The coveted spot of the opening film for the 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival has been chosen. Previous years have seen major works such asWes Anderson’s miraculousMoonrise Kingdom,Peter Docter’sUp, andPedro Almodovar’s brilliantBad Educationkick things off, and this year will seeWoody Allen’s latest,Cafe Society, getting the festival going on May 11th.
This will be the second time this decade that an Allen movie started the beloved festival, following 2011’s wonderfulMidnight in Paris. By and large, however, the opening slot does not fall to a particularly good film, with those aforementioned picks being the best of the last ten years or so.My Blueberry NightsandLemmingare interesting and all, but films likeThe Da Vinci Code,Blindness,Grace of Monaco,The Great Gatsby, andRidley Scott’s unbearableRobin Hoodhave not made a great name for the opener.
Some might assume that the same will go forCafe Society, as Allen has garnered less and less critical support for his late films, but I would actually argue the opposite. With a very few exceptions, the last 10 or so films that Allen has made have been just as insightful, well-made, and entertaining as 1980s and 90s material. His last film,Irrational Man, is one of his best films to date, in fact, and works as varied asCassandra’s Dream,Blue Jasmine,To Rome with Love,Vicky Christina Barcelona, and the aforementionedMidnight in Parishave shed light on yet unexplored sides of Allen as a writer and a visual artist. Sure,ScoopandWhatever Worksare not particularly memorable in any real way, but with the likes ofJesse Eisenberg,Steve Carrell, andKristen Stewartheading upCafe Society, there’s every reason to believe that this one will end up be in line with Allen’s more reasonant works, and one of the rare Cannes openers worth showing up for.
