Month: September 2024

I had a writing break as the last days of my Mostra were a bit more slow paced with less movies and, let’s face it, as well less to write about them.

Although, I would be badly placed to say anything about “Iddu”. To be perfectly honest, I must have seen the 5-10 first minutes of it… and the two last ones. What did I do in between? I slept quite deeply, it seems. I could hear, once in a while, the laughter of my fellow watchers (though, in that specific case, I hardly qualified as a “watcher” myself) and sensed, based on the applauses at the end of the screening, that the movie had earned the public’s fair appreciation. That’s about it in terms of what I can share with you on the “Iddu” topic (… oh yes, maybe as well that it takes places in Sicily and someone dies at the end). 

And, do not get me wrong, the deepness of my sleep had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie. It was mostly linked to my level of relaxation after 9 days spent in the city of water, as well as, let’s be honest with ourselves, the two campari spritz I had drank with our Venitian landlords right before the screening – you live and you never learn.

As for the two other films, “Kjaerlighet (Love)” is a nice, quite simply filmed and sympathetic Norwegian movie about love (as its title suggests) and relationships. It is worth a watch for the good acting – the main female character is one of an interestingly independent woman, who is keen on experimenting freely and is not ashamed of sharing her thoughts and impressions about these experiments with her friends and colleagues. Quite refreshing. 

“Broken Rage” is one of Kitano’s typical yakuza stories but, this time, with a twist: it is only one hour long and offers two versions of the same story – the first one, the standard yakuza version (with the shootings, the bad mafia guys and drugs), the second one, the humorous version of the first one (with clumsy killers missing out on their target and falling off their chairs). 

Because of its length and style, it has hardly any chances to be distributed in cinemas around the world, but judging by the way we, and the entire Palabiennale laughed, it seems to have done the trick. It was actually a really nice and light way to close my 2024 Mostra.

So this is it, one more year is over. The prizes have been attributed and, as very often, the jury’s choices left me quite sceptical. Whilst I was extremely happy to see Almodovar finally winning the top award at a major film festival (he actually never did before, which is quite surprising to me), and some of the films that I found really special adequately appreciated (the Silver Lion to “The Brutalist”, I very much agree with), on the acting side, I really do not understand based on what the jury took a decision. Maybe just on the fact that Nicole Kidman was daring enough to go for naked and dominated? (I would argue that what was acknowledged was more the character than the acting… but oh well). And, that Vincent Lindon is awarded the best actor to the detriment of Adrien Brody? No one will ever explain this to me. The same goes for the Silver Lion to “Vermiglio”, which was indeed a nice movie but definitely not Silver Lion material, according to my understanding of life.

Anyhow, overall it was a very good year that I have enjoyed to the maximum. I am looking forward to see what 2025 will bring to us. Until then, ciao ciao e un grande bacio da Venezia.

When I found out that the next Joker would be screened in Venice, two main thoughts went through my mind. Thought 1: why on earth would you even risk to attempt at a second part of something that was so close to perfection that it is almost impossible to beat? Thought 2: Gosh I cannot wait to see Joaquin Phoenix being the Joker one more time.

As bits and pieces of information progressively came out on what Joker II would look like (a musical? With Lady Gaga? Really?!), thought 1 started winning over thought 2 inside my head.

Yesterday’s red carpet was a good sociological experiment, perfectly reflecting how these two worlds (the darkness of Joker and a musical with lady Gaga) would be hard to reconcile. The arrival of Joaquin Phoenix together with Todd Philipps was followed by a 10mins wait for Lady Gaga’s entry (not in the standard festival car but walking through the crowd of her hysterical fans). To be honest, in 25 years, I have never seen this happening – not the walking part, but the crew not making an entry as one team ready to defend its artistic project.

What surprised me even more was that most of the crowd was there for Lady Gaga. Yes, yes, I know that she has a huge fan base. But in my rational little mind and given his previous unforgettable performance, I was somehow expecting Phoenix to be the star of the evening… Intriguing.

The movie only confirmed my fears. I don’t think that any of the both worlds (Joker vs Gaga) came out of it with a satisfied spirit. Bear in mind that my previous evening and my deep hatred and anger at the Guadagnino movie, might have not made me the most objective audience in the room. I kept on telling to myself “well, at least it’s not as bad as Queer”. 

Considering myself as a defender of the Joker’s darkness, I did not get enough of it. You get bribes of the first movie’s madness – that strange laughter that feels like crying for example – and Phoenix is as stunning as before. I did even very much enjoy his singing of some old American standards – it’s impersonated in such a theatrical way that it feels more like a cry of despair/anger than a song. Quite mesmerizing to me. 

And then Gaga appears as her diva self and the dynamic is lost. To be perfectly fair, I did find her quite convincing in a few scenes at the beginning, but then the movie looses its rythm.

The Gaga side, on the other hand, complains that this movie is such a waste of her talent. That there is not enough of a musical to it (true that there are only a few moments of joint Phoenix/Gaga singing and not much of an original song). As I hate musicals, this was actually quite a relief to me. That her acting talent is not given sufficient space. I would say the same, but more on the Phoenix side.

As a conclusion, I would recommend to rewatch the first one instead. Reconciling these two hardly concilable worlds was too big a challenge for Todd Philipps. Though I have loads of sympathy for his urge to spend a bit more time with such an amazing character as the Joker. This is for sure the end of the Joker story, and Joaquin Phoenix will always remain as the most stunning Joker to me.

After that, the second movie was actually worth a watch. It goes back to the golden age of the Italian porn (remember la Cicciolina?) with loads of humour and madness. Though it is a bit messy going continuously back and forth in time, the entire Palabiennale had a good laugh and appreciated the acting performance. Out of all the Italian movies in competition, this is the one for sure standing out.

For those who remember, two years ago after the screening of “Bones and All”, I had an entire reflection on my love/hate relationship with Luca Guadagnino. Back then, we had a tie between the love (“Io sono l’amore” and “Call me by your name”) and hate (“A bigger splash” and “Suspiria”) sides. “Bones and all” remained in the middle, as it left me totally indifferent. 

This year, the hate side has taken a solid advantage, which might even be a win on KO. On the morning after, I still feel extremely irritated about what was thrown – I would even say vomited – at me the evening before. Now, let’s not forget that we are in Italy and that, in general, Luca Guadagnino has his strong supporters. I have seen articles passing by about a “masterpiece” and Daniel Craig being “heartbreaking” or “mesmeric” with his performance. 

And yes yes, this is art, this is very personal and sensitivities are extremely diverse.

My personal sensitivity (and it seems that most of the Palabiennale screening hall’s sensitivity as well, if you consider the booing after the movie) resulted in absolute dread and blunt irritation. Very similar to my post Suspiria state of mind.

What I have personally seen is a totally feelingless style exercise that some call a “trippy gay odyssey” and I call “visual vomit”. As often with Guadagnino, everything focuses on the visuals, the colours, the effects… the picture basically. Problem is that, even that was too much for me. Just fakeness. 

And yes, Craig is astonishing in his unexpected gay dandy performance. But the director’s choice has gone towards making him overplay it (you can really feel the Guadagnino imprint on the acting style). With a bit more “restraint”, it could have been heartbreaking indeed. Presented as it is, it is just infuriating as lacking any kind of frailty. 

This lead me to rethink a vivid discussion that I had with my friend Pamela years ago. Still influenced by my love for “Io sono l’amore”, I strongly defended Guadagnino, refusing to admit that his aesthetics might be slightly pretentious. Well, Pamela, it is never too late to revise one’s position. I now fully agree with you. Guadagnino IS damn pretentious. 

Obviously, given my state of mind, the second movie stood no chance. As I spent the first 40mins of it cursing at Luca and booing in my head, I decided that it might make more sense to go home and sleep over it. Let me just add one more morning BOOOO to close this chapter for good.

This morning, I woke up quite early as we had a “mountain of plastic waste in the house” issue. The boat collecting waste stops every single morning right in front of our appartement window. Which can be a plus as it allows you to run out still in your pyjamas, hand in your bin bags, and run right back to bed. The bad side of it is that our sidewalk is one permanent conversation as of 08:00 and that, on every second day, when glass is being collected, it is impossible not to notice it unless one uses proper earplugs.

This morning was “plastica” day, hence I had an early pyjamas run in order to free our home from that mountain of empty water bottles (damn, it’s been hot the whole past week). 

Whilst doing so, I had this weird thought that Venice must be the only city in the world in which waste collectors make you feel as if you were worth less than the tiniest little piece of shit in the world. My “buongiorno” with a smile remained unanswered. My “dove metto la plastica?” (where do I put the plastic?) was answered by a silent finger (I’m apparently not even worth a look) pointing at a container. And my “buona giornata” was ignored with the most professional disdain ever.

Strangely, this put me in the greatest mood for the day as half an hour later I was still laughing at this whole situation and making my friend laugh at how Venice is the city where bin collectors became kings/queens and where we are considered as tiny little insignificant parasites. The context behind all this is, of course, not that laughable (let’s face it, mass tourism is slowly killing Venice) but this good morning laugh did us well.

Especially as the previous night screening ended up being way more challenging than expected. The synopsis of Almodovar’s movie was rather concise: something about two old friends (Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore) meeting again after some years and being brought closer because of a “tragedy” they face together.

Taking into consideration that the unspecified “tragedy” ends up (!!! spoiler alert for those who know me well) being exactly the one through which my family is currently going was not the most pleasant surprise for me. When the screening ended, I first started to mumble that a slightly more specific synopsis would have been appreciated. Then that maybe not, because I would have most probably chosen not to watch the movie. Then that actually that would have been a pitty as the movie was very good. Then I stopped talking and the tears just started pouring by themselves. Not exactly what I expected for myself in my little venitian paradise.

Fortunately the crisis only lasted for 3 minutes as, let’s put things straight, the movie is not overly dramatic and definitely not miserabilistic. It is above all about true friendship, it is (as always with Almodovar) beautifully staged with amazing colours, settings and everything around that you can think of, and it is supported by a fantastic cast of actresses. It is basically one of these little jewels that one is not given to see that often. Local news say that the standing ovation in the Sala Grande was 18mins long. My own prize barometer also sees it as a strong contender for one of the top lions.

The little Italian movie that followed (one of those, such as the previous one we saw, that would have never ended up in the official selection, was it not an Italian production) was pleasant to watch though absolutely not at the level of the masterpiece seen before.

Prior to seeing this one, our line of thinking was a) this is a potentially very interesting topic, b) Adrien Brody is an excellent actor but c) 3h30 is a risky length for a movie and it has to be absolutely perfect from a screenplay perspective to keep us focused for that long.

So high expectations combined with a bit of concern.

Now, prior to actually seeing the movie, a huge discovery was made within our group. Let me give you a bit of context: the first Mostra I ever attended was the 56th (the current one is the 81st). That makes it 25. Though I have not been attending on a yearly basis since then, I would say that since 2007, I have barely missed one. That makes it at least 17 editions in a row. For these 17 years, I have been entering the Sala Grande through its RIGHT side entrance, barely acknowledging the existence of its left side entrance.

Yesterday, a sudden urge for a quick prosecco before sitting and watching the screen for 3h30, made us run inside through the LEFT side entrance. This resulted in a whole new world unraveling for me: it only took me 17 years to discover that there is a perfect viewpoint on the red carpet when entering from that side. The below picture is a material proof of it. Just when you were about to think that you knew it all…

I was still recovering from that shocking and belated discovery when the screening started. And that ended up being at least as exciting as our major 2024 left side revelation.  Not only is the story fascinating (the American dream/nightmare of a Hungarian Jewish architect who survived the camps and attemps at starting a new life in the USA) but, as many already say around town, Adrien Brody might be up for a second Oscar with that one. He is literally close to absolute perfection.

Add to it a screenplay that hooks you to the plot from minute 1 until exactly minute 215 without giving you one second of rest and what you get is my first very strong potential candidate for this year’s golden lion. A must see!

I had to wait for one more day to write this one as there was honestly nothing much to say about day 3. 

“Babygirl” tells the story of a successful and powerful CEO (Nicole Kidman) having a sexual affair with a very young and attractive intern. We have already seen this fifty times and in much more interesting formats. About “Trois amies”, I have even less to say. I would summarize it as someone’s unsuccessful attempt at being the new Eric Rohmer. The problem is that, if you are not as gifted as Rohmer was, all this talking and unnatural dialogues end up being crucifying for the actors (and it proves again that Camille Cottin is a good actress as she is the only one who at least slightly survives this crucifixion). We obviously ran away.

Fortunately, after seeing (yet again – it seems to be my cross to bear) the worst of contemporary French cinema, we saw the best of it yesterday. “Leurs enfants après eux” is based on the 2018 Goncourt winning novel written by Nicolas Mathieu. Though being slightly too long, it is supported by a fantastic cast of renounded actors (Gilles Lellouche, Ludivine Sagner) as well as young and not yet so well known ones, who simply burst the screen with their authenticity. 

For those who have not yet read the book (you should), it takes us back in the 90s and the lives of teenagers in a economically crumbling region of France. It is quite rare that a movie does honour to the book it is based on, this is definitely one of these cases. 

The standing ovation in the Sala Grande was long and enthusiastic in presence of the entire cast. A really nice moment of this year’s Mostra. I’m betting on a price for this one.

We followed in the evening with two pretty decent and very different films (though not award-worthy, according to my personal opinion). 

“Campo di Battaglia” tells the story of first world war doctors confronted with wounded soldiers (some by their own deeds) willing to do anything not to be sent back to the battlefield. Are they traitors to the nation or are they only poor souls who already gave enough to the country and are in need of saving? Add to it the beginning of the Spanish flu epidemics and you end up with a quite dramatic story filmed in a very austere manner but focusing on an important and less and less known moment in our history. Not to mention that my beloved Alessandro Borghi plays in it and is always a delight to watch.

We ended up the day with “The Order”, a beautifully filmed (these Idaho sceneries are stunning) crime story, based on true events involving a white supremacist group preparing for armed revolution against the state institutions (a frighteningly actual topic). Though it has a very standardly structured scenario, it is supported by a good cast (Jude Law – one of his really good performances – Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan) and a storyline that really does the trick. The conclusion is thus: no surprises but a solid movie.

The night walk back home through empty San Marco completed perfectly this day to remember…