Cannes Film Festival 2019 reviews, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to Parasite

Another Cannes Film Festival has come to an end, with Parasite director Bong Joon-ho taking home the biggest prize of the event – the Palme d'Or for his social satire Parasite.

The dark comedy centres on an impoverished family of hustlers who move into the home of a wealthy entrepreneur, his wife and two children. They worm their way into the other family’s lives – and then strange things start to happen.

It is the first Korean film to ever win the Palme and the second straight victory for an Asian director, following last year’s award for Shoplifters by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda.

For the past fortnight, the French Riviera has hosted the world's best filmmakers, ranging from auteurs such as Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life) to debut directors Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Mati Diop (Atlantics), the latter of whom won the Grand Prix, making her the first black woman to win a prize in the festival's 72-year history.

The festival attracted critics from around the globe, with reviews being posted online immediately after their very first screenings. As is the norm with Cannes, certain films generated immediate buzz as word-of-mouth rapidly spread far beyond the festival’s borders.

Films getting the best reviews include The Lighthouse (starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson), Ken Loach’s latest kitchen-sink drama Sorry We Missed You, and the French period piece Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Conversely, Jim Jarmusch’s star-studded The Dead Don’t Die and Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc (Jeanne) have received scathing verdicts.

Click through the gallery below to discover what the critics have been saying about the festival’s biggest film debuts.

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