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James Mottram

Comic book movies and film festivals can mix
While it’s not the first comic book movie to play at a festival – the brooding X-Men spin-off Logan featured out of competition at the Berlinale in 2017 – Todd Phillips’ Joker walked away with stellar reviews and, to the shock of some, the Golden Lion – Venice’s top prize.
The film – in which Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a lonely professional clown who gradually morphs into Batman’s nemesis – is a compelling work, far removed from the usual spandex-filled superhero fare.
But it still amazes that studio backers Warner Brothers had the confidence to offer the movie to Venice’s selection committee. It was a gamble that paid off handsomely.

No clear Oscar front-runner
In The Shape of Water, Spotlight and Birdman, the Venice Film Festival has managed to pick three of the past five Best Picture Oscar winners. Other awards favourites, including Gravity and La La Land , have also played at the festival.
But this year, there wasn’t the feeling that a clear Academy Award contender was among the selection. Despite its Golden Lion win, Joker will surely be too dark and morbid for the awards, while James Gray’s sci-fi Ad Astra may be too intellectual for the voters (although there’s every chance that Brad Pitt’s taciturn astronaut could win him a long-overdue acting Oscar).
Of course, with Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic The Irishman unfinished in time for Venice, the year’s most anticipated film has yet to be seen.

Netflix: Cannes’ loss is Venice’s gain, again
Once more, Venice welcomed Netflix with open arms. The streaming giant’s ongoing spat with Cannes means that Venice festival director Alberto Barbera can cherry-pick the best of the company’s original movie offerings.
Here, it was a case of three very different films: Steven Soderbergh’s Panama Papers misfire The Laundromat, with Gary Oldman and Meryl Streep; Noah Baumbach’s brilliant Marriage Story, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a New York couple going through an increasingly bitter divorce; and, out of competition, David Michod’s solid-but-uninspiring historical drama The King, starring Timothée Chalamet as England’s Prince Hal.
Whatever the individual successes and flaws, the festival was further proof that A-list directors and stars are flocking to Netflix to make quality, adult-oriented fare that the studios just can’t be bothered with. Cannes really needs to kiss and make up for 2020.

Toxic masculinity is high on the agenda
If there was a (probably overused) buzz-phrase at this year’s Venice, it was “toxic masculinity”. In the post-#MeToo world, examining the corrosive effects of men in society has become a theme caught in the spotlight.
Ad Astra saw Brad Pitt’s astronaut dealing with severe daddy issues in space. Then there was The Burnt Orange Heresy, with Claes Bang playing a ruthless, greedy, misogynistic art critic. Likewise, the adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians saw Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson as military commanders who lash out against savage hoards in an unnamed turn-of-the-century desert setting.
And, of course, Joker ploughed this very violent furrow too.

Asian cinema impressed
The festival opened with Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s The Truth, his first foray into European art house territory, aided and abetted by French acting royalty Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.
Chinese director Lou Ye also worked with Gallic actors in his black-and-white noirish Saturday Fiction, set in 1941 Shanghai. Gong Li was as luminous as ever in the lead.
But it was Hong Kong veteran Yonfan’s return to filmmaking that caused the biggest roar with his first ever animation, No. 7 Cherry Lane – a strange and surreal love story set to the backdrop of Hong Kong’s 1967 pro-Communist riots. The jury saw fit to award him the Best Screenplay award, a much-deserved turnaround after critics stung his last film, 2009’s Prince of Tears.

Documentaries rule
Non-fiction is in rude health, judging by some of the films on show.
Alex Gibney’s return with Citizen K was an illuminating tale about Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who made his fortune in oil only to come a cropper after crossing Vladimir Putin.
The film is a fascinating examination of power and wealth; the same could also be said for Lauren Greenfield’s The Kingmaker, a revealing documentary about the inimitable Imelda Marcos, who was first lady of the Philippines for 21 years. If all you know about her is that excessive shoe collection, then this film is a must. It is a story that needs to be seen to be believed.
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Venice 2019: six takeaways from the film festival, from Oscar contenders to hit Asian cinema

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THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY - Claes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki (Credits - Jose Haro)

Imelda Marcos in a still from The Kingmaker

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in a still from Marriage Story

A still from No. 7 Cherry Lane, the animated film directed by Yonfan.

Director Todd Phillips (right) and Joaquin Phoenix with the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 76th Venice Film Festival. Photo: Reuters

Venice 2019: Joker film review – Joaquin Phoenix excels as DC Comics super villain in wrenching origin story

Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker. Photo: Nico Tavernise

Robert De Niro in a still from Joker. Photo: Nico Tavernise

Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker (category IIB), directed by Todd Phillips. Robert De Niro and Frances Conroy co-star. Photo: Nico Tavernise

Venice 2019: Ad Astra film review – Brad Pitt shines in James Gray’s philosophical sci-fi masterpiece

Brad Pitt in a still from Ad Astra.

Tommy Lee Jones in a still from Ad Astra

Brad Pitt and Ruth Negga in a still from Ad Astra

Brad Pitt in a still from Ad Astra (category TBC), directed by James Gray.

Venice 2019: The Truth film review – Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche in Hirokazu Koreeda’s Paris-set drama

Ethan Hawke and Juliette Binoche play a married couple in The Truth

Catherine Deneuve in a still from The Truth

(From left to right) Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve in a scene from The Truth (category: TBC), directed by Hirokazu Koreeda.

‘All the evil came out’: filmmaker Yonfan talks Hong Kong protests and his 1967-set film No.7 Cherry Lane

Yonfan poses at the Venice Film Festival. Photo: Ettore Ferrari/Ansa/AP

The 76th Venice Film Festival - Animated film "Ji Yuan Tai Qi Hao (No. 7 Cherry Lane)" in competition - Arrivals - Venice, Italy September 2, 2019 - Actors Tian Zhuangzhuang, Sylvia Chang, Alex Lam and director Yonfan pose. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

A still from No. 7 Cherry Lane, the new animated film from Hong Kong director Yonfan which is in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

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With the 2019 Venice Film Festival wrapping up yesterday, here are the key things we learned from the star-studded 11-day event
The Joker showed comic book films can be compelling; Netflix films are still showing up Cannes; and Hong Kong director Yonfan came back with a bang


With the 2019 Venice Film Festival ending yesterday, here are the key things we learned from the star-studded 11-day event.


Venice 2019: six takeaways from the film festival, from Oscar contenders to hit Asian cinema

With the 2019 Venice Film Festival wrapping up yesterday, here are the key things we learned from the star-studded 11-day event The Joker showed comic book films can be compelling; Netflix films are still showing up Cannes; and Hong Kong director Yonfan came back with a bang

With the 2019 Venice Film Festival wrapping up yesterday, here are the key things we learned from the star-studded 11-day event

The Joker showed comic book films can be compelling; Netflix films are still showing up Cannes; and Hong Kong director Yonfan came back with a bang