The luckiest fans who stood at the roadblocks in the rain for hours got a few autographs and selfies, but many of them didn’t make it to Cannes. The carpet is lined with cameramen and photographers, and everyone needs to get their shots, as the stars know very well.
The 80-year-old Scorsese and De Niro, who is only less than a year younger, walked the carpet with the smiling gaze of men who have known their stuff for a long time.
Photo: Scott Garfitt, ČTK/AP
Actors Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese in Cannes.
After all, another of Leo’s acting dreams came true that evening – he was coming with his guru Scorsese to present another joint film, the realization of which they had wanted for a long time. At one point, he even showed emotion on his face.
Adaptation of a famous book
The film Killers of the Flowers Moon was based on the book by David Grann, which was published in Czech under the title Blood money – Osedge mass murders and the birth of the FBI.
It tells a true story that began when oil gushed out of the ground in the Osage Indian tribe’s territory in the state of Oklahoma in the 1920s. Lots of oil.
It brought wealth and opportunities to the hitherto poor village that its inhabitants had never dreamed of. But wealth usually also brings evil in the form of people who want to grab as much of it as possible for themselves.
The central character of the film, Ernest (DiCaprio), arrives after the First World War to his uncle (De Niro), who has a rich farm in close proximity to oil wells. He is warmly welcomed, starts working as a taxi driver and falls in love with an Indian girl, Mollie, whom he marries and has children with.
Harrison Ford will be replaced by Leonardo DiCaprio at Cannes
culture
They might live a pleasant life, but death enters their lives. Almost all of Molly’s original family is gradually murdered, the murders of other wealthy Oseda people multiply. And the police don’t act.
Ernest and Mollie are desperate, he even starts doing things he probably didn’t want to do under the influence of a rich manipulative uncle who acts as a big patron.
But then, at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover (the head of the FBI), people from the recently established FBI arrive, and a large-scale investigation begins.
Killers of the Flowers Moon is a strong film about a big subject. Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro give other outstanding performances of their careers, they are excellently seconded by other actresses and actors under Scorsese’s masterful direction.
Even though the film is longer than it necessarily needs to be, due to the acting gigs, despite the slow narration, it goes by faster than other, albeit shorter films. Czech viewers will be able to check it out from October 19, when Cinemart will release it in theaters.
Traumas of the past
However, not only male stars came to Cannes this year. For example, Cate Blanchett introduced Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy, about an Aboriginal Australian boy with extraordinary abilities who takes refuge in a monastery in the 1940s. There, however, his mysterious power becomes menacing…
“You get to learn about the ugly moments of our country’s history,” Australian actress Blanchett, who plays one of the nuns, said at the film’s launch.
Photo: Joel C Ryan, ČTK/AP
Cate Blanchett on the red carpet.
Another throwback film is a hugely strong entry in the main competition, British director Jonathan Glazer’s drama The Zone of Interest.
It follows the family of Auschwitz concentration camp commander Rudolf Höss, who lived in a luxurious villa right next to the wall of the concentration camp, behind which they built a beautiful garden with many nooks and crannies inviting to relax.
“I have this beautiful piece of clothing from a young Jewish woman. Only small adjustments were enough, and now when people ask me where I got the beautiful dress from, I answer that it’s from Canada,” says Hedvika Hössová with a laugh to her friends at a regular party, and in the cinema hall you can literally feel the inhumanity of the woman who had husband and five children.
In his film, Glazer brought an unusual but all the more impressive view of the horrors of the Holocaust: the comfortable life of the Höss family and their friends is only “a little unpleasantly”, but permanently affected by the sound, smoke and flames visible at night from the Auschwitz ovens.
Harrison Ford captivated the Cannes Film Festival
culture