Venice is upon us–the 83rd Biennale — Venice Film Festival!
The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs from September 2-12.
Moviegoers are in for a treat this year with quite a number of exciting and potentially awards-bound features. While there are no real Hollywood studio films premiering on the Lido, the selected projects boast plenty of big names and incredibly talented and underrated international artists.
The Venice Film Festival dates back to 1932 when Mussolini and his fascist regime reigned and Il Duce saw films as a powerful political tool, ergo the creation of the festival. The very first fest opened with a screening of Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, for which Frederic March won an Oscar in the first ever acting tie (with Wallace Berry for The Champ) and walked away with the Venice Award for Best Actor. Interesting enough, Helen Hayes was given the Best Actress trophy for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, which brought her an Oscar.
A lot has changed and, unfortunately has pendulumed back politically in many respects, but Venice can still be a bellwether in the Academy Awards race. Last year gave us two eventual Best Picture nominees, Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia.
Here are some of the films and performances to look out for.
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) hasn’t been nominated since 2010’s 127 Days as writer and producer. His latest film, Ink, opens Venice in competition and is being called a ‘cinematic rollercoaster.’ The stellar cast includes Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy. Netflix is releasing.
Will Primetime bring Robert Patterson his long awaited first Oscar nomination? He has another potential mention for his nasty bitch supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, but playing To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen in doc helmer Lance Oppenheim’s debut feature could snag him a Best Actor nod. And it is an A24 film.
Oscar-winning-writer Florian Zeller (The Father) could be back in the mix with Bunker, a dramatic thriller starring a couple of Oscar-winners Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) and Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), who are also a couple! Cruz is going to have quite the year as she will be deservedly in supporting contention for both Olivia Wilde’s terrific The Invite and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s stunning La bola negra. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Bunker.
Seven-time-Oscar-nominee and Live Action Short winner (for Six Shooter), Martin McDonagh (In Bruge, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin), is also a double winner for the Silver Lion for Best Screenplay (Three Billboards, Banshees). He may have another shot at prizes with Wild Horse Nine, a dark comedy set in 1973 about two CIA agents (John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell) who are dispatched from Santiago to Easter island by their bureau chief (Steve Buscemi), right before the Chilean coup. Searchlight Pictures will release the film.
Celebrated filmmaker Werner Herzog, who has only received one Oscar nomination (for his doc Encounters at the End of the World), has Bucking Fastard in competition. The film stars sibs Rooney and Kate Mara as two sisters who are so close that they speak in unison, love the same man, and have the same dreams. The film co-stars Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson.
Oscar-winner Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) sits in the director’s chair with Company, starring Nick Nolte, Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy a film about the complicated ties that bind us generationally, unraveling across three timelines.
Kornél Mundruczó’s Place to Be, presented Out of Competition, stars Oscar-winners Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore) and Taika Waititi (screenplay for Jojo Rabbit) as well as Pamela Anderson and Murray Bartlett.
Oddly, Paul Schrader has only received one Oscar nomination, for Best Original Screenplay (First Reform) despite penning Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. His luck could change with his latest film, The Basics of Philosophy, starring Jack Huston.
Luca Marinelli stars opposite two Oscar winners, Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) and Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking) in Andrea Pallaoro’s The Echo Chamber, a love story adapted from the last screenplay written by Oscar-winner Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor).
Alina Marazzi’s cinematic mosaic trilingual The Girl With The Leica could put Emilia Schüle in the awards race for playing photojournalist Gerta Taro, lost to history, until recently.
Netflix is also releasing Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, South Korea’s International Feature Oscar submission. The film centers on two married couples whose lives intersect after a funeral.
Grzegorz Dębowski’s What Belongs to Others (Cudze Rzeczy) should definitely be in contention for Poland’s Oscar submission.
French director Nicolas Pariser’s Un Peu Avant Minuit (Just Before Midnight) stars Melvil Poupaud and Chiara Mastroianni and is about a man who learns about the death of his biological father, which sets him on a quest to look back at his own treatment of women.
Other potential French candidates include Alexandre Smia’s thriller Jupiter, Raphaël Balboni & Ann Sirot’s drama Diane in the Loop (Un détour par Diane), and Stéphane Brizé’s Un Bon Petit Soldat (A Good Little Soldier).
Italy has yet to select their International Feature Oscar Entry. Their choice just might be one of the many Italian films that are world premiering on the Lido. They include: Paolo Strippoli’s L’Estranea starring Jasmine Trinca, Adriano Giannini and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Nanni Moretti’s It Will Happen Tonight (Succederà questa notte) which also stars Trinca opposite Louis Garrel, Tommaso Landucci’s Children of the Monkey (I figlie delle schimmia) with Riccardo Scamarcio, Edoardo Gabbriellini’s The City of the Living (La città dei vivi) starring Emanuele Maria Di Stefano, Roberto De Paolis Maino’s satire, Snakes (Serpenti) with Alessandro Borghi and Valeria Golino who also co-star in Gianni Amelio’s No Pain (Nessun Dolore), Edoardo de Angelis’s The Fire You Carry Inside Yourself (Il Fuoco Che Ti Porti Dentro) and Mario Martone’s Trick (Scherzetto) starring the great Toni Servillo. Those are just some of the Italian-language offerings.
And I haven’t even mentioned any of the potentially thrilling documentaries and shorts world premiering.
The next two weeks will tell us a lot more…
This lineup looks insane (Both English and non-English pics).
Mr Avella's coverage of non-American films is as amazing as usual while The Best International Picture is looking to end up over-crowded once again
Thank you for your support. Much appreciated. And so far the films in Venice have been quite good.