They’re on the Riviera. Winning, losing is relative.
CANNES, FRANCE l Many scratched their heads when the Suicide Squad actor was selected for Cannes’ incompetition jury, whose job it is to see all eligible feature films and give them awards at the end of the festival. But aside from a brief dustup with jury president Pablo Almodóvar about Netflix at the opening-day news conference, Smith appears to be fitting right in at the glitzy fest: partying with Rihanna and Kendall Jenner, snapping selfies with fans and breaking it down with fellow juror Jessica Chastain for a brief red-carpet dance party. Stateside, movies are still lagging behind TV when it comes to tackling current politics. But that’s not the case on the other side of the ocean, where three films so far have addressed the European migrant crisis: refugee superhero movie Jupiter’s Moon, Vanessa Redgrave’s documentary Sea Sorrow and Michael Haneke’s Amour follow-up Happy End. 120 Beats Per Minute and They each center on LGBTQ issues, and The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu harrowingly re-creates a U.S.-Mexico border crossing from the perspective of migrants in virtual-reality simulation Elle Fanning, Naomie Harris and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have enchanted with fairy tale-inspired frocks on the red carpet. But none can hold a candle to Rihanna, who radiated rock-star chic in a bridal-esque Dior gown and sunglasses when she arrived at the Palais des Festivals last week. Weeks after she landed in hot water for promoting the disastrous Fyre Festival on Instagram, the model made headlines yet again on Cannes’ opening night. Although Hadid’s high-slit silk gown cracked numerous bestdressed lists, most people remember her unfortunate wardrobe malfunction, when she accidentally flashed her underwear for photographers on the red carpet. Carne y Arena. And then there’s Eugene Jarecki’s Promised Land, which compares America’s rise and fall with Elvis Presley’s. Todd Haynes’ eagerly anticipated Carol follow-up may put the director back in Oscar contention this year, after earning mostly raves from critics for his tender, whimsical crowd pleaser, which tells the parallel stories of two deaf children (Oakes Fegley and Millicent Simmonds) in different eras. Nominations for score, production design and costumes are most likely, but don’t rule out Haynes’ frequent collaborator Julianne Moore, who learned American Sign Language (ASL) for her role. Cannes typically is a pit stop for big-name summer tentpoles on their way to theaters, welcoming a steady mix of eventual blockbusters (Mad Max: Fury Road) and box-office bombs (The BFG). But studio fare is nowhere in sight on this year’s lineup, which instead favors more unorthodox European films such as alien romantic comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties and Ruben Östlund’s droll morality play The Square.