All of a Sudden, the Glories of Cannes Are Upon Us

The Cannes Film Festival has a history of overlooking major premieres for prizes. Several acclaimed films failed to receive jury recognition across decades, including psychological thrillers, dramas, and classics. In 2006, Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth won acclaim but left the competition without awards. This year’s festival opened with a 4K restoration of Pan’s Labyrinth, set in Spain in 1944, blending fantasy with a grim parable about political rebellion. The film’s portrayal of fascist power remains relevant, and del Toro framed it as more pertinent in current times, while reacting strongly after the screening.

"Del Toro's film, the last one to debut in the 2006 competition, was the first one unveiled at this year's festival, in a lustrous new 4K restoration. The movie, set in Spain in 1944, is both an intoxicating work of fantasy and a grim parable of political rebellion, and its insights into the cruelties and vulnerabilities of fascist power remain undimmed."

"At the 2006 festival, the first edition of Cannes I ever attended, Guillermo del Toro's magnificent "Pan's Labyrinth" drew rapturous acclaim but left the competition empty-handed. Del Toro's film, the last one to debut in the 2006 competition, was the first one unveiled at this year's festival, in a lustrous new 4K restoration."

"Introducing the film, del Toro noted, "We are unfortunately in times that make this movie more pertinent than ever, because they tell us . . . it's useless to resist, that art can be done with a fucking app." After the screening, he yelled, "Fuck A.I.!" into a raucously adoring crowd."

"Attend the Cannes Film Festival long enough, and you will grow wearily accustomed to the reality that some of the best films to premiere there are routinely overlooked for prizes. Lee Chang-dong's magnificently unsettling psychological chiller, "Burning," failed to ignite the excitement of the 2018 jury. The tragicomic glories of Maren Ade's "Toni Erdmann," from 2016, were just as inexplicably unrewarded."

Read at The New Yorker