Stop Bashing Cannes

The general consensus among critics is that this year’s Cannes Film Festival did not measure up to previous installments. Several writers went so far as to call it the ‘worst Cannes ever.’ Michael Wilmington isn’t buying, although he acknowledges that the field of main category entries was the weakest in quite some time: “I tend to take acerbic verdicts on Cannes, even seemingly well founded ones, with a grain of sel – because I hear them so often. Every single year – with the exception of 1997, the 50th anniversary annum – I’ve heard somebody at Cannes insist this was the worst fest ever. Often the nix comes from dilettantes who see no more than one or two movies a day while hunting the next party to crash or celebrity to schmooze.”