Industry

This was supposed to be Fury Road’s weekend, with the iconic character of Mad Max now inherited by Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in the role of the bald headed scary, and scarred, Imperator Furiosa. And things were pretty good for George Miller’s return, after 30 years, to its post-apocalyptic landscapes.

Amy was hotly anticipated as one of the “event” movies of Cannes 68 and the documentary on the meteoric rise and very public flame-out of British R&B chanteuse extraordinaire Amy Winehouse didn’t disappoint. The thorough, emotional bio is directed by British film-maker Asif Kapadia who brought Senna to Sundance in 2012.

The weekend belonged to women – onscreen and off. Amy, the documentary on the late, great Amy Winehouse moved festival goers to tears at a midnight screening Saturday night.

One of the loudest and longest applause heard in Cannes so far was surely the one that followed the early morning press screening of Mia Madre at the packed Salle Lumière. Sustained and well deserved, it was an appreciation of Italian director Nanni Moretti’s latest film, which many consider to be his best yet and which has garnered some of the loudest buzz of this 68th edition.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Hollywood Reporter hosted a Cannes reception at the Carlton sponsored by Swarovski. Guests took a break from hectic screening schedules to unwind in the palatial hotel, talk shop and enjoy the view on the Croisette.

For her debut directorial effort Natalie Portman chose to return to Israel, the land of her birth, and ponderous but poetic material in adapting Amos Oz’s 2002 A Tale of Love and Darkness, an unflinching meditation on Israel, its birth and destiny through the events of the author’s own family. Told with the help of an intermittent thoughtful voice over, the story of Oz’s own childhood parallels the birth and difficult infancy of the Jewish state.

More stars, even more starlets, strange films and slivers of things to come made up the theme of the last 24 hours. Mad Max: Fury Road should have screened in competition given the unanimous positive reviews and deafening applause at the star-studded premiere where Charlize Theron wore a show-stopping yellow Dior dress with a six foot train.

Under the benevolent gaze of Ingrid Bergman, this 68th edition’s godmother who beckons from the festival poster and the giant photo on the Palais, Cannes has really gotten underway and with it the parade of stars. After Katherine Deneuve and Julianne Moore who graced the “marches” for the opening, Salma Hayek made her way on the red carpet for Tale of Tales.

Things are finally on the way in Cannes with Croisette theaters beginning in earnest to churn screenings of actual films (remember, those works that we are actually all here to see among the attending hoopla). Opening night of course belonged to Emmanuelle Bercot’s, La Tête Haute (Standing Tall) and the general consensus is that it was a less than stellar inaugural.