Venice Film Festival 2017

[Chris Knipp]

Abdelatif Kechiche's latest. Controversy. Disappointment. Lush sensuality.



MEKTOUB MY LOVE: CANTO UNO -review by Guy Lodge for Variety: "Abdellatif Kechiche returns with another heady, alluring sensory epic, but it lacks the narrative and emotional heft of his best work." "Another gorgeous three-hour study of young, attractively housed hearts in often turbulent motion, 'Mektoub' is a frequently seductive sensory epic of equivalent ambition, yet despite its woozily pleasurable set pieces, the fraught emotions binding them are less urgent, and the perspective of its protagonist far less immediate." It relates most not to Vie d'Adèle but Secret of the Grain, with a similar setting, new characters. Lodge feels it could use another run through the editing suite, not to cut the 3-hour length, but to improve the rhythm. Others feel this shows Kechiche "sees women only as sex objects" - shows too much of a "masturbatory" "Male gaze." Oops. It concerns a young screenwriter of Arab extraction who leaves Paris for his Mediterranean hometown for a summer of beaches and bars. As in Adèle there are graphic sex scenes. Offensive to some or not, anyone who's followed Kechiche will want to savor this one as well. Kechiche's previous feature, La vie d'Adèle, AKA Blue Is the Warmest Color four years ago at Cannes won the Palme d'Or, awarded unanimously both to him and his two lead actresses, an unprecedented move.

[Chris Knipp]

HANNAH (Andrea Palaoro) Guardian Variety review by Guy Lodge: "Few convey internalized psychic pain better than Charlotte Rampling, as proven again in Andrea Pallaoro's elliptical, elegantly designed sophomore feature." This is the "enigmatic story of a respectable, retirement-age woman gathering (or perhaps gradually disassembling) her life after her husband is arrested and imprisoned on uncertain charges."

[Chris Knipp]

Venice awards 2017.

The Virtual Reality awards are omitted. From what we know, these look like some very logical choices. Nice to see Moaz, Charlotte Rampling,. the actor from the Arabic film The Insulte,, the documentarians Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel recognized. Nothing off-the-wall like the Cannes awards sometimes seem to be. Thanks, Annette Bening.

VENICE 74

Golden Lion
The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, directed by Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion — Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu'à la Garde

Volpi Cup — Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup — Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, directed by Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete

VENICE HORIZONS

Best Film
Nico, 1988, directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, directed by Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, directed by Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future — "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu'à la Garde, directed by Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS

Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, directed by Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince and the Dybbuk, directed by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski