With new features from Pedro Almodovar and Luca Guadagnino, Todd Field's Joker: Folie à deux and Pablo Larrain’s portrait of Maria Callas, here are the unmissable films at this year’s festival.
Queer — Luca Guadagnino
Whilst the residual heat of Challengers seems to have barely cooled off, Luca Guadagnino is back again with Queer. An adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel, Queer is also the director’s second collaboration with Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. Set in Mexico City, at first glance it is equally steamy, starring Daniel Craig as an American expat who falls for a junkie American serviceman.
Cloud — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
When it comes to Horror, no contemporary director has the juice quite like Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who returns to Venice with his second project of the year (the first being the unmissable 45 minute-long Chime), which follows an internet reseller facing the consequences of internet hate.
Phantosmia — Lav Diaz
A lauded member of the slow cinema movement, Lav Diaz is back at Venice with a typically lengthy feature (245 minutes) about a man who must return to his past life in the military as a radical treatment for his recurring phantosmia. Like much of Diaz’ work, the film is shot in vivid black and white.
Broken Rage —Takeshi Kitano
One of the big surprises of this year’s lineup sees influential Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano re-emerging from his short-lived retirement with brand new feature Broken Rage. Though not much is known about the film, its title suggests that Kitano is returning to the festival circuit as gloriously violent as ever.
Harvest — Athina Rachel Tsangari
While Yorgos Lanthimos has been busy courting the academy with recent films like Poor Things and this year’s Kinds of Kindness, filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari has been carefully carving out her own lane as one of Greece’s brightest contemporary filmmakers. Set in England during the Middle Ages, her latest follows three strangers who, at a time of economic turmoil, are made scapegoats by their struggling village.
The Room Next Door — Pedro Almodovar
Vogue España’s September cover of Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton sporting suits and cravats has got us particularly excited for The Room Next Door, the latest feature from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar. Set in a uncharacteristically colourful Manhattan, it stars Moore as author Martha and Swinton as war correspondent Ingrid—old friends who rekindle their relationship.
Babygirl — Halina Rejin
Following up Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, A24’s zeitgeisty, Charli XCX-soundtracked slasher, Halina Rejin comes to Venice with Babygirl. Also on the slate at A24, this is a stylish-looking erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman as a CEO who becomes romantically involved with her intern (Harris Dickinson). Antonio Banderas, Sophie Wilde and Jean Reno also star.
Joker: Folie à Deux — Todd Phillips
Perhaps the most anticipated film at the festival this year, the musical sequel to Todd Phillips’ Joker sees Joaquin Phoenix return as the titular psychopath, whose incarceration at the end of the first film brings him into contact with Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), a psychiatrist on the verge of a psychotic break herself. Together, the two lovers embark on a misadventure of song, dance and chaos.
Maria — Pablo Larraín
After Jackie Onassis and Princess Diana, Pablo Larraín’s latest subject is the renowned opera singer Maria Callas, similarly capturing her emotional turmoil at a specific moment in time . “Based on true accounts, ‘Maria’ tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, re-lived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris,” reads the film’s official description.
The Brutalist — Brady Corbet
A 70mm 215-minute epic which includes an intermission? That’s the offering from Brady Corbet at Venice Film Festival. Whilst he has reportedly been having difficulties delivering the 26 film reels to Italy, the story is promising and profound—of a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America.
Happyend — Neo Sora
We’re excited to see the first narrative feature from filmmaker Neo Sora, who most recently wowed us with Opus, his intimate portrait of his father Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final concert. In Happyend, Sora transports us to a near-future Tokyo where a handful of adolescents navigate a city dominated by an all-seeing dystopian government.
