Locarno Diary #5: "Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash" wins the Golden Leopard

by Elisa Giudici

"Vengeance is Mind, All Others Pay Cash" won the Golden Leopard

I did it. With your help! 

I am always so happy when the winner of something-d'Or at a Festival I attended is a movie I was able to see and review. Sometimes seeing all of the competition entries is next to impossible (though I managed at Cannes this year!) and, festival after festival, I discover it requires a special talent to sense which film you should not miss, no matter what. It's a talent/skill I am trying to develop. This time I was lucky. Not only did I see the Golden Leopard winner Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash but I scheduled it thanks to a comment I read right here on The Film Experience!  I was not able to attend the first press screenings but because of the hype generated by that comment and a little research among some Locarno connaisseurs I go to for help, I booked a ticket at the very last projection, late at night

After the first scene I knew it was the right choice, even if some major construction sites on my way home meant I wasn't able to sleep until 3 AM. After the credits I wrote this very note on my notebook: "A winner for sure, if the Jury is brave enough". It was!

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Young Juliette Lewis eating watermelon just cuz

Interview: Michael Shannon on his new Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers”

By Abe Friedtanzer

Michael Shannon's onscreen career deserves more recognition. Yes, he is a two-time Oscar nominee thanks to Revolutionary Road and Nocturnal Animals, but he wasn’t even nominated for his best roles, including Take Shelter, 99 Homes, The Shape of Water, and The Iceman. He also deserved Emmy recognition for his first regular TV role on Boardwalk Empire, which he strangely didn’t get. 

Now, the talented always busy actor of stage and screen, who at one point debuted a whopping ten films in a single year (2016), is returning to television for the limited series Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the book by Liane Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies...

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Locarno Diary #5: Italian Horror Stories

by Elisa Giudici

I was really curious to see Italian movies selected this year in Locarno, after the change of the artistic director. Italy and this part of Switzerland have strong ties: everyone here speaks Italian. You can drive from Milan to Locarno in a couple of hours, so it is not that surprising that the Swiss Festival has strong connections with Italian movie industry. So why are the Italian movies shown in Locarno almost always a disappointment? (The two worst Italian films I saw in the past decade were both showcased here. ) I have my own little conspiracy theories on this topic but that's for another time.

This year there are three prominent Italian movies in Locarno: one in competition, one in Piazza Grande and one in the Cineasti del presente section (which is reserved for young, promising directors). After seeing Il legionario, I was quite optimistic about the fact the something has changed and the "Italian curse" in Locarno has lifted. Perhaps I was too optimistic...

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Doc Corner: 'Homeroom' and 'Bulletproof' take us to school

By Glenn Dunks

I think it’s fair to say that when Frederick Wiseman directed High School in 1968 he wouldn’t have expected the modern version of education with its prevalence of technology and virtual teaching. Charles Guggenheim, too, who in 1984 also made a documentary titled High Schools, that time an Oscar nominee, surely could not have perceived of metal detectors and mass field trips for teachers dressed in chinos to shooting ranges where they learn how to shoot an armed gunman.

But 50 years after Wiseman captured debates over skirt length and observed awkward sexual education classes, Homeroom and Bulletproof both offer very contemporary looks at what it is like to be a student in 2021...

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