How Had I Never Seen... "Last Year at Marienbad"?

by Nick Taylor

Where to even begin with Last Year at Marienbad? In one sense, Alan Resnais’s film announces itself as a slippery, enigmatic object from its very first image. The resplendent music, equally ominous and inviting, mixes with the opening narration like they’re from the same source. Sacha Vernig’s silvery, elegant photography, gliding through the grounds of a baroque, ornate hotel and over dozens of handsome, impossibly rich guests, immediately communicates that Resnais has built a film both ephemeral and obsidian. The editing typically feeds into this gilded fluidity, save for when it disrupts those established rhythms as some other memory and breaks through an ongoing sequence like an intrusive thought to assert its own impression. The hotel itself looks glamorously assembled, yet every tree and painting have the same energy as the obelisk from 2001. The whole place feels inevitable without being easy to read.

And yet, Last Year at Marienbad isn’t obtuse about its mysteries...

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Nathaniel in Venice: "L'Evenement" and "Mother Lode" are gems.

Nathaniel reporting from Venice

This is my final review batch post from Venice. This weekend we'll talk Cambodia's Oscar submission (decided it deserved its own post!), and I'll sound off on "jury of one" stuff after the official winners have sunk in to underline my own 'best' of; You know how we love a list here at TFE and the neat thing about festivals is that everyone designs or ends up with their own program within the larger programs! And yes after all that (aka Monday) we'll be updating each Oscar chart. I am now safely ensconced back in NYC and thanks to Chris for holding down the fort on my travel day. As you read this I am undoubtedly snuggling with the boyfriend’s cat who is very clingy and filled with “missed you” purrs -- heaven! This post will probably contain no movies you’ve yet heard of but don’t run away! Festivals are also about discovering films from all over the world.

Here are the last four films I screened at Venice in ascending order of pleasure...

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Venice Diary #06 - A comedian, a captain, and multiple torturers

by Elisa Giudici

A lot of movies to discuss today (the festival ends tomorrow) including two potential Golden Lion winners....

Reflection (Valentyn Vasyanovych)
A major theme in this edition is torture, as experienced by both victims and torturers. It is common to see movies on such brutal acts of violence revolving around the need to give a voice and a spotlight to the forgotten victims and their true stories. Some of the movies shown this year in Venice prefer to focus on the torturer, asking the audience if it is really possible to atone for such a crime?

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Rapid Fire Yes No Maybe So: "The Matrix Resurrections," "C'mon C'mon," "Don't Look Up" and More

Nathaniel is heading back from Venice. While he got to watch so many great upcoming films, all we’re left with are trailers. Christopher James is taking over and giving all the recent trailers the Yes No Maybe So treatment.

Neo and Trinity are back in the first trailer for "The Matrix Resurrections," opening this December.

By: Christopher James

What a wild week of movie trailers! A lot of films seemed to want to capitalize on festival buzz and release trailers alongside glowing reviews. However, some blockbusters, most notably The Matrix Resurrections, thought this week would be the best week to own the internet. Either which way, it’s nice to be excited to go to the movies again and it looks like there is a lot of great stuff on the horizon.

Let’s do some Yes No Maybe So after the jump…

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The Gay Fantasia of the 'Fast' Series

Christopher James has taken over The Film Experience. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy day (hopefully Nathaniel's flight from Venice is less bumpy)

Is this a Sean Cody video you'd like to watch? Good news, there are nine (technically ten) of these movies.By: Christopher James

The men race cars because they can’t kiss.

They also sleep with the other’s sister, because that’s the only way they can be family (in their minds).

In 2001, The Fast and the Furious had a big climax where a group of street racers heisted DVD players. Twenty years later, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson go to space IN A CAR and wax on about invincibility. This is punctuated with a joke about their makeshift spacesuits making them look like minions. No franchise has morphed and changed more than the Fast & Furious franchise. Also, no other franchise has been as homoerotic. This isn't a new observation, but it still needs to be shouted from the rooftops. Now that Fast 9 is available to buy - buckle up, grab a bucket of Corona, and have the binge of your life!

Simply put, the Fast & Furious has something for everyone… as long as you are up for the insanity. It is pure drag machismo, and all most are in on the joke. Spoilers ahead, though really they should just make you want to watch them all.

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