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Venice Film Festival · 2020

Venice Film Festival 2020

Orizzonti

Programme

18 films · 10 reviews

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Apples (Mila)

Review preview for Apples

There’s sadness here for isolation and a grief that goes beyond the loss of a single life once lived. There’s also a heightened sense of the smaller absurdities of existence.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man caught up in an amnesia pandemic tries to construct a new life for himself.

(Country: Greece, Poland, Slovenia; Year: 2020; Director: Christos Nikou; Writer: Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis; Stars: Aris Servetalis, Sofia Georgovassili, Anna Kalaitzidou, Argyris Bakirtzis, Kostas Laskos, Babis Makridis, Kimon Fioretos, Costas Xikominos, Alexandra Aidini, Nota Tserniafski, Konstantinos Papatheodorou, Electra Sarri, Natalie Chavez, Akis Benardis, Simos Vogiatzoglou)

Full review See: A snapshot of memory: Christos Nikou on Apples and his upcoming film with Carey Mulligan

The Best Is Yet To Come

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed journalism intern Han Dong decides to change the fate of 100 million people with a single article. This film is inspired by true events.

(Country: China; Year: 2020; Director: Jing Wang; Writer: Chengfeng Chen, Minmin Huang, Wei Huang, Li Jingrui; Stars: White K, Miao Miao, Songwen Zhang, Yang Song)

Careless Crime

Review preview for Careless Crime

Time doesn't just shift in Shahram Mokri's Iranian drama about a fire at a cinema that killed 478, it also folds like origami and pirouettes, the past and present so close as they dance they can feel each other's breath.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
On a very ordinary day, four ordinary people decide to set fire to a cinema packed with people.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2020; Director: Shahram Mokri; Writer: Nasim Ahmadpour, Shahram Mokri; Stars: Babak Karimi, Razieh Mansouri, Abolfazl Kahani, Mohammad Sareban, Adel Yaraghi, Mahmoud Behraznia, Behzad Dorani)

Full review

The Furnace

1897 Western Australia. To escape a harsh existence and return home, a young Afghan cameleer partners with a mysterious bushman on the run with two 400oz Crown-marked gold bars.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2020; Director: Roderick MacKay; Writer: Roderick MacKay; Stars: David Wenham, Jay Ryan, Erik Thomson, Mahesh Jadu, Goran D. Kleut, Baykali Ganambarr, Gary Young, Osamah Sami, Ahmed Malek, Samson Coulter, Trevor Jamieson, Kaushik Das, Mansoor Noor, Amanda Ma, Quentin Yung)

Gaza Mon Amour

Review preview for Gaza Mon Amour

There's a continual nagging sense that this was, perhaps, once two separate ideas for short films which the directors have grafted together in a way that means the film as a whole falls short.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Gaza, today. Sixty-year-old sherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a woman who works as a dressmaker at the market. Finally determined to propose, he discovers an ancient statue of Apollo in his fishing net, which he decides to hide at home. When Hamas discovers the existence of this mysterious treasure, troubles start for Issa... Will he succeed in declaring his love to Siham?

(Country: Palestine, France, Germany, Portugal, Qatar; Year: 2020; Director: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser; Writer: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser; Stars: Salim Dau, Hiam Abbas, Maisa Abd Elhadi, George Iskandar, Hitham Al)

Full review

Genus Pan (Lahi Hayop)

The director says of his film: "It has always been my desire to make a film about animals; but, man as animals, man honestly acting like one, an animal, as he has been acting like an animal all his life anyway".

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2020; Director: Lav Diaz; Stars: Nanding Josef, Bart Guingona, Don Melvin Boongaling, Hazel Orencio, Noel Sto. Domingo, Joel Saracho, Lolita Carbon, Popo Diaz, Merly Bucong, Elvira Dayandante, Mar Tarquian, Nanding Josef, Bart Guingona, Don Melvin Boongaling, Hazel Orencio)

Guerra E Pace

The story of the relationship between cinema and war, one that has lasted for over a century.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland; Year: 2020; Director: Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)

I Predatori

The folly of a 25-year-old man will lead to a showdown that reveals everyone has a secret and no one is what they seem.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2020; Director: Pietro Castellitto; Writer: Pietro Castellitto; Stars: Vinicio Marchioni, Pietro Castellitto, Massimo Popolizio, Anita Caprioli, Manuela Mandracchia, Nando Paone, Marzia Ubaldi, Federico Mariotti, Antonio Gerardi, Dario Cassini, Mauro Aversano, Giorgio Montanini, Vinicio Marchioni, Pietro Castellitto, Massimo Popolizio)

Listen

In the outskirts of London, Portuguese couple and parents of three, Bela and Jota, struggle to make ends meet. When a misunderstanding arises at school with their deaf daughter, the British social services grow concerned for the safety of their children and the parents struggle to keep the family together.

(Country: Portugal, UK; Year: 2020; Director: Ana Rocha; Writer: Paula Alvarez Vaccaro, Aaron Brookner, Ana Rocha; Stars: Lúcia Moniz, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Kem Hassan, Susanna Cappellaro, Jay Lycurgo, António Capelo, Maisie Sly, Geoffrey Kirkness, Sian Abrahams, Ângela Pinto, Ruben Garcia, James Felner, Tara Quinn, Lúcia Moniz, Kiran Sonia Sawar)

The Man Who Sold His Skin

Review preview for The Man Who Sold His Skin

Given that one of the central tenets of Ben Hania's latest film is a debate about form... it's a joy that this extends to almost every frame of the film, many of which are so carefully composed they could hang in a gallery themselves.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. He finds himself turned into a work of art by a tattoo artist...but at what cost.

(Country: Tunisia, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden; Year: 2020; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Monica Bellucci, Koen De Bouw, Rupert Wynne-James, Husam Chadat, Saad Lostan, Najoua Zouhair, Dea Liane, Marc de Panda, Adrienne Mei Irving, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Yahya Mahayni, Jan Dahdoh, Wim Delvoye, Montassar Alaya, Monica Bellucci)

Full review See: Yahya Mahayni on The Man Who Sold His Skin , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Wim Delvoye, casting for The Man Who Sold His Skin, and Shirin Neshat , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on the Oscar-nominated The Man Who Sold His Skin, Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut

Milestone (Meel Pathar)

After a truck driver reaches a driving milestone with his company, he discovers it may have come with a heavy price.

(Country: India; Year: 2020; Director: Ivan Ayr; Writer: Ivan Ayr, Neel Mani Kant; Stars: Suvinder Vicky, Lakshvir Saran, Suvinder Vicky, Lakshvir Saran)

Night Of The Kings (La Nuit Des Rois)

Review preview for Night Of The Kings

Everything here is wrapped in layers of fiction.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young man is sent to La Maca, a prison of Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new Roman and must tell a story to the other prisoners.

(Country: France, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire; Year: 2020; Director: Philippe Lacôte; Writer: Philippe Lacôte; Stars: Issaka Sawadogo, Steve Tientcheu, Abdoul Karim Konaté)

Full review

Nowhere Special

Review preview for Nowhere Special

There is something quite profound here about learning to achieve what you can in the moment and for making peace with a situation you are unable to change.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, devotes his life to raising his young son Michael as a single dad, but after he's given only a few months to live, he tries to find the perfect set of adoptive parents.

(Country: Italy, Romania, UK; Year: 2020; Director: Uberto Pasolini; Writer: Uberto Pasolini; Stars: Bernadette Brown, Chris Corrigan, Valene Kane, Louise Mathews, Keith McErlean, Eddie Mohan, James Norton, Eileen O'Higgins, Rhoda Ofori-Attah, Bernadette Brown, Chris Corrigan, Valene Kane, Louise Mathews, Keith McErlean, Eddie Mohan)

Full review

The Third War (La Troisieme Guerre)

Fresh out of basic training, Leo lands his first assignment: a surveillance operation that sees him roaming the streets of Paris, where the pressure and impotent fury that has built up over weeks is about to explode...

(Country: France; Year: 2020; Director: Giovanni Aloi; Writer: Dominique Baumard; Stars: Anthony Bajon, Leïla Bekhti, Karim Leklou, Anthony Bajon, Leïla Bekhti, Karim Leklou)

Tragic Jungle (Selva Tragica)

Review preview for Tragic Jungle

The scoring from Alejandro Otaola reinforces the otherworldly elements but the action feels underpowered by comparison.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Deep in the Mayan jungle, a lawless territory where myths abound, a group of Mexican gum workers cross paths with Agnes, a mysterious young Belizean woman.

(Country: Mexico, France, Colombia; Year: 2020; Director: Yulene Olaizola; Writer: Rubén Imaz, Yulene Olaizola; Stars: Indira Rubie Adrewin, Gilberto Barraza, Dale Carley, Eligio Meléndez, Gabino Rodríguez, Gildon Roland, Mariano Tun Xool, Indira Rubie Adrewin, Gilberto Barraza, Dale Carley, Eligio Meléndez, Gabino Rodríguez, Gildon Roland, Mariano Tun Xool)

Full review

The Wasteland (Dashte Khamoush)

Review preview for The Wasteland

Bahrami's approach is deceptively simple, drawing us in with its easy rhythms and repetitions as the more complex picture of emotions, workplace exploitation and community tensions begins to be revealed.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A hard-working brick factory worker faces the closure of his workplace and the fading of his dreams

(Country: Iran; Year: 2020; Director: Ahmad Bahrami; Writer: Ahmad Bahrami; Stars: Ali Bagheri, Farrokh Nemati, Touraj Alvand, Majid Farhang)

Full review

Yellow Cat (Sary mysyq)

Review preview for Yellow Cat

There's such a warmth to the comedy here that the inevitable tragic sweep of the film feels all the more steeped in sadness.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An ex-con goes on the run with his new-found love, while chasing his dream of opening a cinema.

(Country: Kazakhstan, France; Year: 2020; Director: Adilkhan Yerzhanov; Writer: Inna Smailova, Adilkhan Yerzhanov; Stars: Azamat Nigmanov, Kamila Nugmanova, Sanjar Madi, Azamat Nigmanov, Kamila Nugmanova, Sanjar Madi)

Full review

Zanka Contact

Review preview for Zanka Contact

The barest hooks of a narrative are here but stitched together with a lot of energy and stylish flourishes from cinematographer Benjamin Rufi.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In hellish Casablanca, a car-crash sets ablaze a burning, passionate love story between has-been rocker Larsen and the streetwise Rajae.

(Country: Morocco; Year: 2020; Director: Ismael El Iraki; Writer: Ismael El Iraki; Stars: Khansa Batma, Ahmed Hammoud, Said Bey, Mourad Zaoui, Abderrahmane Oubihem, Fatima Attif, Khansa Batma, Ahmed Hammoud, Said Bey, Mourad Zaoui, Abderrahmane Oubihem, Fatima Attif)

Full review