Spanish cinema arrives at the closing of Cannes backed by critics and with a historic ovation for ‘The Black Ball’

This Saturday, Spanish cinema faces the closing of the 79th Cannes Film Festival becoming one of the main protagonists of the editionsupported by international criticism, especially ‘The Black Ball’directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossiwhich received a 20-minute ovation this past Thursday at its first screening, the highest approval a film has received this year.

The final stretch of the festival has been starred by the premiere of ‘La Bola Negra’, which received a 20-minute ovation in its first screening, only behind ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, which reached 22 minutes in 2006. The Javis have repeated on several occasions that competing for the Palme d’Or is a dream for them, since they have attended the competition several times and then went home, as Javier Calvo recalled at a press conference.

The film narrates the interconnected lives of three men in three different times (1932, 1937 and 2017), existences closely linked by sexuality and desire, pain and inheritance; and one of the last, unfinished works of Lorca. “The idea we wanted to show is that when there is a lack of communication, that gives rise to violence. “That’s why we have to find a way to talk together.”Calvo commented at the press conference held this Friday.

Beyond the milestone of ‘The Black Ball’Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s film, ‘The Loved One’, has also had a positive reception, especially for the work of Javier Bardem who has been among the favorites to win the Best Actor award. For his part, Sorogoyen opts for the Palme d’Or for the second time after doing so in 2022 for ‘As bestas’.

During the press conference for the film, Bardem left one of the most commented and applauded political speeches of this edition when he attacked the “fucking toxic behavior” of leaders like Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of creating “thousands of deaths.”

The Spanish triplet completes it ‘Bitter Christmas’with which Pedro Almodovar has returned to Cannes wrapped once again in the emotional and self-referential universe that defines part of his filmography. For Almodóvar, this is his seventh participation in the Official Selection of Cannes, where he has been recognized with awards such as Best Director for ‘All About My Mother’ in 1999 and Best Screenplay for ‘Volver’ in 2006.

In his appearance before the media, the filmmaker also took the opportunity to launch a political message, calling on Europe to act as a “shield” against Donald Trump. “As Europeans we have to become a kind of shield against these monsters, like Trump, Netanyahu or the Russian. We have to act as a shield against this madness. In Europe, we must never submit to Trump“he assured.

REST OF FAVORITES

Beyond Spanish cinema, the noise of this edition of Cannes seems to have been distributed among several titles, which seems to indicate that it will be an open distribution of awards. One of the films that has aroused the most interest has been ‘Fatherland’, by Pawel Pawlikowski, who recreates the journey of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, actress, writer and racing driver, in 1949 between the two Germanys separated after World War II.

It also appears in the favorites list ‘Minotaur’, by Russian cinematographer Andrey Zvyagintsev. The film has been celebrated by many critics as a fierce portrait of contemporary Russia and the moral decline of power. The political component of its reception, together with the return of the Russian filmmaker after years of absence, has turned the film into one of the titles with the greatest symbolic weight of the edition.

For its part, ‘Fjord’, by Cristian Mungiualso appears in the pools as a possible candidate for an important prize. The Romanian filmmaker already knows what it is to win the Palme d’Or, since he achieved it in 2007 with ‘4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days’. Furthermore, in 2012, he won the award for Best Screenplay with ‘Beyond the Hills’ and in 2016 the award for Best Director with ‘Graduation’.

On this occasion, Mungiu tells the story of a Romanian immigrant family living in Norway and who is the subject of an investigation, for which they face the scrutiny of the local judicial system.

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont joins this group of candidates with ‘Coward’a feature film that has shaken La Croisette. The filmmaker repeats the formula that already earned him the Grand Jury Prize in 2022. Also among the films to take into account are ‘Soudain’, by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, ‘Paper Tiger’, by James Gray and starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, among others.