BIENNALE CINEMA 2023 - ROUNDUP OF THE 80TH VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
A brief summary of my highlights. A detailed review coming up.
Top 5:
Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos) - “Bella discover happy when she want.”
Ferrari (Michael Mann) - “…our deadly passion, our terrible joy.”
The Killer (David Fincher) - “…maybe you're not one of the few. Maybe you're just like me, one of the many.”
Hit Man (Richard Linklater) - This should’ve been in the Competition section.
Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi) - Can’t stop thinking about the ending.
Also liked:
Bastarden / The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)
The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin) - Dubai makes an appearance on a map.
City of Wind (Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize)
Making Of (Cédric Kahn)
Malqueridas (Tana Gilbert)
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman)
Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)
Hollywoodgate (Ibrahim Nash’at)
Out of Season (Stéphane Brizé)
The Universal Theory (Timm Kröger) “I have become death, destroyer of worlds” - A good double bill with Oppenheimer.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)
Honorable mentions:
Coup! (Austin Stark, Schuman Joseph)
Hoard (Luna Carmoon)
Unexpectedly made me tear:
Gasoline Rainbow (Turner Ross, Bill Ross IV)
Wish I watched:
Bye Bye Tiberias (Lina Soualem)
Day of the Fight (Jack Huston)
Following the Sound (Kyoshi Sugita)
Melk (Stefanie Kolk)
One From the Heart: Reprise (Francis Ford Coppola, 1982)
The Red Suitcase (Fidel Devkota)
Sidonie in Japan (Elise Girard)
Wish I skipped:
The Order of Time (Liliana Cavani)
Pet Shop Days (Olmo Schnabel) - add what I heard
Favourite needle drops, besides the ones in The Killer and Priscilla:
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize)
Emotions - Brenda Lee (Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person)
Changes - Williams&McCoy (Gasoline Rainbow
Let Me Be Your Fantasy - BabyD (Hoard)
In Corpore Sano - Konstrakta (Housekeeping for Beginners)
Paso Doble - Yilberking (Malqueridas)
Lowdown - Boz Scaggs (The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial)
Other highlights:
Hanging out with Glenn Kenny, Madeleine Molyneaux, and Joost Broeren and speculating with him who will be Berlinale’s next Artistic Director.
The beach
Creepy marketing:
This was outside my hotel room door and on the doors of all the other rooms too.
When I took a closer look, I realised it’s marketing for Roman Polanski’s latest film The Palace. There was a QR code on the other side linked to the trailer. Eye roll emoji.
The complete list of films I watched:
Venice Classics
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina (Orson Welles, 1958)
The Wayward Wife / La provinciale (Mario Soldati, 1953)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
Harmonica (Amir Naderi, 1974)
Moving (Shinji Sōmai, 1993)
Competition
Bastarden / The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)
The Beast (Bertrand Bonello)
The Commander (Edoardo De Angelis)
Dogman 2023 Directed by Luc Besson
Out of Season (Stéphane Brizé)
El Conde (Pablo Larraín)
Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Ferrari (Michael Mann)
Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)
The Killer (David Fincher)
Lubo (Giorgio Diritti)
Maestro (Bradley Cooper)
Memory (Michel Franco)
Origin (Ava DuVernay)
Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)
The Universal Theory (Timm Kröger)
Woman Of… (Michał Englert, Małgorzata Szumowska)
Out of Competition - Fiction
Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine)
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin)
Coup de chance (Woody Allen)
Hit Man (Richard Linklater)
Making Of (Cédric Kahn)
The Order of Time (Liliana Cavani)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)
Out of Competition - Non Fiction
Amor (Virginia Eleuteri Serpieri)
Frente a Guernica (Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi)
Hollywoodgate (Ibrahim Nash’at)
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros (Frederick Wiseman)
Orrizonti Competition
City of Wind (Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir)
Gasoline Rainbow (Turner Ross, Bill Ross IV)
Housekeeping for Beginners (Goran Stolevski)
Waiting for the Night (Céline Rouzet)
Orrizonti Extra
Pet Shop Days (Olmo Schnabel)
Biennale College Cinema
Lumbrensueño (José Pablo Escamilla)
GIORNATE DEGLU AUTORI / VENICE DAYS
Coup! (Austin Stark, Schuman Joseph)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize)
SETTIMANA INTERNAZIONALE DELLA CRITICA / CRITICS’ WEEK
Ender’s Line (Gabriele Biasi)
Group Picture (Tommaso Frangini)
Hoard (Luna Carmoon)
Love Is a Gun (Lee Hong Chi)
The Lost Memories Of Trees (Antonio La Camera)
Malqueridas (Tana Gilbert)