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Venice Lineup
If I could afford to go to the Venice Film Festival a few days before attending the Toronto Film Festival, I'd be looking forward to ten or eleven of the films that were announced earlier today. Not that I know anything, but the names of Demme, Bigelow, Arriaga, Coen, Aronofsky, Schroeder, Schroter, Kitano and Miyazaki offer feelings of comfort and continuity. It's also good to know most of these films will be playing in Toronto a few days later.
I'm frankly scared of Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler because (a) wrestling has been a coarse, low-rent joke for decades, and (b) the wrestler is played by Mickey Rourke. But I shouldn't admit to that prejudice. I just need to grim up and see it and go from there.
We all know the ups, downs and inside-outs of Joel and Ethan Coen's Burn After Reading. I've written about it so much I feel as if I've almost seen it.
Guillermo Arriaga's The Burning Plain...of course, of course. Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Lawrence, Jose Maria Yazpik, Joaquim de Almeida.
Kathryn Bigelow's Hurt Locker -- Iraqi bullets and IEDs, insurgents, and another go-round with a squad of hyperventilating, morally compromised U.S. soldiers with sweaty faces and coarse personalities. Remember that terrific one-sheet?
Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married with Anne Hathaway, Debra Winger, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mather Zickel, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George.
Plus Takeshi Kitano's Achilles and the Tortoise, Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea, Asmir Naderi's Vegas: Based on a True Story, Barbet Schroder's Inju (shot in Japan), Werner Schroeter's Night of the Dog (Nuit de chien), Claire Denis's 35 Rhums, a short by Manoel de Oliveira called Do Visivel ao Invisivel, and a new version of Pier Palo Pasolini's La rabbia ('63).
Am I overlooking something exceptional that somebody actually knows something about?
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 29, 2008 at 10:18 AM
comment #1
Noel Murray says ...
Of course the Demme and the Bigelow are already confirmed for Toronto, so that's two you'll be able to catch at TIFF for sure. And if past participation is any indication, I'm betting Aronofsky, Arriaga, Kitano, Miyazaki, Denis, de Oliveira and maybe even the Coens will be there as well.
I'm also interested to see if Kiarostami has pulled his head out of the sand and is making worthwhile movies again. I'm hoping his latest makes the trip from Venice to Toronto.
Also new documentaries by Agnes Varda and Ross McElwee -- the former already confirmed for TIFF, the latter surely to be confirmed soon.
Posted by Noel Murray at July 29, 2008 11:31 AM
comment #2
Joshua Mooney says ...
JACK LIPNICK: Look Bart, barring a preference we're going to put you on a wrestling picture, Wallace Beery. I say this because they tell me you know the poetry of the streets, so that would rule out westerns, pirate pictures, screwball, bible, roman... look, I'm not one of those guys who thinks poetic has got to be fruity. We're together on that aren't we? I mean I'm from New York myself, well, Minsk if you want to go all the way back. Which we won't, if you don't mind and I ain't asking. Now people are going to say to you, Wallace Beery, wrestling, it's a B picture. You tell them: BULLSHIT! We do NOT make B pictures here at Capitol. Let's put a stop to that rumour RIGHT now!
Posted by Joshua Mooney at July 29, 2008 11:33 AM
comment #3
televisiontears says ...
Spot on, Joshua Mooney. That's exactly the scene that came to mind when I read "coarse, low-rent joke". Low and behold, I scroll down and see that entire monologue.
Posted by televisiontears at July 29, 2008 11:39 AM
comment #4
Filipe says ...
De Oliveira short (which is a couple of years old) is very slight.
José Mojica Marins film is gonna make horror film fans very happy (and people who hates gore films will walk out in horror from the screnings). If it show up at Toronto midnight section, I predict a much better reception than Argento's film got last year.
Noel, Kiarostami film stars Juliette Binoche so I guess it's unlikely for it to miss Toronto.
Posted by Filipe at July 29, 2008 12:36 PM
comment #5
Dublin101 says ...
It'll be nice to see Debra Winger again, I didn't realise she was still working.
Posted by Dublin101 at July 29, 2008 1:33 PM
comment #6
BurmaShave says ...
I understand skepticism of Mickey Rourke as a general rule, but with a director as great as Aronofsky behind him?
Posted by BurmaShave at July 29, 2008 2:27 PM
comment #7
markj says ...
I hope Hurt Locker is a return to form for Bigelow. Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days were genre highlights of the 80s and 90s.
Posted by markj at July 29, 2008 3:23 PM
comment #8
StoneFan1 says ...
"(a) wrestling has been a coarse, low-rent joke for decades" - Is that so? Well, I'd say millions would disagree with that statement. Talk about out of touch!
Posted by StoneFan1 at July 29, 2008 3:53 PM
comment #9
StoneFan1 says ...
"(a) wrestling has been a coarse, low-rent joke for decades" - Is that so? Well, I'd say millions would disagree with that statement. Talk about out of touch!
Posted by StoneFan1 at July 29, 2008 3:54 PM
comment #10
JohnCope says ...
"I understand skepticism of Mickey Rourke as a general rule, but with a director as great as Aronofsky behind him."
That should be reversed as, if anything, Rourke's inherent gravity may finally give some authentic weight to Aronofsky's otherwise specious filmmaking.
Also, I don't think the Kiarostami is in fact the Binoche project. I think it's something else entirely. But I could be wrong.
Posted by JohnCope at July 29, 2008 4:42 PM
comment #11
filmfestivalgeek says ...
Wrestling is white-trash theatre of the absurd and has all sorts of possibilities - dramatic and comic - to play with. In the hands of someone reasonably talented, it could be filled with interesting metaphors.
Having another Miyazaki film is the true event for me.
Un Giorno Perfetto by Ferzan Ozpetec - he should be lucky to have anything that comes close to his uneven but highly interesting Ignorant Fairies but that level of filmmaking seems to be behind him already.
Posted by filmfestivalgeek at July 29, 2008 5:54 PM
comment #12
StoneFan1 says ...
If wrestling is white-trash, then I'd be scared to
think what mainstream, multiplex movies are these
days and in the past.
Posted by StoneFan1 at July 29, 2008 6:04 PM
comment #13
Bob Violence says ...
Noel, Kiarostami film stars Juliette Binoche so I guess it's unlikely for it to miss Toronto.
That's a different Kiarostami film (Certified Copy), which last I heard has been bumped to '09. This is another documentary/experimental thing; apparently it's about the audience at an all-female film screening in Iran.
Posted by Bob Violence at July 30, 2008 3:51 PM
comment #14
filmfestivalgeek says ...
"If wrestling is white-trash, then I'd be scared to
think what mainstream, multiplex movies are these
days and in the past..."
No arguments here...
Posted by filmfestivalgeek at July 30, 2008 5:52 PM
comment #15
pwsandi says ...
It has been three years since Amir Naderi a very talented film maker has made a film. I am looking forward to seeing the film. Amir has a knack of getting the most out of the lesser known actors that star in his films. I am sure this will case again.
Posted by pwsandi at August 3, 2008 9:42 AM
comment #16
free games
says ...
De Oliveira short (which is a couple of years old) is very slight.
Posted by free games
at October 28, 2009 1:23 AM
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