The three big Venice snubs everyone’s buzzing about right now are Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite,” Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee,” and, most loudly, Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice.”
Jury president Alexander Payne is getting flamed online for simply admitting, during the post-awards press conference, that “No Other Choice” didn’t even make his jury’s top eight.
It simply wasn’t in the final 8, which breaks our hearts. We love many films that aren’t represented in the final 8
That’s it. He gave an honest answer. However, the Twitterati mob dogs are out in full force, most of them defending Park on autopilot despite not having seen the film.
Having caught 15 of the 21 competition films myself, sure, I’d put Park’s work in the top five.
As for the other two major snubs, “The Testament of Ann Lee” has proven highly divisive — even more so after its TIFF press screening this morning, with reactions scattered all over the map. Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite,” meanwhile, didn’t travel as well with international critics as it did with the U.S./U.K. press corps.
Still, let’s be honest: it was a weak lineup this year. Jarmusch and his jury did the best they could with what they had. It’d be very boring if every jury just to rewarded whatever was most critically acclaimed.