The Venice Film Festival 2023 kicks off on August 30, showcasing 121 feature-length films. Here are twenty of those features I’m particularly looking forward to (if we count the new Wes Anderson as feature-length, which it isn’t, but let’s go with it anyway).
These are in approximately inverse order of how much the very thought of them gets my endorphins racing, but don’t take that ranking too seriously because I am very down to clown with all of these. Wiseman did not make the cut.
20. Woman Of… (Michał Englert & Małgorzata Szumowska, Poland)
Adam’s efforts to be a good father and husband in his small town are disrupted when he grows uncomfortable that his body doesn’t reflect his true identity. The directors’ last effort (Never Gonna Snow Again, 2020) was delightfully horny, and unless I’m reading too much into the synopsis it sounds like this one may foreground some trans concerns… Englert was also the cinematographer for prescient sci-fi The Congress (Folman, 2013), and acted as cinematographer for Szumowska on her folk horror The Other Lamb (2019) and other films before he was promoted to co-director.
19. Love Is A Gun (Lee Hong Chi, Hong Kong)
This seaside crime drama sees Sweet Potato (director Lee Hong Chi, starring as his own lead man) finds his life coming apart under pressure from his mother, his troublesome old friend Maozi, and his mysterious ex-boss. Love interest Seven offers some respite, but events are coming to a head… The Chinese government has wrecked huge damage on the Hong Kong film industry, but it’s still operating – and this one looks to be gorgeously shot by Ying-Rong Zhu, in his feature debut. Director/star Lee is best known to me for playing the absent best friend Wild Cat in Bi Gan’s luscious Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018). Between the milieu, the genre, the sumptuous looks and the Bi Gan connection, I’m all in.
18. Society of the Snow (J.A. Bayona, Spain/Uruguay)
Another depiction of the Andes plane crash and its associated cannibalism. Do we need another one after Alive (Marshall, 1993)? From the director of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)? Well, the answer is – yes, because Fallen Kingdom is the greatest Jurassic World sequel. The guy put laser-guided dinosaurs in a gothic mansion, and had a little clone girl running around! Pure pre-code horror meets Hammer. Sure, this doesn’t necessarily speak to him having the grace to handle this true-life tale, but he’s more than earned my interest. I’m sure he’ll keep it appropriate.
17. Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariana Louis-Seize, Canada)
No need to explain the plot, it’s in the title. No need to explain the attraction, again, it’s in the title. This is Louis-Seize’s feature debut, but her shorts are worth checking out – her Shooting Star (TIFF 2020) had an interesting Freudian edge. Vampire-as-metaphor is a little overdone of late, but I’m always open to someone taking another swing at the genre.
16. Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine, USA)
The man behind Julian Donkey-Boy (1999), Gummo (1997), Spring Breakers (2012) – and let’s not necessarily forget Trash Humpers (2009) – is back – with an “action-oriented” film “shot entirely in infrared.” Nobody seems to know what the plot is just yet. Cinema lives! Check out this image:
15. Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan)
Takumi and his daughter Hana live in a traditional Japanese village, which is thrown into turmoil by plans to develop a ‘glamping’ site. Will this be excellent, like Asako I & II (2018), and Drive My Car (2021)? Or an overpraised misfire like Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021)? My heart says… the former.
14. The Order of Time (Liliana Cavani, Italy)
A group of friends enjoying an evening birthday party in a seaside villa discover that the world… may be about to end.I love a good apocalypse movie, from The Day The Earth Caught Fire (Guest, 1961) to Melancholia (Von Trier, 2011), so I’m ready for this. The log-line says that with the end looming time appears to flow differently, on a hot summer’s night that will “change their lives forever.” Yes, I imagine it would.
13. The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark)
In the 1700s Mads Mikkelsen (sold) sets out at the behest of the king to tame the wild heaths of Jutland (sold) despite ravenous wolves and brutal highwaymen (sold). The Danish title is Bastarden (look, I already said I was sold).
12. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin, USA)
Friedkin is back! Lance Reddick (RIP) is back (John Wick 4 (Stahelski, 2023) was NOT his final movie). Kiefer Sutherland is having a little moment on the back of They Cloned Tyrone (Taylor, 2023). and Jason Clarke is also in this. Why do people seem to rag on Jason Clarke? Well, tough luck haters, he was great in Oppenheimer (Nolan, 2023) and look, here he is in this too. Eat it! From the stage play of the same name.
11. Finalmente l’alba (Saverio Costanzo, Italy)
A women (Lily James) in 1950s Italy, on the verge of marriage, takes a job as a movie extra and “finds herself” in an “infinite night.” I’m not necessarily a huge Lily James fan but this also has Willem Dafoe, Rachel Sennott (yes!), and (if you are so inclined) Joe Keery. Features the work of Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who has done the last three Guadagnios and a couple of Weerasethakuls. And a Ron Howard for luck.
10. Priscilla (Sofia Coppola, USA)
Coppola’s hit rate has been up and down over the years, she has greatness in her and aside from On The Rocks (2020) she’s always interesting. Expect lots of compare-and-contrast articles putting this one next to Baz Luhrman’s Elvis (2022), but there’s a lot to say about Priscilla Presley that is yet to be covered. Cinematography from Philippe Le Sourd who also lensed The Beguiled (2017) and, uh, On The Rocks (2020). Also Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013), oddly enough. From Priscilla Presley’s memoirs and executive produced by her, but let’s hope that doesn’t hold it back too much.
9. Vermin (Sebastien Vanicek, France)
Some sort of French Arachnophobia (1991), as spiders breed, multiply and grow bigger and hungrier in a French suburb. I was about to say arthouse Arachnophobia, but possibly not, maybe Venice has a taste for a little schlock this year. There’s nothing wrong with that. Stars Théo Christine from Neill Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo (2023). Look, I just like spider movies, ok? I have to find out why this one got into Venice.
8. Hit Man (Richard Linklater, USA)
A cop (Glen Powell) working undercover as the most in-demand hitman in Houston (sold) breaks protocol to help a woman escape her abusive ex-boyfriend. I’m in, for the premise, the director, and for Powell. This is produced by Aggregate Films, Jason Bateman’s production company who usually make films for, well, Jason Bateman (such as the wonderful Game Night (2018)), but who seem to now be branching out into other things.
7. Daaaaaali! (Quentin Dupieux, France)
I’m always down to Dupieux. In this one, a French journalist meets Salvador Dali several times for a documentary. No other information. But that’s all I need. Dupieux may have never again hit the heights of Deerskin (2019), but if you get his wavelength he always raises a dumb, absurdist chuckle. Features some of his regulars, including the delightful Anais Demoustier (Smoking Causes, Coughing, Incredible But True, Keep An Eye Out, etc.)
6. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson, UK/USA)
Anderson’s prim surfaces always conceal a deep pain and darkness, and this may be truer than ever in this Roald Dahl adaptation about a man who sews his eyes shut in order to psychically cheat at cards. Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes (reunited!), Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade. Sure, it’s just 37 minutes long and going straight to Netflix, but I’ll take it.
5. Ferrari (Michael Mann, USA)
Mann’s first movie in eight years stars Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari. In 1957, on the verge of bankruptcy and mourning a son, Ferrari throws himself into a plan to turn his company and life around – by winning the iconic 1,000 mile race across Italy known as the Mille Miglia. Also stars Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley and Patrick Dempsey. Dempsey’s movie career never really took off (much as I liked him in Enchanted (2007) and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)). Could this be the dawn of a Dempsenaissance? If you’re going to take a big final swing at it, a Michael Mann movie is a good way to go. Will he try for an Italian accent? Let’s hope.
4. The Theory of Everything (Tim Kroger, Switzerland)
Probably best to go cold (heh) for this thriller about a physicist attending a scientific conference in the Alps, where bodies pile up, everyone is up to something, and a mysterious secret lies buried deep beneath the mountain. Could an enigmatic young jazz pianist hold the answers? I hope so, she’s played by Olivia Ross (Personal Shopper (2016), Eden (2014), Carlos (2010), and multiple other Mia Hansen-Løve and Olivier Assayas movies. Oh, and she was in The Old Guard (Prince-Bythewood, 2020), the starry-but-kinda-bad Netflix action flick, but never mind I guess.)
3. The Killer (David Fincher, USA)
“After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employer’s and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.” See, to me that sounds like The Bourne Identity. Except directed by David Fincher – and starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton. This also reunites Fincher with Andrew Kevin Walker (writer of Se7en (1995)), it shares a cinematographer with Michael Mann’s Ferrari (Erik Messerschmidt, who also lensed Fincher’s own Mank (2020)), and has a soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (who’ve done all Fincher’s movies since 2010’s The Social Network, as well as Bones and All (Guadagnino, 2022)). Surely this is one killer who can’t miss.
2. The Beast (Bertrand Bonello, France)
I loved Nocturama (2016) and Zombi Child (2019), so now he’s got his lockdown oddity Coma (2022) out of the way here’s hoping for something back up in that league from Bonello. This is a sci-fi romance about a machine that removes emotions. Of course, it’s based on a story by Henry James. Admittedly the sci-fi aspect sounds risible – removing emotions is already a bit old hat, but this machine does it by purifying DNA? I suppose I’ll have to suspend disbelief. Nonetheless, I can’t resist. It’s Bonello directing Lea Seydoux and George MacKay. I have faith.
1. Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/USA)
Lanthimos returns with this spin on the Frankenstein myth. A young woman is brought back to life by a crazed doctor, and runs off to travel the world and have debauched adventures with her lawyer. But what was the method of her resurrection, and what is to be her place in this brave new world? Judging from the trailer, this has the sumptuous look of City of Lost Children (Jeunet & Caro, 1995) meets Tim Burton. Stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo (the lawyer), Willem Dafoe (the scientist), Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott, and the bendy witch from Joel Coen’s 2021 The Tragedy of Macbeth herself, Kathryn Hunter. Based on a tale by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray (Lanark). Early synopses explained the resurrection, but later ones do not, so that may have been a bit of a spoiler. I hope not! Stay safe out there!
The Venice Film Festival runs from August 30 to September 9, 2023. The festival takes place in the shadow of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which are occurring because studios refuse to pay their writers and actors what they are worth.
Whitlock&Pope 