Not too many unexpected choices here, but then again I’ve been following most of the critics here.

Um, at least “Blade Runner 2049" didn’t have some blind guy wailing bad metal riffs on an electric guitar while standing on top of a 30-foot, 40,000-watt MOBILE sound system going 60 mph.

Based on what I know of your tastes, there’s a good chance you’d like it.

And yet I know at least one woman with that name

Jihad is actually a perfectly cromulent name in the Arab world. But understably, people with that name can run into trouble in the west.

Right. But it’s still frame rate trickery, used in a way that’s not too common.

No one is going to see this, but higher fps for a certain character has been done in A Ghost Story, where they sometimes shot the ghost at 33 fps to give it an inhuman kind of movement.

https://www.metacritic.com/critic/aa-dowd?filter=movies&num_items=30&sort_options=critic_score

Also, it seems that (at least nowadays) the screenwriting category tends to be the place where stranger and more risky movies receive their nods.

2011 is also a big one. Lots of notable and daring films from around the world. The Tree of Life, Margaret, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, A Separation, Melancholia, Meek’s Curtoff, Drive, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Take Shelter, House of Pleasures and many more.

Premiere, maybe, but not commercial release? I think that's how it works.

It’s a 1998 U.S. release and on the 1998 list.

As mentioned, at least The Virgin Suicides and Ghost Dog count as 2000 releases.

Donkey Skin, by Jacques Demy. It’s batshit insane, as fairy tale adaptations ought to be.

it is kind of slow, yes. I think it peaks a bit early in terms of spectacle, but it is good film. It was the first time I noticed Pattinson as a superb actor.

Just to be clear: I was talking about the selection of Mektoub part 2. Given that Kechiche is an established name, its selection was kind of guarenteed. They even gave it a premiere at the end of the festival to allow for additional editing time.

Nah, I’m pretty sure all movies in the main comp are either there because of either (1) perceived quality, (2) star power, or (3) track record of the director (as Dowd says, if your’re in, you’re in). As previous Palm d’Or winner, a new Kechiche is pretty much a lock, so point (3) is already satisfied. Moreover,…

In the Screen Daily jury grid, which is just ten selected critics, and the difference is small (3.5 v. 3.3). It seems like Portrait has had some bigger buzz, but it also premiered earlier. Anyway, it's very acclaimed, which is Dowd's point.

Hey, I’m Belgian myself, which is the only reason I know stuff like that.

bottom line: they tried to make everything look as old as possible. One of the few films in Cannes shot on film; in the main comp it’s only Tarantino, Dolan and Loach.