The 79th Venice Movie Competition Begins in Italy – Unveiling New Movies
by Alex Billington
August 31, 2022
It is time to wade our method again into the world of cinema, scouring for the following awe-inspiring masterpiece, with the 2022 fall movie competition season now underway. Time flies as of late, earlier than it it is already September, greater than half the 12 months is over, the awards season is underway, the vacations are a couple of months away, and there is tons of latest motion pictures to look at. It occurs similar to that! So right here we’re. The 2022 Venice Movie Competition kicked off right now within the attractive metropolis of Venezia on the Adriatic coast of Italy. That is my sixth 12 months again on the competition, I have been coming to Venice ever since 2017 to benefit from the newest unimaginable movies that La Biennale is premiering. The competition prides itself on competing with Cannes to premiere the very best of the very best, exceptional filmmaking from each nook of the world. And as all the time, there’s nowhere else I might moderately be proper now (besides perhaps Telluride?) watching all these movies on Labor Day weekend. Observe alongside, right here or on Twitter or on Letterboxd, and examine again for updates on the newest reveals from the world of cinema.
It is onerous to explain the Venice Movie Competition – like in a Christopher Nolan film, you may’t perceive it, you should really feel it and expertise it first hand. There’s good and dangerous sides to it. The competition takes place on a close-by island known as the Lido, which is simply the identify for a seashore – in Venice it is a lengthy, skinny stretch of land to the east of the long-lasting most important island. Right here is the place the historic Excelsior resort nonetheless stands (the place the very first Venice Movie Competition came about in 1932) and the On line casino and Palazzo are positioned – the place a lot of the main screenings are held. Going backwards and forwards to the Lido on town’s vaporetto boats, queuing up within the huge cinema halls, catching tasty Italian meals on the fly, is all a part of the expertise right here. There’s after all a glamorous crimson carpet, however I am simply right here for all of the movies – and perhaps some pasta and cicchetti, too.
Final 12 months, we had been handled to some High 10 favorites together with Dune and Spencer, plus gems like The Misplaced Daughter and The Energy of the Canine. The 2022 choice appears simply as promising. They’re exhibiting Noah Baumbach’s new movie White Noise, primarily based on the Don DeLillo novel; together with Luca Guadagnino’s newest movie Bones and All, additionally an adaptation; Todd Discipline’s first new movie in 16 years known as TÁR that includes Cate Blanchett (watch the teaser); Laura Poitras’ documentary All of the Magnificence and the Bloodshed; Darren Aronofsky’s newest movie The Whale starring Brendan Fraser; Martin McDonagh’s newest The Banshees of Inisherin (watch the trailer); Olivia Wilde’s intriguing new movie Do not Fear Darling; Florian Zeller’s The Son with Hugh Jackman (watch the teaser); Andrew Dominik’s newest Blonde; documentary director Frederick Wiseman’s first narrative function Un Couple; and others. There’s additionally all the time a couple of surprises and discoveries, and my each day aim is all the time to look at watch watch no matter I can throughout these subsequent two weeks.
For more information in regards to the competition and to view your complete line-up of movies enjoying at Venice 2022, go to their web site. This additionally consists of brief movies and an “immersive” part, together with all the options. There’s additionally the Venice Days + Venice Critics’ Week sidebars showcasing extra movies along with the principle line-up.
With the Venice Movie Competition now underway, I will be devoted solely to the competition and the movies right here for the following two weeks. Venice 2022 runs from August thirty first till September tenth, ending Saturday night time with the awards. Observe my each day protection and immediate reactions on Twitter as ordinary @firstshowing, comply with my pictures updates as all the time on Instagram @abillington, comply with my evaluations on Letterboxd, and examine the positioning for each day updates on movies + evaluations. Again in 2016, I wrote an essay about Why I Cannot Cease Going to Movie Festivals. What I stated then continues to be true. It all the time is. I am nonetheless completely addicted movie festivals, they usually nonetheless fill me with a lot life and vitality. I am actually wanting ahead to watching a lot of the movies within the line-up this 12 months, together with random docs that I have not even heard about earlier than arriving on the fest. I am so glad to be again, so excited to start out watching, hopeful that this 12 months in Venice can be one other memorable one.
