CANNES.- The expected biopic the Donald Trumpsix months before the United States elections, and the latest from David Cronenberg are the two films in contention for the Palme d’Or that will premiere today -May 20- in the Cannes Festival.
The Apprenticeby the Iranian-born Dane Ali Abbasi, follows the footsteps of a young Donald Trump, when he began his journey in the real estate sector, and his relationship with his mentor, lawyer Roy Cohn, who worked in McCarthyist circles.
Sebastian Stan, known for his role in Marvelplays the irascible ex-president, and Jeremy Strong, famous for the series Successionplays the lawyer, who had a key role in the professional construction of the future tycoon.
The film arrives when Trump is being tried for falsifying accounting documents and six months before the presidential elections with which he aspires to return to the White House.
Abbasi, author of the thriller Holy Spider (2022) y Border (2018), both awarded at Cannes, made with The Apprentice his first foray into Hollywood.
The other film in competition that will be presented this Monday is The Shroudsby the Canadian David Cronenberg, 81 years old, author of such well-known titles as Crash o The fly.
The Shroudsstarring Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger, revolves around a businessman who, grieving the death of his wife, invents a revolutionary and controversial technology that allows the living to keep an eye on their deceased loved ones in their shrouds.
“I wrote this film when I was suffering the consequences of the death of my wife, who died seven years ago. This drama affected me deeply and what had to be a technical exploration became, little by little, an emotional and personal exploration,” said the veteran director, quoted in the film’s release.
Unknown about Iran director
So far, 11 of the 22 films in competition have been screened, including the colossal Megalpolis, by Francis Ford Coppola; Kinds of Kindnessby Yorgos Lanthimos with Emma Stone; Bird, by the British Andrea Arnold; and Limnovby exiled Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov.
Of all of them, critics put among the favorites for the highest award Caught by the Tides, by the Chinese Jia Zhang-Ke, a reflection on the passage of time based on a love story frustrated for 25 years; and Emilia Prezby Frenchman Jacques Audiard, an original musical about a Mexican drug lord who wants to change his sex.
If the French filmmaker were to win, it would be his second Palme d’Or, after Deephan in 2015.
“One palm, that’s already very good,” the director joked. “But giving an award to the Spanish trans actress Karla Sofia Gascón, protagonist of the film, would be strong, it would be intelligent,” he added in a meeting with journalists.
But the jury, chaired by Greta Gerwig, the director of the global hit Barbiestill has to see a dozen films before handing in his awards on May 25.
One of those that raises the most expectations is that of Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, scheduled for Friday, the last day of the competition. It is still not known if the director will be able to present it in person, after having clandestinely fled Iran, where he was sentenced to prison.
Out of competition, the contest will present today an honorary Palme d’Or to the Japanese animation studio Ghibli, from which classics such as Spirited Away, Moving Castle o My neighbor Totoro. Animation master Hayao Miyazaki will be represented by his son Gor.
FUENTE: AFP
