A prolific director during the 70s, with titles in his career such as The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) or Master and Commander (2003), made his appearance at the festival, giving the chance to many fans not only to see him, but also to ask him questions at the meeting organized. Peter Weir, director of The Truman Show (1998), came to celebrate this year’s 20th anniversary of the movie while receiving the Grand Honorary Award for his long trajectory as a cinema director. He shared today the Red Carpet together with the presentation of Overlord (2018), produced by J. J. Abrams.
Among the movies seen today, I would like to highlight a couple of them. Beast (2017), from the Noves Visions section, offering a very captivating tale around solitary personalities, manages to thrill us with a paced intrigue that follows a troubled woman confronted in between an oppressive family and the liberating encounter of a stranger suspected of brutal murders. The individual that feels alone and misunderstood in his surroundings, and in consequence tries to escape, and how dangerous can it be to feel eager for empathy and comprehension. Also how dangerous can it be for society to leave aside some people, instead of trying to understand and integrate them. *Updated note: Also a remarkable acting by Jessie Buckley, which received a Special mention for best actress by the end of the festival.
And on another level, but still talking about an individual against society conflict, we had the chance to see the last work from director Jonas Åkerlund: Lords of Chaos (2018) the story of teenagers who launched Norwegian black metal, based all on true events of the band Mayhem from the early 90s, unfolded like a good cinematographic surprise. Apart from the visually expertise from Åkerlund, the movie is backed by notorious actings, notably the one from Emory Cohen (Detour (2016), The OA (series, 2016)) who I honestly didn’t have on my radar before, for the simple fact that I didn’t realize he was on so many movies (so much he gets into every role, and in consequence so different he manages to look). An incredibly dark story, that still manages to make one laugh, for then stealing the smile from our faces.
