Of red carpets and aliens

SACHIN CHATTE

While films take centre stage at the Cannes Film Festival, what often dominates social media and headlines is who appears on the red carpet and who wears what. The red carpet business itself can be quite misleading. To start with, there is a red carpet outside every theatre at the Palais, the festival’s main venue. Anyone can stand there, click a picture and post it with a pout and a caption saying they were “on the red carpet at Cannes”. It means very little and is certainly not the same as actors, filmmakers and crew members walking the official red carpet before the screening of their film.

The main red carpet is outside the Grand Theatre Lumiere, where artists walk in front of hundreds of photographers, with images that then circulate across the world. In recent memory, the only Indian film to screen there has been ‘All We Imagine as Light’ by Payal Kapadia in 2024. To the best of my knowledge, no other Indian film had made it to the Lumiere in decades. As the venue for the main competition and marquee premieres where global actors, directors and crew members are seen, Kapadia’s film was also the first Indian entry in competition in 30 years.

Even audience members entering the Lumiere climb those same famous steps and many like to stop for a picture. A couple of well-known Bollywood actors have done that too. In one amusing photo, you can even spot an usher asking a celebrity to move along. Photos and selfies are technically not allowed on the red carpet but that rule is not easy to enforce.

Brand ambassadors of festival sponsors also get their moment in the spotlight — Aishwarya Rai has been a familiar face over the years and Alia Bhatt, who debuted at Cannes last year, was also present this year.

Beyond that, not every appearance on the red carpet carries the same level of access or visibility.

On the film front, there have not been too many surprises. Most of the major names have delivered, with one exception: Hirokazu Kore-eda, usually among the most reliable directors in competition. His new film ‘Sheep in the Box’ starts intriguingly but ultimately goes nowhere. A family gets an AI humanoid that looks exactly like their deceased son — a premise rich with moral, emotional and ethical possibilities. Yet the film explores none of them in sufficient depth, nor does it become particularly engaging. In the end, you are left detached from both the humanoid and the humans. This one is a rare misfire from Kore-eda.

The wildest film of the festival so far has been ‘Hope’ by Na Hong-Jin. Competing for the Palme d’Or, it is an outrageous ride involving aliens and breathtaking action. The action sequences and chases are staged and shot with exceptional precision — easily among the best seen in recent years. It is reportedly the most expensive Korean film ever made.

Competition films are usually more cerebral, with the odd exception — even this year’s jury president Park Chan-wook won the Grand Prix at Cannes for ‘Oldboy’, which was violent but also reflective on human nature. ‘Hope’ goes straight for the jugular as a crowd-pleaser.

Set in the harbour town of Hope, it opens with a cop and a group of rough locals investigating the carcass of a mauled cow. Is it a bear? A tiger? They are not sure but soon realise it is neither. It is something far larger and more sinister; something that turns the whole town upside down and leaves many dead.

The first hour moves at a breathless pace. There is no let-up. The framing, camera movements, editing and stunt work are outstanding. Na Hong-Jin is clearly influenced by Hollywood science fiction and action cinema but takes it further with large-scale set pieces and relentless pacing. If you are going to spend that kind of money on a film, this is how you do it — every cent is visible on screen.