The Biennale de Venezia, cinema division—we should not forget that this festival encompasses other forms over the course of a year, including fine art—kicks off this week. It’s a storied, venerated festival in a storied, venerated setting, and it’s a real privilege that I’ve been able to attend every year (except 2020, because of COVID, phooey) since 2015. I not only cover the fest for this site, but I participate in a panel attached to the Biennale College. This program funds “microbudget” films from around the world; it’s kind of a cross between Sundance Labs and “Operation Greenlight,” only without the reality TV component. I’ll be talking about the films and the panel in my Venice Diary.
I always wish I could clone myself when I hit the Lido (that’s the sandbar where the festival is held, away from the canal city proper) because there’s just too much to see. In the competition, I’m looking forward to “The Room Next Door,” starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. It’s the first English-language film from Pedro Almodovar. I interviewed the director in Premiere magazine almost 20 years ago; he spoke superb English (no interpreter was present or needed) and discussed his desire to make a film in English, so I’m delighted he’s finally fulfilled that ambition.
While I run hot and cold on Italian maestro Luca Guadagnino, I’m quite keen to see “Queer.” The attraction is a combination of factors: the source material, a gritty, uncharacteristically realistic novel by my man William S. Burroughs, and the lead actor, Daniel Craig. The script is by “Challengers” writer Justin Kuritzkes, which gives me pause, but I doubt the gig gave him much opportunity to inject any “potion seller” action.
I admire actor-turned-director Brady Corbet’s trenchant, art-epic brand of cinema, and his new “The Brutalist,” is a treatment of a “visionary” architect named Laszlo Toth, played by Adrian Brody. It’s billed as a historical drama, except the real-life Laszlo Toth was a geologist, not an architect, and he became famous by vandalizing Michelangelo’s “Pieta.” So we’re going to have to see about that.
The action in competition has plenty of star power as well as directorial distinction. Vincent Lindon heads “Jouer avec le feu,” Nicole Kidman “Babygirl,” Jude Law “The Order.” “Joker: Folie a Deux,” is in the competition and why not? Its precursor won the competition in 2019. Some readers might recall that I really went bonkers over that picture, which I found deeply repellent. My fevered review, written in a petulant rush because I didn’t know there was actually a brief embargo on reviews, was not well-received but I stand by its gist, which was that the movie was steaming hot garbage. HOWEVER. Let me tell you people. I have a friend, a pretty well-known performer who branched out into writing and directing and show-running with no small distinction, and once at a lunch he told me, “One thing I enjoy about reading your reviews is that you seem up for anything. You go into a movie with no preconceived notions about it; you don’t have an agenda.” I will try to keep that in mind as I approach “Folie a Deux.” Promise.
People are also excited about “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” I am loath to admit I am more of a “Mars Attacks” person than a “Beetlejuice” person. But I reckon there’s never going to be a “Mars Attacks” sequel so I’ll have to make do. That picture is out of the competition. As are new films from venerated (and OLD — 85 and 84 years old respectively, stop complaining about your age, Martin S.!) Italian maestros Pupi Avati and Marco Bellochio. French monument to cinematic floridness Claude Lelouch offers “Finalement,” his variant on “Liar Liar.” Harmony Korine, keeping productive, comes back from last year’s “Aggro Drift,” which I found hilarious (especially counting the walkouts) with “Baby Invaders,” which apparently is like those obnoxious E-Trade talking-infants commercials, but with guns. Sounds pretty can’t miss. The fest also includes a Takeshi Kitano movie that clocks in at one hour (his legendary economy continues) and a Lav Diaz movie that, yup, clocks in at about four.
And then there’s “Wolfs,” which reteams George Clooney and Brad Pitt, yay, and is not directed by Steven Soderbergh, oh, and IS directed by the filmmaker behind “Clown,” uh oh. We’ll see.
The Classics section has restorations of some acknowledged greats — Antonioni’s “La Notte,” Hawks’ “His Girl Friday,” De Sica’s “Gold of Naples” and Lang’s “The Big Heat.” I’m most intrigued by the underrated Reuben Mamoulian’s underrated “Blood and Sand.” And I’m also going to try to catch Alex Ross Perry’s “Pavements,” in the fest’s Horizon’s section, about that smirky but essential post-alternative band.