This was a much awaited day that started well: in the morning we got the final authorization to spread my papa’s ashes at the San Michele cemetery. A Venetian acquaintance told me that this was quite an achievement in itself: it seems that the Venetian municipality is a demanding one in that sense. I have to say that the amount of papers I had to provide and the amount of administrative bodies I have been in touch with in the past months has indeed been impressive. But I have as well been in contact with many civil servants that spent a lot of time explaining the process to me and supporting me through it with great patience and empathy. So, on my side, quite a positive experience.
It seems that, following this key milestone, Venice decided to mourn my papa with us – a rainy day it was, with quite a massive thunderstorm at night. I love Venetian Summer thunderstorm, they tend to be quite dramatic.
We arrived at the Palabiennale first screening under the rain. I was looking forward to that one. My relationship to Yorgos Lanthimos is an ambivalent one: it started with very big scepticism and switched to surprised appreciation when “Poor Things” was screened here two years ago. It actually won the Mostra back then. It also won me over, without me being really able to explain why.
I needed two years to process “Poor Things” and therefore skipped Lanthimos’ last year “Kind of Kindness” – this guy is quite prolific. Maybe a bit too prolific.
So, let’s talk about “Bugonia”. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons again. Both at the peak of their art. A young American (Jesse Plemmons), wounded by his childhood, his mom’s addictions and tragic destiny and obsessed with conspiracy theories. Convinced also that a successful CEO (Emma Stone) is an alien and that aliens have invaded the earth in order to destroy it as well as all the humans on it. The CEO’s kidnapping is therefore organized in order to try and put pressure on the alien invaders. Nothing however works out as planned.
One should not share more about the plot (with many surprising twists) in order not to spoil it for you. But I can at least personally say that I very much enjoyed this one, though some of us were more sceptical than others. Coming myself from the sceptical side, I can fully understand how it can be difficult for a rational/down to earth person to surrender to Lanthimos’ madness. Totally mad he indeed is. But his madness is smart, powerful and very often hiding a strong message.
In this case, at the end of the screening, I could not help but thinking how we, humans, are wreckless destroyers and how we are all actively working together on killing all the beauty of the world for the sake of our own instant satisfaction. And I’m pretty sure that that’s exactly what Lanthimos wanted me to think. Brilliant.
Now regarding movie 2 (“Jay Kelly”). Remember how I was telling you yesterday about my strongly active 2025 “no bullshit” filter? Well this one was put to the test quite intensely yesterday. All the alarms in my head started ringing pretty soon into the screening. By minute 30, I was repeatingly saying to my movie buddy: “this is bad… this is pretty bad”. By minute 40, I had switched to “this is terrible… quite extremely terrible”.
Remember also how I told you about Tony Servillo’s face saying it all without saying anything? Well. Throughout the entire Baumbach movie, George Clooney’s face (and, trust me, there’s an immense amount of it) says absolutely nothing.
And remember how I was telling you that the dialogues were great in the Sorrentino movie? Well the Baumbach movie has definitely won the price of the stupidest sentence of the festival. I quote: “do you know how I knew you did not want to spend time with me? Because you did not spend any time with me”. I’m not kidding.
Conclusion: a movie about nothing with bad acting.
Klara's cinema 