Cannes 2025 wrap: ‘Sentimental Value,' Jennifer Lawrence, June Squibb, and the 2026 Oscar contenders to know
Over the last two weeks, several major titles premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and it's a safe bet to assume many of the films and performances launched on the French Riviera will play a significant part in the forthcoming awards season.
More from GoldDerby
'Ren Faire' director Lance Oppenheim on the corrupting influence of power and accidentally capturing 'America in miniature'
How Eddie Redmayne crafted his 'deeply unflappable' assassin on 'The Day of the Jackal'
How 'Succession' creator Jesse Armstrong freshly explores mega wealth through tech bro one-upmanship in 'Mountainhead'
Ahead, the movies and actors who gained the most during the Cannes Film Festival.
Heading into this year's Cannes Film Festival, no movie had more awards buzz than Sentimental Value — and yet, somehow, it seems like the actual film surpassed those lofty expectations. The response at Cannes to Joachim Trier's latest was nothing short of ecstatic: Sentimental Value earned an absurd 19-minute standing ovation and was called a 'masterpiece' by critics and instantly became the film to beat for the Palme d'Or. Regarding its awards prospects, expect most pundits to pencil this one in for nominations in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Renate Reinsve, and Best Supporting Actor for Stellan Skarsgård.
'Is Jennifer Lawrence About to Win Another Oscar?' asked Vanity Fair writer David Canfield after Die, My Love premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It's a good question, unanswerable right now. Still, Lawrence's return to the Academy Awards as a nominee for the first time in 10 years seems likely. The Oscar winner received rave reviews for her portrait of a young mother caught in the grips of postpartum depression in Lynne Ramsay's latest. 'Cannes is a festival where Oscar narratives typically start to take shape, and while it's far too early to make predictions, Lawrence has announced herself as an early frontrunner,' wrote Esther Zuckerman for The Daily Beast. Overall reviews for Die, My Love leaned mixed — the movie, it seems, won't be for everyone — but that didn't stop Mubi from acquiring the project for a reported $20 million. It's potentially a perfect match, especially after Mubi threaded the awards needle this year with The Substance, another polarizing project from a female director that premiered at Cannes and drove Demi Moore into the Best Actress field.
This year, three of the five Best Actress nominees, including winner Mikey Madison, started at the Cannes Film Festival. Next year, history could repeat itself as Reinsve, Lawrence, and June Squibb could all land acting bids. Squibb, who would be the oldest nominee ever, plays the title character in Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Eleanor the Great. While the movie received some mixed reviews from critics, everyone seemed to agree that the 95-year-old actress has perhaps never been better. Sony Pictures Classics, a studio known for its ability to push unlikely contenders into the awards race — including Fernanda Torres this year for I'm Still Here — will release Eleanor the Great this fall.
Reviews for Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest suggest the movie is more of an entertaining thriller than a serious awards contender, which is excellent news for people who like their films to be movies. However, star Denzel Washington was frequently singled out as being at the top of his game. 'Washington is smooth as silk, delivering one of his best recent performances as a man caught in an impossible moral quandary,' wrote Pete Hammond for Deadline. 'It feels pointless to wax poetic about Denzel Washington's immense talent, but it needs to be said here as the now 70-year-old living legend continues to prove time and time again why he is one of the greatest actors of all,' added Matt Neglia for Next Best Picture. Washington missed an expected Oscar bid last year for Gladiator II, and the Best Actor field will probably have several significant contenders this year — including Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis — but counting out the two-time Oscar winner feels foolish.
Wes Anderson's new movie seems like par for the course for the famously fastidious filmmaker. So, let's already pencil in some Oscar buzz for production designer Adam Stockhausen, a four-time nominee who won an Oscar for Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel. Reviews for The Phoenician Scheme hailed the project as Anderson's best since that 2014 classic, and many singled out Stockhausen's intricate sets and designs.
Richard Linklater's French-language film about the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless received polite praise after its premiere, and currently lacks distribution. However, at least one awards pundit has already compared the project, shot in black-and-white, to The Artist, which won Best Picture. It's a different era of the Academy, but Hollywood loves to celebrate projects about filmmaking. So, once Nouvelle Vague gets dated, consider it an Oscar contender to watch for that comparison alone.
Best of GoldDerby
John C. Reilly movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best
Ian McKellen movies: 12 greatest films ranked worst to best
Octavia Spencer movies: 12 greatest films ranked worst to best
Click here to read the full article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' Caused Years of Strain Between Michael and Kirk Douglas
Producing the brilliant One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 at age 29 launched Michael Douglas' filmmaking career and gave him an Oscar, but it came at a price — it caused years of strain between him and his way more famous father, Kirk Douglas, who was supposed to star! Kirk was thought too old for the role and got the boot in favor of Jack Nicholson as the spirited con pretending to be a mental patient, who shockingly winds up lobotomized and broken. Michael has acknowledged how much the snub hurt his dad, but they managed to mend fences after some time had passed. Solve the daily Crossword
USA Today
16 hours ago
- USA Today
'The Fantastic Four' makes us ask: Is it possible to give birth in space?
Spoiler alert! The following story contains major plot details about "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" (now in theaters). As Sue Storm, Vanessa Kirby gets to turn invisible and generate force fields to save the world from a cosmic giant. But in Marvel's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," her most superheroic feat just might be giving birth in zero gravity. Midway through the film, a very pregnant Sue ventures into space with her husband Reed (Pedro Pascal), brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn) and friend Ben (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) to confront Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson) and his fierce mininon, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). As luck would have it, she goes into labor just as Galactus threatens to destroy the Earth if they don't hand over their then-unborn son, Franklin. The superheroes run back to the ship, where Sue starts to have contractions. Between contractions, she uses her powers to make the vessel invisible to hide it from the villains. While Johnny is off trying to kill the Silver Surfer, Ben stands at the foot of her makeshift delivery table in order to catch the baby, and Reed holds his wife down so she has gravity to push. Whoa, baby! The real story behind the adorable star of 'Fantastic Four' While it's nowhere near as traumatic as Kirby's birth scene in her Oscar-nominated "Pieces of a Woman," it's still an incredibly intense moment as our heroes attempt to deliver the newborn in fraught circumstances. And according to experts, the movie's depiction of zero-gravity birth isn't far from the truth. "Labor and delivery is not dependent on gravity, so births would be expected to occur without gravity," says Dr. Hugh Taylor, chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine. Nonetheless, he adds, "there are many aspects to consider. Movement cannot be well controlled, and positioning may be difficult. Movement of the baby or maneuvering the baby to aid in delivery could set the mom moving rather than the baby. The mom would need to be held in place. Strapping down the mom and any healthcare providers would be necessary. Amniotic fluid, blood and other bodily fluids would fill the room rather than drain to the floor. On the brighter side, no one would ever have to worry about dropping the baby!" Taylor is not aware of any humans or animals that have actually been born in space. But if it was to occur, he says the biggest issues would be cosmic radiation, as well as a lack of resources to care for the infant after it's born. "The developing fetus is more sensitive to radiation and there may be a greater risk of pregnancy loss or problems in development," Taylor says. "There are not likely to be medical units to care for newborns in space. Without the advanced care such as NICUs, some babies would be in jeopardy. Normal development after birth is far more dependent on gravity; this would clearly affect the growth and development of the baby. I would be more worried about the baby than the delivery." In short, what you see in "The Fantastic Four" is "feasible, and could occur," Taylor continues. "However, I would not recommend it. It would not be optimal for the baby's health."
USA Today
18 hours ago
- USA Today
Gary Busey pleads guilty to criminal charge for unwanted touching
Actor Gary Busey is pleading guilty in a sexual misconduct case in New Jersey. Busey, 81, made a virtual appearance in New Jersey Superior Court Thursday, July 31, and entered a guilty plea to one charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, Busey's attorney Blair R. Zwillman confirmed to USA TODAY on Aug. 1. With the plea, Busey has admitted to "touching the buttocks of a woman without her permission," Zwillman said. The case stems from his August 2022 appearance at the Monster-Mania Convention, where several woman accused him of inappropriately touching them. The "Buddy Holly Story" actor initially faced five criminal charges in the case and pleaded not guilty during a March arraignment, court records show. Prosecutors have since dismissed the other charges. The actor was "overcharged" by county prosecutors due to his "celebrity status," Zwillman said, adding that his client should have faced a lower-level charge such as a disorderly persons offense for harassment. USA TODAY has reached out to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office for comment. Busey was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in 1978's "The Buddy Holly Story." Aside from his film credits, which include "Point Break" and "Lethal Weapon," he's also forayed into reality television. In 2014, he won Season 14 of the U.K. show "Celebrity Big Brother." Busey also competed on Season 21 of "Dancing with the Stars" and in 2011 on "The Apprentice." In 2023, Busey was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run collision in Malibu. According to Entertainment Weekly, the unidentified woman whose car he collided with did not press charges against the actor.
