Films I'm Excited to See at the 2018 Venice Film Festival
Venice's lineup for its 75th year may be the most exciting in a decade. From Orson Welles's last film to the first man on the moon the Lido will be host to a startling array of movies with fantastic potential. The "In Competition" titles alone are enough to fill up two week's viewing time for anyone attending and there are several out-of-competition titles that any festival would kill to premiere. That's partially because, in addition to films distributed in the conventional way Venice is also embracing the works of non-traditional studios including Amazon, who has two movies (full disclosure: IMDb is owned by Amazon) and Netflix, who has six (full disclosure: I have a Netflix account). These films are selected out of the In Competition, Out of Competition, Venice Classics, and Orizzonti categories. You can also see my Best of Venice list here- by Keith Simanton, Senior Film Editor
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21 titles
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsJohn HustonOja KodarPeter BogdanovichAt a media-swamped party to celebrate his 70th birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.Welles, who passed away in October of 1985, started shooting this film in August of 1970. Josh Karp's excellent book "Orson Welles's Last Movie" should be required on-the-plane reading readying for the historic unveiling of this film on August 31. Out-of-competition, World Premiere
- DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsRyan GoslingClaire FoyJason ClarkeA look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.Seems like the only person involved with La La Land NOT working again with Chazelle on this is Emma Stone.
Everyone else, including composer Justin Hurwitz', cinematographer Linus Sandgren', and editor Tom Cross, have joined in. This was one of the films that left Cinema-Con with the biggest buzz, due largely to this trailer.
Chazelle's last premiere at Venice, in 2016, La La Land was tinged with tragedy. Less than a week before the August 31 debut an earthquake hit central Italy, killing 300. The traditional after-party and dinner was cancelled in recognition. In Competition, World Premiere - DirectorBradley CooperStarsLady GagaBradley CooperSam ElliottA musician helps a young singer find fame as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.It was evident when Warners unveiled the remake of this chestnut at Cinema-Con (it closed their show) that the studio was high, high, high on it. The trailer from DIRECTOR Cooper doesn't get old; Gaga holds the screen. Cooper looks appropriately grizzled and his Sam Elliott rumble sounds right. And the snippets of the tunes sound like a lot of playlist in the future. It's not In Competition, which seems odd, but the politics behind that move may be too much to untangle. Out-of-Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorLuca GuadagninoStarsChloë Grace MoretzTilda SwintonDoris HickA darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.The director of Call Me By Your Name and I Am Love reimagines Dario Argento's 1977 frenetic and freaky cult-classic. I watched five unnerving minutes of this at Cinema-Con (I understand they are, by far, the most intense moments in the whole film) and I'm a bit scared, and more than a bit excited, to see the rest. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsOlivia ColmanEmma StoneRachel WeiszIn early 18th-century England, the status quo at the court is upset when a new servant arrives and endears herself to a frail Queen Anne.As with our previous entry I'm already a bit nervous at the prospect of a Lanthimos film not tethered to the supposed morality of the present but to a more-barbarous past. There's some minor solace that, since it's based on history and not written by him so we won't have a man having to decide which family member to shoot (Killing of a Sacred Deer) or which animal to become (The Lobster). That said The Favourite can go anywhere, do anything. I'm not even sure it's meant to be accurate. It's possible that it's more of a commentary on just such a historical drama. When a director can make people have chills just by unveiling something new....well, that's the power of a unique artist. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTim Blake NelsonWillie WatsonClancy BrownSix tales of life and violence in the Old West, following a singing gunslinger, a bank robber, a traveling impresario, an elderly prospector, a wagon train, and a perverse pair of bounty hunters.Will they show all six episodes of this Netflix mini-series from the masterful Coens? When the fest feted Frances MacDormand (married to Joel Coen) in 2014 for Olive Kitteridge they showed all four episodes, two a night. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorJacques AudiardStarsJohn C. ReillyJoaquin PhoenixJake GyllenhaalEli and Charlie Sisters, an infamous duo of gunslinging assassins, chase a gold prospector and his unexpected ally in 1850s Oregon.Audiard's films include A Prophet and Rust and Bone. He's clearly capable with intense actors. He's got a clutch of them on this one. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsYalitza AparicioMarina de TaviraDiego Cortina AutreyA year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
- DirectorOlivier AssayasStarsGuillaume CanetJuliette BinocheVincent MacaigneSet in the Parisian publishing world, an editor and an author find themselves in over their heads, as they cope with a middle-age crisis, the changing industry and their wives.It's Assayas so this is a must-catch regardless but it's also about the crumbling of real-world publishing made by a filmmaker who is watching titanic changes in his own industry. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.Kent wrote and directed the chilling The Babadook and she's reuniting with her editor, Simon Njoo, and cinematographer, Radek Ladczuk, from that film. I'm looking forward to the same driving energy without the nails-on-chalkboard whiny kid. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsTom SchillingSebastian KochPaula BeerGerman artist Kurt Barnert has escaped East Germany and now lives in West Germany, but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR-regime.von Donnersmarck wrote and directed 2007's Best Foreign Language film The Lives of Others. He followed it up with one of the biggest embarrassments for the HFPA and the Golden Globes, the much-derided Best Comedy/Musical nominee of 2010, The Tourist (which, while not a great film, didn't deserve the widespread scorn heaped on it). This is the director's first film in eight years. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsWillem DafoeRupert FriendOscar IsaacA look at the life of painter Vincent van Gogh during the time he lived in Arles and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.A small sampling of Schnable's other efforts include the exquisite The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Basquiat, which still boasts one of the most eclectic casts in recent memory. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorMike LeighStarsRory KinnearMaxine PeakeNeil BellThe story of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre in which British forces attacked a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Manchester.Not counting the Kitchen Sink film school of the '60s no one does working-class rage quite like Mike Leigh (okay, okay, after Ken Loach). For my money Leigh's best film has been Naked, with a nod to Topsy Turvy and Life Is Sweet. But I found Mr. Turner, his bio-pic about the 19th century painter and his most recent, to be a slog, a slog by a grouch, about a grouch, that made me grouchy. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorFrancesco ZippelStarsWilliam FriedkinWes AndersonDario ArgentoIn this documentary, the hotshot director of The Exorcist (1973) and The French Connection (1971), now 83 years old, is interviewed about his career, and a number of his colleagues and admirers weigh in with reminiscences and tributes.A "warts-and-all" documentary about Friedkin would be amazing. I kinda have to imagine though this fits under the "appreciation" category of docs like De Palma from 2015. Venice Classics, World Premiere
- DirectorMary HarronStarsHannah MurrayMatt SmithSosie BaconThe tragic tale of an all-American girl who was transformed into a cold-blooded killer in the summer of 1969.I'm a huge fan of Matt Smith but also of Mary Harron who directed the ahead-of-its-time, maybe still ahead-of-its-time American Psycho. I'd love to see her get recognition with this American psycho. Orrizonti, World Premiere
- DirectorS. Craig ZahlerStarsMel GibsonVince VaughnTory KittlesOnce two overzealous cops get suspended from the force, they must delve into the criminal underworld to get their proper compensation.Zahler is a self-made director, carving out a spot for himself with the brutal Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99. He reunites with his Brawl star Vince Vaughan here. Out-of-Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorMorgan NevilleStarsAlan CummingPeter BogdanovichOja KodarIn the final fifteen years of the life of legendary director Orson Welles, he pins his Hollywood comeback hopes on a film, The Other Side of the Wind (2018), in itself a film about an aging film director trying to finish his last great movie.Oscar-winner Morgan Neville looks at the life of Orson Welles and the creation of the Out-of-Competition title, The Other Side of the Wind. Neville has done docs on the beloved, such as the backup singers from 20 Feet from Stardom and the saintly, with Fred Rogers and Won't You Be My Neighbor. So what about curmudgeonly raconteurs? This appears to be the year of Welles. Out-of-Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorDavid OelhoffenStarsMatthias SchoenaertsReda KatebAdel BencherifDriss and Manuel are two childhood friends who end up taking opposite paths: Manuel chose to embrace the thug life, while Driss becomes a cop. When Manuel's biggest deal goes terribly wrong, the two men meet again and come to realize they both need each other to survive in their worlds.Oelhoffen wrote and directed one of the best overlooked films of 2014, Far From Men, which is reason enough for me. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorBrady CorbetStarsNatalie PortmanJude LawStacy MartinAn unusual set of circumstances brings unexpected success to a pop star.I've not seen director Corbet's first full-length feature The Childhood of a Leader but I've seen how daring Portman's choices have been of late (Annihilation, Jackie). In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsAnders Danielsen LieJonas Strand GravliJon ØigardenA three-part story of Norway's worst terrorist attack in which over seventy people were killed. 22 July looks at the disaster itself, the survivors, Norway's political system and the lawyers who worked on this horrific case.Greengrass, who directed the blood-chilling 9-11 plane film, Flight 93, tackles a nearly impossible subject and one most people can't relish experiencing. But he's one of the few who could pull it off. In Competition, World Premiere
- DirectorBruce WeberStarsPolly BergenBenicio Del ToroJohnny DeppA celebration of the infamous life of Hollywood bad boy, Robert Mitchum.Mitchum. Do I need to go into more detail?