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Venice Film Festival · 2017

Venice Film Festival 2017

Horizons

Programme

18 films · 6 reviews

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Les Bienheureux

Story of a family in the wake of the Algerian civil war.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Sofia Djama)

Caniba

Review preview for Caniba

The directors' intentions remain obscure; as always, one feels that by watching their work one is becoming a part of the experiment.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A film that reflects on the discomfiting significance of cannibalistic desire in human history and culture through the prism of one Japanese man, Issei Sagawa, and his unsettling relationship with his brother.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel; Stars: Issei Sagawa, Jun Sagawa)

Full review

The Cousin (Ha Ben Dod)

A comedy about a family man whose foreign member of staff faces unfounded accusations.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2017; Director: Tzahi Grad; Writer: Tzahi Grad; Stars: Tzahi Grad, Ala Dakka, Osnat Fishman)

Disappearance (Verdwijnen)

A terminally ill woman visits her family in a bid to reconnect with her estranged mum.

(Country: Netherlands, Norway; Year: 2017; Director: Boudewijn Koole; Writer: Jolein Laarman; Stars: Jakob Oftebro, Rifka Lodeizen, Elsie de Brauw, Marcus Hanssen, Eva Garet)

Endangered Species (Espèces Menacées)

The stories of three families are interwoven.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Gilles Bourdos; Writer: Michel Spinosa, Gilles Bourdos, Richard Bausch; Stars: Alice Isaaz, Vincent Rottiers, Suzanne Clément, Pauline Etienne, Alice de Lencquesaing, Eric Elmosnino, Frédéric Pierrot, Damien Chapelle, Grégory Gadebois, Brigitte Catillon, Agathe Dronne, Carlo Brandt)

Gotta Cenerentola

Futuristic retelling of Cinderella.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Alessandro Rak, Dario Sansone; Writer: Ivan Cappiello, Marianna Garofalo, Marino Guarnieri, Alessandro Rak, Dario Sansone, Italo Scialdone; Stars: Massimiliano Gallo, Maria Pia Calzone, Alessandro Gassman, Mariano Rigillo, Renato Carpentieri, Chiara Baffi, Ciro Capriello, Francesca Romana Bergamo, Federica Altamura)

Heal The Living (Réparer les vivants)

Review preview for Heal The Living

Anna Dorval as the transplant's recipient, Dominique Blanc's surgeon, and Emmanuelle Seigner's turn as the mother of the donor are all note-perfect.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Drama about lives connected by an organ transplant.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2016; Director: Katell Quillévéré; Writer: Katell Quillévéré and Gilles Taurand, based on the book by Maylis De Kerangal; Stars: Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Kool Shen, Monia Chokri, Alice Taglioni, Karim Leklou, Finnegan Oldfield, Théo Cholbi, Alice de Lencquesaing, Gabin Verdet, Galatéa Bellugi, Titouan Alda, Andranic Manet)

Full review See: Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Katell Quillévéré in conversation on Heal The Living (Réparer Les Vivants)

Invisible

A girl's world starts to collapse when she discovers she is pregnant.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2017; Director: Pablo Giorgelli; Writer: Pablo Giorgelli; Stars: Mora Arenillas, Diego Cremonesi, Paula Fernandez Mbarak)

Krieg

After his son is killed in combat, a man retreats to a secluded existence but finds himself pitted against an unknown enemy in the mountains.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Rick Ostermann; Writer: Jochen Rausch, Hannah Hollinger; Stars: Ulrich Matthes, Barbara Auer, Jördis Triebel, Thomas Loibl, Lili Epply, Samuel Schneider, Felix von Bredow, Stephan Szasz, Lucas Reiber)

Nico, 1988

Review preview for Nico, 1988

This is astonishing filmmaking.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Biopic of the German singer, who sang with the Velvet Underground

(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Susanna Nicchiarelli; Writer: Susanna Nicchiarelli; Stars: Trine Dyrholm, Calvin Demba, Karina Fernandez, Sandor Funtek, John Gordon Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, Thomas Trabacchi)

Full review See: Trine Dyrholm in conversation on not being defined by men, the costumes for Nico, 1988, Ruth Berlau and Bertolt Brecht, and Astrid Lindgren , Trine Dyrholm in conversation on finding Nico's voice, the emotional states of mind of her character, and Susanna Nicchiarelli's vision for Nico, 1988 , Susanna Nicchiarelli in conversation on Trine Dyrholm, Nico's sense of irony, and the look from costume designers Francesca Vecchi and Roberta Vecchi for Nico, 1988 , Susanna Nicchiarelli in conversation on Nico, 1988

Opening gala

No Date, No Signature

Review preview for No Date, No Signature

No Date, No Signature is a moral maze in which superb performances mean we can never lose sight of the human impact of what might seem like logical decisions.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A pathologist is riven with guilt after the death of a child.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2017; Director: Vahid Jalilvand; Writer: Ali Zarnegar, Vahid Jalilvand; Stars: Amir Agha'ee, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Hediyeh Tehrani, Sa'eed Dakh, Alireza Ostadi, Zakiyeh Behbahani)

Full review

Oblivion Verses (Los Versos Del Olvido)

When the elderly caretaker of a remote morgue discovers the body of a young woman killed during a protest, he embarks on an odyssey to give her a proper burial before the militia returns.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Alireza Khatami; Writer: Alireza Khatami; Stars: Juan Margallo, Tomás del Estal, Manuel Morón, Itziar Aizpuru, Julio Jung, Amparo Noguera, Gonzalo Robles)

The Rape Of Recy Taylor

Review preview for The Rape Of Recy Taylor

A film of vital importance.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary about the rape of a black Alabama woman by six white men in 1944, and its consequences.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Nancy Buirski; Writer: Nancy Buirski; Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Jack Kyser, Tommy Bernardi, Robert Corbitt, Alma Daniels, Crystal Feimster, Tom Gibbs, Esther Cooper Jackson, James Johnson II, Danielle L. McGuire, Chris Money, John L. Payne, Recy Taylor)

Full review

The Testament (Haedut)

A historian leading debate against Holocaust deniers discovers that his mother carries a false identity.

(Country: Austria, Israel; Year: 2017; Director: Amichai Greenberg; Writer: Amichai Greenberg; Stars: Ori Pfeffer, Rivka Gur, Hagit Dasberg, Orna Rotenberg, Ori Yaniv, Emanuel Cohn)

Ugly Nasty People (Brutti e Cattivi)

A group of physically disabled gangsters plan a bank heist.

(Country: Italy, Belgium, France; Year: 2017; Director: Cosimo Gomez; Writer: Cosimo Gomez, Luca Infascelli; Stars: Sara Serraiocco, Marco D'Amore, Claudio Santamaria, Rinat Khismatouline, Marco Pancrazi, Giorgio Colangeli, Adamo Dionisi, Maria Chiara Augenti, Riccardo Mioni, Narcisse Mame, Filippo Dini, Aline Belibi, Rosa Canova, Yang Shi, Simoncino Simone Martucci)

Under The Tree

Review preview for Under The Tree

The tone is deliberately odd blending the naturalism of the day-to-day emotions of relationships and grief, with the altogether more heightened tensions of a revenge thriller, while still keeping a cheeky eye on the absurdity of a mooning garden gnome.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A spat between neighbours over a garden tree spirals out of control.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2017; Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson; Writer: Huldar Breiðfjörð, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson; Stars: Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson, Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Selma Björnsdóttir, Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir)

Full review

La Vita In Comune

Fairy tale about a poetic mayor who is imprisoned involuntarily and then strikes up a friendship with the ex-husband of the woman he adores.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2017; Director: Edoardo Winspeare; Writer: Alessandro Valenti, Edoardo Winspeare; Stars: Antonio Carluccio, Celeste Casciaro, Gustavo Caputo, Claudio Giangreco, Davide Riso)

West Of Sunshine

A father faces a race against time to pay back a loan shark, while looking after his young son.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2017; Director: Jason Raftopoulos; Writer: Jason Raftopoulos; Stars: Damian Hill, Ty Perham, Arthur Angel, Kat Stewart, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Kaarin Fairfax)