So, the general consensus this morning is that the lineup for the 83rd Venice Film Festival is underwhelming. It’s such an odd year, with Venice facing the same challenges as Cannes in locking down Hollywood titles.
In case you missed my reporting from last week, some major titles will be skipping Venice this year, including Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades,” David Fincher’s “Cliff Booth,” Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!,” and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger.” A source told me this is simply part of the new normal: “Studio policies (the same ones affecting Cannes) see European festivals as no longer an appealing destination for U.S. films.”
Last night, The Playlist’s Gregory Elwood mentioned that four big films jumped ship and bowed out of the Venice lineup despite having been confirmed. It’s not hard to see what some of those films were—I can confirm two that were supposed to be there but are now headed for Telluride world premieres: Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” and Andrew Haigh’s “The Long Winter.”
Is this Leigh giving Venice the middle finger after his last effort (“Hard Truths”) was rejected by the festival? Hmm. It was initially an embarrassing situation for Leigh, but the film went on to earn widespread acclaim.
Screening in competition will be Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard,” which was passed over by Cannes after being refused a competition slot. Martin McDonagh, who basically has a spot reserved at Venice every time he has a new film, will also be there with “Wild Horse Nine.” Two Cannes rejects, both French, are also in competition: Stéphane Brizé’s “A Good Little Soldier” and Cédric Kahn’s “A Place to Heal.” Nanni Moretti, who couldn’t travel to Cannes for health reasons, is set to premiere “It Will Happen at Night.” Another Italian filmmaker locked for competition is Andrea Pallaoro, whose “The Echo Chamber,” starring Alicia Vikander and Susan Sarandon, is expected to screen.
The title I’m most excited for is Korean master Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love”—the only reason it didn’t premiere at Cannes was due to its Netflix distribution. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Look Back” will also be there, and the buzz is it’s much better than his Cannes selection from this year, “Sheep in the Box.” The big U.S. title is Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime,” from A24, starring Robert Pattinson — it has now been dated for September 25 US release. Casey Affleck’s “Company,” starring Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn, is also a welcomed surprise.
Many will point out that there is only one female director in competition: May el-Toukhy with “A Woman Unknown.” El-Toukhy is best known for directing “Queen of Hearts.” There simply weren’t many films by women filmmakers available for Venice to choose from this year — Venice boss Alberto Barbera says only 24% of submissions were from female directors.
Paul Schrader’s “The Basics of Philosophy” was confirmed months ago but is screening out of competition. So will Alex Gibney’s documentary “Musk,” which runs four hours. Luca Guadagnino has a seven-hour doc about Bernardo Bertolucci. Barbara Kopple and Robert Greene also have new films in the sidebars.
Omissions: Carlos Reygadas’ “Wake of Umbra” has been suspiciously absent from this year’s festivals — guess why. Felix Van Groeningen’s “Let the Love In” was not at Cannes either, with rumors that it was also rejected by Venice. Yann Gonzalez’s latest, “Ill Forget Your Name,” rejected by both Cannes and Venice, is headed to Berlin 2027.
COMPETITION
Primetime (Lance Oppenheim)
Possible Love (Lee Chang-Dong)
Wild Horse Nine (Martin McDonagh)
Look Back (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Company (Casey Affleck)
DAU (Ilya Khrzhanovsky)
Ink (Danny Boyle)
Bucking Fastard (Werner Herzog)
Un Peu Avant Minuit (Nicolas Pariser)
15/18 (Cedric Kahn)
Bunker (Florian Zeller)
A Good Little Soldier (Stephane Brizé)
It Will Happen Tonight (Nanni Moretti)
The Echo Chamber (Andrea Pallaoro)
A Woman Unknown (May el-Toukhy)
Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? (Shinya Tsukamoto)
Kami Nour (A Bit of Light) (Ali Asgari)
The Fire Inside You (Eduardo de Angelis)
L’estranea (Paolo Strippoli)
Out of Competition – Fiction
Dio Rise (Giovanni Veronesi)
Nessun Dolore (Gianni Amelio)
Makikiraan Po (Laz Diaz)
Father Joe (Barthelemy Grossman)
Scherzetto (Mario Martone)
Place to Be (Kornel Mundruczo)
No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman (Halkawt Mustafa)
Arrested Memory (Sabu)
Un Bon Avocat (Tristan Seguela)
The Basics of Philosophy (Paul Schrader)
Out of Competition – Non Fiction
Be Brave (Francesco Carrozzini)
What Love Builds (Russell Crowe)
Burgundy (Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw)
Musk (Alex Gibney)
The Road to Jericho (Amos Gitai)
Citizen Osama (Ahmed Hassouna)
Union Town (Barbara Kopple)
Holy Wood Dust (Victor Kossakovsky
Letters From the Silenced Country (Andrei Kutsila)
Biografia de Jorge Luis Borges (Mariano Llinas)
My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile (Julia Loktev)
Boatbuilders (Sergei Loznitsa)
Shumei (Takashi Miike)
Queer Edward II (Theo Rollason)
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger (Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace)
Dust (Tsai Ming-liang)
Everest: The Other Side (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
From Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor (Wim Wenders)
Orrizonti
La Ragazza Con La Leica (Alina Marazzi)
The Burning Giants (Phuttiphong Aroonpheng)
What Belongs to Others (Grzegorz Debowski)
Una Storia (Anna Foglietta)
La Citta dei Vivi (Edoardo Gabbriellini)
Falling House (Mohsen Gharaei)
Too Much Sugar (Robert Greene)
The Difficult Bride (Rubaiyat Hossain)
La Maison du Vent (Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu)
I Figli Della Scimmia (Tommaso Landucci)
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra (Jacqueline Lentzou)
Oasis (Jannis Lenz)
Until the Day Ends (Jelena Maksimovic)
La Moula (Jerome Pierrat)
Lovers in the Blue Night (Anaparna Roy)
Un Detour par Diane (Ann Sirot, Raphael Balboni)
The Color of the Sun (Xavier Tera, Manuel Wetscher
Big Little Things (Michelle Zhou)
Venice Spotlight
Sumo: Spirit Weights Nothing (Erik Shirai)
Conversation with the Sea (Muayad Alayan)
Hombre al Agua (Gael Garcia Bernal)
Serpenti (Roberto De Paolis Maino)
Furies (Rami Kodeih)
Guria (Levan Koguashvili)
Ground Floo(Gabor Reisz)
I Matter (Alina Serban)
An official announcement is “imminent.” “Backrooms 2” will be Parsons’ next film — he’s not jumping into anything else. Might as well strike while the iron is still hot, I guess.