UPDATE: The festival website has a list of out-of-competition selections, which include two directorial efforts from the Brothers Affleck: Ben’s “The Town” and Casey’s Joaquin Phoenix doc “I’m Still Here.”
EARLIER: Before you ask: no, “The Tree of Life” is nowhere to be seen. Not that that’s a surprise by this point. There is a “but,” however — Venice festival organisers announced that there will be one surprise competition entry added at the festival’s halfway mark. I wouldn’t bet the house (or even the garden shed, frankly) on it being the Malick film, but hope is being kept alive nonetheless. (Last year, the fest had two surprise films: one from Werner Herzog and one from Brillante Mendoza.)
Shifting the focus to what did make it, the 22-title lineup looks much as we expected — we’d effectively been promised Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” and Julian Schnabel’s “Miral” since they failed to show up at Cannes, while Tuesday’s Toronto announcement tipped us off to the presence of Francois Ozon’s “Potiche,” the Paul Giamatti-Dustin Hoffman starrer “Barney’s Version” and the Haruki Murakami adaptation “Norwegian Wood.”
(More commentary, and the full competition lineup, after the cut.)
That said, the list is no less appetizing for its lack of real surprises. Topping my “can’t wait” list is another film that had widely been expected to play the Lido: Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff,” a period western starring Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.
Regular readers know that my love for Reichardt’s previous collaboration with Williams, “Wendy and Lucy,” runs pretty deep; I’m fascinated to see what they do on a larger canvas. It’s nice to see Reichardt finally cracking the competition lineup in one of the European majors; she’s one of three female filmmakers competing for the Golden Lion this year (a pointed contrast to this year’s controversially all-male Cannes crop).
Besides the already-announced Darren Aronofsky, other American directors vying for awards are two long-absent wild cards: Vincent Gallo, with his first venture behind the camera since 2003’s roundly reviled “The Brown Bunny,” and cult figure Monte Hellman, with his first feature since, uh, 1989’s “Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!.” Let it not be said that the Venice selectors are playing it safe.
Moving further afield, the lineup isn’t as international as it might be: Asian entries number a scant three, one fewer than the number of Italian films in competition. (Venice has always been generous to its own.) South America gets a single slot — which is one more than the UK or Africa are afforded. Big names in the European contingent include Tom Tykwer, returning to his native Germany for the first time in a decade, and France’s Abdellatif Kechiche, who scored big on the Lido three years ago with the excellent “Couscous.” (Or “The Secret of the Grain,” to use its dreadful US title.)
The well-informed folks at IonCinema, meanwhile, foresee big things for Alex de la Iglesia’s Spanish fantasy “A Sad Trumpet Ballad” and “Attenberg” from Athina Rachel Tsangari, a Greek-born director who cut her teeth on the Austin indie scene. I’ll go through the lineup in more detail closer to the festival, which kicks off on September 1. For now, here’s the full list of Competition titles:
“Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
“Barney’s Version,” Richard J. Lewis, Canada/Italy
“Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky, USA
“Black Venus,” Abdellatif Kechiche, France
“Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame,” Tsui Hark, China
“Happy Few,” Antony Cordier, France
“Meek’s Cutoff,” Kelly Reichardt, USA
“Miral,” Julian Schnabel, USA/France/Italy/Israel
“Noi Credevamo,” Mario Martone, Italy
“Norwegian Wood,” Anh Hung Tran, Japan
“La Passione,” Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
“La Pecora Nera,” Ascanio Celestini, Italy
“Post Mortem,” Pablo Larraín, Chile
“Potiche,” Francois Ozon, France
“Promises Written in Water,” Vincent Gallo, USA
“Road to Nowhere,” Monte Hellman, USA
“A Sad Trumpet Ballad,” Álex de la Iglesia, Spain
“Silent Souls,” Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
“The Solitude of Prime Numbers,” Saverio Costanzo, Italy
“Somewhere,” Sofia Coppola, USA
“13 Assassins,” Takashi Miike, Japan
“Three,” Tom Tykwer, Germany
Comments
25 responses to “Coppola, Schnabel, Reichardt in Venice competition lineup”
well mallick won´t be in venice but will be in Toronto…
from the list i really expect black swan, miral and somewhere:)
black swans my most anticipated here, aronofsky has a fasinating career. im hoping someone will give him a budget someday..not that he needs one to make a good movie but still
Vivi: Where did you hear that?
Bill: I think “The Fountain” had as big a budget as Aronofsky would ever need.
This seems to be a pretty damn interesting lineup of films. For some reason I kinda prefer the amount of films at Cannes and Venice over the more overwhelming Toronto or Sundance – it is just so much easier to keep track of the coverage from the former than it is the latter. It makes the movies seem more exclusive (even if it turns out that they often don’t warrant that prestige) than it does at a festival that literally plays every movie that is submitted practically. I definitely can’t wait to find out what Guy thinks about these movies at the Lido, his coverage at Cannes was exquisite. The end of the year is definitely starting to shape up in my mind.
Glad to see “Norwegian Wood” make it in. I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of Murakami and have been eagerly anticipating any director tackling the author’s complex pieces.
I wish I were going to Venice…so many titles are popping up that were on my “must-see” list.
Maybe Malick doesn’t want his film to play at any of the festivals.
I look forward to hearing about Black Swan, Miral, Potiche and others. However, I am just not that keen on Coppola’s Somewhere.
Michael: Thanks, that’s very kind. Of course, Venice and Cannes have assorted sidebars which make them pretty daunting to navigate too.
A point worth making about Malick: neither of his last two features premiered at a festival, though they both eventually played at Berlin.
good lineup, very interested in Black Swan, Borwegian Wood & Meek’s Cutoff
I also heard the Town and I’m Still Here are playing out of competition, but what about the films expected from Toronto? No Debt, No Kings Speech and no Chen Zhen which all only have North American Premiers at Toronto.
Being from Toronto I feel like I have to root for my own festival lineup, and the only films I’m jealous of are Somewhere, Meeks Cutoff and Three. The rest seem to be going to Toronto or I just don’t know much about them. Still looks like a really strong lineup though.
I expect “The Town” and “The King’s Speech” (perhaps “The Debt,” too) to screen at Venice out of competition, much as “The Informant!” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats” did last year.
No sense in getting competitive about the festivals — they serve such different purposes, after all. Hell, I’d do both if I could.
Bummed that Malick and Weir are no shows. *sigh*
I hadn’t heard about Gallo’s new film at all. I seem to recall an interview where he said he was not going to make films after The Brown Bunny. I am excited to hear about that one.
sad. only one movie from latin america.
Just nitpicking, but shouldn’t Barney’s Version be considered a Paul Giamatti starrer, as, well, he is Barney? =P Just saying. Looking forward to that one, and I always welcome more Rosamund Pike–seems like a quality comedy. I get a Thank You for Smoking-ish vibe from it, so seeing it released next March wouldn’t shock me.
Guy, here are link http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/article/840515–howell-ten-big-gets-that-could-show-up-at-tiff where i read the notice about the tree of life:)
James D. – the new Gallo film has a fascinating backstory. Look it up.
Vivi: I’ve seen that piece — it’s purely speculative, I’m afraid.
Quite right, Other James. Was posting in a hurry.
Good line-up. A lot to look forward to here, but am I the only one who’s very curious about Tykwer’s Three? Everyone seems to mention the film in passing without any hint of anticipation. I’m a fan of Run Lola Run and the undervalued Perfume and I’m hoping this would be a return to form after The International.
Rest assured, I’m looking forward to “Three.” I actually think “The International” is quite a neat little thriller.
“Heaven” remains my favourite Tykwer, though.
Hey, a Greek film! (I don’t know the director but I’m searching right now)
How fun is it that I’m learning about Greek films only from international sites? :p (Um, because the ones that TV advertises suck so much that I don’t even remember I ever learned about their existenze?)
Hmm, she was a producer in Dogtooth and Lanthimos is an actor in this one. Interesting.
No animal killing in this one, please.
***…France’s Abdellatif Kechiche, who scored big on the Lido three years ago with the excellent “Couscous.” (Or “The Secret of the Grain,” to use its dreadful US title.)
“Couscous” is really that much better? Okay…
***…Athina Rachel Tsangari, a Greek-born director who cut her teeth on the Austin indie scene.***
Oooh, I hope she’s doing alright.
“Post Mortem” director is Pablo Larraín.
Corrected, thanks. In my defence, the incorrect spelling was taken from the festival press release.