Firebrand (Karim Aïnouz)
(Cannes Film Festival)
Karim Aïnouz’s 2019 melodrama Invisible Life won the top prize in Cannes’ secondary series, Un Certain Regard sidebar,
A Brazilian director skillful with intimate, richly sensual filmmaking, he seemed ready for upgrade to the Cannes Mai Competition.
His English period drama — starring a wan Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII — isn’t a particularly engrossing or engaging film.
The best (and only?) reason to watch it is Jude Law’s entertaining performance as Henry at his vilest.
There is also state-of-the-art support from a horrifically pus-leaking, maggot-ridden leg wound.
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