While construction of a new Palazzo del Cinema is under way in the center of the film festival venue, causing some dislocation and confusion, Venice's 66th edition (Sept. 2 - Sept. 12) produced a festival it can be proud of, diversified enough to offer something of quality for everyone but catering to no one. Among 75 official selections from 25 countries (the largest number in Venice's history) featuring 71 world premieres, there is a deliberate mix of what Marco Muller, the festival director, calls highbrow and popular art. Films that pleased, offended, or were remakes of previous films engendered debate and emotional reactions, which is what I believe a film festival should do.
The official sections included Venezia 66, whose jury, headed by Ang Lee, awarded the Golden Lion for Best Film to
Lebanon, based on Israel's invasion of that country in 1982, in which the director, Samuel Maoz, participated as a young soldier, and for the past 20 years has been trying to come to terms with the experience. He is the third Israeli director to deal with the horrors of that war, after Ari Folman (
Waltz with Bashir) and Joseph Cedar (
Beaufort), and can expect a mixed reception in Israel.
Six U.S. films competed for the prestigious Golden Lion, among them Michael Moore's
Capitalism: A Love Story and Oliver Stone's
South of the Border. As disparate as they appear, there were perhaps inevitable comparisons, e.g., two American documentaries exposing the flaws of capitalism, Moore's receiving clamorous applause for its content and courage while Stone's became a media event as Hugo Chavez appeared on the red carpet (just another celebrity?), smiling, waving, and signing autographs. The press and the public were out in force in a surreal scene (think Fidel Castro at a film festival!) as Chavez basked in an incalculable amount of free publicity. Orchestrated by Stone, who insists that Chavez is misunderstood and unjustly criticized in the U.S., ignoring his decision to remove term limits on his presidency and other annoying facts that didn't fit his script, the film also includes six other South American presidents of countries that do not always qualify as democracies.
Although strong performances mentioned for best actor included Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's
The Informant!; Nicholas Cage in Werner Herzog's
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans; and Viggo Mortensen in John Hillcoat's
The Road, the Coppa Volpi went to Colin Firth in Tom Ford's
A Single Man. (Herzog is the first director ever to have two films at the same Venice festival; the second was a "surprise film,"
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?, which almost nobody liked. He seems to have an ongoing feud with Abel Ferrara, whose 1992 film with a similar title starred Harvey Keitel, and who was also present with a new film,
Napoli Napoli, Napoli, not in competition).
The Silver Lion for Best Director went to Shirin Neshat, an Iranian artist/filmmaker, for
Women Without Men; the Special Jury Prize went to
Soul Kitchen (an audience favorite) by Fatih Akin, a second-generation Turk who lives in Germany and until now made darker films such as
Head On, the 2004 Berlin Golden Bear winner and
The Edge of Heaven, best screenplay at Cannes in 2007; Ksenia Rappoport for Best Actress in
La Doppia Ora, directed by Giuseppe Capotondi; the Marcello Mastraoianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress to Jasmine Trinca in
Il Grande Sogno by Michele Placido.
Todd Solondz won Best Screenplay for
Life During Wartime; Sylvie Olivé for Best Production Design in
Mr. Nobody; Lion of the Future for a Debut Film went to
Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno in the Orizzonti section; the Controcampo Italiano Prize went to
Cosmonauta by Susanna Nicchiarelli; and Special Mention went to
Negli Occhi by Daniele Anzellotti and Francesco Del Grosso.
Among the films that stayed in my mind: Goran Paskaljevic's
Honeymoons on the open wound of immigration;
Io sono l'amore by Luca Guadagnino, memorable mostly for Tilda Swinton; and Yonfan's
Prince of Tears about Taiwan's "white terror" in the 1950s.
Baaria, Giuseppe Tornatore's meticulous recreation of his childhood in Sicily and the first Italian film to open a festival here, was preceded by high expectations but failed to impress.
This was an exceptional festival that reflected not only the superior quality of number of films, but also the fact that there is no more "Hollywood," a never-never land where all the makeup was perfect and reality was often shown the door. Once that door was opened it can never be closed, and Venice this year did not shy away from politics-both good and bad-and demonstrated the democratization of cinema. By welcoming filmmakers and actors of all ages, nationalities, ethnicity and sexual orientation. But tradition and familiar faces are still welcome: Omar Sharif did a tour de force turn in
The Traveler, Sylvester Stallone was given a Glory to the Filmmaker award, and to provide continuity, George Clooney, a perennial idol in Venice, arrived this year with a new film,
The Men Who Stare at Goats, and a new fiancée-Italian, of course.
The festival itself could have been a film script, I kept thinking, with improbable celebrities eliciting unexpected enthusiasm, and healthy disrespect for the politicans and institutions that deserve it. For example,
Videocracy, a documentary by Italian Erik Gandini, shown in Critics' Week after it was canceled as an official entry and its ads removed from the leading TV outlets, targets Berlusconi's stranglehold on the media.
Francesca, a film by Romanian Bobby Paunescu on racism in Italy, contained unfortunate quotes about Romanians in Italy by both Alessandra Mussolini (a member of the government) and the mayor of Verona, and was withdrawn from the festival after strong objections from the government despite its warm reception.
Having expressed my admiration for Venice 66, I must add that I have seen the most extraordinary fusion imaginable of art and film in Peter Greenaway's
The Wedding At Cana ongoing project that will eventually illuminate nine great paintings, a surprise screening that I saw twice.
Labels: Festivals
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 9/26/2009 10:16:00 PM
