#99. Isabel Coixet’s Panda Eyes
Gist: Based on Cathy MacPhail’s young adult novel, Another Me, Coixet’s adaptation, which the director states takes its inspiration from The Ring, concerns identity anxiety in a teenage girl, featuring “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner in her film debut. Coixet, best known for her melancholy dramas like My Life Without Me (2001) and Elegy (2008), appears to be trying something new with her latest, which also features Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Claire Forlani, and Geraldine Chaplin.
Prediction: With a majority of her work premiering in Berlin or Venice, her last title, 2009’s Map of the Sounds of Tokyo premiered in the Main Competition. While her latest title, a mystery thriller, will most likely not be considered in the same category this time around, her considerable fest cred (not to mention the constant criticism of the lack of female directors in and out of the Cannes line up each year), may very well see Panda Eyes landing a slot as an Out of Competition screening or a Midnight slot.
