Venice: Lee Chang-dong's Oscar submission "Possible Love"

Elisa Giudici reporting from Venice

POSSIBLE LOVE

It took Lee Chang-dong more than ten years to write Possible Love, after the horrifying police repression of laid-off SsangYong Motor workers in 2009 made him want to tackle the way inequality in Korean society is built around work, and around the pride or shame attached to having or losing a good job. After seeing the result, it is difficult not to marvel that it took him only ten years to write one of the most flawless and powerful films of the last decade. Every scene across its 164-minute running time works like an instrument in a concert, sometimes with almost diabolical precision, and as an homage to Kieślowski’s Dekalog (to which it is dedicated) and similarly intent on encompassing both the moral dilemmas of ordinary life and the capitalist structures surrounding them...

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Venice: "Wild Horse Nine" is an Instant Oscar Contender

Elisa Giudici reporting from Venice

WILD HORSE NINE © Searchlight

Two days into Venice, and the new Martin McDonagh movie already seems close to ending the competition for the Golden Lion. There are more than a few dark horses and wild cards waiting over the next ten days of the festival, but the enthusiastic applause at the end of the press screening and John Malkovich's immediate entrance into the Oscar conversation as a leading actor should give everyone a clear idea of just how strong and convincing the film is. Believe the hype: this is a very solid movie about male friendship (no surprise here) that really does not shy away from the political.

McDonagh will not be the last filmmaker arriving here at the Lido with a movie that is quintessentially his creature, "just" another version of his usual work. Nevetheless this one is written and directed with such control and cocksureness, that the result is impressive in its formal perfection...

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Drag Race RuCap: "Drag Queens for Change"

The Meek(s) shall inherit the Earth! Myki will get her revenge!!!

NICK TAYLOR: Cláudio, your assertion that the end of last week’s episode snapped the season into place has already bore fruit in the competition. On the one hand, this week’s winner and the eliminated queen feel in some way like RuPaul tipping the scales back from a Rate-A-Queen result she didn’t agree with. On the other, the judge’s choices were very correct, and the queen’s performances in the maxi challenge were almost uniformly strong, with one glaring exception. It’s hard to believe we’re not even halfway through this pack of queens, but the margin for error grows slimmer by the day. 

CLÁUDIO ALVES: I’ve either been blessed with Apollo’s gift or just spent too much time watching Drag Race franchises over the years, sinking into the depths of pattern recognition and reality TV cynicism…

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Venice: Kathryn Bigelow returns with the terrifying "A House of Dynamite"

Elisa Giudici reporting from Venice

Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite is not, at its core, about nuclear war. It is about the frightening ease with which the world could stumble into one. Eight years after Detroit, Bigelow returns with a film that feels less like a departure than the logical consequence of her career: taut, unsentimental, and anchored in a realism so sharp that it leaves the audience unnerved long after the credits roll.

The premise is brutally simple. One morning, somewhere in the Pacific, a missile is launched and slips undetected past U.S. defense systems. Nothing is confirmed—its origin, its payload, its intent—but the clock begins ticking: sixteen minutes until impact...

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Oscar Volleys: Best Documentary shows why awards matter

The Oscar Volleys are back for some post-nomination talks. Cláudio Alves and Ben Miller discuss Best Documentary Feature Film...

NO OTHER LAND | © Antipode Films

CLÁUDIO: War, ethnic cleansing, sexual assault, anti-colonial fight, and more ethnic cleansing - this year's Best Documentary Feature Oscar race has it all. As often happens, the populist fare and celebrity-focused docs got a lot of precursor attention but failed to convince the Academy's more politically-minded Academy branch. No Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story or Jim Henson: Idea Man here. That leaves us with no fluff or even the potential for levity, no feel-good conclusion or catharsis of any sort. And, to be honest, these pictures and the race in general are better for it. But it does make it hard to discuss, which is why I'm elated that I got such a great conversation partner. If anyone can make this convo enjoyable, if not outright fun, it's you, Ben.

BEN: Nothing brings me more joy to talk about than five films that are big fat bummers.  I do wish we had something with a little more light or levity, but that is the byproduct of documentaries in general.  They depict real life, and our real lives are bummers right now…

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