Biennale Cinema 2024 - Roundup of the 81st Venice International Film Festival

This year’s edition of the film festival was under the leadership of Pietrangelo Buttafuoco who was appointed last October as the president of the Venice Biennale, the foundation that oversees the annual Venice International Film Festival, International Festival of Contemporary Dance, International Festival of Contemporary Music, International Theatre Festival, plus La Biennale d'Arte di Venezia and La Biennale d'Architettura di Venezia which are held in alternating years.

Described by several publications as a right-wing journalist, The Guardian further described him as an eccentric type of conservative, and one of the reasons is because he converted to Islam in 2015.

Considering the origins of the film festival (and the Venice Bienniale) was under a Fascist-administeration with a focus on “variety and entertainment”, one couldn’t help but wonder how much of Buttafuoco’s politics will shape the film and other festivals.

In a published introduction statement for this year’s edition of the film festival, he wrote, “The Festival has the oracular power of reading ongoing reality and capturing upcoming trends. I am certain…the selected movies will project their images well beyond the silver screen, illuminating – as they meet the future halfway – our desire to know.” It probably sounded better in Italian. 

At the closing ceremony he reportedly said, “The exhibition was never separated from current events: testimonies of the pain and life that affects each of us were represented on the screen. These days in the halls there has been a journey of knowledge of the world.”

Several of the films in this year’s selection certainly reflected on the current state of politics and society, but the festival also strongly focuses on celebrity culture all the PR that comes with, and it has been established as an "Oscars launchpad” under Alberto Barbera’s leadership as the Aristic Director of the film festival. 

Last year’s edition lacked Hollywood celebrities on the red carpet because of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, but this year made up for it with the likes of Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, George Clooney, Brad Pitt to name a few (Maria and Wolfs were scheduled to avoid any overlap between Jolie and Pitt. Additionally, Isabelle Huppert who was the Jury President for this year’s edition contributed to the fashion PR by mostly appearing dressed in Balenciaga, on or off the red carpet.


Away from the glitz and glamour, I enjoyed my time staying in Lido, watching films, going for walks, drinking lots of espressos, and swimming in the Adriatic Sea. I’ve said it before and will say it again, this festival and its location make for a perfect end of summer trip, especially for cinephiles who also like to swim.

 

These are my top 10, first is my no. 1 film and the rest are added in alphabetical order: 


Love (Dag Johan Haugerud)

This film from the Competition section screened on the second last day of the festival. It is part of trilogy titled Sex-Love-Dreams.

Sex premiered at Berlinale earlier this year but I didn’t include it in my schedule. As I was researching films by the director, and after reading this review of the film by Tommaso Tocci, I made sure not to miss Love.

Set in Oslo during the month of August, it is about different ways of thinking about relationships and intimacy (sexual or platonic) that do not have to fit societal norms.

Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig) is a Urologist, middle-aged, attractive and is comfortable with her choice to not get married or finding a long-term soulmate, but is active when it comes to dating. 

Her young assisting nurse Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen) is gay. The two slowly strike up a friendship after first running into each other on a ferry ride. They share their thoughts and experiences on dating, cruising, relationships and what’s important in life. In between, we see their interactions with people they meet or get involved with, and self-discovery. The characters and attitudes in this film are pragmatic and caring, and very far from being sentimental. There is a Scandinavian idealism which may be deemed unrealistic or scoffed at, but I found myself moved by the kindness depicted in this film. 

In an interview from the press kit, the director says this about the film,

“…at its core, the film’s main topic is how to do good. I believe fiction plays a crucial role in envisioning alternative worlds and perspectives. It allows people to express themselves and act in ways that are often unusual. To me, an important function of fiction is to inspire new ways of thinking in real life. With LOVE – and the entire trilogy – my primary goal has been to convey that new ways of thinking and behaving are possible.

 

Babygirl (Halina Reijn)

Watching Babygirl at a 9.00am press screening was the morning jolt I didn’t know I needed.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Nicole Kidman in a meaty role like this. I found it more amusing than sexy and had a good time watching this film about power dynamics, desire and sex between Nicole Kidman’s Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman), a sexually frustrated corporate CEO and her kinky intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson).

Two major highlights:
- A hot and shirtless Harris Dickinson dancing to George Michael’s Father Figure in a hotel room

- Dickinson and Kidman dancing in an underground club to Crush by Yellow Claw & Natte Visstick & RHYME. THAT’s how you film a dance club scene.

Also, Nicole Kidman’s Romy is what I imagine happens to Alice, her character in Eyes Wide Shut 25 years later. These two films would work as a double bill.

 

Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari (Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti)

A 206 minute essay film divided into three chapters about animals, plants and stones.

It includes archival footage alongside current day locations of a veterinary clinic, a botanical garden, and a quarry.

The middle chapter, Erbari was favourite section of the film, about the oldest botanical gardens in Padua created in 1545. Within the archives of this garden are letters, photos and stories like the one about a young military officer who died during the First World War and left behind a “war herbarium”, plant specimens he collected from his different military outposts.

A captivating film that blends history, science, philosophy, and an observation on the interconnectedness between humans and nature.

 

Aicha (Mehdi M. Barsaoui)

Set in Tunisia, freedom and agency for an Arab women is the main theme in Mehdi Barsaoui’s film. 

It is about 20-something Aicha (Fatma Sfar) who one day finds an opportunity to escape her life in a small town in southern Tunisia, living with her lower working class family and with little hope for a better future personally or profesionally at the hotel she works in.

As the sole survivor of a minivan crash, she escapes to Tunis to start a new life under a new identity. 

Experiencing a new life in a city, she experiences sexism, misogyny and a corrupt police - not much has changed since the Arab Spring revolution where Tunisia was the only country that successfully had a change of governance, Aicha has to find ways to survive and be true to herself. Part thriller, part melodrama, and an excellent performance by Fatma Sfar.

 

Diccianove / Nineteen (Giovanni Tortorici)

Nineteen is an odd age, the last year to be considered a teenager and one year before achieving young adult status.

Leonardo (Manfredi Marini) who is 19, is quiet, shy, neurotic, obsessive, restless, angsty, and has a sense of superiority, like most 19-year olds. He is trying to figure things out — about life, friendships, what he wants to study, where he wants to live, and his sexuality.

The film is also about navigating cities (London, Sienna, Turin) as a student. Where to go, who to meet, what kind of city rituals can be developed.

A coming-of-age film that avoids a neat narrative showing growth and self-realisation. Instead, it quietly captures the feelings of isolation and emotional confusion and loss at that age. You leave the film knowing Leonardo will need many more years of life experience to get a better understanding of himself and what he wants. 

 

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 (Kevin Costner)

Kevin Costner’s latest passion project isn’t going the way he anticipated. Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 was released in June 28 worldwide and Chapter 2 was scheduled to be released in August.

Chapter 1 which premiered at Cannes in May didn’t do well at the box office, so Warner Bros decided to delay the theatrical release of Chapter 2, indefinitely.

Chapter 2 was a late addition in the line up at Venice, and was slotted to premiere on the last day of the festival, with the screening of Chapter 1 before it on the same day.

I first watched Chapter 1 in Dubai and left the cinema feeling disappointed. The structure of the three hour long film felt like a TV show with a baffling non-ending, which was basically a montage of clips akin to a trailer for Chapter 2.

Oddly, the film was still playing in one cinema in Dubai more than a month after its release, later in Dubai and I felt compelled to give it a second chance. During the second viewing I found myself more in tune with the rhythm of the film and ended up enjoying it a lot. The non-ending was still baffling, but I left hoping Chapter 2 will be released soon and that Costner gets to make Chapters 3 and 4.

Needless to say, I was happy when Chapter 2 was announced to premier at the festival. I wasn’t intending to watch Chapter 1 for a third time, but realised I didn’t want to miss what felt like a rare opportunity to watch both chapters back-to-back on the big screen. 

The timeline in all four chapters is supposed to span 15 years, pre-and post-Civil War in America. The first two chapters span 5 years, starting in 1859. There are multiple story lines that include white settlers slowly expanding into the American west, and the Native Americans who are dealing with their loss of land and home, although so far they aren’t as prominent as the white characters in the film. There is also romance and revenge, hustlers and do-gooders, and quite a few answered questions which I’m certain will be revealed in the last two chapters, especially about a character named Mr Pickering (Giovanni Ribisi).

This is an old fashioned American Western epic, there’s a continuation and story development that is getting built on and I think we can only truly judge this project after seeing all four chapters. I find it difficult to assess each chapter individually. So far it’s one long film, and hopefully it will get longer and longer if Costner can complete parts 3 and 4.
At the press conference he said “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to make it and then I’m going to make the fourth one.”

Chapter 2 also has a non-ending with another montage showing what to expect in Chapter 3. Now I think the decision to end the two films this way is audacious. 

Seeing how the film flopped at the box office and received many negative reviews, I think Chapter 1 needed a different kind of marketing for its theatrical release. Perhaps a touring road-show type presentation would’ve gotten more people in America to see it. It also probably would have been better if it was released in the winter instead of a summer. Might be easier to convince people to commit watching a 3-hour long film during the cold winter. 

Aspirations for a film project like this feel very much out of touch with the current state of Hollywood, but how can one not admire and support Kevin Costner’s dream to make it.

 

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 (Göran Olsson)

After my experience at Berlinale earlier this year, I was happy to see a film like this included in this year’s edition of the Venice International Film Festival.

It is 206 min long and consists of news footage, interviews and debates made specifically for Swedish television between 1958 and 1989 that covered both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

It may be an eye opener for those who have not yet registered that the problems inflicted on Palestinian civilians is decades old, and not just since October 2023.

It is also a great lesson in media studies and media history in terms of how Swedish TV allowed its reporters and journalists to challenge narratives that we normally don’t see in other western media.

Coverage of the current war in Gaza by mainstream news continue to shy away from framing it as a genocide, and a film like this digs deep into a slice of media history that illustrates why so many of us are calling for a free Palestine. 

Despite its long running time, it was not challenging to watch. An epilogue that shows the signing of the Oslo peace accords and Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak shaking hands is a painful reminder of how much this so-called peace accord failed the Palestinian people. 

 

Paul & Paulette Take a Bath (Jethro Massey)

This film premiered in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (International Critics’ Week), an independent and parallel section of the film festival.

Described as a “twisted romantic comedy about a young American photographer and a French girl with a taste for the macabre”, I found it to more moving than I expected.

Paul (Jérémie Galiana) is the young American photographer who can’t make a living as an artist and finds a job at real estate company. Paulette (Marie Benati) goes around Paris reenacting crime scenes at the sites where they occurred, including the beheading of Marie Antoinette.

They meet on the streets on Paris and strike up a conversation, and end up connecting in ways neither anticipated.

Conversations about place, family, love and death reveal personal histories, dark emotions and tragedy. A charming and endearing tale of a one-sided romance that eventually turns into a deeper friendship between the two. 

 

The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodóvar)

A Pedro Almodóvar film starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and a reflection on friendship, memory, mortality. Not to mention the great clothes, furniture and art. What’s not to love?

 

Super Happy Forever (Igarashi Kohe)

This was the opening film in the Giornate degli Autori, another independent sidebar of the Venice International Film Festival.

Set during two summers five years apart in a seaside resort in Japan, it’s a delicate and melancholic film told in two halves, the first about memories and grief, the second unravels these memories — a mutual attraction between two young guests at the resort, meanderings in a hotel and in the small town, discussions about cinema, Rob Zombie’s Halloween vs John Carpenter’s version, a misplaced red cap, late night eating instant noodles on the streets after clubbing.

We hear a karaoke version of Bobby Darin’s Beyond the Sea sung a few times by different characters in the film,  
Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waiting for me

 

I also really liked:



Favourite rep screenings:
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003): This was screened after Weir received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. At the beginning of the ceremony, Ethan Hawke read out a lovely letter to him and ended it with “O Captain! My Captain!”.

L’oro di Napoli (Vittorio De Sica, 1954): This was the pre-opening film of the festival and the world premiere of its new restoration. Told in six chapters, about life with all its comedies and tragedies, my favourites were “The Funeral” and “The Gamblers”. 

Darkness to Light (Michael Lurie, Eric Friedler, 2024): The Classics section at the festival also includes new documentaries about filmmakers. This film is a must for anyone interested in the history of Jerry Lewis’ unfinished and mostly unseen film The Day the Clown Cried where he also acts as a clown in a concentration camp to amuse children in a concentration camp, “long before any other director had narrated the Holocaust on the big screen in fiction”. A fascinating look at what Lewis wanted to achieve and the difficulties in making and completing the film, including an ending of the film that was more devastating than I could have imagined.


Most hyped film that left me disappointed:
The Brutalist (Brady Corbet): At the press conference, Alberto Barbera announced this film would be screened on 70mm. I attended the first press screening which was also the first time anyone would see this film. What one didn’t expect was a poor quality, mostly out of focus projection. The film is 3h 35 min film including an intermission,  and at no stage before or after the intermission were there any efforts to improve the projection. Even more infuriating was finding people on social media who attended the screening cheering the projectionist in video that went viral. It was not a job well done, and quite telling that most of the people at my screening have hardly watched any films actually screened on film. The festival itself didn’t even acknowledge what happened, but I assume the world premiere screening the following day in the presence of the cast and crew was projected correctly.

As for the film itself, its grandiosity is impressive, but I thought it had too many underdeveloped themes and a weak script. I need more time to articulate these thoughts better. But Adrien Brody is very good in it, and Daniel Blumberg’s score was my favourite part of the film.
But, here’s an important question, how can Corbet cast Isaach De Bankolé and give him so little to do in it? I do hope I can watch it again on the big screen, with a better projectionist in charge who knows how to use the focus function.


Laughed out loud:
Broken Rage (Takeshi Kitano): A 62 min film and the was the most mysterious till the day of its screening. There was hardly any information about it, including images till a few days of the festival. I also loved the Director’s statement on the website, “I am very honoured to be invited to the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival with Broken Rage for its world premiere. It’s really a film that dares a new style. I would be overwhelmed if everyone liked it.”
Told in two parts, the first is an action and violent set up about a hitman and the yakuza, the second part is the comedy version of the same story. Hysterical.


Wish I watched:
No Sleep Till (Alexandra Simpson)
Soul of the Desert (Mónica Taboada-Tapia)


Wish I skipped:
Beetlejuice (Tim Burton)
Joker: Folie a Deux (Todd Phillips)


Wish I liked more:
Harvest (Athina Rachel Tsangari)
Queer (Luca Guadagnino), but I did love needle drops, especially Nirvana’s Come As You Are when Daniel Craig’s William Lee sets eyes on Drew Starkey’s Eugene Allerton for the first time. I also loved the scene where they are seated by the bar counter and the looks of longing and desire on Daniel Craig’s face. Long conversations at a bar counter are the hottest dates. 


There’s always at least one controversial film:
Georgian Anti-Putin Film ‘The Antique’ Allowed To Screen At Venice After Emergency Decree Overturned


Favourite hangouts and chats:

  • Talking about films and life with Edo Choi from the Museum of the Moving Image.

  • Talking about film, especially The Brutalist with Henry Fonda for President’s Alexander Horwath and Regina Schlagnitweit. 

  • Getting introduced to Tyler Taormina (producer of No Sleep Till directed by Alexandra Simpson which I didn’t get a chance to watch) at the Pavements after party which looked like it ended when I turned up at 10pm. We talked till midnight about our favourite films from the past 20 years. 

  • Getting asked “What did you think?” by Jason Simpson (also one of the producers of No Sleep Till who I met at the non-Pavements after party) as I was walking out teary eyed after the film ended and had a lovely heartfelt chat about the film.


Made me chuckle:

A tale in three tote bags and statement socks

 

List of all the films I watched:

Competition
Babygirl (by Halina Reijn)
The Brutalist (Brady Corbet)
Diva Futura (Giulia Louise Steigerwalt)
El Jockey (Luis Ortega)
Harvest (Athina Rachel Tsangari)
Joker: Folie a Deux (Todd Phillips)
Love (Dag Johan Haugerud)
Maria (Pablo Larraín)
Queer (Luca Guadagnino)
The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodóvar)
Stranger Eyes (Yeo Siew Hua)
Trois Amies (Emmanuel Mouret)
Vermiglio (Maura Delpero)

Out of Competition
2073 (Asif Kapadia)
Bestiari, Erbari, Lapidari (Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti)
Beetlejuice (Tim Burton)
Broken Rage (Takeshi Kitano)
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (Kevin Costner)
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 (Kevin Costner)
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 (Göran Olsson)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)
Wolfs (Jon Watts)

Orizzonti 
Aicha (Mehdi M. Barsaoui)
Diccianove (Giovanni Tortorici)
Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland)
Happy Holidays (Scandar Copti)
Happyend (Neo Sora)
Pavements (Alex Ross Perry)

Orizzonti Extra 
Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo (Khaled Mansour)
Shahed / The Witness (Nader Saeivar)

Venice Classics 
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
L’oro di Napoli (Vittorio De Sica, 1954)
La Peau Douce (François Truffaut, 1964)
From Darkness to Light (Michael Lurie, Eric Friedler)

Giornate Degli Autori / Venice Days
Boomerang (Shahab Fotouhi)
Sudan, Remember Us (Hind Meddeb)
Super Happy Forever (Igarashi Kohe)

Settimana Internazionale Della Critica / Critics’ Week
Sans Dieu (Alessandro Rocca) + Paul & Paulette Take a Bath (Jethro Massey)

Film Festival Diaries, FilmHind MezainaComment