This year’s Cannes Film Festival had fewer stars, fewer breakout movies and a dearth of studio blockbusters, making it one of the most muted editions in recent history. But even though the red carpets suffered from a lack of Hollywood glamour, the festival provided a fascinating snapshot of the challenges facing the entertainment industry. As Cannes reaches its less-than-memorable midpoint, here are four takeaways from a celebration of cinema that didn’t have so much to celebrate.
Who’s Afraid of AI?
Not Demi Moore! The “Substance” star and jury member made headlines at a press conference for urging filmmakers to find ways to “work with” AI, insisting that fighting it is “a battle that we will lose.” Her comments ignited a social media firestorm. But Moore wasn’t alone. Both the festival and the market overflowed with movies from the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Doug Liman that used AI to lower costs and help put their fantastical visions on-screen. AI has been so controversial for so long — it was a sticking point in the 2023 actors and writers strikes — that companies have been nervous about publicly embracing it, even though it’s already transformed everything from movie marketing to postproduction work. At Cannes, they stopped trying to hide. If the critics are right, and the technology turns Hollywood into more of an assembly line for derivative, soulless cash grabs, the same people urging the business to accept AI may regret not putting up a fight. That’s assuming they still have a job.
Why Was Hollywood MIA?
Where, oh where, were the big movies? Cannes usually delivers at least one epic rager for a Hollywood blockbuster. Last year, Tom Cruise brought “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” to the Palais, the same place he debuted “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022. And previous editions have seen spinoffs and sequels to everything from “Star Wars” to “Indiana Jones” touch down on the Croisette. This year Hollywood stayed home, with filmmakers like Christopher Nolan (“The Odyssey”) and Steven Spielberg (“Disclosure Day”) waving off invitations from the festival. It can cost millions to bring big movies to Cannes, and at a time of budget cuts, that’s not a good look. But there’s another reason. “The studios are scared of the French critics,” one sales agent says, noting that a rough critical reception can lead to weeks of bad buzz that can cripple a film. Just ask the makers of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” how that felt.
Call Him ‘Big Daddy’
Jordan Firstman, the “I Love L.A.” scene-stealer and social media personality, electrified Cannes with his directorial debut, “Club Kid,” the story of a washed-up party promoter who has to grow up when he’s forced to take care of a son he didn’t know he had. The crowd at the Debussy theater showered Firstman with a thunderous ovation, while critics raved about the funny and touching film, comparing it to Adam Sandler’s “Big Daddy” or, depending on their age, “Kramer vs. Kramer.” It sparked the festival’s first bidding war, with A24 snapping up global rights for a staggering $17 million.
A World at War
Even at Cannes, the turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East cast a pall over the revelry. The war in Gaza has divided Hollywood, but at the festival, most of the stars, notably Javier Bardem and Hannah Einbinder, expressed solidarity with the Palestinians. Bardem went a step farther, calling Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu “big-balls men saying, ‘My cock is bigger than yours, and I’m going to bomb the shit out of you.’” On-screen, many films reflected the global tumult. Competition titles like “Coward,” “Minotaur” and “A Man of His Time” are set during historical conflicts, while “Fatherland” unfolds in 1949 Germany, a divided country struggling to recover from World War II. If this year’s festival has a signature image, it may be the final scene from that film, as Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter (Sandra Hüller) sit in a bombed-out church, listening to a Bach motet. It’s a reminder of the terrible cost of war, as well as art’s ability to endure and inspire in even the darkest of times.
