If Chris Marker and Preston Sturges ever made a film together, it might have looked something like Grand Tour, a sweeping tale that moves from Rangoon to Manila, via Bangkok, Saigon and Osaka, as it weaves the stories of two disparate lovers towards a fateful reunion. The stowaways could scarcely be more Sturgian: he the urbane man on the run, she the intrepid woman trying to track him down. Their scenes are set in 1917 and shot in a classical studio style, yet they’re delivered within a contemporary travelogue––as if we are not only following their epic romance but a director’s own wanderings.
Grand Tour, which delivered much-needed magic to this year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup, is directed by the one and only Miguel Gomes, the Portuguese filmmaker behind The Tsugua Diaries (an entertaining Covid joint from 2021), Arabian Nights (his epic 2015 triptych), and Tabu (a breakout from...
Grand Tour, which delivered much-needed magic to this year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup, is directed by the one and only Miguel Gomes, the Portuguese filmmaker behind The Tsugua Diaries (an entertaining Covid joint from 2021), Arabian Nights (his epic 2015 triptych), and Tabu (a breakout from...
- 5/24/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes deepens his brand of unclassifiable, globetrotting cinema with Grand Tour, a period drama that’s not really a period drama at all, or is it?
Set in Southeast Asia circa 1918, and following the trajectories of a British civil servant and his fiancée as they trace similar paths across the continent, the film hops between present-day documentary footage and historical recreations, with voiceovers in several local languages and a plot that slowly nudges along. Fans of Gomes’ breakthrough 2012 feature, Tabu, will find much to love here as well, and in terms of craft his latest offers some truly beguiling moments. But anyone looking for a good story, or characters to get hooked on, may find themselves admiring the scenery without ever relishing it.
Despite a simple pitch, Grand Tour is, at least aesthetically speaking, anything but simple, jumping between epochs, genres, color and black-and-white without warning. Gomes...
Set in Southeast Asia circa 1918, and following the trajectories of a British civil servant and his fiancée as they trace similar paths across the continent, the film hops between present-day documentary footage and historical recreations, with voiceovers in several local languages and a plot that slowly nudges along. Fans of Gomes’ breakthrough 2012 feature, Tabu, will find much to love here as well, and in terms of craft his latest offers some truly beguiling moments. But anyone looking for a good story, or characters to get hooked on, may find themselves admiring the scenery without ever relishing it.
Despite a simple pitch, Grand Tour is, at least aesthetically speaking, anything but simple, jumping between epochs, genres, color and black-and-white without warning. Gomes...
- 5/22/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After the extraordinary triple whammy of Emelia Perez, The Substance and Anora, here comes Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes with a blast of cinematic chloroform to calm the Cannes Competition down a touch.
A talky, experimental odyssey through the Far East, it deals with issues of colonialism and gender, but in such an oblique way that it’s hard to fathom without referring to the rather cryptic press notes that come with it. Fans of Gomes’ deadpan style — with which he broke out in 2012 when his film Tabu became an arthouse favorite on the festival circuit — no doubt will respond to its eccentricity, its wry irony and its undeniably striking monochrome cinematography. Less enlightened viewers may wish to take a pillow.
The film takes place in two timeframes. The fictional narrative takes place in 1918 and begins with British civil servant Edward Abbot (Gonçalo Waddington) arriving at Mandalay station in Burma. Although...
A talky, experimental odyssey through the Far East, it deals with issues of colonialism and gender, but in such an oblique way that it’s hard to fathom without referring to the rather cryptic press notes that come with it. Fans of Gomes’ deadpan style — with which he broke out in 2012 when his film Tabu became an arthouse favorite on the festival circuit — no doubt will respond to its eccentricity, its wry irony and its undeniably striking monochrome cinematography. Less enlightened viewers may wish to take a pillow.
The film takes place in two timeframes. The fictional narrative takes place in 1918 and begins with British civil servant Edward Abbot (Gonçalo Waddington) arriving at Mandalay station in Burma. Although...
- 5/22/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Among our most-anticipated premieres at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, now less than a month away, is Grand Tour, marking the return of Portuguese director Miguel Gomes. Starring Gonçalo Waddington, Crista Alfaiate, Cláudio da Silva, and Lang Khê Tran, the 1917-set film follows a civil servant who flees from his fiancée, who subsequently attempts to track him down across Asia. Mixed in with this narrative is 16mm footage of contemporary Asia. Ahead of the Cannes premiere, the beautiful first trailer has now arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “Rangoon, Burma, 1917. Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly… Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour.
Here’s the synopsis: “Rangoon, Burma, 1917. Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly… Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour.
- 4/18/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer (below) for Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” which will have its world premiere in Cannes Film Festival’s Competition section. Variety can also exclusively reveal that that distribution on “Grand Tour” will be handled in France by Tandem, and in Italy by Lucky Red, and that Gomes’ next film will be “Savagery.”
“Grand Tour” kicks off in 1917 in Burma. It centers on Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly… Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour.
The film stars Gonçalo Waddington and Crista Alfaiate, and the cast also includes...
“Grand Tour” kicks off in 1917 in Burma. It centers on Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly… Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour.
The film stars Gonçalo Waddington and Crista Alfaiate, and the cast also includes...
- 4/18/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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