colin Farrell plays Steven Murphy, a surgeon with a successful career and family. So who is the teenage stranger, Martin (Barry Keoghan)  he keeps meeting up with?

Cannes 2017 - Nos Années Folles by André Téchiné

French director André Téchiné was given a tribute at this year's Cannes Film Festival, as part of their 70th birthday celebrations. Most of the legendary actresses he has worked with were present, probably one of the biggest concentration of French acting legends outside the French Film Awards: Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain, Juliette Binoche... and many more (but no Adjani!), all of them sat on the same row, one of those Cannes moments that makes you want to pinch yourself to check you are not dreaming. The festival also presented the director's new film, Nos Années Folles.

Nos Années Folles is based on a true story, one whose premise is so unlikely that it proves yet again that life is stranger than fiction: World War One deserter Paul (Pierre Deladonchamps, seen in Stranger By The Lake (2013)) goes into hiding in the basement of the house occupied by his wife Louise (Céline Sallette) and her mum rather than face the front once more. Seeing her husband grow restless at his lack of freedom, Louise devises an unlikely plan, dressing up Paul as a woman to allow him to leave the house, an arrangement he is reluctant to accept at first, only to fully embrace it for years to come, even when the war is over and the threat of imprisonment is long gone, having become a celebrity in the process.

Cannes 2017: The Villainess by Jung Byung-gil

Review by Laurent de Alberti

South Korean films seem to form the staple of the Midnight Screenings at the Cannes Film Festival, and understandably, considering their directors' mastery of genre cinema, coupled with their formal skills. There has been some fodder over the years though, but not The Villainess, presented this year, oh no, not The Villainess!

In The Villainess, Sook-hee (Kim Ok-Bin) was trained to become an assassin since childhood. She is brought to the attention of South Korea's Intelligence Agency after a particularly bold act of vengeance, and recruited among their black ops all female team of assassins, with the promise to be sent back to civilian life after ten years of service, and of a better life for the daughter she is soon to give birth to. A man from her past reemerges however, and her loyalty is put to the test.

Cannes 2017 - How To Talk To Girls At Parties by John Cameron Mitchell

A sci-fi comedy set in Croydon in the 70's with Nicole Kidman as an ageing punk called Boadicea? When that was announced, I was first in the queue! Then I realised who the director was, and I winced, but kept faith. None of John Cameron Mitchell's films have worked for me, and he often seems to hide his lack of talent behind a strong, flashy premise (Hedwig) or graphic scenes (Shortbus).

In How To Talk To Girls At Parties,  adapted from a short story by Neil Gaiman, a trio of young punks led by Enn (Alex Sharp) is invited to an afterparty in a house after a concert, populated by strange dwellers whose unusual antics make the boys think they have come across a cult at first. Little do they realise that they are actually aliens, and one of them, Zan (Elle Fanning), wants to break free from her world of conformity, embracing Earth and falling for Enn.

Cannes 2017 - 120 Battements Par Minutes by Robin Campillo

120 Battements Par Minutes is an ensemble film about Act Up Paris in the early 90's, and it is hard to believe that the true events depicted in 120 Battements Par Minutes happened nearly 20 years ago, considering how much has changed. AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was, in developed countries at least, and in particular, activism. In our days of social media, we forget how difficult it once was to be heard outside the usual, controlled channels. This is this activism that is so meticulously and accurately portrayed here, the story of Act Up, and their fight. The director is careful to show that while gay men were the most affected group, it is an illness that strikes indiscriminately, with teenagers and middle aged women among those members of the reunion affected.

Cannes 2017 - Okja by Bong Joon-ho

Unless you have been hiding under a digital rock, you cannot have missed the Cannes brouhaha about Netflix, the streaming giant acting as a thorn on the side of the venerable film festival. For what it's worth, I'm firmly on the side that films belong to cinemas, and it's a real shame that Netflix, unlike Amazon Studios, is unwilling to give its productions a cinema release, however limited. Still, considering the botched release of his previous film by Harvey Weinstein, Snowpiercer (which was never released in the UK), it is a shame indeed that nobody else than us who were able to see Okja in Cannes on a massive screen will see it in the cinema.