Venice 2022: The "Tár" Tease and the Competition Lineup

by Nathaniel R

Cate Blanchett in TÁR

Most sites just give you a list of film titles but we always aim to provide you with more information which is one of the (several) reasons we're slower with the news! Over 50% of the competition titles at Venice this year come from just three countries: France, Italy, and the US and a lot of titles are connected to Netflix. Outside of those countries we get one film from Asia, one from the Middle East, two from South America, and two from UK/Ireland. If you include the Out of Competition titles there's more variety with Canada, Denmark, Ukraine, The Phillipines, and Estonia entering the chat.

After the jump a little bit about each of the 22 films competing for the Golden Lion, and a few of the Out of Competition films including the new Lars Von Trier. Plus that bewitching teaser to Tár, Todd Field's first film in 16 years...

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Ranking the International Feature Film Winners

by Juan Carlos Ojano

From De Sica to Hamaguchi, the past two years of hosting the podcast The One-Inch Barrier has allowed me to watch all that films that were selected by the Academy for its International Feature Film category - 74 winners and 337 nominees (all but one title). While this category has had its issues over the years, it has also put an international spotlight on non-English language cinema on Hollywood’s biggest night. While the category has  always been far from a perfect encapsulation of world cinema, it's a great jumping off point as noted in the series finale.  (Cláudio Alves did a beautiful summary of our discussion - video included!). 

Here is my personal not-that-definitive ranking of the winners of the category. Things are very fluid especially in the midsection... 

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Cannes Diary #8: Reshaping the world through voices or silence

by Elisa Giudici

TORI & LOKITA

Speak up for yourself and change the world. The problem is that sometimes that the most vulnerable people have no voice, enduring violence and betrayal in silence. Sometimes a forgotten language is found again. At other times silence is a radical choice made. Today, an immigrant story from the Dardennes, and a vivid true story from Agnieszka Smoczyńska, the director of The Lure...

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Monica Vitti (1931-2022) What makes a great actor?

by Timothy Lyons

This year’s Best Actress discussion / post-BAFTA nomination shake-up has reached a new height of confused scrambling. Things have, for now, refocused on the single consistent presence throughout precursor season: Lady Gaga as the murderous Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci. When watching the film, it became clear to me how much Gaga’s distinctive visage bears striking resemblance to that of the great Italian star Monica Vitti. This came into sad focus today on my learning of the legend’s passing on Wednesday at the age of ninety from complications related to Alzheimer’s.

I will get quickly back to the subject at hand but to help in drawing out Vitti’s unique gifts, a little more on Gaga in Gucci as a comparison…

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An exhaustive Italian guide to Paolo Sorrentino’s 'The Hand of God'

by Elisa Giudici

As your Italian correspondent here at The Film Experience, it's my duty to give you an exhaustive guide to our current Oscar finalist. Or, at least, it is my attempt. I am not from Naples and The Hand of God is a movie that's deeply connected to Neapolitan folklore and culture. Let’s start from the beginning though we hope you've already screened the movie on Netflix...

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