Bubble wrapped: this year's festival attempts to avoid the controversies rocking the outside world, providing a sealed-in microclimate for duds and indulgences like Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act and Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis
Wellness check: Nicolas Philibert’s new documentary On the Adamant is the latest in a long line of film portraits of hospitals, including films by Frederick Wiseman, Claire Simon, and others
Reading history: this year's edition tips the scales toward ideas about documentation and bearing witness with films like Mati Diop’s Dahomey, Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs, and Victor Kossakovsky’s Architecton
Picture book: this year’s festival kicked off with a swirl of controversy and a dud opening night film, before finding its footing with films like Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming, Cédric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, and others
Not dark yet: our man in Cannes weighs in on the fest at the midpoint, highlighting Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, Cristian Mungui’s R.M.N., and more
Light touches: this year’s slate was dotted with life-affirming standouts like Claire Denis’s Fire, Mikhaël Hers’s The Passengers of the Night, and more
Walls and bridges: Nanni Moretti’s documentary is a straight, though moving, account of the refugees sheltered by the Italian embassy following the 1973 coup in Chile
