Cannes Diary: The home stretch

By Milos Stehlik
From left: Actors Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and director Carlos Reygadas pose during a photo call for ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ on Thursday.
From left: Actors Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and director Carlos Reygadas pose during a photo call for ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ on Thursday. AP/Francois Mori
From left: Actors Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and director Carlos Reygadas pose during a photo call for ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ on Thursday.
From left: Actors Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and director Carlos Reygadas pose during a photo call for ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ on Thursday. AP/Francois Mori

Cannes Diary: The home stretch

By Milos Stehlik
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From left: Actors Adolfo Jimenez Castro, Nathalia Acevedo and director Carlos Reygadas pose during a photo call for ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ on Thursday. (AP/Francois Mori)

The exhaustion settles in. At 6 a.m. and throughout much of the night, there is yelling and shouting from people coming home from parties. The festival slowly becomes a blur.

Its descent into grayness is helped by two highly anticipated films: Leos Carax’s Holy Motors and Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebrum Lux (Light After Darkness). Ambitious, visually stunning, daring in structure, both films left the audiences confused. What did the filmmaker really mean?

Both filmmakers are on hand in Cannes, of course, for their moment in the spotlight. They pose for photo sessions, take part in their press conferences and walk up the red carpet with their equipe (team).

This late in the festival, everyone is hanging onto the last bits of their energy and trying to make it into the home stretch.