VENICE AND TORONTO festivals Sept. 2025

[Chris Knipp]

VENICE AND TORONTO festivals Sept. 2025

VENICE

Director Kathryn Bigelow @red carpet for the film 'A House of Dynamite' Venice Tues, Sept. 2, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

More premieres and reviews from Venice - and Toronto - are coming.

Kathryn Bigelow's A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, about a future US-Russian nuclear clash, has been shown at Venice and the review are great, Metacritic 88. Posing at the red carpet Venice she still looks sexy at 73.

BUGONIA: SCREEN DAILY "‘Bugonia’ review: Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are dynamite in explosive Yorgos Lanthimos thriller". It is "is a gloriously gonzo, sharply satirical chamber piece" wrote Nike Baughan Metacritic 88. (Why did the NYFF not include BUGONIA?)

Peetro Marcello's DUSE (a pic about the Italian diva Eleanora Duse starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) has dropped and Letterboxed reactions aren't very good. Here's one long one there:

Review by Giacomo Togni ★★½
SOURCE
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi plays Duse in constant overacting, with a perpetually raised voice and a wild fervour for the theatre that comes across as unpleasantly parodic. Noémie Merlant stands out in the role of her daughter, lighting up every scene she appears in, but unfortunately there is not enough space for her in the script. The script introduces us to the figure of Elenora Duse and her desire to return to the stage before we have even seen her perform. Marcello's adulation of Duse is inexplicable and at times irritating because in the few scenes in which she does not appear, the director makes sure that she is talked about.

This could have been handled better by giving more prominence to Noémie Merlant's character and, above all, by limiting Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's role.
9translated from Italian via DeepL)

[Chris Knipp]

VENICE


new addition: Paul Thomas Anderson

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES
NEW YORK SPECIAL SCREENING OF PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON’S
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
LETTERBOXD
The special sneak preview will feature 70mm screenings of Anderson’s newest film, with the director and cast in person on September 21

[Chris Knipp]

VENICE

BENJAMIN VOISIN, REBECCA MARDER IN THE STRANGER

Back to Camus!

The Stranger': exclusive first trailer for Francois Ozon's Venice premiere

TRAILER

I'm excited about this. Albert Camus' L'Étranger/The Stranger is a great French modern literary classic. We may all become existentialists again. Benjamin Voisin is the "it" boy now, and Swann Arlaud and Denis Lavant make great backup. The reviews look good = Metascore 79%.

The Stranger (French: L'Étranger) is a 2025 French drama film written and directed by François Ozon, based on Albert Camus's 1942 novel. Benjamin Voisin stars in the lead role of Meursault, alongside Rebecca Marder, Pierre Lottin, Swann Arlaud and Denis Lavant.

[Chris Knipp]

VENICE


The Voice of Hind Rajab

SOURCE

Director, screenplay: Kaouther Ben Hania

[THE FILM] VERDICT: A tremendously moving reenactment of a real tragedy that took place in Gaza, Kaouther Ben Hania’s ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ masterfully integrates fiction and reality in a grief-stricken lament for a child in mortal danger.

The Voice of Hind Rajab occupies a special place among children-at-war films, thanks to the technical wizardry of Tunisian director Kaouther ben Hania and her ability to create empathy, not just for a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire, but for the entire staff of a Red Crescent Emergency Center coordinating the rescue from the West Bank.

Video

This film about an incident that vividly dramatizes the brutal genocide in Gaza received a 23 minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere, the longest of any film.