now on bbc news we're heading to cannes for the world's most at least 18 people prestigious film festival. it's talking movies with tom brook. have been stabbed, three of them fatally, in an attack in the japanese city of kawasaki. hello, from the french riviera eight of the victims and welcome to this special edition of talking movies. are believed to be children. i'm tom burke. police say they have a man in custody. president trump is ending his four day visit to japan. we look back at some of highlights on the agenda with prime minister abe have been north korea from this year's cannes film and trade deals. the austrian parliament has forced the chancellor and his centre—right government from office. sebastian kurz lost a no—confidence vote — 00:00:38,286 --> 2147483051:37:03,858 in the continuing fallout over 2147483051:37:03,858 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 a corruption scandal. once upon a time in hollywood, starring leonardo dicaprio and brad pitt. it was thought the film wouldn't be ready in time for the festival, but it was, and it made an impact. it is hard to overstate the sense of anticipation surrounding

once upon a time in hollywood, it was the film it was the film of the festival, set in hollywood 1969, it is a buddy movie, central to the film is the relationship between a fading tv western cowboy played by leonardo dicaprio and the stuntman, cliff booth, betrayed by brad pitt. the actors found it easy to work with one another. i have to say, it was incredibly easy. incredibly easy working with brad. and i think we, together, forged, hopefully, a great cinematic bond, and a film about our industry together. it's the thing of knowing you've got, you know, the best of the best on the opposite side of the table holding up the scene with you. and there is a great relief in that. it's official, old buddy, i'm a has—been.

we follow rick and cliff in their adventures in 1969 los angeles, recreated with a wealth of pop culture details. in a meandering plot, we discover that rick's neighbours include roman polanski and sharon tate, played by margot robbie. in the backdrop is threatening presence of the charles manson murderous cult who made headlines with the slaughter of sharon tate. how charles manson mesmerised his followers intrigues quentin tarantino. how he was able to get these girls, even these young boys, to just submit to him, it just seems unfathomable. and frankly, the more you learn about it, it makes it even more obscure the more you know. and the impossibility of being able to truly understand it i think is what causes its fascination. tara ntino displays masterful technique throughout. the film is extremely well shot, the director no stranger to screen violence delivers towards the end of the movie with a brutal repugnant sequence. it's probably fair to say that this picture is being overpraised.

festival goers at cannes were really on the lookout for a hit they could embrace. for all its style and clever twists and turns, there's not a lot of substance in this picture. but it's giving tarantino fans just what they want, a fresh instalment of his unique brand of off—kilter screen entertainment. no other american film got as much attention at cannes as the tarantino movie, but there were us offerings from jim jarmusch's zombie films to refn‘s to old to die young. they carried a sense of loss of order in society, emma jones explains. flesh eating zombies. don'tjoke, it's really, really creepy. the zombie apocalypse was the scenario for the opening night at this year's cannes. jim jarmusch's the dead don't die

brought the end of the world alongside bill murray, adam driver aand tilda swinton to small—town america. man, this isn't going to end well. residents become zombies and stagger around crying for the things they miss most. coffee! chardonnay. but is this a cry of anguish from hollywood about the state of society it's supposed to reflect, as well as entertain? i think hollywood sometimes makes a movie that people don't see the wisdom of for years. sometimes they make movies that are late, you know, should have been made ten years ago. but they get around to it. if you can have the perspective of notjudging it by the week it came out or the year it came out, you can see the value of all these things. i think this movie is quite valuable. tarantino and the dead don't die aside, there was little sign of life in hollywood itself. although the fluff came in the shape of the launch of angry birds 2, the sequel to a film that made nearly

$400 million at the box office, and with a budget to bring in talent to promote it. but there is no doubt about it, the cannes cuisettes used to be packed with billboards, and they was the danger of being run over by a tank or a star wars storm trooper. as studio spent lavishly on publicity. last year's awards season success of spike lee's black kkklansmen shows that an american film lodged at good cannes can go all the way to the oscars. but they are often edgy and unexpected discoveries. this year's a tip is the lighthouse, starring robert pattinson, which has garnered five star reviews, with the famous film star and independent credentials could be the perfect cannes—hollywood collaboration. now let's move on to british cinema at cannes this year, where there was a notable presence, most significantly with the world premiere of the elton john film, rocketman.

albeit a film produced by an american studio. this was a celebration of eltonjohn, warts and all. # i'm not the man they think i am at all # oh, no, no, no. # i'm a rocket man.# rocketman couldn't have gone over better at cannes, eltonjohn and the film's star taron egerton performed a celebrated duet after the premiere. so how does a a fat boy from nowhere, get to be a soul man? you've got to kill the person you were born to be in order to become the person you want to be. the film, which is eltonjohn‘s life story with songs, attempts to tell all including the singer's struggles with sexual identity and drug abuse. the songs really shine. taron egerton, who did all his own singing, found it a bit daunting to be belting out eltonjohn hits. i prepared by being with him, largely.

and having that wonderful privilege of being able to know everything, because you really can ask him anything. he's so much fun. he'll tell you everything. and in a promotional studio—sanctioned interview for the film, elton john described how impressed he was by ta ron egerton‘s performance. not only did he have to perform my life, he had to sing my life. and that's a double whammy. and when i look at him, singing, and when i look at him acting, i am not looking at taron egerton, i'm looking at me. director dexter fletcher maintains that eltonjohn and his husband, david furnish, who were producers of the film, gave cast and crew free rein in their portrayal. but rocketman remains nonetheless an authorised version of eltonjohn‘s life. director ken loach is a hardy british perennial at cannes, over the years, the social realist film—maker who has chronicled

the challenges of the working class has had 1a films in competition, and he's won the top prize, the palm d'or, twice. now at the age of 82, he has directed sorry we missed you, whose subject matter bears some likeness to his last film, i, daniel blake, which portrayed a man failed by the welfare system. the new picture revolves only working—class newcastle family where the parents are victims of the gig economy. they work on contract, seemingly as independent agents, with none of the benefits of conventional employment. the problem is they're in doubt because things fell apart during the banking crisis and the house fell apart. so dad is really struggling to get out of debt so he sees what he thinks is an opportunity to be an independent van driver, because he understands that he can make quite a lot of money. don't give me a ticket! it's your choice. but for ricky, being an independent

van driver for a delivery company brings tremendous pressure, incredible stress on the job, and long hours, all of which have an impact on his family. his wife is also overtaxed, providing in—home care for the elderly on a contractual basis, working all hours of the day. i'm doing my best. maybe your best isn't good enough, is it? no, it's not, is it? no. ken loach has had a long career making movie since the 1960s. he now has more than 30 feature films and documentaries under his belt. you have had an incredibly prolific career as a director, will this be yourfinal film, do you think? i don't know. i rather foolishly said that, two or three films ago. when i am up to my knees in water in an irish bog and i thought, wet through, i though, i'm not going to get through another one of these. i said that would be the last one and it's dogged me ever since. i'm not saying it now. i don't know, i don't know. take each game as it comes. sorry we missed you has moments

of heartbreaking emotion, it succeeds both a piece of cinema and a damning critique of the gig economy. british actors could also be found this year in littlejo, a cannes film director from jessica hausner. she has fashioned a sci—fi horror film that touches on fears about parenting, corporate control and the limits of science. bbc culture‘s rebecca lawrence reports. we are entering a new era. the first mood—lifting, antidepressant happy plant. imagine a female frankenstein. that's the idea that inspired littlejo, which stars emily beauchamp as alice, a plant scientist who instead of making a terrifying humanlike creature breeds small, scarlet flowers, genetically modified to make their owners happy. alice works for plant house corporation with fellow breeders bella, kerry fox, and chris, played by ben wishaw.

she brings one of her flowers home for his son, joe, and christens it littlejoe. but is this tiny plant benevolent, or is there something more sinister going on? the starting point was that i wanted to make a story about a female frankenstein. i was interested in that because frankenstein obviously was a scientist who created a monster. in my film, the character, ellis, is a scientist, and she creates a monster. a sort of monster, a red flower. but she creates another monster, if you want, which is her child. it's a lot about the ambiguity of her motherly love. and herfocus on her work. hi, little joe. as more and more people get infected, they demonstrate an imperative to protect the plant at all costs. and a personality change that's almost imperceptible. cannes 2019 has been called

the year of the genre film, atlantique, lots of other firms feature elements of sci—fi, the supernatural, zombie movies and horror. sometimes all at once. so why are they so many right now? storytellers and film—makers have an urge to say something this year. they are really keen on getting a message across. so genre is something that helps them get the message through quickly, and crassly, and very entertainingly so. using her own unique style, with heavily choreographed scenes, deadpan acting and strange, unnatural colour schemes, hausner draws on a tradition of sci—fi horror of the body snatchers, stepford wives and little shop of horrors that realises fears about automation and corporate control.

about science and the natural world. but does she have an ultimate point to making this film? i have the feeling, in our time, we hope that science brings us all the answers. it's a little bit of what religion used to do in previous times. our priests nowadays are scientists. we hope that scientists give us all the answers. but the problem is, ifear, they don't have the answers. little joe's fantasy of antidepressant plants shines a light on a very modern and desperate search for happiness. and in its ambiguity it warns us that if there is one thing we can be sure of, it's that we can never be too sure of anything. one director who made an impact in cannes this year was mati diop,

who was in competition with her film atla ntique, set in senegal. it marked her directorial debut for the french actress and film—maker. her picture is an ambitious combination of magical realism, romance and social commentary. tristan daley went to meet her. atlantique centres on a young senegalese woman in love with salomon. their romantic tryst is cut short when he leaves on a small boat with a group of young men in search of economic opportunity in spain. but the vast ocean sweeps away the lives of the group as well as a chance to reconnect with her lover. with this film it was sought as a follow—up to a documentary shot looking at the struggles of young senegalese man attempting to cross the seas to emigrate to europe. i dedicated the first short film to the journey in the sea of the boys.

i wanted to make a feature of the journey, the woman who stayed behind. it was a way to capture the metamorphosis of a girl becoming a woman. i also used the archetypes of ulysses and penelope to re—explore the journey of penelope, who is the wife of ulysses. she waits for her husband to come back. the lead female played by the first time actress it is more than pining for her lover to return, she struggles to escape arranged marriage with the man she doesn't love, and tries to evade investigations of a mysterious fire that happened on the night of her wedding, that police suspect salomon of starting it. although it's unclear how a dead man could start a fire, it seems that salomon and his friends have returned to senegal as ghosts, to handle unfinished business. what inspired the magical realist element to the film? the two dimensions in

africa are intertwined. the fantasy dimension comes from an atmosphere i perceived when i was starting to make films there. a lot of people were departing for spain, they leave at night, without saying anything to anybody. also knowing that so many people have disappeared in the ocean, you start to look at the ocean in a different way, also. and i thought it felt very ghostlike. that's what made me decide to write a film on the disappearance of these youths in the ocean. it would definitely be a ghost film. because it's like a ghostjourney. a ghost generation. before the eerie love story

was praised that is cannes premier the press propagated headlines concerning the fact that diop was the first black woman with a film at the official competition selection. earlier this month the director, who is of mixed heritage had been quoted saying she did not think of herself as black or white, then clarifieda previous statement. i definitely identify as black, maybe there is a misunderstanding, or wrong translation. but i identify as much as white as black. iam mixed. for those who will be sensitive to my work, this film, if it makes me become a symbol in terms of representing, i don't know, it is great. i'm extremely proud and moved by that, because i know how symbols and marks are important for the construction of identity. but i think that cinema has to stay fairly free from these kinds of flags,

and it's really the film that is important, i think. there's been some lamenting that french cinema is not what it once was, nowadays, few french films seem able to travel. this year the competition at cannes contains films from new young french directors from diverse backgrounds. will their voices be heard on the world stage? emma jones reports. in 2019, amidst the 1a french productions in the official festival line—up, one could still see the usual suspects, but critics have also sensed a sea—change. an all female lead portrait of a lady on fire, added

to the number of french women showing in the competition. meanwhile, not only was mati diop in competition, so was another first—time director with his les miserables, a blistering comparison of life in the modern paris suburbs to victor hugo's historical masterpiece. it's great that they give the opportunity to first—time directors in competition, because it's something for these kind of movies to be in competition. with the even wider visibility, it's wonderful. this drive to give greater visibility to more diverse faces, and to listen to new voices can't come a moment too soon. recently, at the launch of her new film, farewell to the night, even catherine deneuve voiced disquiet, adding to criticism from within the french industry that it's too bloated, failing at the box office and full of the same names. one of the director—actors with the midas touch is the man who starred in the story of a director who recreates memories in differnt eras.

it sold around the world. he has worked in hollywood and thinks france represents freedom. as a director you don't have the same difficulties that you can go through when you direct a movie in the states, for example. he cannot touch the glass on the table because that's the job of the props guy, and you know, there are a lot of things that are very complicated. this is part of the french film establishment, but this was not. they struggled to make a short version of this film a few years ago. translation: the difficulty was in financing the film, clearly. there were lots of problems. it wasn't going to be easy to find a film like this one. —— fund. there were many questions such as what would happen if we filmed in the suburbs. but here we are. les miserables could be the success story of cannes, getting snapped up by amazon.

amazon has paid a massive amount of money for this film, which means they believe it's going all the way to the oscars. so that is something that shows that they believe french cinema can be international, especially if an amazon is getting behind it. the french have prided themselves on having the biggest, and they say the best, film industry in europe. but they too have had to listen to criticism that their industry is pale, stale and male. but acting this year, they may have ensured its future. —— but acting this year, they may have ensured its future. well, that brings this special cannes edition of talking movies to a close. we hope you enjoyed the show. remember you can reach us online at bbc.com —— bbc. com/talking movies and you can find us on facebook. from me and the team here on the french riviera, it's goodbye, as we leave you with eltonjohn and rocketman star, taron egerton, performing at the festival.

# i'm not the man they think i am at all. # no, no, no # i'm a rocket man # rocket man! # and i think it's going to be a long, long time # til touchdown brings me round # i'm not the man they think i am at all # no, no, no # i'm a rocket man hello. good morning. our final bank holiday of may has been and gone now. it was a tale of two halves, really. the best of the weather was down into the south—east corner on monday — in the london area where we saw 20 degrees, 68 fahrenheit.

further north, a beautiful weather watcher picture was sent in. but it was a cold, grey, slightly disappointing story in parts of aberdeenshire with just a daytime maximum of 11 degrees. this is important because the cold air that has been sat across scotland throughout the weekend will push its way steadily southwards, taking the milder air back into the near continent as the northerly winds are set to win out for a couple of days at least. but hopefully only a short, sharp shock. more on that in a moment. the north—westerly direction will drive in some showers across the western isles and running down through the north sea we could see a rush of showers being driven in along the east coast during tuesday. sheltered western areas perhaps seeing the best of the drier, brighter weather but it will be a degree or so cooler than it has been, 10—19 as the daytime maximum. moving out of tuesday, the winds will start to fall light and skies will clear. so a chilly start to wednesday morning before another series of weather fronts push in from the atlantic. during the early hours of wednesday, we will start to see it clouding over from the west but with clearer skies further east, the temperatures are likely to fall away and it could be a chilly start for one or two of us with low single figures first thing on wednesday morning.

but the cloud and the rain continues to gather and here it will sit across south—west england and wales. so eight degrees as a minimum. three or four along the east coast. we start off on a chilly note but with some sunshine around first thing on wednesday. the cloud and the rain gathers and continues to push its way steadily east as we go through the day. there is a level of uncertainty as to just where this rain is going to be sitting by the middle part of the week but it looks as though it will light and patchy as it continues to push in across the country. further north, a largely dry affair but not particularly warm, 11—18 degrees. as we move out of wednesday, we see that weather front and area of low pressure continuing to drift steadily north and high pressure builds from the south. but more importantly, the winds change direction again and swing back to more of a south—westerly direction, driving milder air once again back across the country. so it's half term for many this week and it does look as though the silver lining is — as we head towards the weekend,

for many of us, it will be sunnier and warmer again. the only exception again, the far north of scotland. that's it, whatever you're doing, enjoy if you can.

welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: at least 16 people, many of them schoolchildren, have been stabbed in an attack in japan. austria's chancellor, sebastian kurz, and his centre—right government are removed from office by a vote of no—confidence. after the election shake—up — who will europe's new meps choose to lead the commission? a stark warning from a himalayan climber as more