Three days in, and the Cannes Film Festival is shaping up to be a three-hanky affair. There could be no better illustration of the flowing tears than Thursday night’s “Tangles” premiere, the first of the festival that featured Hollywood A-listers.
On paper, the animated movie sounds like a riot, with its murderers’ row of comedic talent including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranston, Bowen Yang, Sarah Silverman and Wanda Sykes.
(Even Phil Rosenthal voice-cameos as a weary rabbi.) But “Tangles” follows the Alzheimer’s descent of a Maine mom named Midge (Louis-Dreyfus) through the eyes of her rebellious daughter (Abbi Jacobson), which sparked a waterworks display in the packed Salle Agnès Varda screening room.
Even Rogen seemed uncharacteristically muted when introducing the film, which is for sale in Cannes, and could make noise in next year’s Oscars animated race.
“It’s an honor to be here. We hope you enjoy the film. Does anyone else want to say anything? You guys seem good. I love you,” Rogen said. After receiving a rapturous reception post-screening, one person involved with the film told Page Six Hollywood: “We all cried our eyes out.”
In fact, it’s safe to say that the night’s competing premiere — Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski’s Iron Curtain-era “Fatherland” — may have been the more uplifting of the two.
Either way, both films drew raves. The Hollywood Reporter called “Fatherland” a “damn-near perfect period piece,” while Variety dubbed “Tangles,” “honestly felt and highly affecting.”
The festival hasn’t exclusively screened maudlin fare so far. Wednesday night featured a 25-year anniversary showing of an ultimate popcorn pic, “The Fast and the Furious.” But even that movie brought star Vin Diesel to actual tears when he reflected upon his co-star Paul Walker, who died in 2013 in a car crash. “The person that was not going to let me come alone here to represent that brotherhood was Meadow Walker,” Diesel said, gesturing toward Walker’s daughter. “I’m going to go and shed a tear real quick.” After the screening, Diesel spoke again and devolved into sobs
