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Venice Film Festival · 2021

Venice Film Festival 2021

Venice Days

Programme

11 films · 8 reviews

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Anatomia

Mika arrives in Poland to pay a hospital visit to her father, who is suffering from severe brain injury and memory loss. It's the first time they have met in many years, yet her father thinks they still live together and she's a teenager.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2021; Director: Ola Jankowska; Writer: Ola Jankowska; Stars: Karolina Kominek-Skuratowicz, Ewa Dalkowska, Anna Krotoska, Lena Parol, Andrzej Poniedzielski, Krzysztof Zarzecki, Piotr Zurawski, Karolina Kominek-Skuratowicz, Ewa Dalkowska, Anna Krotoska, Lena Parol, Andrzej Poniedzielski, Krzysztof Zarzecki, Piotr Zurawski)

Californie

Review preview for Californie

Cassigoli and Kaufmann avoid major plot turns in favour of the more believable everyday things that many teenagers on the fringes encounter..

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Jamila is an exuberant Moroccan girl with street smarts, who seems to have enormous potential to achieve great things - or else trigger mega-disasters. Californie follows her day in and day out from age 9 to 14, in the small town in southern Italy where she lives.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman; Writer: Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman, Vanessa Picciarelli; Stars: Khadija Jaafari)

Full review See: Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman on Californie

Dusk Stone (Piedra Noche)

Review preview for Dusk Stone

A film that is big on mood in general even if its structure and overall storytelling are weak by comparison.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Less than a year ago, Greta's son mysteriously disappeared by the sea. As she and her husband Bruno are struggling with grief, Bruno claims to have seen something that confirms the locals' rumours: the appearance of a strange shape coming from the sea.

(Country: Argentina, Chile, Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Iván Fund; Writer: Martín Felipe Castagnet, Iván Fund, Santiago Loza; Stars: Mara Bestelli, Alfredo Castro, Marcelo Subiotto, Maricel Álvarez)

Full review

Imaculat

When young Daria enters rehab to kick the drug habit her first love left her with, her perceived innocence saves her from the sexual advances of the mostly male junkies inside and gains her their protection. Suddenly thrown into the spotlight and enjoying the attention, Daria soon finds out that special treatment comes at a great price.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2021; Director: Monica Stan, George Chiper; Writer: Monica Stan; Stars: Ana Dumitrascu, Vasile Pavel, Cezar Grumazescu, Andreea Moustache, Ana Dumitrascu, Vasile Pavel, Cezar Grumazescu, Andreea Moustache)

Lovely Boy

Review preview for Lovely Boy

The film also gets hung up on its two time-period structure, without greatly benefiting from it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Nic, alias Lovely Boy, is a rising star on Rome's trap scene who becomes sucked into a spiral of self-destruction and has to go to a remote rehab centre.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Francesco Lettieri; Writer: Peppe Fiore, Francesco Lettieri; Stars: Ludovica Martino, Andrea Carpenzano, Enrico Borello, Ludovica Martino, Andrea Carpenzano, Enrico Borello)

Full review

Madeleine Collins

Review preview for Madeleine Collins

The juxtaposition of showing a woman who so carefully and artfully constructs every aspect of her life with the totally natural performances of the children, especially little Ninon, adds great dimension.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Judith manages a busy double life between Switzerland and France. On the one hand there's Abdel, with whom she has a little girl, and on the other Melvil, with whom she has two older boys. Gradually, this delicate balancing act starts to crack.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Antoine Barraud; Writer: Antoine Barraud, Héléna Klotz; Stars: Virginie Efira, Quim Gutiérrez, Bruno Salomone, Jacqueline Bisset, François Rostain, Loïse Benguerel, Thomas Gioria, Valérie Donzelli, Nadav Lapid, Nathalie Boutefeu, Mona Walravens, Anne Lepla, Assouma Sow, Lorette Dugardin, Sofiane Felouki)

Full review See: Antoine Barraud in conversation on Madeleine Collins

Out Of Sync (Tres)

Review preview for Out Of Sync

Beyond the enjoyably unpredictable narrative, you can feel Giménez's love of the possibilities of cinema more widely.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A sound designer finds herself out of step with the world as her brain begins to deliver sound on a delay.

(Country: Spain, Lithuania, France; Year: 2021; Director: Juanjo Giménez; Writer: Juanjo Giménez, Pere Altimira; Stars: Marta Nieto, Julius Cotter, Miki Esparbé, Cris Iglesias, Fran Lareu, Luisa Merelas, Carmen Méndez)

Full review See: Perfect timing - Juanjo Giménez on Out of Sync

Out Of This World (Shen Kong)

When a pandemic breaks out, Li You is given a long vacation while Xiao Xiao is forced to remain in a city that she does not know well.

(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Guan Chen; Writer: Guan Chen; Stars: Ruguang Wei, Keyu Deng, Ruguang Wei, Keyu Deng)

Private Desert (Deserto Particular)

Review preview for Private Desert

A potent rejoinder to the hypermasculine, explicitly transphobic values of the Bolsonaro regime.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Daniel has been suspended from active police work and is under internal investigation for violence. When Sara, his internet love affair, stops answering his texts he decides to drive north in search of her.

(Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2021; Director: Aly Muritiba; Writer: Henrique Dos Santos, Aly Muritiba; Stars: Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra, Otavio Linhares, Zezita Matos, Cynthia Senek, Antonio Saboia, Pedro Fasanaro, Luthero Almeida, Thomas Aquino, Laila Garin, Sandro Guerra)

Full review

The Stranger (Al Garib)

Review preview for The Stranger

It all seems to co-create a picture of a world of the emotional post-apocalypse.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 3 out of 5
In a small village in the occupied Golan Heights, the life of a desperate unlicensed doctor, who is going through an existential crisis, takes another unlucky turn when he encounters a man wounded in the war in Syria.

(Country: Syria, Qatar, Germany, Israel, Palestinian Territories; Year: 2021; Director: Ameer Fakher Eldin; Writer: Ameer Fakher Eldin; Stars: Ashraf Barhom, Mohammad Bakri, Amal Kais, Amer Hlehel)

Full review

You Resemble Me (Tu Me Ressembles)

Review preview for You Resemble Me

Both girls deliver exceptional performances in the powerful opening section, and if the film struggles to make the same impact afterwards, that serves to bring Hasna’s loss into sharp relief.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Cultural and inter-generational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris.

(Country: US, France, Egypt; Year: 2021; Director: Dina Amer; Writer: Dina Amer, Omar Mullick; Stars: Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Grégoire Colin, Sabrina Ouazani, Zinedine Soualem, Dina Amer, Mouna Soualem, Hedi Bouchenafa, Tania Dessources, Nassima Benchicou, Elodie Rouprêt, Sana Sri, Nassima Benichou, Djino Grimaudo, Romain Royet)

Full review