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Colony’ Premieres at Cannes With Split Reviews and a Reported Ovation

Early reviews favor the hive-mind spectacle over character depth.

Overview

  • The zombie thriller, which premiered Friday in CannesMidnight Screenings, drew what Times Now reported as a seven-minute standing ovation.
  • Critics at The Playlist, Little White Lies and IndieWire praised the dancer-driven movement and production polish but flagged thin characters, busy plotting and over-explained lore.
  • Set in a quarantined Seoul high-rise during a biotech conference, the film recasts the infected as a communicating collective that echoes Yeon Sang-ho’s concerns about AI and high-speed information culture.
  • South Korea is slated to open the film on May 21, while FandomWire lists an August 28 limited U.S. date and IndieWire says U.S. distribution remains unconfirmed.
  • Yeon said he hired teams of professional dancers and kept CGI to a minimum to portray the hive as one organism made of distinct parts.