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Venice Film Festival · 2023

Venice Film Festival 2023

Competition

Programme

21 films · 10 reviews

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Adagio

Rome-set thriller.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Stefano Sollima; Writer: Stefano Bises, Stefano Sollima; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo, Adriano Giannini, Valerio Mastandrea, Francesco Di Leva, Lorenzo Adorni, Emilio Franchini, Marzio El Moety, Silvia Salvatori)

The Beast (La Bête)

Review preview for The Beast

The Beast explores what Henry James diagnosed so devastatingly. The chill of egotism and the feverish dance around the void are so desperately relevant today that it leaves one breathless.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
In the near future a woman decides to purify her DNA in a machine that takes her into her past lives. Then she meets Louis and feels a powerful connection, as if she had always known him.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Bertrand Bonello; Writer: Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Bréaud, Benjamin Charbit, based on the novel by Henry James; Stars: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay)

Full review See: Bertrand Bonello on sci-fi, loneliness, music and working with Léa Seydoux , Bertrand Bonello in conversation on Coma and The Beast

Comandante

The true story of Commander Salvatore Todaro, who saved the lives of enemy sailors who had survived the sinking of their merchant ship.

(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Edoardo De Angelis; Writer: Edoardo De Angelis, Sandro Veronesi; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Johannes Wirix, Johan Heldenbergh, Tim Daish, Silvia D'Amico, Luca Chikovani, Mario Russo, Massimiliano Rossi, Arianna di Claudio, Giuseppe Brunetti, Lucas Tavernier, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo, Giustiniano Alpi, Giulio Greco, Giacomo Bottoni)

Dogman

A man who was abused as a child find solace in his friendship with dogs in this action thriller.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2023; Director: Luc Besson; Writer: Luc Besson; Stars: Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Denham, Marisa Berenson, Clemens Schick, Michael Garza, Jojo T. Gibbs, Avant Strangel, John Charles Aguilar, Eric Carter, James Payton, Ambrit Millhouse, Derek Siow, Luing Andrews, Lincoln Powell, Grace Palma)

El Conde

Black comedy imagining Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2023; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Guillermo Calderón, Pablo Larraín; Stars: Alfredo Castro, Paula Luchsinger, Gloria Münchmeyer, Jaime Vadell)

Enea

Aeneas chases the myth that bears his name in order to feel alive in a decadent age.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Pietro Castellitto; Writer: Pietro Castellitto; Stars: Benedetta Porcaroli, Sergio Castellitto, Pietro Castellitto, Adamo Dionisi, Matteo Branciamore, Chiara Noschese, Giorgio Montanini, Cesare Castellitto, Giorgio Quarzo Guarascio)

Ferrari

Review preview for Ferrari

The car racing scenes are the best in the history of cinema.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
It's the summer of 1957 and Ferrari is in crisis, both in his business and personal life. He decides to take a gamble on a race, the Mille Miglia.

(Country: US, UK, Italy, China; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Mann; Writer: Troy Kennedy-Martin, Michael Mann, Brock Yates; Stars: Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Valentina Bellè, Massi Furlan, Gabriel Leone, Erik Haugen, Brett Smrz, Peter Arpesella, Tommaso Basili, Lino Musella, Andrea Dolente)

Full review

Finalmente L'Alba

Period drama set over one night in the career of an actress in Fifties Rome.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Saverio Costanzo; Writer: Saverio Costanzo; Stars: Lily James, Willem Dafoe, Rachel Sennott, Joe Keery, Alba Rohrwacher, Anna Manuelli, Alexia Murray, Paul Boche, Benjamin Stender, Elena Stefanuto, Gabriele Falsetta, Fabiola Morabito, Giuseppe Brunetti, Michele Melega, Eric Alexander)

Green Border (Zielona granica)

Review preview for Green Border

Essential, urgent and damning.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Multifaceted drama about the plight of refugees on the Belarus/Poland border.

(Country: Poland, Germany, France, Czechia, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Agnieszka Holland; Writer: Agnieszka Holland, Gabriela Lazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Maciej Pisuk; Stars: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Tomasz Włosok, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous)

Full review See: Agnieszka Holland speaks out on the targeting of refugees by populists, Europe's tack to the right and pricking people's consciences

Holly

In the aftermath of a school fire, a traumatised community looks for consolation in a 15-year-old who unwittingly becomes a saviour figure.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France; Year: 2023; Director: Fien Troch Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France; Stars: Cathalina Geraerts, Felix Heremans, Greet Verstraete, Serdi Faki Alici, Els Deceukelier)

Hors-Saison

Old flames meet unexpectedly.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Stéphane Brizé; Writer: Stéphane Brizé, Marie Drucker; Stars: Guillaume Canet, Alba Rohrwacher, Sharif Andoura, Emmy Boissard Paumelle)

Io Capitano

Review preview for Io Capitano

First-timer Sarr - who is a musician - is a remarkable lead and matched by the support from fellow novice Fall.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Two Senegalese teenagers try to realise their dream of a new life in Europe.

(Country: Italy, Belgium, France; Year: 2023; Director: Matteo Garrone; Writer: Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Ceccherini, Andrea Tagliaferri, Nicola Di Robilant, Chiara Leonardi; Stars: Affif Ben Badra, Hichem Yacoubi, Joseph Beddelem, Bamar Kane, Oumar Diaw, Mariam Kaba, Princess Erika, Taha Benaim, Seydou Sarr, Flaure B.B. Kabore, Beatrice Gnonko, Jackie Zappa, Emilie Adams, Bidar Abdelahad, Observateur Ebène)

Full review See: Matteo Garrone in conversation on Italy’s Oscar submission Io Capitano and fairy tales

The Killer

Review preview for The Killer

There's a disassociation between the original's ennui and what might be the consequences of sleep deprivation. There's also a rebalancing of its violence, and it might be that which most discomfits.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
After a fateful near miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Fincher; Writer: Alexis Nolent, Andrew Kevin Walker; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Monique Ganderton, Anthony Louis, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Monika Gossmann, Lacey Dover, Kellan Rhude, Endre Hules, Avant Strangel, Elisha Davis, Leroy Edwards III)

Full review

Maestro

Review preview for Maestro

Maestro is a starry affair on all fronts.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3 out of 5
Biopic of Leonard and Felicia Bernstein.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Bradley Cooper; Writer: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer; Stars: Bradley Cooper, Maya Hawke, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Miriam Shor, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie, Alexa Swinton, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Kate Eastman, Eric Parkinson, William Hill, Oraldo Austin, Gabe Fazio)

Full review

Memory

A love-struck couple (attempt to build a relationship while dealing with trauma and dementia.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2023; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Elsie Fisher, Merritt Wever, Josh Charles, Jessica Harper, Blake Baumgartner, Rand Faris, Davis Duffield, Brooke Timber, Elizabeth Loyacano, Billy Griffith, Ross Brodar, Johnny Vorsteg, Thomas Vorsteg)

Origin

Review preview for Origin

[DuVernay is] not here to tell people what to think – rather, she’s presenting them with the tools to start thinking for themselves and making their own discoveries.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
An exploration of the roots of racism as experienced in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Ava DuVernay; Writer: Ava DuVernay, based on the book by Isabel Wilkerson; Stars: Jon Bernthal, Connie Nielsen, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Vera Farmiga, Nick Offerman, Victoria Pedretti, Donna Mills, Niecy Nash, Finn Wittrock, Audra McDonald, Blair Underwood, Leonardo Nam, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jessica Fontaine, Gissette Valentin)

Full review

Poor Things

Review preview for Poor Things

Lanthimos skillfully transforms this lustful carnival into a coming-of-age drama, emphasising the protagonist's mastery of sexuality as a connotation of her mental evolution.

Levan Tskhovrebadze · 4.5 out of 5
The story of a young woman who has been brought back to life.

(Country: US, Ireland, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Tony McNamara, based on the novel by Alasdair Gray; Stars: Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Hanna Schygulla , Kathrin Hunter)

Full review

Priscilla

Review preview for Priscilla

Coppola paints pictures of mid-century Americana and the codes and moral shortcomings that go with it.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A Priscilla Presley biopic based on her memoir Elvis And Me.

(Country: US, UK, Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Sofia Coppola; Writer: Sofia Coppola, based on the book by Priscilla Presley; Stars: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Kamilla Kowal, Jorja Cadence, Emily Mitchell, Dan Beirne, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Deanna Jarvis, Ari Cohen, Luke Humphrey, Tim Post, Josette Halpert, Stephanie Moran, Gwynne Phillips, Dagmara Dominczyk)

Full review See: Stacey Battat on the costumes and Tamara Deverell on the production design for Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla

The Promised Land (Bastarden)

Review preview for The Promised Land

There is a redemption arc here, but it’s not the whole of the story, and Arcel uses it to highlight the deep inequities so normalised at the time as to be almost invisible, even the most desperate characters tending to take them for granted.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In 1755, the impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer the harsh, uninhabitable Danish heath with a seemingly impossible goal; to build a colony in the name of the King.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Nikolaj Arcel; Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Gustav Lindh, Amanda Collin, Kristine Kujath Thorp, Magnus Krepper, Lise Risom Olsen, Søren Malling, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Jacob Lohmann, Felix Kramer, Morten Hee Andersen, Simon Bennebjerg, Martin Feifel, Patricia Slauf, Arved Friese)

Full review

The Theory of Everything (Die Theorie Von Allem)

The year of 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud formation in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain.

(Country: Germany, Austria, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Timm Kröger; Writer: Roderick Warich, Timm Kröger; Stars: Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross, Hanns Zischler, Gottfried Breitfuss, David Bennent, Philippe Graber, Imogen Kogge, Emanuel Waldburg-Zeil, Vivienne Bayley, Ladina von Frisching, Dirk Böhling, Marie Goyette, Paul Wolff-Plottegg, Peter Hottinger, Dana Herfurth)

Woman Of (Kobieta Z...)

A man begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable with his gender identity.

(Country: Poland, Sweden; Year: 2023; Director: Michal Englert, Malgorzata Szumowska; Stars: Joanna Kulig, Mateusz Wieclawek, Malgorzata Hajewska, Jacek Braciak, Bogumila Bajor)