Venice 2024: Jury of One

by Elisa Giudici

As the Venice Film Festival draws to a close, the time has come to reflect on the competition, predict who will claim the prestigious Golden Lion, and consider which films will carry momentum into Oscar season. Above all, it's time to think about what will truly remain from this year's edition.

Overall Festival Impressions

Last year’s festival lacked consistency, with a mix of standout films and titles that induced sheer embarrassment. This year, however—thanks in part to a much stronger and more compelling Italian contingent—the competition has been far more solid, with only a couple of notable failures and several standout films. In fact, considering the lackluster showing at Cannes this year, Venice could very well take the title of Festival of the Year. The event is anchored by The Brutalist by Brady Corbet, a monumental work operating on a level unmatched by any other film this year. Almodóvar, Guadagnino, Salles, and Bing have also impressed...

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Venice '24: "The Brutalist" is monumental

Please join us in congratulating Elisa Giudici on this milestone, her 100th post for The Film Experience. Direct from Venice, Italy. And what a film, apparently, for this occassion. 

by Elisa Giudici

THE BRUTALIST

After multiple attempts, Brady Corbet has finally made his Great American Film. It’s always risky to make such a statement, but The Brutalist isn’t just the standout film of this year’s Venice Film Festival, nor merely the most ambitious and monumental project of 2024; It's a work destined to leave a lasting legacy. With the right reception, this could easily become a landmark in cinema history...

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TIFF ’24: Another take on the transporting “Kill the Jockey”

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s not always the plot a film that makes it interesting but sometimes the way that it’s told. Kill the Jockey most certainly falls under that description, enhancing a premise about a jockey on the run from his mobster boss after an accident with an unforgettable and unique style. Those seeking a narrative that has a distinct start and finish with clear resolution for all its characters won’t necessarily find that here, but what transpires over its ninety-six minutes is definitely captivating… 

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TIFF '24: “Hard Truths” hits hard

by Cláudio Alves

It's been six years since cinemas have been left waiting for a new Mike Leigh film. Moreover, the British portraitist of working-class life and struggle, joy and pain, secrets and lies, had for a while abandoned the contemporary stories upon which his early career was built. Though the director's forays into historical pasts have produced naught but great cinema, it's fair to say it's been over six years since the world has encountered what most associate with the words "a Mike Leigh film." Well, the wait is over, and I'm pleased to say Hard Truths is well worth the wait.

Not so much a return to form as a return to familiarity, the film also finds the auteur reuniting with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the Oscar-nominated star of his Palme d'Or victor who also scored the director's Career Girls. And if what Leigh delivers behind the camera could be called a triumph, what his leading lady accomplishes demands a stronger word. She's the stuff of legend and what actressing dreams are made of…

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TIFF '24: "Carnival Is Over" and serving poor man's Shakespeare

by Cláudio Alves

CARNIVAL IS OVER (Photo Credit: Helena Barreto)

You know a film has grand ambitions, mayhap delusions of grandeur, when it opens with two extensive title cards setting up a mythos and cast of characters you'll need to follow to make sense of what's to come. Carnival Is Over wants to ensure the audience understands the century-old Animal Game, a clandestine lottery controlled by the "bicheiros" of Rio de Janeiro. Bask in this sense of legacy, for it's about to be upturned as a crisis of power blossoms within the crime lord's syndicate. It all starts with the return of a prodigal son from abroad, a year after his father's suspicious death. Valério is the heir's name, but you might as well call him Hamlet. Or perhaps Macbeth. Later in the narrative, he'll even play a little Titus Andronicus…

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