Category: Entertainment

In “Mother Mary,” the title character (Anne Hathaway), a global pop superstar who you could say is based on a lot of people but is most directly and obviously a riff on Lady Gaga (maximalist dance pop; extravagant postmodern wardrobe; air of transgressive Catholic rapture), has a close encounter with Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel), the British fashion designer who created Mary’s visionary costumes. She was her hand-in-distressed-glove collaborator — and the two were closer than that. But they’re estranged now, and haven’t seen each other for 10 years. So cataclysmic was their breakup that in all that time, Sam has never once listened to Mother Mary’s music.

But now, out of the blue, Mary shows up at the English country manor that’s the headquarters of Sam’s fashion empire. She’s there because, in her words, “I need a dress.” A visionary dress. A dress for the big summing-up-of-her-career concert that she’s about to give. The two go into the large stone barn out back where Sam does her designing, and there, by themselves, they talk: about their partnership and their past, about their wounding breakup, about the complicated brew of love and bitterness that still holds their dual spirits together.

The talk stretches on for a while, and since the two actors are vivid and on point, we’re fine with settling into one of those movies that’s essentially a two-hander — in this case, broken up by flashbacks to Mother Mary onstage, where she performs before her adoring throng. I’ve always been partial to movies about conversation, because I think it’s one of the most pleasurable activities there is, and the fact that “Mother Mary” strikes such a familiar chord — Mary and Sam unpeeling their history like an onion, circling around it until they reach its inner core — is not, in my book, a strike against the movie.

That will come later. 

At no point do Mary and Sam say they were lovers. The film’s press material coyly describes them as “friends.” And maybe they were just friends — friends intimate enough to be spiritual lovers. In a sense, it doesn’t really matter. “Mother Mary” is not a roman à clef. The character of Mother Mary may be a fictional gloss on Lady Gaga, but it’s not as if she’s supposed to be Gaga. And at this point, there wouldn’t be anything revolutionary in portraying a famous pop star with a private life that’s bisexual. That’s not the point of the movie.

What is the point? For a while, we think “Mother Mary” is going to be a talky, angsty, back-and-forth relationship drama, mixed in with heady footnotes on fame and creativity. Mary, named for a Beatles lyric, has composed a new song, which she says “might be the best song ever written in the history of songs.” It’s called “Spooky Action,” which is a reference to Einstein’s principle of “spooky action at a distance” — the idea that separated particles, even when they’re light-years apart, can have an effect upon each other. That’s a rather ponderous metaphor for what in another movie might come down to, “I still think about you.”

But never mind. Hathaway, in disheveled straight blonde hair parted down the middle to its thick dark roots, does a convincing job of showing us that Mary, while devoted to her art (and her fame — the two can’t be separated), is a mere mortal who wears her onstage persona like a cosmic costume. Her trademark is to sport some version of her signature halo, a circular head piece attached to the neck, and this connects to the religious nature of her stardom — that she’s no mere celebrity, and not just an artist either, but a kind of pop demigod channeling our collective fantasies of saintliness and sin.

The film shows us that Sam, the offstage muse, is an awesome creator as well. Her visionary designs forged Mother Mary as an image (Mary once paraded down a red carpet wearing honey), so she shares in her identity. Coel, as she proves in the marvelous new Steven Soderbergh movie “The Christophers,” is a great debater — she knows how to use those penetrating large eyes, and her profile that’s like a Picasso come to life, to project an insinuating perception, the sense that she’s reading her antagonist like a psychic. In this case, Sam views Mary with ultimate wariness and knowledge, still smarting from the scars of abandonment and what they revealed.

But all of that — spoiler alert! — winds up being very much beside the point. David Lowery, the writer-director of “Mother Mary,” is a hard filmmaker to pin down, but he is, among other things, a reliably highfalutin trickster-showman who likes to tease the audience with a nearly avant-garde sense of play. I’ve liked some of his films, like “The Old Man & the Gun” and “The Green Knight,” even if the latter fused its intoxicating roots-of-King-Arthur mythology with too much head-scratching magical realism for my taste. In “Mother Mary,” the director gives in to that side of himself completely. This is the David Lowery-est David Lowery movie ever made. Which is to say that by the end of it, you may be scratching your head to the point of wanting your money back.

Mother Mary dances on the barn floorboards, and Sam says things like “You give people the gift of giving a shit about you.” But what the movie really comes down to is a séance. And the stabbing of flesh. And a ghost. Yes, a ghost. In the form of a floating piece of red material that looks like a blanket made of organza. Is this the ghost of their relationship? Or a real ghost? That’s a question that will be debated by moviegoers for maybe four seconds. Because “Mother Mary,” as it takes the leap into Gothic metaphysical fantasy, becomes almost completely incoherent, and stays that way. It’s like an exorcist movie where the devil is a piece of bolt fabric. 

The movie does have a few additional in-concert scenes, but the songs, written and produced by Jack Antonoff and Charli xcx, just sound like a bland version of what they’re supposed to be. To my ears, the music conjured Taylor Swift trying to be Enya. If this were a sustained two-hander, it might have been the story of a beloved pop superstar and her genius designer, and how they forged a connection that was creative and spiritual and romantic. It might have been about how they broke up (because the pop star became too big and thought she could do it on her own), and about how that breakup was a betrayal (because it was based on the pop star’s narcissism). Instead, “Mother Mary” turns into the most befuddlingly pretentious movie about a pop star since Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux.” It heads down a blind alley of cosmic meaning that, in the end, means nothing.

Donald Trump‘s social media post attacking Pope Leo XIV as “weak” left late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel in disbelief during their respective April 13 episodes. Both men regularly bash Trump during their monologues, but the president’s tirade against the Pope left them puzzled to the point of near-speechlessness.

“According to one Italian religious historian, not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly,” Colbert told his viewers before quipping: “It’s never great when someone says, ‘You should really be more discreet and respectful. You know, like Hitler.’”

Pope Leo has publicly opposed the war in Iran as well as Trump’s immigration policy, which prompted Trump’s meltdown. The president posted on Truth Social: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy … I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”

The post prompted Kimmel to ask: “What does the pope have to do with crime? He’s not Batman, he’s the pope. This is what happens when you sell Bibles instead of reading them… We have a fight between the president and the Pope. The world has become a real life episode of ‘South Park.’”

Trump courted even more backlash when he followed up his tirade by posting an AI-generated image of that many interpreted to depict Trump as Jesus Christ. The backlash was widespread and instant, with Trump later removing the post from his Truth Social account and claiming that he thought he was depicted as a doctor.

“So, Donald Trump wants us to believe that he thought this was a doctor,” Colbert fired back, calling it “quite the excuse” from the president and adding: “If I’m in a doctor’s office and that man walks in, I’m thinking I died.”

Trump’s excuse also caused disbelief from Jon Stewart, who asked during his April 13 episode “The Daily Show”: “Do you even care about lying to us anymore? Is this over? Has this relationship gone stale? Your lies used to have a real spark… And now the best you’ve got is, ‘Eh, no, I wasn’t Jesus. I’m a doctor!’ You need to go back and find your happy place and fast.”

Directors‘ Fortnight, the independent sidebar competition that runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival, is adding a splash of star power to its 58th edition, alongside some major filmmaking names from the world of independent cinema.

Heading a typically eclectic lineup, the 2026 event is opening with “Butterly Fly,” the English-language debut from Kantemir Balagov, the Russian director behind the acclaimed 2019 drama “Beanpole.” The film, set in a tight-knit U.S. community of Circassian immigrants, stars Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough, Harry Melling and Monica Bellucci.

Elsewhere, Romanian auteur Radu Jude returns with a quick-fire following up to last year’s “Dracula” with his adaptation of Octave Mirbeau’s “The Diary of a Chambermaid,” starring Ana Dumitrascu, Vincent Macaigne and Mélanie Thierry.

From the U.S., Reed Van Dyk brings his debut feature “Atonement,” starring Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass, and Boyd Holbrook. Set during the early days of the Iraq War and inspired by real events, the film follows a U.S. marine’s attempts to reconcile with the survivor of a firefight that devastated an Iraqi family.

Thanks to Directors’ Fortnight, Clio Barnard becomes the solitary British filmmaker in the Cannes lineup. The celebrated indie director returns to the competition for a third time with “I See Buildings Fall Like Lighting.” Adapted by Enda Walsh from Keiran Goddard’s novel, the film — about five friends who grew up on a council estate — is led by an ensemble of fast-rising talent, including Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack and Lola Petticrew.

From Argentina, Lisandro Alonso returns to Cannes once again with “Double Freedom,” which comes almost quarter of a century after his debut feature, “La Libertad” premiered in Un Certain Regard and set a benchmark for so-called slow cinema.

South Korean writer-director July Jung returns to the Croisette with “Dora.” The film, starring Sakura Ando and Kim Doyeon, centers on a young woman whose physical and emotional illness begins to lift when she falls in love. One of the more consistent Korean presences at Cannes, Jung’s debut “A Girl at My Door” screened in Un Certain Regard in 2014, while “Next Sohee” closed Critics’ Week in 2022.

Of three animated features in the lineup of features, “La Vertige” closes this year’s Directors’ Fortnight, while also marking the second film debuting on the Croisette from Quentin Dupieux, whose absurdist comedy “Full Phil” — starring Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart — is in the Midnight Screening section. The film was shot entirely in 3D using motion-capture.

See the Directors’ Fortnight 2026 feature selection below.

“Butterfly Jam,” Kantemir Balagov — opening film
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” William Greaves & David Greaves
“Femme De Chambre” (“The Diary of a Chambermaid”), Radu Jude
“Dora,” July Jung
“Gabin,” Maxence Voiseux
“Clarissa,” Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri
“L’espèce Explosive” (“Too Many Beasts”), Sarah Arnold
“Low Expectations,” Eivind Landsvik
“Double Freedom,” Lisandro Alonso
“We Are Aliens,” Kohei Kadowaki
“Merci D’être Venu” (“Thanks for Coming”), Alain Cavalier – Documentaire
“I See Buildings Fall Like Lighting,” Clio Barnard
“Atonement,” Reed Van Dyk
“Shana” De Lila Pinell
“Death Has No Master,” Jorge Thielen Armand
“Carmen, L’oiseau Rebelle,” Sébastien Laudenbach
“9 Temples to Heaven,” Sompot Chidgasornpongse
“Le Vertige,” Quentin Dupieux — closing film

Spain’s AF Films has acquired Spanish remake rights to “Buen Camino,” the Italian comedy that recently became the country’s all-time highest-grossing film by scoring a whopping more than $82 million local box office haul.

The “Buen Camino” adaptation agreement between AF Films and Italian sales company Piperplay is the first remake deal to be announced since the comedy – starring local comedy sensation Checco Zalone as a rich and debauched father who zips around in a red Ferrari searching for his runaway daughter along Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago spiritual pilgrimage –became an Italian box office sensation that generated buzz elsewhere in the world.

The protagonist, Checco, is forced to leave his gilded life behind to search for Cristal, his missing teenage daughter. “He thus finds himself, against his will, on the Camino de Santiago, amid hardship, blisters, clashes, and revelations. But this unexpected journey will become the only chance for father and daughter to truly get to know each other,” as the official synopsis puts it

Piperplay is also in advanced talks to sell “Buen Camino” remake rights to France and Germany. 

“Buen Camino,” which is produced by Italy’s Vuelta-owned Indiana Production, launched in Italy via Medusa distribution on Dec. 25 and went on to dominate the Italian market, holding the box office spot for the following five weeks, drawing more than 9 million Italians. More significantly, the film surpassed Zalone’s previously held records for a local title, the last of which was with 2016’s “Quo Vado,” about a Southern Italian slacker hellbent on holding on to his parasitic government job even when he is transferred to the North Pole.

Due to its more universal storyline “Buen Camino” can make for more congenial remake material than Zalone’s previous pictures, possibly proving that local comedies can travel.

“We are now in exactly the same position that were were in with “Quo Vado” 10 years ago. The world outside Italy is astonished at our box office haul and wondering, “How did these guys pull it off?,” Buen Camino director Gennaro Nunziante said in an interview with Variety.

“But this time we’ve taken it to the next level, and not just in terms of box office. This film has much more international appeal compared with “Quo Vado,” he noted.

“Buen Camino proved that a story about a father, a daughter, and a road can become a box office phenomenon with no franchise behind it. That’s exactly why it travels,” said Indiana partner Daniel Campos Pavoncelli in a statement.

“We’re very honored that this idea from Gennaro Nunziante and Luca Medici (aka Checco Zalone) is drawing such a broad appeal,” he added.

“The Spanish-language remake is the logical next step: the Camino de Santiago is Spanish territory, Spanish culture, and a potential audience that already knows the geography. We are very proud to have AF Films do this remake,” Campos Pavoncelli went on to point out.

Commented AF chief Frank Aziza: “At AF Films, we feel deeply connected to ‘Buen Camino’ because it is a story that, through humor, speaks to something essential: human relationships and second chances.”

“We are drawn to projects like this one, which have the ability to make audiences laugh and feel at the same time, while inviting them to see themselves reflected in the characters.”

AF Films, which operates between Europe and the U.S., is known for developing high-end feature films and prestige TV projects through strategic studio alliances and cross-border financing models. Recent projects in which AF have been involved include Sundance standout “Sorry, Baby”; thriller “Above and Below,” toplining Antonio Banderas; action movie “Hammer Down,” that they are developing with “Oppenheimer” producer Charles Roven; and HBO Max series “Mariachis.”