It’s late August, and while the leaves aren’t falling just quite yet, the Fall Film Festival season is upon us. As usual, the Venice Film Festival always starts with the Telluride Film Festival following on its heels just a day or two later. Venice’s line-up has been stellar the last few years—in part due to Netflix’s ongoing battle with Cannes and their French theatrical rules—and this year is mostly no different.
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Many of the fall’s biggest films are in Venice, in competition, but even the Lido’s out-of-competition line-up is rather stacked. Vying for the Golden Lion and other prizes are an eclectic group of filmmakers starting with the long-awaited return of Jane Campion and new films by Pedro Almodovar, Pablo Larrain, Ana Lily Amirpour Paolo Sorrentino, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, and the great Paul Schrader.
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Not battling for prizes, but still impressive, the out-of-competition line-up features Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” Edgar Wright’s “Last Night In Soho,” David Gordon Green’s “Halloween Kills,” and Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.” Yes, this year, Cannes benefited from a year hiatus thanks to COVID, with a rather stacked and stellar line-up, but even in the face of that, this Venice schedule is impressive. So, as per usual, lots of cinematic riches abound, and there’s so much to see. Below, a quick sampling of the heavy-hitters to know, but also more. The 78th Venice International Film Festival runs from September 1 through September 11. Watch for all our coverage soon.
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“The Card Counter”
Oscar Isaac has 3 enormous projects dropping at Venice: “Dune,” HBO’s “Scenes of a Marriage,” miniseries, and Paul Schrader’s “The Card Counter.” While the “Taxi Driver” scribe’s social media posts are uh… highly scrutinized, one can’t deny the impact he’s had on ‘dark night of the soul’ cinema. With the tremendous “First Reformed,” seen by many as a return to form, Isaac is following in his buddy Ethan Hawke’s footsteps, filling the shoes of Schrader’s regular, existentially tormented figure. Also starring Tiffany Haddish and Willem Dafoe, Isaac’s gambling addict character is also an ex-torturer, which sounds right up Schrader’s usual dark abyss alley.
“Dune”
Now effectively the Christopher Nolan of the art-house film world—all the way down to “how you should see my movie” discourse—Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Hebert’s long considered to be unadaptable sci-fi epic would be a highly anticipated project were it to exist in a vacuum. Still, Villeneuve is also coming off 2 back-to-back heavy hitters with “Arrival” and “Blade Runner: 2049.” A sprawling galactic saga set on the planet Arrakis, “Dune” only adapts approximately half of Hebert’s novel, with the director confirming plans to shift focus from Timothée Chalamet’s Paul onto Zendaya’s character, Chani, in the second installment. Sporting one of the best ensembles on the planet, all eyes are on “Dune,” as its release/success is arguably the most important litmus-test theatrical exhibition’s future has faced yet.
“Halloween Kills”
With John Carpenter’s work seemingly being reappraised every other week by at least one podcast these days, David Gordon Green’s “Halloween” reboot remains a fascinating conversation piece. Lauded by some and loathed by others for its retconning of Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney) mythology, the idea behind pretending a series of chapters never existed has grown increasingly apropos in a post-Disney “Star Wars” world. Technically Part 3 is a new form of head-canon, but the 12th film in the franchise overall, Jamie Lee Curtis and Judy Greer are both back for Gordon Green’s sequel to a sequel; regardless of where one comes out on the continuity side of things, the “Halloween” hive always seems to keep the ghost of Michael Myers alive.