Cannes Gowns, Round 6: Alicia, Marion, Isabelle, and Tilda

Previous Cannes 2022 Fashion Polls: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 

Alicia Vikander arrived at Cannes to promote her new series Irma Vep (finally ending the drought of her once ubiquitous husband Michael Fassbender in the public eye - he wore a simple tux), Marion Cotillard was on hand for the premiere of her new film Brothers and Sisters (which was poorly reviewed, alas) and daringly wore what looked like shorts to her premiere. Isabelle Huppert was in town for that buzzy donkey flick EO (review) and though she wore a simple black gown for the premiere she then showed up in this eye catching sure-to-be-divisive full body look thereafter. Fashion icon Tilda Swinton never leaves Cannes after only one lewk so she was out again after her 3000 Years premiere wearing a much different more adrogynous look.

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Cannes Gowns, Round 5: Swinton and Stone, Noomi and Naomie

Previous Cannes 2022 Polls: 1, 2, 3, and 4

And we're back after a tiny fashion lull (typical after the first few days of the festival). Tilda Swinton, always a red carpet stunner, returned to Cannes for 3000 Years of Longing, Noomi Rapace went to the Chopard Gala, Sharon Stone showed up for celebrity glamour purposes (what other purposes are needed?) and Naomie Harris attended the Women in Film event.

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International Oscar Race Pt 3 - The Movie Stars

by Nathaniel R

We fight to keep our title each year as 'the site that gives you the most when it comes to Oscar's Best International Feature Film race.' Nevertheless, even if we aren't that anymore with all the corporate sites and the indies now covering the race, at least we were influential in popularizing the coverage! 

Speaking of popular. How many of the films have stars that movie-fans will recognize? Let's look at the international stars with fanbases outside their home countries, curiously it's light on familiar actresses this year but the men make up for that...

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NYFF: I Remember "Memoria"

by Jason Adams

You can quite literally say that Memoria begins with a bang, as its inciting incident is just that -- a loud noise waking someone from sleep. But as far as it ending with a whimper, well, the only whimper its end will summon will be your own, as the lights come up and you realize your mind's been blown and that you're desperate to get back into the zen dream-state that Apichatpong Weerasethakul and his on-screen co-conspirator Tilda Swinton have lulled you into. I've spent the past week since seeing the film in just such a state of want. And so the news of the film's not-normal release pattern (which was weirdly the film headline I saw upon exiting the film -- further proof this movie actually transports you into its own reality?) has brought me both joy and sadness. A melancholia of its own.

In case you missed the news Memoria will travel the country, one art-house theater to another, only screening on one screen at a single time and never, not ever they say, hitting streaming...

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1986: Straight Best Friends

Before each Smackdown, suggestions for alternates to Oscar's roster... 

Tilda Swinton in "Caravaggio"

1986 was, from the digging I've done, a fascinating year for queer cinema. Some of the films originated in '85 but belatedly hit the US  in 1986, disparate efforts such as Desert Hearts, My Beautiful Laundrette, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and What Have I Done To Deserve This?!. Meanwhile, Working Girls premiered at that year’s Cannes but didn’t get a US release until February 1987. All of these films showed up in one form or another alongside pure-cut ‘86 releases like Parting Glances and Caravaggio, indicating a shifting tide of indie and mainstream cinema with vested, complex, even sympathetic interests in LGBT themes and characters, often made by queer filmmakers. Not only that, but the films themselves are risky and provocative. Save for the deeply unpleasant Mala Noche, all are worth real engagement, and you couldn’t go wrong checking out any of them.

Still, it must be asked - what about the straight people? What is their contribution here? What about the S.B.F.? Y’know, the Straight Best Friend?

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