Critic’s Notebook: The Best Films at Cannes 2026 Challenged Us to Redraw Our Relationship to Reality
The Cannes Film Festival 2026 showcased films that challenged perceptions of reality. Notable entries included Jordan Firstman's 'Club Kid,' which humorously addressed themes of sobriety and responsibility. The festival highlighted a tension between the escapism of cinema and the serious reflections on life presented in various films.
- ▪Jordan Firstman's 'Club Kid' is about a gay Manhattan scenester confronting fatherhood and sobriety.
- ▪Jane Schoenbrun's 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Mishima' explores themes of shame, violence, and sexual identity.
- ▪Asghar Farhadi's 'Parallel Tales' was criticized for lacking purpose and depth.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
The following article is an excerpt from the new edition of “In Review by David Ehrlich,” a biweekly newsletter in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the site’s latest reviews and muses about current events in the movie world. Subscribe here to receive the newsletter in your inbox every other Friday. In all my years of coming to Cannes (2026 was the ninth), this was the first time that I’ve been asked if I had any cocaine, and also the first time that I’ve desperately wished that I did.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at IndieWire.
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