Reviews

Any self respecting A-list festival needs a film that rocks the boat and ruffles some feathers. Controversy can be like fuel to a Cannes festival, sparking debates that bubble late into the post-screening dinner conversations at the sidewalk cafés.

With Paterson, Jim Jarmusch, the quintessentially indie director--one of the few left in the U. S.

Writer-director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special) showed his fifth feature at this 69th Cannes and Loving immediately garnered plenty of buzz, with some unequivocally declaring it one of the festival's best. Loving is a quietly understated telling of one of the lesser known and yet crucial episodes in the American struggle for civil rights: the landmark (and never more  appropriately titled) case of Loving v.

A visually and musically thrilling picture, American Honey, British director Andrea Arnold's fourth film, is also the first one that is set and shot entirely in America. The US rights to this picture, which premiered at Cannes Festival (in competition) were acquired during the festival by Focus Features.

Roald Dahl stories have inspired groundbreaking films, both live action (Witches, Matilda) and animated  (Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach).

Soko and Lily Rose Depp star in the true story of Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan, women whose dancing reverberates 100 years on. The fascinating and little known story of Loïe Fuller, a young woman who improbably left the wilds of the American frontier to become a dancer in turn-of-the-century New York and ultimately a star of the Paris opera, makes for a fascinating film story.

Director Cristi Puiu, one of the leaders of the Romanian New Wave, is in main competition for the first time at the 2016 Cannes Film Fest.   But he is not a new presence at this prestigious event.

Indignation. Directed by James Schamus.

The Sundance Film Festival has always had a penchant for showcasing intimate dramas; bittersweet romances and a few peculiar narratives that can lead to quite heated cinematic discussions. But every so often a film bursts through the screen that engages the Park City audiences with nothing but pure joy and exuberance.

The Birth of a Nation. Directed by Nate Parker.