As the Cannes Film Festival begins to end, we come closer to the announcing the next Palme d’Or winner. Although there is no clear frontrunner, the Un Certain Regard awards will help to point audiences in the right direction.
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki by Juho Kuosmanen was awarded the top Un Certain Regard prize, based on the true story of Finnish boxer Olli Mäki and his 1962 match against American featherweight Davey Moore. The black and white film channels Rocky as Olli unexpectedly falls in love and must choose between fighting and romance. Upon receiving the award, Kuosmanen said, “Thank you for your weird taste in cinema. I am so surprised and happy.”
The Jury Prize went to Kôju Fukada’s Harmonium, which follows a Japanese man released from prison who terrorizes the family of an old friend.
The Best Director award went to Matt Ross for Captain Fantastic with Viggo Mortensen, who stars as a father who raising six children in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. When his wife dies, the eccentric family attends the funeral and tries to assimilate into society.
The prize for Best Screenplay was awarded to Delphine and Muriel Coulin for The Stopover about the tension between two female soldiers returning from a tour in Afghanistan.
The final Un Certain Regard award for the Special Jury Prize went to Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle. The animated movie is a French-Japanese collaboration about a man who becomes stranded on a deserted island covered with turtles, crabs and birds until he finds a woman also lost at sea and begins a life with her. The touching feature is said to be a mix between Cast Away and Blue Lagoon.
The Competition Awards will be announced tomorrow.
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