Venszia 80: films, looks, controversies to remember and forget

VList the last two films in competition on Friday (Memory And Hors-saison), here is a summary of the things to remember and forget about Venice Film Festival 80. From the disappointments of the great masters to the messages against racial discrimination and the odysseys of migrants. Then the biopics, the looks, the laughs with Daaaaaali! And Hit ManLiliana Cavani’s feelings and (dutiful) clarification on female directors.

Venice Film Festival 80: films, stars, controversies to remember and forget

Venice 80: things to remember

Social issues

The choice to talk about the present with the issues of migrants and borders, with Green border – The Green Border And I captain. Or of the present in the past dangerously returning with Origin And Lubo. Important films with the ability to broaden our gaze, which have already infuriated politics (Agniezska Holland he received terrible threats from representatives of his country’s governmentPoland), and which they will certainly arouse discussions. And this already seems like an excellent sign to us.

Young people

The presence of young people at the exhibition. Viewers are increasing, the data from the first week certifies this. And we have seen fewer kids than in previous years crowding together in front of the red carpet (there is no Timothée Chalamet), and many more queuing to enter the room. Then the line of kids at the only fountain to fill their water bottles. We feel sick at the thought of the plastic the festival consumes (largely unnecessarily). The sponsor for the spritzes is great, but it would not be the case to also look for one for the supply of drinking waterwith columns for free distribution throughout the festival area?

Woody Allen: the most beautiful photo of the 2023 Film Festival

88 years old and inexhaustible strength, as well as a stainless look. Woody Allen arrived at the Lido to present his film made entirely with French actors, Coup de Chance. A lovely, streamlined mystery with very rich people in Paris. In front of the photographers, at the end of the press conference, he had fun with the classic Bucket Hat placed at 11pm, but the photo that will remain in history is that of the “corset” faces the center of the stage. A wonderful shot of sympathy and affability.

His speech was also memorable: «I have been very lucky in my life. Two loving parents, dear friends, a wonderful marriage, two children. I have never been to hospital and nothing terrible has ever happened to me. Of course, the afternoon is only just beginning.”

Liliana Cavani first female director Golden Lion

An unexpected but necessary comment at the end of the thanks, in front of half the Italian cinema, the Venice 80 jury, the ministers Sangiuliano and Salvini, Matteo Renzi and the institutions of Veneto. «One last thing before we leave. I’m the first woman to receive this award in eighty years of the festival and it doesn’t seem right. There are other female directors and screenwriters who are working well, just like men, I think the Festival should consider them and give them an opportunity. A balance is certainly necessary in this sense, I hope that mine is just the beginning of a real change.”

Isabelle Huppert’s look

Ready for a celebration at Des Bains, were the historic Hotel on the Lido still a dream location that can be enjoyed in its entirety. But the wow effect also worked on the red carpet Master, where Isabelle was a guest with a Luna Park look by Balenciaga (brand of which she is ambassador). Magnificent star over like Charlotte Rampling the evenings before alongside Liliana Cavani, and how Marisa Berenson would have been, absent but present in the film DogMan.

The laughter on Daaaaaali! And Hit Man

There was a lot of crying and much less laughing. But when he actually laughed, it was a very pleasant laugh. Daaaaaali! Of Quentin Dupieuxc is a bizarre biopic about the Spanish artist mixing dream within dream and gags: a machine of irresistible scenographic inventions (we hope it comes out in Italian cinemas). While Hit Man by Richard Linklater is a romantic comedy disguised as a crime thriller, full of misunderstandings built on a clockwork script.

The feelings of Memory And Hors-Saison

Politics, good fascist commanders, the masters of cinema who disappoint. Then, on the penultimate day of Venezia 80, here are two stories of feelings, last breath love, conciliations before the final farewell, stories that started badly and ended well. Michel Franco work on the memory that deceives or disappears, on the misreading of data, the union of traumas and the salvation of care (wonderful Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.

With Hors-sainson (Out of season), Stephané Brizé creates a romantic comedy in the north of France between a movie star in crisis (Guillaume Canet) and an old love of his (Alba Rohrwacher). An essential, subtly ironic story which is also a bitter balance sheet of life paths, apparently successful or not.

Faces to Remember: Caleb Landry Jones and Franz Rogowski

Crooked faces that have left their mark. Caleb Landry Jones and Franz Rogowski are not rookies, but their being far from the classic canons of top billing star beauty makes them two fascinating actors to watch. In Venice 80, respectively with DogMan And Lubohave struck with two moving and misaligned portraits, two wounded outsiders attempting a form of resistance that is impossible not to admire.

The tears of Hiam Abbas

GThe emotional applause thundered in Sala Perla and Hiam Abbas nor her daughter, Lina Soualem, were able to hold back their tears as they hugged each other. Yes why Bye Bye Tiberiasat the Giornate degli Autori, is not just a documentary: it is a piece of their life and that of the two generations of women who preceded them.

Lina, who has already filmed a documentary about her father (the French-Algerian actor Zinedine Soualem), this time decided to follow her mother – who left Palestine at the age of 20 – on her travels back home, reconstructing the family history through photos and videos of the time, among the tragedies of their people and the very private deaths. And Hiam reaches straight to our hearts, lending himself with incredible genuineness for a now Hollywood star thanks to the role of Marcia Roy in Succession. No vanity, just soul: stunning.

Venice 80: things to forget

Critical nationalism

Wife and oxen… The choice to put 6 Italian films in competition has produced the rift between international and local criticism. Many foreigners were critical (sometimes hyper-critical) on the majority of our films, while in our house stars were distributed in profusion.

Favino and the controversy of Italian characters against Italian actors

The hubris of Pierfrancesco Favino which, with two films in competition (Commander And Slowly) – not content with being the most popular in our cinema, reaching heights that only Toni Servillo could – feels threatened by American actors who play Italian roles. What do we do, do we go back to the autarchy of Mussolini’s memory? And while we’re at it, we burn The leopard, Rocco and his brothers, The street? As the poet said, a beautiful silence was never written.

Disappointment Michael Mann and David Fincher

Masters of genre films, cult directors with legions of fan-gendarmes ready to defend them always and in any case. Yet, with Ferrari And The Killer, Mann and Fincher have mostly made two good films, certainly not masterpieces as expected. The first imprisoned in the biopic cage, the second cooled by the Netflix algorithm (with Michael Fassbender cool enough, but very far from fitting in with the professional killers of the history of cinema).

Competition films out of competition

Films out of competition (Hit Man And Coup de chance) and those of Orizzonti (An explanation for everything And Shadow of fire) who deserved the main competition.

Impossible interviews

The interviews that never took place. There are more and more journalists – and we must admit that the malpractice is entirely Italian – who publish completely invented interviews. This festival was characterized by the absence of most of the American stars (we survived eh), yet even large-circulation newspapers have published heart-to-heart interviews by artists who haven’t opened their mouths for months. There once existed the (declared) genre of the imaginary interview. It’s back in vogue, but evidently it’s no longer called that.

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