The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
May 26, 2023/ 85 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda file a Cannes dispatch from Europe, run through five May releases (one of which Amanda spoils in full), then Sean sits down with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nicole Holofcener on You Hurt My Feelings.
16 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Cannes 2023, from across the continentin Europe but not at the festival
Scorsese's adaptation of David Grann's Osage-murders book premiered out of competition the same night as the hosts' London screening. DiCaprio, De Niro, and Lily Gladstone, who emerged from the premiere as an early Best Supporting Actress name. 91 on Metacritic; the over-the-top first reactions have since gone muted. The show's most anticipated film in years.
James Mangold, not Spielberg; Harrison Ford's fifth and reportedly final outing. Pilloried out of Cannes at around 40%. Sean argues the festival is the wrong venue and clings to hope, granting only that the eels don't look real.
Todd Haynes's campy tabloid melodrama with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore; strong reviews, sold to Netflix for a reported $11 million for North America only, an awards-run play without global responsibility.
Jonathan Glazer's first film in years, from Martin Amis's novel (Amis died the same week). Domestic life beside a concentration camp; 'the banality of evil' the phrase everyone reached for. Among the best-reviewed films at Cannes in years.
Hirokazu Kore-eda to a mixed reaction, his second in a row not to light the world on fire after Shoplifters.
Justine Triet, tapped by many as a Palme d'Or favorite; acquired by Neon, distributor of the previous three Palme winners.
DP Sean Price Williams's directorial debut, scripted by critic Nick Pinkerton, starring Talia Ryder and Simon Rex.
The Pixar film closing out the festival.
Five must-see May moviesa grab-bag of the month's releases
Nicole Holofcener reunites with Julia Louis-Dreyfus a decade after Enough Said. Beth, a memoirist, overhears her therapist husband (Tobias Menzies) tell his brother-in-law he hates her novel. Both hosts loved it; it resolves its central conflict two-thirds through, by design. Sean's favorite-of-the-year candidate. 90 minutes, goes down easy.
Amanda's book report, delivered in full spoilers. Fonda, Keaton, Steenburgen, and Bergen head to Italy for a bachelorette after a pandemic prologue; four books, a Venice wedding, and Don Johnson's 'will you not marry me.' The first grossed over $100 million.
Robert Rodriguez; Ben Affleck as a detective chasing his missing daughter through an Inception-ish mind-control plot, with William Fichtner. Dumped at $3 million by a studio that no longer exists. Sean didn't have a bad time and rates the visceral ending; his real gripe is watching Affleck play dazed again.
Davis Guggenheim's traditional but affecting Parkinson's documentary, carried by Fox's intact wit; the day-to-day physical-therapy footage is the rawest thing in it.
Zachary Wigon's single-hotel-room two-hander: Christopher Abbott's hotel heir and Margaret Qualley's dominatrix negotiate power in a stagey back-and-forth. Neon; VOD soon.
In conversation
The pair on a 22-day low-budget shoot, why the conflict resolves early rather than dragging out artificially, Tobias Menzies taking on a male-vanity role other, older actors refused, and Holofcener's recurring therapy scenes. Louis-Dreyfus on trusting the few people whose opinions she seeks.
Their last collaboration and James Gandolfini's final role; both note its slow-building second life, with people telling them they only recently caught up to it.
Both name it, unprompted and simultaneously, as the last great thing they've seen. A24; harrowing if you're a parent.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Around the festival Phantom ThreadInterstellarShopliftersSibylParasiteTitaneTriangle of SadnessParallel MothersNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysRed Rocket
Sean's London rep detour The UnknownFreaksDracula
Around the May reviews National Lampoon's Christmas VacationBook Club80 for BradyThe MotherMulanAlita: Battle AngelThe AccountantInceptionAn Inconvenient TruthThe Woman in the WindowThe Intern
Margaret Qualley's run Once Upon a Time in HollywoodStars at NoonPoor ThingsDrive-Away DollsKinds of KindnessThe SubstanceRevenge
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Ted LassoSeinfeldThe New Adventures of Old ChristineVeepFamily TiesThe Cosby ShowSpin CityGirlsNormal PeopleSuccessionThe LeftoversFosse/VerdonMaid
Podcasts The Robert De Niro Movie Draft (their own episode)Prestige TV Podcast
Ads TalkAboutPD / Peyronie's diseaseNOS EnergyCarvanaBoar's HeadFanDuel