Cannes was full of crowdpleasing gems, critical smashes and the odd flop, but one film stood out as being particularly divisive.
The annual film festival, which has now concluded for another year, had premieres of new films from Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Andrey Zvyagintsev (Loveless) and Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant), among others.
But it was the new film from The Chaser and The Wailing filmmaker Na Hong-Jin that made the biggest splash in terms of varied response: the film has received a range of one-star pans to five-star raves.
Hope is a South Korean monster movie – but it’s also so much more. It follows a policeman (Hwang Jung-min) who hunts down an unseen creature rampaging through a small Korean town.
The first hour is a thrill ride, with the film holding back exactly what this monster looks like – and for the film’s final two hours (yes, it’s a long one), Hope veers into different territory altogether. To say any more would be to spoil its surprises.
Let’s just say, the film’s many thrills evoke Mad Max: Fury Road, The Host, Predator and even Avatar, with Hong-Jin thrillingly mashing up genres with abandon throughout. Perhaps the biggest criticism thrown Hope’s way is the CGI – when the film shows its hand, the graphics are not up to the standard of your typical Hollywood blockbuster film.
But the pulsating action, which rarely relents, makes up for any disappointment.
Many critics have also argued Hope was an unlikely choice to play in competition at the festival – meaning it’s in the running to win the Palme d’Or – but its fans described its placement among the line-up as refreshing.
Another notable detail about Hope is its cameos from Hollywood stars, and married couple, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, as well as Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton. which have to be seen to be believed.
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Hope is undeniably the sort of film people will need to see, on as big a screen as possible, to make up their own mind about. Hope is yet to be given a release date.
