CANNES – MISSION. However we do it, it’s kind of funny to see girls in evening dresses and guys in tuxedos at 8 a.m. queuing up to get into the movie theater with the rest of the instigators. On the other hand, a morning screening at the imposing Lumiere Theater is perhaps the only opportunity for some to take pictures on the Cannes red carpet, although this is not a premiere, and therefore formal attire is not required.

The hours of the day are really not enough for those who want to watch (only) the highlights of various programs. The competition kicked off on Wednesday night with a new film by Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who once already experienced fame in Cannes with the wonderful shoplifters. V “Monster”, the Japanese director creates a complex canvas, in the center of which are children. A junior high school student who lost his father has problems at school. His worried mother is trying to figure out what is happening with the help of a young teacher, and what at first seems clear, gradually takes on new dimensions.

In general, Kore-Eda uses a modular structure here, with different perspectives, to slowly and methodically reveal the fullness of his myth. He dares to focus on young children in a film that explores many issues (friendship, sexual awakening, school bullying, loss) without seeming chatty or overwhelmed. Here we see the view of children as opposed to the view of adults, but also vice versa, since everyone is looking for his redemption (this, perhaps, is the “monster” of the name), and the innocence of youth, of course, is the one who has the advantage.

The next long queue (in the rain) in front of the Debussy Hall led us to the official premiere of the “A Certain Look” segment. There, the audience was greeted by the festival’s artistic director, Thierry Fremaux himself, who first introduced president Michael S. Reilly to the jury and then introduced the opening film’s cast. “Animal kingdom” Thomas Kelle.

In Monster, director Hirokazu Kore-Eda creates an intricate canvas centered on children.

In a world where some people mutate into animals, the show’s regular Romain Duris plays a troubled father who moves his teenage son to the edge of a forest. When the young man begins to show signs of the mutation, they both have to face serious challenges with the help of a young policewoman (Adele Exarchopoulos). While the French production, the fantasy story that reads like an allegory of growing up and diversity is up to Hollywood standards, with impressive scenes, special effects, but also the relative superficiality that this implies.

Old and new France.

As for the evening show, there was again a competition, in particular, the one that was talked about a lot. “Return” Catherine Corsini, who some time ago was accused of … beating (refusing) her main characters on the set. The latter are young girls, French women of African descent, who return with their mother for the summer to Corsica, where they were born. A Mediterranean sun, two fresh faces, and a few apt references to “old” and “new” France all add up to a fairly typical coming-of-age movie. At least we hope everyone is healthy.

However, the record for the longest film still belongs to Steve McQueen. The Oscar-winning British director signs here a four-hour project dedicated to Amsterdam then and now. Where then is the period of the Nazi occupation of the city and the pogrom of the Jews, which is told through the narrator, at the same time on the screen we see modern Amsterdam, mainly during the quarantine period. The concepts of collective memory and freedom intertwine in an epic work that requires patience, but it’s worth it. At the time of this writing, in the next room, Lumiere Harrison Ford and the rest of the latter’s cast “Indiana Jones” arrives at the official premiere. Cars and pedestrians, who have been waiting for hours, stand at attention. More tomorrow…