Cannes 2021: Seven Musicals To Watch, Besides Annette

A still from Annette.

Music as meditation, music as mystery, music as magic, and, above all, music as celebration: Leos Carax's first English-language film Annette, which will, on the evening of July 6, open the 74th Cannes Film Festival and mark cinema's, and the director's, return to the Theatre Grand Lumiere, promises all that and more.

Annette

Starring Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard and Simon Helberg, Annette is one 24 titles that will compete for the Palme d'Or. Carax is back on the Croisette after a nine-year hiatus. In 2012, his wildly, and characteristically, whimsical Holy Motors was pipped to the festival's top prize by Michael Haneke's Amour. Set in contemporary LA, Annette, featuring a soundtrack composed by the pop duo Sparks, is about a sharp-tongued stand-up comedian (Driver) and a globally renowned singer (Cotillard) whose first child, "a mysterious girl with an exceptional destiny will change their lives". Annette isn't the only 'musical' in Cannes this year. Music, as an act of rebellion and an affirmation of life, will play in seven other diverse films in the festival's 2021 edition.

A still from Annette.

Casablanca Beats

Casablanca Beats (French title: Haut et Fort) sees French-Moroccan writer-director Nabil Ayouch returning to the city's Sidi Moumen slum district where his 2012 film Horses of God was set. Horses of God was a reality-inspired tale of poverty-stricken boys caught in a suicidal spiral of radicalisation and terrorism. Casablanca Beats, scripted by Ayouch with his actress-filmmaker wife Maryam Touzani, hinges on a group of youngsters who, with the help of a former rapper, seek to break free from the shackles that hold them back. Ayouch adopts a realistic approach to the musical, made with a cast that includes several non-pro actors. Casablanca Beats, Ayouch's first film in the main Competition in Cannes, is inspired by a hip-hop workshop conducted at the Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen cultural centre that the filmmaker launched in 2014 in collaboration with Mahi Binebine, the Moroccan writer on whose novel Horses of God was based.

A still from Casablanca Beats.

La Traviata, My Brothers And I

Debutant Yohan Manca's opera-themed La Traviata, My Brothers And I (French title: Mes Freres et Moi), adapted loosely by the director from a play, revolves around a 14-year-old boy, Nour. He is the youngest of four brothers who, during the summer holidays in the south of France, take turns to attend to their mother who is in a coma. She used to love opera. So, Nour plays it for her. In the process, he develops a passion for the music. The boy's chance to escape the oppressive heat, the tensions triggered by his brothers and the constricting neighbourhood arrives in the form of Sarah, an opera teacher. Nour's exposure to her gives him the courage to explore an unknown dimension of his being and look for a better deal in life. La Traviata, My Brothers And I screens in the festival's Un Certain Regard competitive sidebar.

A still from La Traviata, My Brothers And I.

Aline

The double Cesar-winning French actress Valerie Lemercier has not only helmed and co-written this unofficial biopic - Aline is her sixth directorial venture - she also plays the protagonist in "a fiction freely inspired by the life of Celine Dion". With Victoria Sio as Aline's singing voice, Lemercier tells the Celine Dion story from the age of 5 to 50, taking the audience on the exceptional journey of the youngest of 14 children of a Quebecois butcher and his homemaker-wife, with all its highs and lows, euphonies and tragedies. The characters in the film do not have the names of real-life people but they are all modelled on the individuals who shaped Dion's career. Growing up in a modest home where she had to share her bed with her sisters, Aline is discovered by a music producer who, on seeing the unmistakable spark in her, sets her on the path to unparalleled success. She is supported all the way by her family and Guy-Claude. Aline, playing Out of Competition, is a film in which one can expect the music to flow uninterrupted.

A still from Aline.

Supremes

Audrey Estrougo's propulsive biopic dives into the world of rap and narrates the story of the early days of the biggest-ever French hip-hop band, NTM. Written by the director with Marcia Romano with contributions from JoeyStarr, Kool Shen and DJ S., the film begins in the 1990s. It is a period of great unrest in the projects, where the police clash frequently with the youth. Some turn to hip-hop to express their simmering anger. Out of the churn emerge two young men from Seine Saint-Denis, Didier Morville and Bruno Lopez, under the pseudonyms JoeyStarr and Kool Shen. They swiftly become the voice of an entire rebellious generation and usher in an era of rap and the band Supreme NTM. Supremes is one of three films in Cannes Midnight Screenings this year.

A still from Supremes.

Tralala

French actor and filmmaker Mathieu Amalric, whose latest directorial venture (Hold Me Tight) is in the newly-introduced Cannes Premiere section, top-lines this Midnight Screenings entry from the Larrieu Brothers, Arnaud and Jean-Marie. Amalric plays Tralala, a 48-year-old singer in the streets of Paris. He meets a young woman who leaves a pithy message for him: "Above all, don't be yourself." He ends up in Lourdes and finds the woman he is in love with. She has no recollection of him. But an old woman feels Tralala is actually her own son who went missing 20 years ago in the US. He decides to play along. A new identity opens up the possibility of a new life. The cast of Tralala includes Maiwenn and Denis Lavant, the star of Carax's Holy Motors.

A still from Tralala.

The Velvet Underground

American director Todd Haynes (Carol, Wonderstruck, Dark Waters) is in Cannes this year with his first-ever documentary feature. It screens Out of Competition. As the title suggests, the film is about the seminal rock group who blended high art with street culture to produce a sound that changed music forever. Haynes has made the film with the participation of the surviving members, John Cale and Maureen 'Moe' Tucker. Much of the film is based upon papers that singer Lou Reed's long-time partner, the artist Laurie Anderson, gathered for the official Lou Reed archives. The long-in-gestation Apple TV+ documentary explores how Lou Reed's art-rock pioneers inspired countless bands in the 1960s and beyond. The film features in-depth interviews with key figures of the time, never-before seen performances, an array of recordings, Andy Warhol films and much else to create an experience both instantly sensory and richly illuminating.

A still from The Velvet Underground.

New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization

Hollywood legend Bill Murray drives this remarkable documentary film directed by Andrew Muscato to record an unforgettable evening of music and poetry at the Acropolis, Athens - the final performance of Murray and celebrated German-born, New York-based cellist Jan Vogler's 2018 European "New Worlds" tour. The duo is joined on the 2000-year-old stage of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus by the Chinese violinist Mira Wang and the Venezuelan-American pianist Vanessa Perez. The quartet produce a stunning and deeply moving rumination on love and hope on a hot summer night. The performance, anchored by Murray's limitless charm, takes into its weep a wide variety of elements - Bach and Whitman at one end, Van Morrison and West Side Story at the other.

A still from New Worlds.

New Worlds is part of the festival's Special Screenings line-up.