Venice Film Festival 2017

[Chris Knipp]

Venice Film Festival 2017 lineup

The Venice Film Festival runs from 30 August to 9 September 2017.

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Model Eva Riccobono, Patroness of the 70th International Venice Film Festival, poses at Venice Lido
Beach.(photo Giacomo Cosua)

Preview analyses note a plethora of American movies in this year's lineup of the 74th. But many interesting non-US directors are also included. Annette Bening is President of the International Jury of the Venezia 74 Competition.

VENICE 74 COMPETITION
Downsizing, dir: Alexander Payne (Opening Night Film)
Human Flow, dir: Ai Weiwei
Mother!, dir: Darren Aronofsky
Suburbicon, dir: George Clooney (Coens scripted)
The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro
L’Insulte (قضية رقم ٢٣), dir: Ziad Doueiri
La Villa, dir: Robert Guediguian
Lean On Pete, dir: Andrew Haigh
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, dir: Abdellatif Kechiche
The Third Murder, dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda
*Jusqu’à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand
Foxtrot, dir: Samuel Maoz
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; dir: Martin McDonagh
Hannah, dir: Andrea Pallaoro
Ammore E Malavita, dir: Manetti Bros
Angels Wear White, dir: Vivian Qu
Una Famiglia, dir: Sebastiano Riso
First Reformed, dir: Paul Schrader
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton
The Leisure Seeker, dir: Paolo Virzì
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, dir: Frederick Wiseman

OUT OF COMPETITION – FICTION
Our Souls At Night, dir: Ritesh Batra
Il Singor Rotpeter, dir: Antonietta De Lillo
Victoria & Abdul, dir: Stephen Frears
La Mélodie, dir: Rachid Hami
Outrage Coda, Takeshi Kitano (Closing Night Film)
Loving Pablo, dir: Fernando Leon De Aranoa
Zama, dir: Lucretia Martel
Wormwood, dir: Errol Morris
Diva!, dir: Francesco Patierno
La Fidèle, dir: Michael R Roskam
Il colore nascosto delle cose, dir: Silvio soldini
The Private Life Of A Modern Woman, dir: James Toback
Brawl In Cell Block 99, dir: S Craig Zahler

OUT OF COMPETITION – DOCUMENTARIES
Cuba And The Cameraman, dir: Jon Alpert
My Generation, dir: David Batty
Piazza Vittorio, dir: Abel Ferrara
The Devil And Father Amorth, dir: William Friedkin
This Is Congo, dir: Daniel McCabe
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, dir: Stephen Nomura Schible
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. The Story Of Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman And Tony Clifton, dir: Chris Smith
Happy Winter, dir: Giovanni Totaro

UT OF COMPETITION – SPECIAL EVENTS
Casa D’Altri, dir: Gianni Amelio
Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D, dir: John Landis
Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, dir: Jerry Kramer

HORIZONS
Nico 1988, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli (opening film)
*Disappearance , dir: Ali Asgari
Espèces Menacées, dir: Gilles Bourdos
The Rape Of Recy Taylor, dir: Nancy Buirski
Caniba, dirs: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel
*Les Bienheureux, dir: Sofia Djama
Marvin, dir: Anne Fontaine
Invisible, dir: Pablo Giorgelli
*Brutti E Cattivi, dir: Cosimo Gomez
The Cousin, dir: Tzahi Grad
*The Testament, dir: Amichai Greenberg
No Date, No Signature, dir: Vahid Jalilvand
*Los Versos Del Ovido, dir: Alireza Khatami
La Nuit Ou J’ai Nagé – Oyogisugita, dirs: Damien Manivel, Igarashi Kohei
Krieg, dir: Rick Ostermann
*West Of Sunshine, dir: Jason Raftopoulos
Gatta Cenerentola, dirs: Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Dario Sansone
Under The Tree, dir: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson
La Vita In Commune, dir: Edoardo Winspeare

CINEMA NEL GIARDINO
Manuel, dir: Dario Albertini
Controfigura, dir: Ra Di Martino
Woodshock, dirs: Kate and Laura Mulleavy
Nato A Casal Di Principe, dir: Bruno Oliviero
Suburra, dirs: Michele Placido, Andrea Molaioli, Guiseppe Capotondi
Tuers, dirs: Francois Troukens, jean-Francois Hensgens

VENICE VIRTUAL REALITY
Melita, dir: Nicolas Alcala
La Camera Insabbiata, dirs: Laurie Anderson, Huang Hsin-Chien
The Last Goodbye, dir: Gabo Arora
My Name Is Peter Stillman, dirs: Lysander Ashton, Leo Warner
Alice, The Virtual Reality Play, dir: Mathias Chelebourg
Arden’s Wake (Expanded), dir: Eugene YK Chung
Greenland Melting, dir: Nonny De La Pena
Bloodless, dir: Gina Kim
Nothing Happens, dirs: Uri Kranot, Michelle Kranot
The Dream Collector, dir: Mi Li
Snatch VR Heist Experience, dirs: Rafael Pavon, Nicolas Alcala
Nefertitti, dirs: Richard Mills, Kim-Leigh Pontin
Proxima, dir: Manuel Pradat
In The Pictures, dir: Qing Shao
Dispatch, dir: Edward Robles
The Argos File, dir: Josema Roig
Gomorra VR – We Own The Streets, dir: Enrico Rosati
Draw Me Close, Chapters 1-2, dir: Jordan Tannahill
The Deserted, dir: Tsai Ming-Liang
I Saw The Future, dir: Francois Vautier
Separate Silences, dir: David Wedel
Free Whale, dir: Zhang Peibin
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Outrage Coda (Kitano)

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar noted his excitement about an out of competition Venice film this year:
I'm so excited: Martel's ZAMA, her first in 9 years, premieres in Venice Wednesday and then New York. I may have to wait till Miami in early March to watch it. Other than that, it's Ismael's Ghosts I'm eager to watch most urgently. It should open right after the NYFF ends I hear.
Ismael's Ghosts has its US premiere 13 Oct. in the NYFF.

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Martel's Zama

[Chris Knipp]

Venice 2017 comments. The poster.

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More so than in past editions, a deluge of English-language pics, including new works by Alexander Payne, George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky and Benicio Del Toro, will be world-premiering on the Lido during the fest’s first few days, before segueing to Telluride and Toronto. This year there is a greater number of movies that all three events just had to have, which is causing scheduling headaches and added stress for talent and publicists, plus more costs, of course. But apparently it’s worth it.

"We all wanted those particular seven, eight or 10 titles, which made things a little bit more complicated," says Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera. "I’m only happy if a film I’ve chosen also goes to Telluride or Toronto."

The point being: after launching multiple Oscar winners four years in a row — Gravity, Birdman, Spotlight, La La Land — Venice has become tougher to ignore. And it has gained more leverage to ensure that the Lido is the first stop on the trifecta.

The real scheduling conflicts came with Telluride, with which Venice overlaps directly. The tightly curated festival in a Colorado mountain resort has also gained more Oscar heft lately, especially since launching Moonlight last year. But Barbera makes no bones about the fact that, as he sees it, there is no comparison when it comes to promotional punch.

"In Telluride you have 10 critics who write for the trades; in Venice you have 3,000 journalists from around the world. That is the difference."
"Venice seems to be a much better launch pad for anything critically driven," agrees a veteran publicist.

But the Venice chief also denies that there is cutthroat competition with Telluride or that there is a war. "There is nothing of the sort," he says. "There is a collaboration, as I believe there should be among festivals."

Barbera also says he is "97% happy" with the Venice lineup and that they only missed out on "two or three" films they wanted. These include Richard Linklater’s upcoming New York Film Festival opener Last Flag Flying, and Christian Bale Western Hostiles, which is expected to debut at Telluride.

Amazon Studios, which opted for a New York launch on Linklater’s latest, will be on the Lido with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s docu on the global refugee crisis, Human Flow, in competition. It’s a perfect example of what Barbera calls the "extreme variety" of this year’s selection, which certainly transcends the U.S. awards season frenzy.

Competing for the Golden Lion alongside such Oscar bait titles as Payne’s Downsizing and Clooney’s Suburbicon, which both star Matt Damon, there is "a whole other range of different types of movies that are being made today around the world, which are not promoted and sustained and that need Venice for this," Barbera notes.

These include Australian Aboriginal frontier drama Sweet Country, a sophomore work by Warwick Thornton, who in 2009 won the Cannes Camera d’Or with his debut Samson and Delilah but has since been under the radar; Angels Wear White, directed by China’s relatively unknown Vivian Qu, another second feature; and even a first work, French newcomer Xavier Legrand’s divorce drama Jusqu’a la garde.

In a spirit of renewal, 15 out of the 21 titles in this year’s Venice competition are by directors who have never competed for a Golden Lion before.
John Woo is back in Venice with out of competition title Zhuibo (Manhunt), a return to his crime thriller roots.

But the biggest novelty at Venice this year is a new competitive section dedicated to works made for virtual reality-viewing, the first-ever competition for VR works launched by a major film fest. It will be held in refurbished buildings on a tiny island a stone’s throw from the Lido that was a leper colony in the 15th century and has never before been open to the public.

Heading the VR jury will be U.S. director John Landis, who will also be on hand to present a reworked 3D version of Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" music video, which he shot. Venice will pay tribute to the groundbreaking video with a special event also featuring backstage documentary The Making of Michael Jackson’s "Thriller", by Jerry Kramer. Both are financed by the Jackson estate to celebrate the album’s 35th anniversary.
--Variety (http://variety.com/2017/film/spotlight/barberavenice-george-clooney-alexander-payne-darren-aronofsky-benicio-del-toro-1202538747/)
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[Chris Knipp]

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Poster image with Jennifer Lawrence in Mother! (Darren Aronofsky)

From the NYTimes (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/movies/venice-film-festival-opening-stars-matt-damon-kristen-wiig.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmo vies&action=click&contentCollection=movies&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront): Some of the most anticipated films of Venice 2017 summarized.


Downsizing
Alexander Payne, the director of Nebraska and Sideways, takes on a science fiction premise about the problem of overpopulation. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig star as a couple who join a project to miniaturize humans and as a result take up less space on the planet. Mr. Payne’s pedigree promises a dramatic focus on the characters rather than on novelty computer-generated imagery (or C.G.I.) — though micro-Damons do appear likely.

Zama
Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel emerged as a leading auteur in the 2000s with The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman, but cinephiles have had to wait nearly a decade for her next feature. Set in colonial-era South America, Ms. Martel’s first historical drama adapts the beguiling 1956 novel Zama by the Argentine author Antonio di Benedetto. The story centers on a frustrated official of the Spanish empire who is marooned in a dead-end post — a scenario ripe for Ms. Martel’s visually innovative brand of psychodrama.

Mother!
Most movies directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) build to a hallucinogenic sense of reality, and his latest pulls no punches: It’s explicitly billed as a psychological thriller. The story may suggest a standard horror concept — a peaceful home is troubled by menacing visitors. But Mr. Aronofsky is not a filmmaker who lacks ambitious vision (see: Noah). Jennifer Lawrence stars alongside the readily unnerving Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno
The new film from Abdellatif Kechiche, director of the succès de scandale Blue Is the Warmest Color made headlines in trade publications before it was even finished. According to a Hollywood Reporter account, for example, Mr. Kechiche clashed with a financier after delivering not one film as agreed, but two. After parting ways, the director put up the Palme d'Or he won at Cannes for Blue to raise funds. Venice is showing the first of Mr. Kechiche's two films, featuring a cast of first-timers. The chronicle of a young man visiting his hometown in southern France begins what the director views as "a broader family saga."

The Shape of Water
Completing a troika of high-profile genre experiments at Venice is the latest darkly fantastical yarn from Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth). In a Cold War government laboratory, a fish-man creature is being kept under wraps. Sally Hawkins turns on her ray-of-sunshine warmth to play a mute worker who communicates and bonds with the creature. Not everyone is O.K. with that.

Caniba
One of the most dazzling and formally adventuresome documentaries of the past decade was Leviathan [NYFF 2012 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3341-New-York-Film-Festival-2012&p=28541#post28541)] directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel. Their new nonfiction endeavor focuses on the Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa, who was arrested on charges of murdering and eating a Dutch classmate in Paris in 1981. In France, he was found to be insane; deported to Japan, he has been free. Mr. Sagawa made a living writing novels and Japanese-style comics. Here he appears with his caretaker, his brother, in what the directors call "a fresco about flesh and desire."
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[Chris Knipp]

The films. Opening night.

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Matt Damon in Downsizing. Also in Suburbicon. Both in competition.

Downsizing
Xian Brooks of the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/30/downsizing-review-alexander-payne-matt-damon-venice-film-festival-2017), who gives it 5 out of 5 STARS, calls Alexander Payne's Downsizing "gorgeous, giddy parable of a modern-day Lilliput" and suggests this step back from the "blow the doors off" Venice openers of recent years (Gravity, Birdman, Everest toward "miniturization" is what Payne has been doing all along, with Election, Sideways, and Nebraska, f"ocusing on men who fear that they’re seen as small by the world. With the excellent Downsizing, Payne has simply gone that extra mile," actually showing us a sci-fi world in which men are shrunk down to five inches high. It's a clever high-concept review for a high-concept movie from Payne that indeed is something new, but perhaps distills the essence of this terrific writer-director. Owen Gleiberman of Variety (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/downsizing-review-matt-damon-venice-film-festival-1202541777/) says Downsizing is " the most whimsically outlandish film of Payne’s career, though that doesn’t mean it’s made with anything less than his usual highly thought-out and controlled master-craftsman bravura." Sounds like Payne has hit a home run ("out of his comfort zone") with this one, but I'm guessing not everyone will "get" it. The film costars Christoph Waltz, Kirsten Wiig, and Neil Patrick Harris, as well as Laura Dern, Udo KIer, and Jason Sudeikis.

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[Chris Knipp]

31 August 2017 Venice.

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The Shape of Water (Sally Hawkins)

THE SHAPE OF WATER review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/31/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro-sally-hawkins-venice-film-festival-2017) – "Guillermo del Toro's fantasy has monster-sized heart." - 4 out of 5 STARS. Xian Brooks. (Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/31/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro-sally-hawkins-venice-film-festival-2017)): "Guillermo del Toro’s new film is a ravishing 60s-set romance, sweet, sad and sexy. It’s about two lonely hearts who like to meet up during lunch break at work." Sounds like a winner.


FIRST REFORMED review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/30/first-reformed-review-ethan-hawke-whisky-priest) – "Ethan Hawke finds faith and fury in portrait of a whisky priest." - 3 out of 5 STARS. "Paul Schrader fans won’t find his new drama a revelation – but Hawke fills the flawed holy man template well." If the theme and the actor appeal to you, you'll rush out to see First Reformed. I'm not so sure.

ZAMA review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/31/zama-review-lucrecia-martel-emerges-from-the-wilderness-with-a-strange-sensual-wonder) – "Lucrecia Martel emerges from the wilderness with a strange, sensual wonder." - 5 out of 5 STARS. "After a nine-year absence, the Argentinian director returns with an audacious and antic tale set in a 18th-century colony on the Asuncion coast." This is obviously a must-see for all fans of Latin American cinema at its finest.

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[Chris Knipp]

1 Sept. 2017 Venice.

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Lean on Pete (Charlie Plummer)

More Guardian coverage.

WEST OF SUNSHINE (Jason Raftopoulos) review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/01/west-of-sunshine-review-venice-festival)– "Tender tale of father-son dodgy dealings." - 3 out of 5 STARS. "A hapless debt-ridden gambler and his sullen son bond while running drugs around Melbourne in this heartfelt, earthy debut." It made Brooks think of "other recent bawlers and brawlers, such as Kriv Stenders’ Boxing Day or David Michod’s Animal Kingdom," but Raftopoulos is gentler on his characters when they misbehave I will want to see this.

LEAN ON PETE review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/01/lean-on-pete-review-andrew-haighs-equine-epic-is-as-comforting-as-a-country-ballad) – "Andrew Haigh's equine epic is as comforting as a country ballad" - 4 out of 5 STARS. "This adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s novel about lost souls saddled with a fading racehorse gets lost out on the range – but you end up rooting for it." Cast includes young Charlie Plummer in the lead along with Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel and Steve Zahn. Sounds like a real winner. This may not be his best but Andrew Haigh is a terrific filmmaker.

HUMAN FLOW review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/31/human-flow-review-ai-weiwei-refugee-crisis) – "Ai Weiwei's urgent look at the scale of the refugee crisis" - 4 OUT OF 5 STARS. "Gorgeous shots in Greece, Calais and elsewhere, many filmed from drones, create a visual tone poem that proves both epic and highly human." For those concerned about the state of the world's populations this is a must and Ai Wei Wei has a multitude of fans as well. I saw his big show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2015. He is a demon of energy and a tireless provocateur.

THE MAKING OF MICHAEL JACKSON'S 'THRILLER.'
John Landis (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/31/john-landis-on-the-making-of-michael-jacksons-thriller-i-was-adamant-he-couldnt-look-too-hideous): "I was adamant he couldn’t look too hideous". A restoration of Landis' film debuts at the Festival. A chance to revisit one of the world's greatest pop stars of all time at a moment of his greatest fame and brilliance.

OUR SOULS AT NIGHT (Kent Haruf) review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/01/our-souls-at-night-review-robert-redford-jane-fonda-romance-kent-haruf) - "Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in a moving autumn romance."- 4 OUT OF 5 STARS. "This adaptation of Kent Haruf’s novel is a graceful, easygoing, sincere film about a couple finding solace in each other and respite from their Edward Hopper lives." This by the Indian director of The Lunchbox sounds like a wonderful opportunity for Redford and Fonda and a movie that will touch and delight you when you see it after its release on Netflix from 29 September.

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[Chris Knipp]

2 Sept. Venice. Guardian report continues.

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Matt Damon in Suburbicon

SUBURBICON review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/02/suburbicon-review-george-clooney-matt-damon-coen-brothers-venice-film-2017) by Xian Brooks – 2 OUT OF 5 STARS. "George Clooney's picket-fence creepfest grows up to be Fargo's idiot child." "From a script by the Coen brothers and starring Matt Damon, Clooney’s directorial effort takes aim at the suffocating hypocrisy of 50s white-bread America, but can’t quite land its punches." Disappointing to hear since it takes off from a script by the Coen brothers and stars Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac. But it seems it was a Coen brothers reject from the 1980's that led to Fargo and maybe it doesn't work as tweaked by George. Still may entertain fans of the Coens and Clooney when it comes out October 27th. Iffy, though.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A MODERN WOMAN (James Toback) review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/02/the-private-life-of-a-modern-woman-review-sienna-miller-james-toback-venice-film-2017) by Xian Brooks - 2 OUT OF 5 STARS. "How does Sienna Miller keep a straight face?" "Miller plays an out-of-work actor who survives a lethal confrontation with her ex-boyfriend, in James Toback’s risky, self-indulgent film that falls apart by the end." This sounds like self-indulgent tripe by an over-the-hill bohemian of Hollywood, but with rough edges that are a welcome change from studio slickness, and including one or two cool moments. To avoid, though.

BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (dir. S. Craig Zahler) review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/02/brawl-in-cell-block-99-review-vince-vaughn-venice-film-festival) by Xian Brooks - 3 OUT OF 5 STARS – "Vince Vaughn has a riot in ultraviolent thriller." "Hollywood’s affable man-child is recast as a tattooed, eye-gouging inmate whose wife is held hostage in S Craig Zahler’s gloriously gory slice of macho grindhouse." This is a whole new ride for Vince, usually a doofus and party boy in movies, to play violent macho, and Don Johnson also has a cool role as the "dandyish prison warden" who "looks as though he's having fun." Brooks calls the movie "uproarious." For actioner fans who want a fresh angle this sounds like a winner.

WORMWOOD (Errol Morris) review (https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/02/wormwood-review-errol-morriss-splendidly-spooky-doc-about-death-lsd-and-the-cia) by Xian Brooks – 4 OUT OF 5 STARS - "Errol Morris's splendidly spooky doc [series] about death, LSD and the CIA." "The king of documentaries is back with a Netflix series – and he’s revisiting the supposed suicide of a biochemist in 1953. What emerges is a creepy trip indeed." A Netflix television series, introduced at Venice. With lots of "reconstructions" apparently, which are always a dubious documentary methodology, but cast with Peter Sarsgaard, Bob Balaban and Tim Blake Nelson, so they've got good actors. A five-part series of which the first was shown, introducing a "suicide" by a biochemist that probably wasn't, hinting at government poisoning - but it's just a creepily moody teaser. Brooks loves it, though. Would we? I don't know, but If you subscribe to Netflix, you can find out when it comes out there in December.

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[Chris Knipp]

3 Sept. Venice, more Guardian reviews.

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Sutherland and Mirren in The Leisure Seeker

THE LEISURE SEEKER review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/03/the-leisure-seeker-review-helen-mirren-donald-sutherland-venice-film-2017) by Xian Brooks – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS. "Helen Mirren camper van yarn sticks to the middle of the road." "Mirren and Donald Sutherland head off along Route 1 for a well-constructed, but not especially original, study of a long-married couple in their golden years." In Italian director Paolo Virzì's first English-language movie, they're elderly Americans, he a retired literature prof with early stage dementia, she "a perky southern belle, as sweet as a slice of key lime pie," and the "one who's holding the whole trip together" as they "run away" in their 1975 Winnebago Camper from Wellesley, MA to Hemingway's house in Key West, FLA. Mirren and Sutherland, Brooks writes, "give rousing, substantial performances even if they never quite match the pathos and chemistry managed by Jane Fonda and Robert Redford in the similarly-themed Our Souls at Night" which just debuted here a couple days ago. Maybe this will appeal to the less choosy members of the gray-haired set, but Jay Weissberg is vicious in his denunciation in his Variety review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-leisure-seeker-review-1202546270/), calling it a "dreadfully predictable Alzheimer's road movie" and saying "Maybe if there were one crumb of genuine flavor in this stale cheese, it could have passed muster, but this is ersatz curd." And this is in Competition.

VICTORIA & ABDUL review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/03/victoria-abdul-review-judi-denchs-stephen-frears-venice-film-2017) by Xian Brooks – 2 OUT OF 5 STARS - "Judi Dench's class act can't compensate for lazy Raj-era nonsense." "Dench is as dependable as ever as an aging Queen Victoria besotted with her young Indian servant in creaky, old-fashioned drama from Stephen Frears." "Frears’ latest is a cloth-eared Gunga Din tale, painted up as a chaste romance and charting the true (but never convincing) friendship between Queen Victoria and a young Indian Muslim. It’s only Dench’s shrewd, affecting performance that keeps this sorry affair on its feet." I think this is one where you see all it's got in the trailer. I've seen it several times, so, enough. Out of Competition.

NOTE: A number of these films are Out of Competition. Namely the following. I'm wondering what's happening with the Competition films.

OUT OF COMPETITION FILMS COVERED
Our Souls At Night, dir: Ritesh Batra
Victoria & Abdul, dir: Stephen Frears
Wormwood, dir: Errol Morris
The Private Life Of A Modern Woman, dir: James Toback
Brawl In Cell Block 99, dir: S Craig Zahler

COMPETITION FILMS NOT COVERED YET
Mother!, dir: Darren Aronofsky
L’Insulte (قضية رقم ٢٣), dir: Ziad Doueiri
La Villa, dir: Robert Guediguian
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno, dir: Abdellatif Kechiche
The Third Murder, dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda
*Jusqu’à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand
Foxtrot, dir: Samuel Maoz
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; dir: Martin McDonagh
Hannah, dir: Andrea Pallaoro
Ammore E Malavita, dir: Manetti Bros
Angels Wear White, dir: Vivian Qu
Una Famiglia, dir: Sebastiano Riso
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, dir: Frederick Wiseman
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[Chris Knipp]

Some Variety Venice coverage.


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From Samuel Maoz's Foxtrot

Guardian critic Xian Brooks has shone in his Venice reviews, but he has necessarily missed some films. Let's see what Variety has to add.

COMPETITION:

FOXTROT (Samuel Maoz, Israel) review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/no-date-no-signature-review-1202545871/)by Jay Weissberg for Variety: "A devastating sense of cruel futility drives Samuel Maoz’s daring film, honing in on parents' grief after their soldier son has been killed." "'Lebanon' director Samuel Maoz went in a risky direction by making a film as different and daring as 'Foxtrot,' and his boldness pays off in ways that make one reach for superlatives. Not content to merely confront the unspeakable grief of parents who lose a child, Maoz uses the film’s tripartite structure to encompass a devastating litany of Israeli attributes that run the gamut from machismo to racism to a past subverted by the Holocaust and then back again to grief." Moaz's Lebanon (NYFF 2009) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2644-New-York-Film-Festival-2009&s=&postid=23012#post23012) won the Golden Lion that year. This one too, whose complex and searching analysis of the Israeli dilemma - terrible loss, death, existential absurdity - presented in three distinct parts, is clearly not to be missed.

THE INSULT (Ziad Doueri, Lebanon)[31 Sept.] - I reviewed his 2004 Lila Says here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1440-Ziad-Doueiri-s-quot-Lila-Says-quot-(2004)&p=11989#post11989). The new review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-insult-review-ziad-doueiri-1202543763/) by Jay Weissberg (Variety): "A not-so-simple insult has significant ramifications in this well-made but obvious dissection of Lebanese political and religious divides culminating in a standard courtroom drama."

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[Chris Knipp]

More Variety Venice reviews.

HORIZONS:

MARVIN/REINVENTING MARVIN (Anne Fontaine) with Isabelle Huppert and Finnegan Oldfield (in the "Orizzonti" series): Guy Lodge's review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/reinventing-marvin-review-1202545874/) for Variety says this "uneven but affecting coming-out study serves up drama in a couple of senses." A stab at a gay-coming-of-age film, yet another genre for the eclectic Fontaine and evidently uneven and mostly of LGBT-audience appeal, but an excellent role for up-and-comer Finnegan Oldfield (Les Cowboys Bang Gang, Nocturama), a young actor with a strong presence.

NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE ( Vahid Jalilvand, Iran) - review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/no-date-no-signature-review-1202545871/) by Jay Weissberg - "A forensics doctor believes he’s responsible for a young boy’s death in this well-acted drama in which all levels of Iranian society teeter on the edge of legality." "Obsession grips a forensics doctor convinced he may have caused a child’s death in ... a handsomely made, exceptionally well-played drama that largely works... More tightly constructed than director Vahid Jalilvand’s involving though schematic debut Wednesday, May 9, ... A no-holds-barred performance by Navid Mohammadzadeh (Nahid), recognized by the Fajr jury with their supporting actor prize, gives No Date its emotional core, even though the main character’s motivations remain murky. Festivals will be lured by the Venice slot combined with Jalilvand’s Fajr win for best director." Sounds uncertain for the general audience but a must-see for fans of Iranian cinema.

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[Chris Knipp]

More Guardian Venice reviews. 3-4 September.

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Frances McDormand in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

COMPETITION:

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI: "violent carnival of small-town America" - review by Xian Brooks - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS - "Frances McDormand is commanding as a woman avenging the murder of her daughter in Martin McDonagh’s modern-day western. . . an uproarious delight of a film that snaps the eyelids up like roller-blinds and had the Venice film festival audience breaking into rounds of spontaneous applause." Provocative, brilliant Irish playwright Martin McDonagh comes out rarely (In Bruges 2008, Seven Psychopaths 2014), but when he does, be there, and watch out!

EX LIBRIS: NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: - review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/03/ex-libris-new-york-public-library-review-documentary-frederick-wiseman)- 5 OUT OF 5 STARS - not surprisingly Jordan Hoffman finds that Frederick Wiseman, who at 87 has made documentaries about nearly everything for 50 years now, has done another intense, thoroughgoing one (3 hrs 17 mins.), really a series of short films that especially bring out the class distinctions in NYC and how the library serves all levels in different ways.

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[Chris Knipp]

Martin McDonagh's first film, a short one.

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Aisling O'Sullivan and Rúaidhrí Conroy in Six Shooter

I'd never seen Martin McDonagh's first film, Six Shooter(2004) but found it today on YouTube, all 27 minutes of it, which won the 2006 Short Dramatic Film Oscar. It stars Brendan Gleeson, but the 25-year-old Rúaidhrí Conroy, met on a train, is the explosive, hilarious, troubling heart of it - an amazing performance. I haven't laughed so hard or been so delightfully outraged in a while.

See Martin McDonagh's Six Shooter, 27 mins., his 2004 first film,
HERE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9w9BJXeL4E).

I've seen 5 of Martin McDonagh's plays in England and in New York. The Irish ones are mind-blowing but maybe my favorite was Pillowman in NY starring Billy Crudup and Jeff Goldblum, set in a totalitarian state. Of course I wouldn't have missed Christopher Walken in A Behanding in Spokane, but it's not really so interesting.

McDonagh is as provocative as he is brilliant. He wrote his first six or so plays in a great single outpouring and it was feared at first that that was it. This new film led me to look up his debut. The more you see of his hilarious and violent provocations the more they make sense.

[Chris Knipp]

Darren Aronofsky at Venice with a horror movie.

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Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem in Mother!

MOTHER! (Darren Aronofsky) Guardian review (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/05/mother-review-jennifer-lawrence-horror-darren-aronofsky-javier-bardem) by Peter Bradshaw - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS - "No gob left unsmacked in Jennifer Lawrence's anxiety dream of horror and dismay." "Lawrence and Javier Bardem play a husband and wife whose isolated house is invaded by another married couple in Darren Aronofsky’s black-comic nightmare. . .As horror it is ridiculous, as comedy it is startling and hilarious, and as a machine for freaking you out it is a thing of wonder." I personally have an aversion to Aronofsky's baroque extremism, but his movies are not to be missed. With a return from the always welcome Michelle Pfeiffer. Bradshaw sees influences of Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, Buñuel's Exterminating Angel, and Von Trier's Antichrist.

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[Chris Knipp]

An "Outback Western" from Warwick Thornton.

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SWEET COUNTRY: "Racial tension escalates to bushfire levels of danger and damage" in a "graceful, soulful, quietly incendiary" film, says Guy Lodge in his favorable Variety review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/sweet-country-review-1202548977/) of this new feature by Australian cinematographer Warwick Thornton, who debuted with the Cannes Caméra d'Or winnning and "terribly sad and touching" aboriginal youth drama Samson & Delilah (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2808-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2010&p=24179#post24179) (ND/NF 2010). This is his third feature. (In Competition.)

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[Chris Knipp]

Abdelatif Kechiche's latest. Controversy. Disappointment. Lush sensuality.

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MEKTOUB MY LOVE: CANTO UNO -review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/mektoub-my-love-canto-uno-review-1202549902/) by Guy Lodge for Variety: "Abdellatif Kechiche returns with another heady, alluring sensory epic, but it lacks the narrative and emotional heft of his best work." "Another gorgeous three-hour study of young, attractively housed hearts in often turbulent motion, 'Mektoub' is a frequently seductive sensory epic of equivalent ambition, yet despite its woozily pleasurable set pieces, the fraught emotions binding them are less urgent, and the perspective of its protagonist far less immediate." It relates most not to Vie d'Adèle but Secret of the Grain, with a similar setting, new characters. Lodge feels it could use another run through the editing suite, not to cut the 3-hour length, but to improve the rhythm. Others feel this shows Kechiche "sees women only as sex objects" - shows too much of a "masturbatory" "Male gaze." Oops. It concerns a young screenwriter of Arab extraction who leaves Paris for his Mediterranean hometown for a summer of beaches and bars. As in Adèle there are graphic sex scenes. Offensive to some or not, anyone who's followed Kechiche will want to savor this one as well. Kechiche's previous feature, La vie d'Adèle, AKA Blue Is the Warmest Color four years ago at Cannes won the Palme d'Or, awarded unanimously both to him and his two lead actresses, an unprecedented move.

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[Chris Knipp]

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HANNAH (Andrea Palaoro) Guardian Variety review (http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/hannah-review-1202551316/) by Guy Lodge: "Few convey internalized psychic pain better than Charlotte Rampling, as proven again in Andrea Pallaoro's elliptical, elegantly designed sophomore feature." This is the "enigmatic story of a respectable, retirement-age woman gathering (or perhaps gradually disassembling) her life after her husband is arrested and imprisoned on uncertain charges."

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[Chris Knipp]

Venice awards 2017.

The Virtual Reality awards are omitted. From what we know, these look like some very logical choices. Nice to see Moaz, Charlotte Rampling,. the actor from the Arabic film The Insulte,, the documentarians Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel recognized. Nothing off-the-wall like the Cannes awards sometimes seem to be. Thanks, Annette Bening.

VENICE 74

Golden Lion
The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, directed by Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion — Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu'à la Garde

Volpi Cup — Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup — Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, directed by Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete

VENICE HORIZONS

Best Film
Nico, 1988, directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, directed by Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, directed by Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future — "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu'à la Garde, directed by Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, directed by Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince and the Dybbuk, directed by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski

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