- Germany's Oktoberfest opens under tight security after attacks
- Environmental protesters block French cruise liner port
- No place like home: Biden hosts 'Quad' leaders
- Zelensky says no UK, US go-ahead to use long-range missiles
- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
DiCaprio praises Scorsese's epic 'reckoning with past' at Cannes
Leonardo DiCaprio gushed over Martin Scorsese's filmmaking "ferocity" on Sunday as they basked in rave reviews at Cannes for their Native American crime epic "Killers of the Flower Moon", while the festival prepared to bow down before Jude Law as King Henry VIII.
Scorsese's latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was hailed as "searing", a "triumph" and a "masterpiece" by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festival's hottest ticket for the premiere the previous night.
Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorsese's other long-time muse, Robert De Niro.
DiCaprio called the three-and-a-half-hour film "a reckoning with our past" and was full of praise for Scorsese, saying the 80-year-old's "perseverance and ferocity to tell the truth, no matter how ugly... is masterful".
IndieWire said the star gave "his best-ever performance", while The Guardian awarded five stars for a "remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America".
The festival was already set for another glitzy premiere later on Sunday with "Firebrand", starring Jude Law as 16th-century English king Henry VIII alongside Alicia Vikander as his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
- 'Drives me crazy' -
"Firebrand" is in the increasingly tight race for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, to be announced on May 27.
Among the entries is Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's new film "May December", which received strong reviews after its premiere on Saturday.
The tale of a woman who caused a tabloid scandal by marrying a schoolboy -- and the actress who enters their lives years later to research a role -- was described as "deliciously campy" by IndieWire.
Portman told AFP she liked seeing women "behave in morally ambiguous ways".
"It always drives me crazy when people are like, 'Oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place'. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities," she said.
Arguably the current favourite for the Palme is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Critics were near-unanimous in their praise, Variety calling it "chilling and profound".
It was partly inspired by a book of the same name by British novelist Martin Amis, who died on Saturday at 73.
Also well received was "Four Daughters", a heartbreaking documentary about radicalisation within a Tunisian family that is both inventive and engaging.
That may go down well with jury president Ruben Ostlund, last year's winner for "Triangle of Sadness", who likes his arthouse films with some lighter touches.
A total of 21 films are in the main competition, with entries from past winners Wim Wenders, Ken Loach and Nanni Moretti still to come.
- 'Trust and betrayal' -
Scorsese's Apple-funded film had an out-of-competition slot at the festival and is due for general release in October.
The 80-year-old director said it was not "a whodunnit -- it's a who didn't do it".
He chose to focus on the poisonous marriage between DiCaprio's character and his wife, played by Lily Gladstone, as "a template for that tragedy of love, trust and betrayal of the indigenous people".
The book focused more on the criminal investigation into the murders, which helped give birth to the FBI, but De Niro said the world had seen enough films where "the good guy goes south or to Indian country and saves the day".
"This is much more important," he said.
He couldn't help a jab at his frequent nemesis, saying: "It's like with Trump... There are people who think he could do a good job. Imagine how insane that is?"
X.M.Francisco--PC