Top 7 Must See Cannes Film Festival Movies 2015

by Helen Earnshaw | 9 May 2015

The 2015 Cannes Film Festival will get underway on Tuesday and brings together a series of exciting films and directors from around the world.

Macbeth

Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals on the calendar and we are going to see nineteen movies go head to head for the Palme d'Or.

We take a look at all of the films on the programme and pick out the ones that we are looking forward to the most.

- Macbeth

Macbeth is one of the films on the programme that I am looking forward to the most as we see Michael Fassbender take on the iconic Shakespeare creation.

Macbeth sees Justin Kurzel back in the director's chair for his first film since he made his critically acclaimed debut Snowtown. I have to say, I can't wait to see Kurzel put his stamp on a tale that we all know so well.

Fassbender will take on the title role and he is joined on the cast list by Marion Cotillard - as Lady Macbeth - David Thewlis, Elizabeth Debicki, Jack Reynor, Paddy Considine, and Sean Harris.

Macbeth follows a Scottish duke, who has been told by a trio of witches that he will become King of Scotland one day. Driven by ambition and his wife, Macbeth sets out to claim the throne for himself.

Macbeth is one of the most talked about movies at Cannes this year and I have my fingers tightly crossed that it lives up to quite lofty expectations. However, no UK release date has yet been announced.

- The Lobster

There is also a lot of excitement growing around the release of The Lobster as it marks the English-speaking debut of filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. Lanthimos has brought us Alps and Dogtooth over the years and it is great to see him back in the director's chair.

As well as being in the director's chair, Lanthimos has teamed up with Efthymis Filippou to pen the screenplay and will mix elements of comedy, romance, and science fiction.

Lanthimos has brought together a great cast for the film, as Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, Olivia Colman, and Ashley Jensen are all on board.

The Lobster is a blackly funny love story where finding love is a matter of life or death. A love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel.

There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules.

The Lobster is set to hit the big screen in the UK on 16th October.

- The Sea of Trees

Matthew McConaughey has seen the direction of his career change since his Oscar winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club - he really has become a major Hollywood heavyweight.

McConaughey is set to return to the big screen this year with The Sea of Trees, which sees the actor team up with director Gus Van Sant for the first time. Van Sant has delivered movies such as Good Will Hunting and Milk and this is his first film since Promised Land.

The Sea of Trees is set to follow a suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.

McConaughey takes on the central role of Arthur Brennan and is joined on the cast list by Naomi Watts, Ken Watanabe, Katie Aselton, and Jordan Gavaris.

The Sea of Trees is in the mix for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year and perhaps has a good chance of triumphing - it is a movie that has one of the most high profile actors and director of all of the films that are on the programme at the festival.

- Louder than Bombs

Louder than Bombs is another movie that is in the mix for the Palme d'Or and sees Joachim Trier back in the director's chair.

Louder than Bombs is set to be Trier's third feature film of his directing career and it comes off the heels of Reprise and Oslo August 31st. However, Louder Than Bombs will be the first English-speaking movie for the filmmaker.

This will be the second time that a Trier film project will feature at the Cannes Film Festival as Oslo, August 31st feature in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 festival.

Another great cast has been brought together for the film, as Jesse Eisenberg is set to lead the cast. He is joined on the cast list by David Strathairn, Amy Ryan, Gabriel Byrne, and Rachel Brosnahan.

Three years after her unexpected death, the preparation of an exhibition celebrating the famous war photographer Laura Freed brings her husband and their two sons together for the first time in years.

When an unsettling secret resurfaces, the three men are forced to look at each other and themselves in a new light, redefining their innermost needs and desires.

- Il Racconto dei Racconti (Tale of Tales)

Matteo Garrone grabbed everyone's attention back in 2008 with the critically acclaimed film Gomorrah and now he is back with his latest project The Tale of Tales.

The Tale of Tales will see the director tackle the fantasy genre as he brings the adaptation of the book by Giambattista Basile to the big screen. This is also an English speaking film for Garrone.

The movie will be In Competition at the festival and comes three years after Reality won the Grand Prix award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Tale of Tales is another movie that boasts an impressive cast list as Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly, Toby Jones, Shirley Henderson, and Hayley Carmichael are all on board.

Tale of Tales is set to be one of most interesting and unique movies on the programme this year and I am excited to see Garrone back in the director's chair.

- Inside Out

You can't beat a Pixar movie and Inside Out is set to be the one not to miss this summer as Pete Docter returns to the director's chair.

Docter has already brought us Up and Monsters, Inc - two of the best Pixar movies to date - and it is great to see him return to directing and writing duties. I have to say, this is one of the summer movies that I cannot wait to see!!!

Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, Phyllis Smith, and Lewis Black are on board as Joy, Disgust, Far, Sadness, and Anger. While Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan make up another terrific voice cast list.

Based in Headquarters, the control centre inside 11-year-old Riley's mind, five Emotions are hard at work, led by light-hearted optimist Joy (Poehler), whose mission is to make sure Riley stays happy. Fear (Hader) heads up safety, Anger (Black) ensures all is fair and Disgust (Kaling) prevents Riley from getting poisoned - both physically and socially. Sadness (Smith) isn't exactly sure what her role is, and frankly, neither is anyone else.

When Riley's family relocates to a scary new city, the Emotions are on the job, eager to help guide her through the difficult transition. But when Joy and Sadness are inadvertently swept into the far reaches of Riley's mind - taking some of her core memories with them - Fear, Anger and Disgust are left reluctantly in charge. Joy and Sadness must venture through unfamiliar places - Long Term Memory, Imagination Land, Abstract Thought and Dream Productions - in a desperate effort to get back to Headquarters, and Riley.

Inside Out looks set to be one of the most daring Pixar movies so far, but the early trailers have suggested that it is going to be awful lot of fun. Inside Out will be released on 24th July in the UK.

- Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the most talked about movies of 2015 so far, and it is set to screen out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mad Max: Fury Road looks set to be one of the most outrageous films of the year as George Miller returns to the director's chair. Miller was behind the first three movies and I am looking forward to seeing what he delivers this time around.

Tom Hardy has taken over the role of Max Rockatansky in the film, and is joined on the cast list by Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravtiz, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa.

They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.

Mad Max: Fury Road is set to be a major action packed ride and will be hitting the big screen in the UK on 14th May.