Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2026 SXSW coverage. The film opens in theaters on May 29. A film squarely in the wheelhouse of co-writer and director John Carney, Power Ballad plays the hits with a few heartfelt twists. It leans into the natural chemistry of its leads while exploring the […]
The post Power Ballad Review: Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas Strike a Chord first appeared on The Film Stage.
The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has now concluded, with Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord taking home the Palme d’Or (see all jury winners here). While our coverage will continue with a few more reviews this week––then far beyond, as we update on the journey of these selections––we’ve asked our on-the-ground contributors to share favorites. […]
The post The Best Films of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival first appeared on The Film Stage.
For some, the premiere of Valeska Grisebach’s new film was the kind of thing to be discussed in hushed tones. Here was the long-awaited return to Cannes, nine full years since Western, a singular film that, by now, is within its rights to be considered a masterpiece. On top of that, Grisebach secured the competition’s […]
The post Cannes Review: Valeska Grisebach Returns with Spellbinding Noir The Dreamed Adventure first appeared on The Film Stage.
Lord Murashige Araki (Masahiro Motoki) doesn’t like killing. A samurai presiding over Arioka Castle in 16th-century Japan, he’s a walking contradiction—a warrior bound by a merciless code of conduct he has no trouble forsaking, much to the dismay of his own court. All through Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s first jidaigeki, he is summoned to execute people who’ve […]
The post Cannes Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Spins an Entrancing Yarn with The Samurai and the Prisoner first appeared on The Film Stage.
As the 79th edition of Cannes comes to a close, president Park Chan-wook and his jury of Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Chloé Zhao, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty, and Stellan Skarsgård have unveiled the winners. Leading the pack was Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, which picked up the Palme d’Or, marking the seventh […]
The post Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord Wins Palme d’Or: See Full List of Cannes 2026 Winners first appeared on The Film Stage.
Radu Jude has been rolling through features since his international breakout Aferim! in 2015, and his taste is nearly impossible to pin down. The films range from a three-hour documentary on the first massacre of Jews in Romania during WWII to an outrageous comedy about a production assistant shooting a safety video in Bucharest to […]
The post Cannes Review: Radu Jude’s Diary of a Chambermaid Is a Humurous, Slight Meta Take on Mirbeau first appeared on The Film Stage.
Cinema has taken viewers to the trenches of World War I so often that audiences might as well have formed sensory memories of a throat-clenching terror, the screams drowned by a sudden explosion and ears ringing. It’s all artificial, of course, but film’s empathy machine is perfectly suited for such participatory experiences from the safety […]
The post Cannes Review: With Coward, Lukas Dhont Sets Queer Love Story In Trenches of WWI first appeared on The Film Stage.
When it comes to storytelling, if the 19th and 20th centuries were defined by grandiose literature, the 21st century is all about cinema. We read less and watch more; consequently, films have become a substitute for sweeping stories that weave together various timelines and protagonists. The latest in this regard, the Cannes revelation La Bola Negra (aka The […]
The post Cannes Review: La Bola Negra Feels Like an Epic, Long-Lost Novel first appeared on The Film Stage.
Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva—winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize—begins from a familiar cinematic premise: a school trip abroad for a busload of restless teenagers temporarily freed from the surveillance of home. Yet the film steadily slips from the gravitational pull of genre. The phrase “teen movie” tends to conjure the noisy architecture of […]
The post Cannes Review: La Gradiva Is a Remarkable Debut of Extraordinary Sensitivity first appeared on The Film Stage.
From A Star is Born to Vox Lux to Inside Llewyn Davis, cinema abounds with stories of jaded musicians who either burned too bright or never quite reached the heights they hoped. In the new film Low Expectations, a bittersweet tale from Oslo that arrives very much in the slipstream of Joachim Trier, that reliable […]
The post Cannes Review: Low Expectations Is an Accomplished and Bittersweet Debut first appeared on The Film Stage.
