The 82th Venice Film Festival Has given at least one prominent, unanimously liked by critics and audiences and transformed it into the hottest ticket for an event that also welcomes public ticket buyers: Park Chan-Wooks ‘no other choice,’ that neon already has for the publication of Stateside.
The South Korean “Old Boy” and “The Handmaiden” film creator have never been nominated for an Oscar, but this superfluously well -controlled satire with Lee Byung -Hun as a literal paper driven to the murderous brink of a depressed labor market is a quick, strengthening catch for Venice. Man-Soo (Lee) is dismissed from his job and goes to kill the competition to make himself the only standing specialist in his field.
Led by filmmaker Alexander Payne and including champions, decorated directors such as Romania’s Cristian Mungiu and Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof, the jury will be no question about the award of “no other choice” a prize. Whether it’s the Golden Lion filmBest Director Park, or best actor Lee is someone’s guess, but it’s almost certain to be one of them. Indiewire also explained earlier “no other choice” an Academy Awards -Chanter; However, Neon has a very busy international slate with Cannes winner “It was just an accident”, “Sentimental Value”, “The Secret Agent” and “Sirat”, all of which may be on the way for the best international function.
But back to Venice: Netflix premieres two of its three festival titles so far, Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” and Guillermo del Toros “Frankenstein.” Jacob Elordi has received strong critical messages for his physically transformative depiction of Victor Frankenstein’s monster; Critics, in the meantime, like George Clooney’s turn as a famous Hollywood actor at the end of his connection well enough in Baumbach’s comedy. But critical reaction has been divided into the latter, which is more sentimental and foggy eyes than Baumbach’s previous films. In other words, if you are a “Margot at the Wedding” fan, it is not for you, but the word has been high back in Colorado in Telluride.
Head Juror Payne is close with Clooney after targeting him to an Oscar nomination in “The Descendants”, but Adam Sandler is the prominent (and with the story that supports him) in the movie as Clooney’s manager. I could imagine that the Venice jury would go the unexpected route – do you remember when Lucrecia Martel’s jury assigned “Joker” The Golden Lion? – and honor Sandler.
By Netflix offers so far, Aussie Leading Man Elordi, who has steadily built a great career from “euphoria” and also feels like a worthy challenger for a Venice -functioning prize. Meanwhile, Del Toro won the Golden Lion 2017 for “The Shape of Water”; Venice is a hospitable environment for the beloved Mexican filmmaker, whose new film has its range of eager fans and admirers, although some reviews are less keen on his latest Gothic vision with a high budget.
Sweeped aside due to its position as the first show of the festival after Paolo Sorrentino’s dampened opener “La Grazia”, László Nemes’ Post-World-War-II, “Come and see” -sque coming-of-age “Orphan” has not developed much. It is a skilled shot and disturbing portrait of Budapest in 1957 about a young boy who meets the sour man who claims to be his long lost father. Nemes has not met Zeitgeist since his Perspectival Holocaust Survival Drama 2015, “Son of Saul”, who won the best international feature Oscar.
The war in Gaza has been a focus for this year’s festival between protests and Press conference remarks; The fact that Nemes spoke against Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar figure for “The Zone of Interest” which deals with the Israel-Palestine conflict last year has left some unable to distinguish art from the artist at this time, but the jury’s job is to watch the movies on their own terms.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Sci-Fi-Satire “Bugonia”, with Emma Stone with Emma Stone as CEO-executive director kidnapped by conspirant Jesse Plemons because he thinks she is a stranger, made a strong early impression on the festival. But Lanthimos won the Golden Lion for “bad things” in 2023; As much as the jury should not be biased against previous winnings, I do not see this extraterrestrial-among hostage thriller that takes the top prize.
Olivier Assaya’s “The Wizard of Kremlin”, with Paul Dano as a fictitious Kingmaker to Jude Laws Vladimir Putin, premiered on Sunday and has served warm reviews. Homegrown Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi’s black and white documentary “Under the clouds”, a portrait of Napolitan everyday life under Mount Vesuvius, could stand to earn a kind of filmmaking award for its ruminant black and white film and patient editing. The fact that the biennial is more generous to include documentaries in competition than, says, Cannes, is starting to amount to something. After all, Laura Poitra’s “All The Beauty in the Bloodshed” won the Golden Lion 2022; Her piercing journalist portrait “cover-up” was played out of the competition here.
There’s Still Much to Come, From “The Brutalist” Oscar Nominee Mona Fastvold’s Historical Musical Drama “The Testament of Ann Lee” (Which Brady Corbet Co-Wrote and Produced, as Fastvold Did 2024 Venice Winner “The Brutalist” to Benny Safdie Safd And Kathryn Bigelow’s Netflix Thriller “A House of Dynamite.” Tonight Jim Jarmusch’s latest, “Father Mother Sister Brother”, premieres. But right now the simplest brand is if you predict that a winner in Venice is, full stop, Park Chan-Wooks “No other choice.”
Keep your eyes open for updates in this post as more Venice -challengers shake out.
