The Venice Film Festival, which opens today, has kicked off the “traditional” awards season for the past few decades.
This year, the festival is packed with A-list talent. It’s perhaps more star-studded than ever before. Guests include Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie, Kevin Costner, Sigourney Weaver, Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Huppert and many more.
In terms of awards contenders, Warner Bros. Joker: Madness for TwoThe English debut of Pedro Almodovar The room next doorwith Angelina Jolie Married and that of Luca Guadagnino Weirdare among those jostling for the take-off of the event which is firmly established as a key launch pad for the Academy.
This isn’t the first time, however, that we’ve had the chance to see the films that are up for awards. In fact, Cannes has become the first major stop on the awards season calendar. With the Academy embracing foreign-language films in all its categories, the Croisette’s arthouse favorites have a better chance of getting noticed than in the past. Films released in May, such as Anora (in English but resolutely art house), Emilia Perez And The seed of the sacred fig tree hopes to become the best this year Anatomy of a fall, Area of interest, Drive my car And Parasite.
While the Venice-Toronto-Telluride triangle remains the go-to venue for many major studios in search of awards, we may be witnessing a subtle shift in their status as the go-to awards venues. After launching eight of the nine Best Picture winners between 2013 and 2021, none of the last three Best Picture winners have launched at a fall festival. Time will tell whether this is a trend or just a blip. The absence of Netflix contenders at the Lido didn’t help the depth of this year’s “awards-type” films.
That said, when we spoke to Venice director Alberto Barbera ahead of the festival, he was optimistic, looking ahead Joker: Madness for Two, Weird, Married And The room next door as likely to stand out for the Academy, adding “perhaps The Brutalisttoo”, about Brady Corbert’s epic with Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones.
Joker: Madness for Two is apparently the strongest candidate for best film among the films presented at Venice. Joker earned 11 Oscar nominations in 2019, and Barbera described the sequel as “one of the most daring, courageous and creative films in recent American cinema.” High praise.
Todd Phillips’ dystopian musical follows the story of how failed comedian Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) meets the love of his life, Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), while in Arkham State Hospital. Upon their release, the pair embark on a doomed romantic misadventure. Barbera portrays Phoenix, who previously won an Oscar for Jokeras “outstanding,” and also praised Phillips’ direction.
According to bookmakers and awards watchers, the current top contenders for Best Picture also include: Dune: Part Two, Blitz, Conclave, Gladiator 2, The Nickel Boys, Here And A complete strangerin addition to Anora And Emilia Perez. Only three of them are fall festival films, by the way, and only one is from TIFF-Telluride-Venice.
Fall releases remain the norm for Best Actor winners. Nine of the last ten Best Actress winners have come from fall-released films, while that ratio is six out of ten for male leads.
Barbera described Daniel Craig’s performance in Weird as the best film of his career. Anticipation is high. That said, there are reports that the film itself is polarizing, and it has still failed to attract an American distributor. Married is another high-profile film at Venice that has yet to find a U.S. buyer. Both films are expected to land deals after the festival.
One of the projects that has been generating growing buzz since Cannes — where it was sold to Sony Classics — is that of Walter Salles. I’m still herehis first narrative feature film in over a decade:
In I’m still hereThe acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker, known for critical successes such as the Oscar-nominated film Central Station And Motorcycle travel diariestackled the moving and powerful true story of a woman who is forced to become an activist after her husband is captured by the military regime in Brazil in the 1960s.
The film reunites Salles with her Oscar-nominated husband. Central Station star Fernanda Montenegro, one of Brazil’s most acclaimed actresses, and her daughter Fernanda Torres, with whom the filmmaker has worked on several occasions.
Other films from Venice that we hear good things about include: September 5th by Tim Fehlbaum,
Athina Rachel Tsangari Harvestdoctor Russians at war (Venice has another typically impressive documentary lineup), and Lawrence Valin Little Jaffna.
Check back throughout the week for what’s happening and what’s not, and my colleagues Pete Hammond, Mike Fleming Jr., Baz Bamigboye, Anthony D’Alessandro, Damon Wise and others will also be covering you from Telluride and TIFF.
