AND went well. The Venice 80 jury led by Damien Chazelle he thought and decreed (the two actions do not always take place in synchrony). The prizes went to the best films seen in this edition of the Festival.
The film that immediately seemed to us to have all the credentials to aspire the palmarès takes home the Golden Lion. Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Tony McNamara based on the novel by Alasdair Gray of 1992 it is a journey into discovery of the sexuality and life of a not at all unfortunate creature (as the title might suggest), although it is the product of a laboratory experiment.
Poor Thingsthe Golden Lion is a feminist film written and directed by men
It is a feminist film written and directed by men and we could not wish for anything better, it is played by an actress, Emma Stone, ever so good, and in an impossible performance: the story of the sidereal passage from the condition of a child to that of a woman, filmed with an abundance of means and without sparing any virtuosity.
Ramy Youssef and Emma Stone in “Poor Things”. Searchlight Pictures)
The movies of Agnieszka Holland and Matteo Garrone they address one of the burning issues of our present, which nowhere in the first world, from Europe to North America, has so far been handled humanely.
And not even political intelligence. A question that concerns all of us. As he asks volunteers who try, with different approaches, pragmatic or idealistic, to extend a hand to migrants who from the Middle East or Africa have arrived at the Belarusian border in Green Border – The green border.
I, Captain by Matteo Garrone, the only Italian film in the palmarès
Their fate in that no man’s land that welcomes them and rejects them, separating them without appeal from the Polish border and from Europe, is the same as that of Senegalese youth of I captainthe beautiful film by Matteo Garronethe only film of the 6 Italian films in Competition which, in our opinion, deserved to be in the palmares.
The forest of Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai – Evil does not exist it does not resemble the one where the migrants of the two countries wander, rejected by the armies of the two countries Zielona granica. It’s quite a place where the protagonists of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film have rediscovered a dimension that they thought had been lost forever in the big city. And it is precisely from there, from Tokyo, and from the cynicism of businessmen who find a way to take advantage even of the pandemic, that the threat comes.
The Japanese Oscar winner has sparked public and critical discussion by staging the meeting between two (unaware, innocent?) emissaries of a senseless project and the residents of a community whose hard-earned harmony is in danger.
Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain in “Memory”.
Partial only disappointment the Volpi cup goes to Cailee Spaeny, the young actress of Priscillawhile that a Peter Sarsgaard – who brought three films to the Festival, Memory for which he was rewarded, Coup! which closed the Authors’ Days and Pet Shop Days by Olmo Schnabel, in Orizzonti – the award fits like a glove. Memory by Michel Francoa tale of the encounter between two damaged people, a woman with a painful past (Jessica Chastain) and a man suffering from early onset dementia, it’s a beautiful film. Also thanks to the interpretation of its two protagonists.
Venice Film Festival 80: all the awarded films
GOLDEN LION for best film:
Poor Things (Poor creatures!) by Yorgos Lanthimos
SILVER LION-GRAND JURY PRIZE
Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai (Evil Does Not Exist) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
SILVER LION AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTORY
Matteo Garrone For I captain
COPPA VOLPI for best female performance:
Cailee Spaeny For Priscilla by Sofia Coppola
VOLPI COP for best male performance:
Peter Sarsgaard For Memory by Michel Franco
AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY:
Guillermo Calderón, Pablo Larraín For El Conde
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE:
Green Border (The Green Border) by Agnieszka Holland
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for emerging talent
Seydou Sarr For I captain
LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS PRIZE Lion of the future for the first work
Love is a Gun by Lee Hong-Chi (presented at Critics’ Week)
ORIZZONTI AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM:
Explanation for Everything by Gábor Reisz
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