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Venice Film Festival · 2022

Venice Film Festival 2022

Orizzonti

Programme

23 films · 13 reviews

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Autobiography

A young man working as a housekeeper sparks a chain of violence after defending his boss's mayoral election campaign.

(Country: Indonesia, Poland, Germany, Singapore, France, Philippines; Year: 2022; Director: Makbul Mubarak; Writer: Makbul Mubarak; Stars: Kevin Ardilova, Yusuf Mahardika, Arswendy Bening Swara, Lukman Sardi, Rukman Rosadi, Haru Sandra, Gunawan Maryanto, Yudi Ahmad Tajudin)

Blanquita

Review preview for Blanquita

This knowingly difficult, multi-layered film deserves a wide audience.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
An 18-year-old foster home resident becomes the key witness in a sexual abuse scandal which rocks Chilean politics.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2022; Director: Fernando Guzzoni; Writer: Fernando Guzzoni; Stars: Laura López, Alejandro Goic, Amparo Noguera, Marcelo Alonso, Daniela Ramírez, Ariel Grandón)

Full review

Bread And Salt (Chleb i sól)

Review preview for Bread And Salt

At key moments, director Damian Kocur slows his camera right down. We drift through the estate, through the sort of spaces which an architect might have thought would look pretty, with no idea how disaffected young people would use them.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A pianist returns to his home town, where he finds a new kebab bar in town, which begins to generate friction between the employees and local youths.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2022; Director: Damian Kocur; Writer: Damian Kocur, Marta Konarzewska; Stars: Tymoteusz Bies, Jacek Bies, Nadim Suleiman, Nikola Raczko, Bartosz Olewinski, Dawid Piejko, Malgorzata Puzio, Wojciech Walkiewicz, Nadim Shalabi)

Full review

The Bride

Drama inspired by the true stories of girls who joined the Islamic State.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Sérgio Tréfaut; Writer: Sérgio Tréfaut; Stars: Lola Dueñas, Hugo Bentes, Hussein Hassan Ali, Joana Bernardo)

Burning Hearts (Ti Mangio Il Cuore)

Review preview for Burning Hearts

Mezzapesa puts quality first in every aspect.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The forbidden love between Andrea, the reluctant heir of the Malatesta family, and Marilena, the beautiful wife of the Camporeale boss, rekindles an old feud between two rival families.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Pippo Mezzapesa; Writer: Antonella Gaeta, Pippo Mezzapesa, Davide Serino; Stars: Elodie, Francesco Patanè, Lidia Vitale, Francesco Di Leva, Giovanni Trombetta, Letizia Pia Cartolaro, Michele Pereira Da Paz, Arturo Severo Cano, Giovanni Anzaldo, Mauro Lamanna, Nicola Davide, Gianni Lillo, Cristiano Cela, Francesco Tammacco, Giulia Maria Scarano)

Full review

A Companion for Amateur Cinematographers: Vol. I (Manuale Di Cinematografia Per Dilettanti)

Review preview for A Companion for Amateur Cinematographers: Vol. I

Federico Di Corato's film is, as is often the case with documentary, self-reflexive.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Against the backdrop of Italy in the years of the Fascist dictatorship, a man of wealth but unknown to history scrutinises the world with his little film camera, guided by a handbook.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Federico Di Corato; Writer: Federico Di Corato)

Full review

For My Country (Pour La France)

A brother tries to come to terms with the loss of his brother in an Army hazing ritual as his family fight for the right for him to be buried in a military cemetery.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Rachid Hami; Writer: Rachid Hami, Ollivier Pourriol; Stars: Lubna Azabal, Hugo Becker, Laurent Lafitte, Vivian Sung, Karim Leklou, Shaïn Boumedine, Samir Guesmi, Slimane Dazi, Lyès Salem, Alicia Hava, Arthur Igual, Pierre-Emmanuel Parlato)

The Happiest Man In The World

Asja is a 40-year-old single woman living in Sarajevo. She meets Zoran, a 43-year-old banker, at a dating event. Zoran is not there looking for love though, but for forgiveness.

(Country: Republic of North Macedonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina; Year: 2022; Director: Teona Strugar Mitevska; Writer: Teona Strugar Mitevska, Elma Tataragic; Stars: Irma Alimanovic, Izudin Bajrovic, Vedrana Bozinovic, Jelena Kordic, Ana Kostovska, Nikolina Kujaca, Ksenija Marinkovic, Labina Mitevska, Mona Muratovic, Adnan Omerovic, Kemal Rizvanovic, Sinisa Vidovic)

Innocence

Tackles the issue of militarisation and its impact on the lives of young Israeli people who are forced to serve against their own identity and values.

(Country: Israel, Iceland, Denmark, Finland; Year: 2022; Director: Guy Davidi)

Love Forever

Review preview for Love Forever

Earle Dresner's camerawork is as confident and uncertain as adolescence.

Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
A girl from Canberra navigates the treacherous waters of first love with a boy from Sydney’s Northern beaches.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2022; Director: Clare Young; Writer: Clare Young; Stars: Hannah McKenzie, Beau Cram)

Full review

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Review preview for Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Luckich's love of silent comedy is everywhere.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Twin brothers find their lives disrupted after a phone call about their long-estranged dad.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2022; Director: Antonio Lukich; Writer: Antonio Lukich; Stars: Anna Alsheva, Lyudmyla Sachenko, Ramil Nasirov, Amil Nasirov)

Full review

A Man (Aru Otoko)

A lawyer finds himself embroiled in a mystery after a woman asks him to investigate her dead husband's past.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2022; Director: Kei Ishikawa; Writer: Kôsuke Mukai; Stars: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Sakura Andô, Masataka Kubota, Nana Seino)

The Moisture (Rutubet)

Review preview for The Moisture

Rural teaching gives us shades of Wake In Fright, the continual quest for a lack of discomfort and intermittent mobile signal an echo of Parasite.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A teacher is grappling with child custody issues and a mischievous child in his class.

(Country: Turkey; Year: 2022; Director: Turan Haste; Writer: Muhammed Furkan Dașbilek; Stars: Mücahit Koçak, Okan Selvi, Muhammed Mayda, Elif Eylül Yeșilyurt, Baran Salman, Türkyilmaz Sarikaya, Yașar Akman, Mukaddes Kurmuș, Takup Güvenilir)

Full review

Nocomodo

Review preview for Nocomodo

The second film for Halifa-Legrand, Nocomodo shows a fiery talent.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A little girl confronted with a brutal reality begins a rebellion.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Lola Halifa-Legrand; Writer: Lola Halifa-Legrand; Stars: Tyra Wigg)

Full review

On The Fringe (En Los Margenes)

Social thriller relating the interweaving stories of three characters, told over the course of one day.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Juan Diego Botto; Writer: Juan Diego Botto, Olga Rodriguez; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Luis Tosar, Adelfa Calvo, Aixa Villagrán, Christian Checa, Nur Al Levi, Javier Perdiguero, Fabrice Boutique, Irene Bueno Royo)

Princess

Story of a Nigerian sex worker plying her trade near Rome.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2022; Director: Roberto De Paolis; Writer: Roberto De Paolis; Stars: Kevin Glory, Lino Musella, Maurizio Lombardi, Salvatore Striano)

Snow In September

Review preview for Snow In September

As Davka, Sukhbat Munkhbaatar is adolescent perfection, all gangle and angle.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A violent event in a boy’s life subtly consumes him.

(Country: France, Mongolia; Year: 2022; Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; Writer: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; Stars: Sukhbat Munkhbaatar, Nomin Erdene Ariunbyamba, Enkhgerel Baasjanav, Odgerel Bat-Orshikh)

Full review

La Syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck)

Review preview for La Syndicaliste

Sustained by a bravura performance from Isabelle Huppert in a total change of register from her last comedic outing with the same director Mama Weed, the new collaboration never puts a frame out of place.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
The true story of of a whistleblower who shook the French nuclear industry.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Jean-Paul Salomé; Writer: Fadette Drouard, Caroline Michel-Aguirre, Jean-Paul Salomé; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Alexandra Maria Lara, Benoît Magimel, Marina Foïs, Yvan Attal, Pierre Deladonchamps, Grégory Gadebois, Geno Lechner, Gilles Cohen, François-Xavier Demaison, Aloïse Sauvage, Cedric Cirotteau, Antoine Basler, Yves Heck, Andréa Bescond)

Full review See: Interview with Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Paul Salomé about The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste)

To The North (Spre Nord)

Review preview for To The North

Intensity burns through almost every interaction

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A religious Filipino sailor working on a transatlantic ship, discovers a hidden Romanian stowaway. Convinced by a Bible this emigrant has, the sailor starts playing a dangerous game, involving his crew, his faith in God and an innocent man’s life.

(Year: 2022; Director: Mihai Mincan; Stars: Alexandre Nguyen, Soliman Cruz, Nikolai Becker, Emmanuel Sto. Domingo, Bartholome Guingona, Olivier Ho Hio Heen)

Full review See: Minhai Mincan on fear and moving from documentary to fiction in To The North , Mihai Mincan on scoring, sound design and shooting on a ship in To The North

Trenque Lauquen (Trenque Lauquen Part I, Trenque Lauquen Part II)

Review preview for Trenque Lauquen

Almost every part of this slowburn road to not quite the middle of nowhere could be read either as a clue or a clever maguffin.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Story set in the Argentinian city of the title, centring on an academic who has disappeared. The story is told across two feature films.

(Year: 2022; Director: Laura Citarella; Stars: Elisa Carricajo, Verónica Llinás, Juliana Muras, Laura Paredes, Ezequiel Pierri, Cecilia Rainero, Rafael Spregelburd)

Full review See: Laura Citarella on the winding roads and mysteries of Trenque Lauquen

Vera

Vera lives in the shadow of her famous father. Tired of her superficial life and relationships, she drifts through Roman high society. When she injures a child in a traffic accident in the suburbs, she forms an intense relationship with an eight-year-old boy and his father.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2022; Director: Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel; Writer: Tizza Covi; Stars: Annamaria Ciancamerla, Sebastian Dascalu, Daniel De Palma, Alessandra Di Sanzo, Vera Gemma, Gennaro Lillio, Walter Saabel)

Victim (Obet)

Review preview for Victim

Blasko tells the story with a plainness which adds to its power, sometimes using news-style framing as if to remind us of the political moment which we’re living through.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A Ukranian immigrant faces racism as she seeks justice.

(Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Michal Blasko; Writer: Jakub Medvecký; Stars: Elizaveta Maximová, Alena Mihulová, Vita Smachelyuk, Igor Chmela, Gleb Kuchuk, Viktor)

Full review

World War III

A labourer who finds himself a job on a movie set. The film being shot is meant to be in condemnation of dictatorships, but the filmmakers themselves turn into dictators.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2022; Director: Houman Seyyedi; Writer: Houman Seyyedi, Arian Vazirdaftari, Azad Jafarian; Stars: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Neda Jebraeili, Mahsa Hejazi, Navid Nosrati)