A reader asked about the most essential critics poll for the Venice Film Festival. As you know, Cannes has a tradition for having numerous polls every year, with the Screen International being the most famous one.
At Venice, the most reliable poll is less obvious, but this year seems to be the Venezia News one composed of critics from Screen International, THR, Film Verdict, Le Monde, The Wrap, El Pais, The Observer, Rzeczpospolita, and Frankfurter Rund.
16 of the 22 competition films have been screened so far. If you’ve been following our Venezia coverage, then the top 3 shouldn’t surprise you:
TÁR — 4.1
The Banshees of Inisherin — 3.8
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed — 3.8
Argentina 1985 — 3.5
Bones and All — 3.4
The Whale — 3.3
Love Life — 3.3
White Noise — 3.2
The Eternal Daughter — 3.1
Other People’s Children — 3.1
Monica — 2.9
L’Immensita — 2.8
Athena — 2.7
Bardo — 2.4
The Lord of the Ants — 2.4
Un Couple — 2.4
This is the same top three as in the International Cinephile Society pol, which has Poitras, Field and McDonagh, with Guadagnino and Zlotowski not too far behind. A consensus is clearly building that these seem to be the cream of the crop for the 79th Venezia.
Meanwhile, the POLL OF POLLS, which tabulates every grid from every country has these results:
The Banshees of Inisherin — 3.83
TAR — 3.56
Bones and All — 3.54
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed — 3.53
Argentina, 1985 — 3.34
Love Life — 3.13
Monica — 3.01
Other People's Children — 2.99
White Noise — 2.93
Lord of the Ants — 2.91
The Whale — 2.85
The Eternal Daughter — 2.75
Bardo — 2.70
Athena — 2.65
A Couple — 2.59
L'immensita — 2.58
Left to be screened are Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer,” Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” Vahid Jalilvand’s “Beyond the Wall,” Roschdy Zem’s “Our Ties,” and Susanna Nicchiarelli’s “Chiara.”
Has this Venice lineup been better than Cannes 75? I’ll let you be the judge on that one.