IviDvo

I don't read the synopses in advance during the festival because I don’t want to know what the films are supposed to be about. I like the element of surprise. And this was definitely the biggest surprise of the main competition. A trans-cartel musical? Throughout the film I was wondering how on earth they thought to put this together, and in the end I have to say that as unexpected as it was, the final product is really a very unconventional and original combination that I'm careful to say really won't suit everyone. But I liked it, the film has a flow, the songs are melodic, the choreography is impressive. The story is unpredictable, at times very dramatic, at times funny and entertaining, at times touching to the point of pathetic... I think it has everything a musical should have. [Festival de Cannes 2024]

Oh, Canada starts off very promisingly, with our last interview with Leonard Fife (Richard Gere), a famous documentary filmmaker who fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War. It's very important for him to have his wife present for the interview because he wants to share what he hasn't shared yet. And so he begins to tell his life story. What we gradually learn about him is actually not entirely flattering, and his wife doesn't like the new revelations either, so he blames it all on his medical condition and the side effects of his medication. What's true, what's fabricated, what's distorted, what does Fife himself remember differently than it really was? It's all done quite engagingly, with a great soundtrack and great actors, but gradually the pace somehow slows down, the ideas become more and more obscure, the questions mount, and suddenly it all fizzles out into a bland, unfinished ending... and I don't know what the poet was trying to say. [Festival de Cannes 2024]

The Apprentice offers a dispassionate look at the rise of Donald Trump and his transformation from a naive and bland underdog to an egotistical, spineless, narcissistic monster. Sebastian Stan, as Trump, is absolutely superb in his role, but perhaps even a hair better is Jeremy Strong as the lawyer Roy Cohn, to whom Donald objectively owes his rise, even though he is probably a stranger to the word "owed". Jeremy Strong was a great choice, this type of role suits him, as we could see already in Succession. The film is engaging and doesn't bore for a second, but I do have one huge complaint, and that is the choice of actress Maria Bakalova for the role of Ivana Zelníčková. I understand that we all sound the same to westerners from the east, and probably look the same... but I just found her Russian accent and appearance off-putting. And it was so confusing at times, I was like, wait a minute, is that supposed to be Ivana? Don't tell me it couldn't have been otherwise... [Festival de Cannes 2024]