Venice 2023: Opening film "Comandante" and the latest from Liliani Cavani

by Elisa Giudici

Edoardo De Angelis & Pierfrancesco Favino on the set of "Comandante"

Opening the Venice Film Festival is a daunting enough challenge. Now imagine being called in as a last-minute replacement for Luca Guadagnino’s new film starring Zendaya. Yet, Edoardo De Angelis managed to uphold the honor of Italian cinema admirably. His new film Comandante stands as a notable piece of filmmaking, injecting an interesting angle into the war subgenre of submarine films. To put it in perspective, it holds its own against the likes of The Wolf's Call, a recent European film of similar ambition from 2019, which boated a budget twice the size of Comandante.

A budget of 14 million euros isn't trivial within the national cinematic landscape, where the majority of yearly productions hover around the 1 to 2 million euro mark. This significant financial backing primarily went into meticulously recreating the interior and exterior spaces of the Cappellini submarine. Surprisingly, this endeavor was complicated by the scarcity of photographic references for the original ship or its close counterparts. De Angelis's film underscores a poignant historical reality: the majority of Italy's 120 submarines utilized during World War II met their demise, their crews were lost at sea, resting beneath coral crosses...

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My Helen Mirren Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

It's hard to believe Helen Mirren hasn't been nominated for an Oscar since The Last Station, way back in 2009. The shock comes not from her fate's unfairness, mind you. Instead, it stems from how Mirren seems to be actively chasing gold, nabbing essential precursor support for projects like Hitchcock, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Woman in Gold, Trumbo, and The Leisure Seeker. This year, the actress may be going down the same road with Golda, the recently released biopic about Golda Meier, "the Iron Lady of Israel.". To mark the occasion, let's look away from the failed Oscar buzz and consider the peak of Helen Mirren's work as a big-screen legend.

As with Angela Bassett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sigourney Weaver, Marilyn Monroe, and Maggie Smith, TV performances will be set aside for another day, and so will her Academy-anointed turns. Caveats out of the way, this is my Mirren top ten…

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Elisa hits Venice once again!

Our favourite Italian journalist Elisa Giudici has arrived at the Lido for the 80th annual Venice Film Festival. I had the pleasure of attending with Elisa two years ago and though I couldn't make it this year, Elisa will do her usual wonderful job of filling us in on the details. Elisa's first review will be up tonight. In the meantime do follow Elisa on Instagram. 

Once Elisa is done at Venice, the festivals continue across the ocean. This year Claudio will be our man on the ground at TIFF for the first time, so stay tuned. 

Emmys Voting Closed - Coverage Plans For The Season

By: Christopher James

Emmys voting closed yesterday, but it will be a while before we know who our winners are.

Currently, the Primetime Emmys are scheduled for Monday, January 15th on FOX. The Creative Arts Emmys will take place the weekend before on Saturday, January 6th and Sunday, January 7th, with an edited version of the ceremony airing on FXX on Saturday, January 13th on FOX. The reason for the push is the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes, which The Film Experience stands with the striking members.

Since voting has closed, there’s nothing more that nominees or studios can do to curry votes or campaign. We’re in a holding period. That doesn’t mean the coverage will stop, but it does mean we can space it out more before we head into Oscar madness.

Expect weekly category analyses across the comedy, drama and limited series/TV movie fields each Tuesday, as well as ad hoc Creative Arts category deep dives.

Check out our Emmys coverage so far:

• Category Analysis

  • Drama Supporting Categories by Abe Friedtanzer

  • Comedy Supporting Categories by Abe Friedtanzer

  • Drama Guest Categories by Abe Friedtanzer

• “A History of the Oscars at the Emmys (Can They Win Variety Special, Live, for the First Time?)” by Chris James

• “The Strange History of Iconic TV Characters That Never Won Emmys,” by Eric Blume

• “Emmy Spotlight: "The Other Two" and the tradition of the 'lone writing nomination’,” by Chris James

• “Emmy Nominations - Who's Up and Who's Down?,” by Chris James

• “Four shows entirely dominated the Emmy nominations. Worthy or excessive?” by Abe Friedtanzer

• “Team Experience Reacts to the 2023 Emmy Nominations”

• “"Succession" Leads 2023 Emmy Nominations”

What shows do you hope will win Emmys this year? Let us know in the comments below.

What did you see this week?

by Nathaniel R

Moviegoing is slowing down as summer winds down. It's the way of things. Even "Barbenheimer" is finally losing theaters though the legs are still impressive; Barbie will cross the rare $600 million domestic mark by next weekend and Oppenheimer crosses $300 any day now which is in its own way even more impressive given the limits of the prestige biopic genre. In an effort to not lose their standings in the "biggest hits of the year" race, Super Mario Bros the Movie and The Little Mermaid reexpanded though Barbie and Oppenheimer have officially leapfrogged them in receipts. Did you hit the movies this weekend? We caught Emma Seligman's irreverent absurd Bottoms which was very funny and surprisingly* violent.

* I skipped the trailer on that one and only went because I loved Emma Seligman's debut, Shiva Baby. 

Weekend Box Office Aug 25-27 🔺 = new or expanding /  ★ = Recommended
WIDE (Over 600 Screens)	LIMITED / PLATFORM
GRAN TURISMO	BOTTOMS
1 🔺 GRAN TURISMO $17.4 *NEW* 3856 screens	1 🔺★ BOTTOMS (US, comedy)  $461k *NEW* 10 screens

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