by Elisa Giudici
It's time to celebrate Venice Film Festival winners and comment on the choices of the Jury lead by Bong Joon-ho.
Golden Lion -Happening by Audrey Diwan
This year Venice and Cannes winners have lots in common. The most important prize of the both festivals went to young female French directors presenting their sophomore features. It's a good year for French cinema and a double victory of (deserving) female artists: let's hope we will never go back to decades of male-only director winners. One extra point to Venice: it is the second year in a row a woman has won: in 2020 Chloe Zhao - now a juror - won with Nomadland...
Did Diwan deserve to win? I was more enthusiastic about Julia Ducournau's victory but Diwan's movie is really very good, too. In my opinion, both Titane and Happening are not the strongest entry within their main competitions, but Titane's choice felt more "right". Titane reminded people of Cronenberg but in a sort of "playful" way. It was a strong move to choose an uncompromising, crazy movie directed by a female director as a winner.
Behind Diwan's victory, there is probably also a political stance. Bong Joon-ho said that everyone in the jury loved the movie and it was an ecumenic decision. Yet it is difficult to imagine that the latest news from Texas and recent restrictions on abortion laws in some European states did not play a role, at least in making this movie even more relevant. So why I am not 100% convinced? First of all, the quality in the Venice competition was so high it is impossible not to be sorry for at least a couple of contenders. Second, as I have written before, this is a "canonical" movie about abortion, with a classic approach, raising an inevitable comparison with the superb 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days. I'll take this victory as a sign of our times: there is still a lot to say about abortion and woman's rights over their own lives and bodies, yet a film about something so straightforward as the dangers of clandestine abortions is still considered "radical". It makes you think.
Grand Jury Prize: The Hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino
Paolo in the front, crying softly, the Golden Lion he missed blurred in the back: a scene I'll never forget. È stata la mano di Dio was the front runner since the beginning: I heard the first rumors about how good this movie was from some American journalists, well before the beginning of the Venice Film Festival. Sorrentino won an Oscar, yes, but he clearly wants to win a major Festival. It's the second time in his career he takes the Grand Prix in a major European Festival, missing the final victory. The third if you consider The Great Beauty, a favorite that took nothing in Cannes. His acceptance speech sounded like he were accepting something bigger.
Usually cool, almost detached, Paolo Sorrentino was instead visibly moved, the voice broken while remembering the funeral of his parents, where the head of his high school forbid all but four classmates to attend. "I was so mad back then, but now it is gone because I am in front of the whole class of you".
I think it was important for him to win with for this very film, the one about the sudden loss of his parents and his juvenile years. I would have probably switched the Golden Lion and Grand Jury Prize: the second place for Diwan would have been a victory, while for Sorrentino it's surely a more bitter experience. The last time he "entered the Conclave as a Pope and exit as a Cardinal" (an Italian saying meaning being the front runner makes you weaker) was the year of The Great Beauty and we know how it ended. I think Sorrentino's movie will be the Italian Oscar entry. The good thing is this movie is way better than his recent films: Paolo is back.
Silver Lion: The Power of the Dog by Jane Campion
This one is a smart choice. Campion's movie was my favorite and I would have voted for it, but the prize as a director is a nod for her Oscar viability in the related category, isn't it? Diwan paid homage to Campion in her acceptance speech, like Xavier Dolan a couple of years ago in Cannes. Jane Campion came back after more than 10 years without a new movie and she proved again to be not just a great name of the past, a revered maestro unable to get involved and risk something, but a gorgeous director still roaring loud and clear.
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Penélope Cruz for Parallel Mothers
I am a bit mad about at this. Penélope Cruz is a great choice: she was the queen of this Venice red carpet and gave two amazing performances loved by the critics. So why give her the prize for a conventional, traditional performance in Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers when she proved to be even more incisive and talented when well out of her comfort zone in Gastón Duprat's and Mariano Cohn's Official Competition? It would have been also a way to give something to one of the most original movies in the competition, that really deserved recognition of some kind.
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: John Arcilla for On the Job: The Missing 8
The most unexpected victory of the night. The front runner was Tony Servillo for his one-man show in Mario Martone's Qui rido io, followed by Oscar Isaac in The Card Counter (another movie that deserved more love). Yet I would say it is a good choice and I suspect behind this one there was Bong Joon-ho himself. John Arcilla's role in The Missing 8 is not your traditional award-winning type, yet he's very convincing with a profound evolution of the morality of the character.
Golden Osella for Best Screenplay: The Lost Daughter by Maggie Gyllenhaal
When I saw Gyllenhaal on the red carpet I thought "she should write a note to Elena Ferrante". I really like how The Lost Daughter translated the unconventional, even harsh portrayal of a mother on the screen, but having such a good story as a starting point helped her. In a way, this year Venice was won not only by female directors but also by female writers. Happening is based on a power novel by Annie Ernaux. Stories of women, written by women, performed by women, directed by women.
Special Jury Prize: Il buco by Michelangelo Frammartino It is a great year for Italy, isn't it? Yet I am not that much into Frammartino's Il buco. Well, it was not an easy movie to make and won't be an easy marketable movie to sell, so I'll take this one as a special nod from the jury. Yet Official Competition! The Card Counter!
Marcello Mastroianni Award: Filippo Scotti for The Hand of God
I expected this. Filippo Scotti is surely a nice surprise here: it reminded me of Timothée Chalamet's breakthrough performance in Call Me By Your Name...and not only for the curly hair. Scotti handled such an intimate, dramatic story (with a couple of frankly bizarre scenes) like a veteran while still having that natural, fresh approach only a newcomer can have. A good choice.
From Horizons (Orizzonti)
Best Director: Full Time by Eric Gravel
Best Actress: Laure Calamy for Full Time
I will comment only Best Actress and Best Director wins because I saw only a couple of movies from the Orizzonti section. Well...it wasn't unexpected at all. Calamy was so intense and relatable in a movie entirely focused on her relentless performance. Please, let me brag a little and quote myself from a previous post: "I expect her to be one of the strongest contenders to win a prize in the Orizzonti section." I was not that sure about Eric Gravel, but now I am curious to see if he will be able to take the baton from Dardenne's and Loach's generation of directors with a strong interest in "humanistic cinema".
The Rest of the Prizes from Horizons (Orizzonti)
Best Film Pilgrims, dir: Laurynas Bareisa
Special Jury Prize El Gran Movimiento, dir: Kiro Russo
Best Actor Piseth Chhun, White Building
Best Screenplay Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes: 107 Mothers
Best Short Film Los Huesos, dirs: Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña
Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award For A Debut Film Imaculat, dirs: Monica Stan, George Chiper Lillemark
Venice VR
Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Goliath: Playing With Reality, dirs: Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla