Cannes Film Festival 2015: Winners and Losers

Cannes Film Festival 2015: Winners and Losers

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The Cannes Film Festival 2015 had a bunch of winning warriors and then there was the losing lot too.

It’s been almost seven decades since the Cannes Film Festival started entertaining crowds of cinema-goers. This time around too there were winners and losers. The winners included the movie Carol by Todd Haynes. It is about two females who declare their lesbianism in the conservatove 50s decade in the United States. Cate Blanchett played her role beautifully in Carol.

Mad Max and Inside Out were two films that were not even included among the list of competitors yet they made it big. Mad Max showed the mirror to Avengers by generating maximum sales without any special effects. And Pixar’s Inside Out was about the trials and tribulations of a young girl as viewed from within her own brain.

Meanwhile, the director Yared Zeleke was an Ethiopian who made a film titled Lamb about a shepherd who tries to save his sheep from a disaster. Rams meanwhile was by a director from Iceland and it was about two siblings getting on in years who have a sheep farm. The two movies were similar yet Rams beat Lamb by a wide margin.

As for the losing lot, they included Sea of Trees featuring Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe. This was declared the worst possible movie of them all. So much so that it was given jeers and hooted off the screen by the audiences. Some winners included Dheepan by the director Jacques Audiard.

Sri Lankan emigres are shown trying to set up their lives in a foreign country. Son of Saul, another winning combination meanwhile lends a peek into a Nazi concentration camp during WWII.

The Lobster is a funny if absurd spoof about people turning into crustaceans if they don’t marry. And The Measure of a Man is all about an unemployed blue collar worker out to find work that will pay enough to feed his large family.

The Assassin is by Director Hou who shows a person on a mission to kill the governor. And – get this – the governor is the love interest of the assassin. Chronic is about euthanasia and the ethical problems faced in its implementation. The films got the accolades or criticism that they deserved in the final analysis.

For better or for worse everyone went home either satisfied or world-weary. It all ended on a cinematic climax where the sights and sounds emanating from the screen hypnotized and mesmerized the audiences in a positive or negative manner.

Cannes announced this year’s Cannes Film Festival 2015 on Sunday. See the list below.

Palme d’Or: “Dheepan” (French director Jacques Audiard)

Grand Prize: “Son of Saul” (Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes)

Jury Prize: “The Lobster” (Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos)

Best actor: Vincent Lindon (“The Measure of a Man”)

Best actress: Rooney Mara, Emmanuelle Bercot (“Carol”, “Mon Roi”)

Best director: Hou Hsiao-hsien (“The Assassin”)

Best screenplay: Chronic (Michel Franco)