Hou Hsiao-Hsien @ 75: International Acclaim (1987-1998)

by Cláudio Alves

In contrast with their critical acclaim abroad, the Taiwanese reception of Hou Hsiai-Hsien's films was less enthusiastic. Dwindling box-office returns and accusations that his films were too uncommerciable led the director to attempt bridging the popular and the artful. 1987's Daughter of the Nile returns to the realm of modern Taiwan's youth, abandoning the midcentury narratives that had characterized the autobiographical films. It's also notable for its more significant urban setting and single-minded focus on a female protagonist. 

After this project, he wouldn't pay much attention to commercial appeal while his ambitions grew. At the end of the 80s, we encounter a peak of international recognition, the ascension of Hou Hsiao-Hsien to the pantheon of modern-day masters of cinema. All it took was a landmark film that, in 1989, earned the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and kickstarted a trilogy of historical reflections…

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That's a wrap on Venice!

by Nathaniel R

Elisa and Nathaniel on one of several drink between movies breaks

That's a wrap on Venezia 78, otherwise known at the 2021 edition of the Venice Film Festival. The Golden Lion went to the excellent French abortion drama L'Evenement / Happening with Parallel Mothers, Spencer, and a trio of Netflix movies Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, and Power of the Dog  also emerging as hot future awards-prospects from the competition. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the city is (my first time visiting), or what it's like to take a boat ride to the movies each day. Or especially to hang with Elisa in person who was such a great translator for me both linguistically and culturally (and so much fun, too!). There was definitely a learning curve as a first-timer (I missed way too many of the hot ticket titles) but overall it was a good experience.  We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Consider subscribing for the price of a cup of coffee a month if you did as festival coverage isn't cheap for us behind the scenes...

• Elisa's Diary #1 Parallel Mothers and Power of the Dog
• Elisa's Diary #2 The Card Counter, Hand of God, The Lost Daughter
• Elisa's Diary #3 Spencer, A Plein Temps, Il Buco
• Eiisa's Diary #4 Sundown, Official Competition, etc...
• Elisa Extra Dune - full review
• Elisa's Diary #5 L'Evenement, Lost Illusions, Mona Lisa...
• Elisa's Diary #6 Reflection, Captain Volkonoff Escaped, Old Henry, etc...
• Elisa's Diary #7 Halloween Kills, Freaks Out, The Last Duel, etc...
• Elisa Extra Golden Lion and other prizes

• Nathaniel in Venice #1 Parallel Mothers
• Nathaniel in Venice #2 Power of the Dog, Madeleine Collins
• Nathaniel in Venice #3 Atlantide, Les Promesses, The Lost Daughter
• Nathaniel in Venice #4 107 Mothers, Official Competition, Miracle, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jessica Chastain & Oscar Isaac 🖤
• Nathaniel in Venice #5 Last Night in Soho, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
• Nathaniel in Venice #6 Catholic School, A Hole in the Fence, The Box
• Nathaniel Extra Cambodia's Oscar submission
• Nathaniel in Venice #7 Mother Lode, L'Evenement, The Falls, etc...
• Nathaniel Extra Jury of One - best of what he saw

cup o' joe : $2.50USD - monthly popcorn : $5.00USD - monthly movie ticket : $10.00USD - monthly

I ♥ The Film Experience

Nathaniel's Venice Wrap-Up: Jury of One Awards

by Nathaniel R

The Venice jury and I agree on a Screenplay prize for THE LOST DAUGHTER

Elisa's already shared the official winners of Venice (and her take on those choices since she saw the whole competition slate). I admire her completism at festivals but my habit is instead to sample a bit from each program. I saw twenty-one films which is a very low number to see over eight days at a major fest — blame Venice’s absurd ticketing system this year which encouraged people to be on their phones securing tickets WHILE watching movies -- i met several people who had set timers for themselves! -- since they sold out in seconds after becoming available every few hours. Since I refused to play on my phone during movies I missed two crucial movies (Spencer and Dune) but here are my favorite achievements from the films I did catch from all programs (Competition, Out of Competitions, Orizzonti, Biennale Collage Cinema, and Critics Week)

RULES: In true festival jury fashion (even though it’s just myself) I’m only allowing one prize per film. And rather than giving out a Best Actress and Best Actor prize (don't make me decide this early!) I’m listing my 15 favorite performances after the jump. What, too much? Acting is magic so I shan't apologize…. 

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Venice Diary #07 - "The Last Duel" and the last movies of the fest

by Elisa Giudici

Michael Myers is back in "Halloween Kills"

Final day!  I hope you are ready because in this entry I am going to cover all the movies I saw in the last two days of the Venice Film Festival. Eight movies, from European arthouse cinema to Hollywood blockbusters, with some solid performances, an instant cult, and the only major disappointment of this incredible edition of the Mostra.

I'll try to keep it short because of the lack of sleep. An inside joke between my roommate and me this year was that the Filipino movie with its 208 minutes of length lasted longer than our typical night of sleep in the last two weeks...

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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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