‘The Sea Of Trees’: New Matthew McConaughey Film Booed At Cannes

While Matthew McConaughey has been on a hot streak with his Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club and his success on television with True Detective, the same apparently cannot be said about his latest effort, The Sea of Trees.

According to Variety, The Sea of Trees was booed during a press screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Along with McConaughey, the Gus Van Sant-directed film also stars Naomi Watts and Ken Watanabe. Variety’s own critic Scott Foundas shared his reaction on Twitter.

If Gus Van Sant’s filmography can be divided, Scorsese-style, into “one for me, one for them,” SEA OF TREES is one for nobody. #Cannes

— Scott Foundas (@foundasonfilm) May 15, 2015

SEA OF TREES: Dimestore mysticism of a highly maudlin and unpleasant order, passionately and deservedly booed. #Cannes — Scott Foundas (@foundasonfilm) May 15, 2015

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian has already released his review. Bradshaw notes how Van Sant won the Palme d’Or for his 2003 film, Elephant, but The Sea of Trees pales in comparison.

“This fantastically annoying and dishonest tear-jerker is almost like a parodic version of that movie… For all its apparent sombreness [sic] and thoughtfulness, The Sea Of Trees is an exasperatingly shallow film on an important and agonisingly [sic] painful subject – depression and suicide.”

Indiewire‘s managing editor, Nigel M. Smith, was also in the audience during the film’s festival premiere, and he opened up about the audience’s reaction.

First loud boos of #Cannes2015 for Gus Van Sant’s THE SEA OF TREES. Guy next to me was hissing as credits rolled. — Nigel M. Smith (@nigelmfs) May 15, 2015

Eric Kohn, a critic for Indiewire, mentioned in his headline that the film is “Gus Van Sant’s worst movie.”

“Not even Matthew McConaughey can sustain the mushy, amateurish story, which digs itself a deeper hole as it moves along. The established talents of both director and star only serve to magnify the many wrong moves that this stunning misfire takes.”

There have been others who voiced their disapproval as well.

SEA OF TREES got booed… It could have been touching & haunting, but unfortunately was quite cheesy. I called the twist early #Cannes2015

— Alicia Malone (@aliciamalone) May 15, 2015

Gus Van Sant, a longtime #Cannes favorite, stumbles badly w #TheSeaOfTrees. First film booed, well & truly, at a press screening here.

— Michael Phillips (@phillipstribune) May 15, 2015

The Sea of Trees is currently scheduled to only open in France on September 9, according to its IMDb page. More dates may become available soon, but it’s uncertain just how wide of a release the film will get.

There have been several films that were booed at the Cannes Film Festival. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives and Atom Egoyan’s The Captive were both booed at the festival when they premiered in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

How does this news make you feel about The Sea of Trees?

[Image credit: Lionsgate via Indiewire]