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Venice Film Festival · 2021

Venice Film Festival 2021

Competition

Programme

21 films · 11 reviews

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America Latina

A calm dentist with a life rooted in honest finds the absurd intruding after an unforeseen event.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2021; Director: Damiano D'Innocenzo, Fabio D'Innocenzo; Writer: Damiano D'Innocenzo, Fabio D'Innocenzo; Stars: Elio Germano, Maurizio Lastrico, Massimo Wertmüller, Sara Ciocca, Carlotta Gamba, Filippo Dini, Astrid Casali, Federica Pala, Elio Germano, Maurizio Lastrico, Massimo Wertmüller, Sara Ciocca, Carlotta Gamba, Filippo Dini, Astrid Casali)

Another World

Drama about an executive manager, his wife and his family, at the moment when his professional choices are about to overwhelm them all.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Stéphane Brizé; Writer: Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce; Stars: Anthony Bajon, Marie Drucker, Sandrine Kiberlain, Vincent Lindon, Anthony Bajon, Marie Drucker, Sandrine Kiberlain, Vincent Lindon)

The Box (La Caja)

Hatzin, a young teenager from Mexico City, travels to collect the remains of his father, which have been found in a communal grave. But a casual encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills him with doubts and hope about his parent’s true whereabouts.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Lorenzo Vigas; Writer: Paula Markovitch, Lorenzo Vigas; Stars: Hernán Mendoza, Cristina Zulueta, Hatzín Navarrete, Hernán Mendoza, Cristina Zulueta, Hatzín Navarrete)

Captain Volkonogov Escaped

A Russian captain goes on the run and finds himself being threatened by eternal torments in hell... with the only way to avoid it being to seek forgiveness.

(Country: Russia, France, Estonia; Year: 2021; Director: Aleksey Chupov, Natasha Merkulova; Writer: Aleksey Chupov, Natasha Merkulova, Mart Taniel; Stars: Yuriy Borisov, Timofey Tribuntsev, Aleksandr Yatsenko, Nikita Kukushkin, Vladimir Epifantsev, Anastasiya Ukolova, Natalya Kudryashova, Dmitriy Podnozov, Viktoriya Tolstoganova)

The Card Counter

Review preview for The Card Counter

Tightly wrapped doesn't begin to cover it.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
William Tell, a for­mer ser­vice­man who became a pok­er play­er, leads a soli­tary exis­tence on the casi­no trail. His path cross­es with Cirk, a vul­ner­a­ble and angry young man obsessed with his plan for revenge and he tries to steer him away from violence.

(Country: UK, China, US; Year: 2021; Director: Paul Schrader; Writer: Paul Schrader; Stars: Oscar Isaac, Willem Dafoe, Tye Sheridan, Tiffany Haddish, Joel Michaely, Ekaterina Baker, Billy Slaughter, Amye Gousset, Hassel Kromer, Calvin Williams, Marlon Hayes, Bobby C. King, Adrienne Lau, Dylan Flashner, Alexander Babara)

Full review

Freaks Out

Rome, 1943: Matilde, Cencio, Fulvio and Mario live like siblings in Israel’s circus. When Israel mysteriously disappears, perhaps in flight or perhaps captured by the Nazis, the four “circus freaks” are left alone in the occupied city.

(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Gabriele Mainetti; Writer: Nicola Guaglianone, Nicola Guaglianone, Gabriele Mainetti; Stars: Franz Rogowski, Eric Godon, Claudio Santamaria, Anna Tenta, Emilio De Marchi, Pietro Castellitto, Edoardo Purgatori, Elia Pietschmann, Aurora Giovinazzo, Giorgio Tirabassi, Franco Pistoni, Christoph Hülsen, Massimiliano Ubaldi, Riccardo Angelini, Astrid Meloni)

The Hand Of God

Review preview for The Hand Of God

A continually shifting style, with moments of brilliance and other scenes which feel structurally derivative, threatens to overwhelm the story.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The story of a young man’s heartbreak, liberation and passion for football in Naples, Italy, in the Eighties.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Paolo Sorrentino; Writer: Paolo Sorrentino; Stars: Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Marlon Joubert, Luisa Ranieri, Renato Carpentieri, Massimiliano Gallo, Betty Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna, Ciro Capano, Enzo Decaro, Lino Musella, Sofya Gershevich, Alessandro Bressanello, Alfonso Perugini)

Full review

Happening (L'Evenment)

Review preview for Happening

Diwan lets the cold hard facts trickle in as weeks are marked off at the bottom of the screen.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Audrey Diwan; Writer: Audrey Diwan, Marcia Romano, based on the book by Annie Ernaux; Stars: Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami, Louise Orry-Diquéro, Louise Chevillotte, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire, Leonor Oberson, Anna Mouglalis, Cyril Metzger, Eric Verdin, Madeleine Baudot, Alice de Lencquesaing, Fabrizio Rongione, Isabelle Mazin)

Full review See: Happening director Audrey Diwan on abortion, prizes, equality and truth

Il Buco

Review preview for Il Buco

The group of speleologists in Il Buco are housed in the storage room of a church, a sublime decision by the filmmakers that gives Berta ample opportunity to visually connect the scientists of the early Sixties with the splendour of Renaissance paintings.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Drama based on the true adventures of a group of young speleologists who in 1961 descended into a hole in the mountains of Calabria to explore what was then the third-deepest known cave on Earth.

(Country: Italy, France, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Michelangelo Frammartino; Writer: Michelangelo Frammartino, Giovanna Giuliani; Stars: Paolo Cossi, Jacopo Elia, Denise Trombin, Mila Costi, Carlos José Crespo, Leonardo Larocca, Angelo Spadaro, Nicola Lanza, Antonio Lanza, Claudia Candusso)

Full review See: Michelangelo Frammartino in conversation on Il Buco (The Hole), Renato Berta, Marco Serrecchia, and Giovanna Giuliani

The King Of Laughter (Qui Rido Io)

Review preview for The King Of Laughter

Servillo has spent much of the latter part of his career playing narcissistic characters, and he’s perfectly cast here.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
At the beginning of the 20th century, the great comic actor Eduardo Scarpetta was the king of the box office but when he decided to stage a tragedy, trouble ensued...

(Country: Italy, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Mario Martone; Writer: Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo; Stars: Toni Servillo, Maria Nazionale, Cristiana Dell'Anna, Antonia Truppo, Eduardo Scarpetta, Roberto De Francesco, Lino Musella, Paolo Pierobon, Giovanni Mauriello, Chiara Baffi, Roberto Caccioppoli, Lucrezia Guidone, Elena Ghiaurov, Gigio Morra, Gianfelice Imparato)

Full review

Leave No Traces

Review preview for Leave No Traces

If Matuszyński’s film tends towards soap opera in places and could definitely do with a trim here and there, its long running time does allow the grind of what happens to play out in ways that emphasise the sheer slog of it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Poland, 1983. The country is shaken by the case of Grzegorz Przemyk - a high school student beaten to death by militia. Based on true events, the film follows the story of Jurek - the only witness of the beating, who overnight became the number one enemy of the state.

(Country: Poland, Czech Republic, France; Year: 2021; Director: Jan P Matuszynski; Writer: Kaja Krawczyk-Wnuk, Cezary Lazarewicz; Stars: Agnieszka Grochowska, Tomasz Kot, Robert Wieckiewicz, Tomasz Zietek, Aleksandra Konieczna, Jacek Braciak, Adam Bobik, Sebastian Pawlak, Sandra Korzeniak, Lukasz Gawronski, Mateusz Górski, Aidan Hoyle, Maksym Kogua, Jacek Grygorowicz, Dominik Wald)

Full review

The Lost Daughter

Review preview for The Lost Daughter

The film comes into its own because of Gyllenhaal's non-judgemental perspective, even sympathy, for the small suffocations of motherhood.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A holidaying professor finds an encounter with another family triggers memories of motherhood from her past

(Country: US, Greece; Year: 2021; Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal; Writer: Maggie Gyllenhaal, based on the novel by Elena Ferrante; Stars: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ed Harris, Dagmara Dominczyk, Panos Koronis, Jack Farthing, Alba Rohrwacher, Ellie James, Abe Cohen, Vassilis Koukalani, Nikos Poursanidis)

Full review

Lost Illusions

A poet finds his opinion of the world and himself challenged after he moves from the provinces to Paris.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Xavier Giannoli; Writer: Xavier Giannoli, based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac; Stars: Benjamin Voisin, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Salomé Dewaels, Jeanne Balibar, Gérard Depardieu, André Marcon, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Jean-François Stévenin, Alexis Barbosa, Marie Cornillon, Saïd Amadis, Morgane de Vargas, Raphaël Magnabosco)

Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon

A girl with unusual and dangerous powers who escapes from a mental asylum and tries to make it on her own in New Orleans.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Ana Lily Amirpour; Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour; Stars: Kate Hudson, Ed Skrein, Craig Robinson, Jeon Jong-seo, Charlie Talbert, Rae Gray, Sylvia Grace Crim, Ritchie Montgomery, Jibrail Nantambu, Billy Slaughter, GiGi Erneta, Tiffany Black, Evan Whitten, Colby Boothman, Kent Shocknek)

Official Competition (Competencia Oficial)

Review preview for Official Competition

These are easy targets although there’s a lot of enjoyment to be hand in seeing them hit so accurately.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
In search of significance and social prestige, a billionaire businessman decides to make a film to leave his mark. To do it, he hires the best: a stellar team... but they have egos to match.

(Country: Spain, Argentina; Year: 2021; Director: Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat; Writer: Mariano Cohn, Andrés Duprat, Gastón Duprat; Stars: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Irene Escolar, Melina Matthews, Oscar Martínez, Carlos Hipólito, Pilar Castro, Karina Kolokolchykova, Manolo Solo, José Luis Gómez, Juan Grandinetti, Koldo Olabarri, Ken Appledorn, Mónica Bardem, Nagore Aranburu)

Full review

On The Job: The Missing 8

Inspired by true events, the film chronicles the story of Sisoy Salas, a corrupt journalist seeking justice for his colleagues, and convict Roman Rubio, a hired gun who is regularly brought out of prison to perform assassinations.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2021; Director: Erik Matti; Writer: Erik Matti, Michiko Yamamoto; Stars: Rayver Cruz, Dennis Trillo, Joel Torre, Ricky Davao, Christopher De Leon, Lotlot De Leon, John Arcilla, Dante Rivero, Ina Feleo, Soliman Cruz, Vandolph, William Martinez, Isabelle De Leon, Eric Fructuoso, Andrea Brillantes)

Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas)

Review preview for Parallel Mothers

Milena Smit is a relative newcomer. This is only her second feature and she has real presence.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Two women, a generation apart, find themselves inextricably linked by their brief time together in a maternity ward, bound by a secret with ties to a deep trauma in Spanish history.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Writer: Pedro Almodóvar; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Rossy de Palma, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Daniela Santiago, Milena Smit, Julieta Serrano, Israel Elejalde, Adelfa Calvo, Inma Ochoa, José Javier Domínguez, Carmen Flores, Trinidad Iglesias)

Full review

The Power Of The Dog

Review preview for The Power Of The Dog

Campion treats the material with such well-mannered reverence that you begin to wish that not just the characters, but she too, would loosen up a bit.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A widow and her son are tormented by her new husband’s sullen and bullying brother.

(Country: UK, Australia, US, Canada, New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Jane Campion; Writer: Jane Campion, Thomas Savage; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirsten Dunst, Thomasin McKenzie, Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy,)

Full review

Reflection

Ukrainian surgeon Serhiy is captured by the Russian military forces and exposed to horrifying scenes of humiliation and violence. On release, he tries to rebuild his life.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Writer: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Stars: Roman Lutskyi, Dmitriy Sova, Andriy Rymaruk, Vasiliy Kukharskiy, Nika Myslytska, Nadiya Levchenko, Igor Shulha, Andrii Senchuk, Stanislav Aseyev, Oleksandr Danyliuk)

Spencer

Review preview for Spencer

There are strong supporting performances from a relatively small cast, but they pale in comparison to Stewart.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
The marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles has long since grown cold. Though rumours of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for the Christmas festivities, across which handful of days, the film is set.

(Country: Germany, Chile, UK, US; Year: 2021; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Steven Knight; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Sean Harris, Amy Manson, Sally Hawkins, Jack Farthing, Timothy Spall, Richard Sammel, Olga Hellsing, Ryan Wichert, Jack Nielen, Michael Epp, Niklas Kohrt, John Keogh, Ben Plunkett-Reynolds, Wendy Patterson)

Full review

Sundown

Alice and Neil Bennett are the core of a wealthy British family on vacation in Acapulco with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, surprising tensions rise to the fore.

(Country: France, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Samuel Bottomley, Henry Goodman, Iazua Larios, Mónica Del Carmen, James Tarpey, Albertine Kotting McMillan)