Following Paramount’s acquisition of one of the hottest sales packages, “Down Under Cover,” the 2019 Cannes Film Festival slowed down a bit on its fifth day.
Some projects premiered, like Jesse Eisenberg’s “Vivarium” and Nicolas Winding Refn’s series “Too Old to Die Young” starring Miles Teller.
Protests also hit the Croisette, but so did something else: Helen Mirren’s new pink hair, which she debuted with a little dance on the red carpet.
Maybe everyone was busy figuring out how to watch the finale of “Game of Thrones” tonight. Some tips are here:
See below for the highlights from day five:
“Too Old to Die Young” Debuts to Mixed Reviews
Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Too Old to Die Young” is an Amazon 10-part TV series whose first two episodes screened out of competition.
Miles Teller plays Martin, a cop turned contract killer with a suitably chiseled profile but no discernible motivation for blithely shooting random people from the criminal underworld for pay (or, on those occasions when he’s really into the gig, for no pay).
Reviews are mixed — some call it “dull,” some call it “incredible,” others call it “brilliant and tedious.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw wrote, “‘Too Old to Die Young’ is macabre, and nauseating in many ways, but very well made and very watchable.”
TheWrap’s own editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman wrote in her review: “Winding Refn flirts dangerously with ideas of violence and amorality until they seem to become their own cinematic ends. And take this for what you will, by the time the piece rolled around to the murder-porn plotline and a nameless girl buried alive in the New Mexico sands by two pornographer brothers, I was one of five women (all film professionals!) standing in the back of the theater, ready to bolt.”
“Vivarium” Tries to Bite “Off More Than It Can Chew”
Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots’ “Vivarium” also premiered on the Croisette on Saturday, but TheWrap’s film critic Ben Croll says it all in his review titled “Jesse Eisenberg Satire Bites Off More Than It Can Chew.”
“Feeling simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked, Lorcan Finnegan’s ‘Vivarium’ tries to ring a warning bell about, well, a lot of things,” he wrote. “In the end, though, it works best as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of filmmakers biting off more than they can chew.”
Screen Daily called the film “unconventional.”
The film directed by Lorcan Finnegan follows a couple who look for the perfect home but find themselves trapped in a labyrinth neighborhood of identical houses.
Abortion Rights Protests on Red Carpet
Ahead of the debut of Juan Solanas’ abortion documentary “Let It Be Law,” dozens of women protested for abortion rights on the red carpet of the festival, according to the Associated Press.
Women waved green handkerchiefs and carried banners while walking on the red carpet of the film that depicts Argentina’s battle to legalize abortion. Of course, this comes at a time when abortion rights are a topic of conversation in the United States. On Tuesday, the Alabama state senate passed a bill to outlaw almost all abortions in the state — one of nine states to pass legislation in recent months to severely restrict abortion access.
Helen Mirren Debuts Pink Hair on Carpet
Honestly, can Dame Helen Mirren do anything wrong? She attended the screenings of “Les Plus Belles Annees D’Une Vie” on Saturday and debuted her pink hair. Also, she busted out some dance moves during her walk up to the theater.
Bow down, everyone.