Venice Film Festival Highlights the Best of Cinema

By: Salima Appiah-Kubi

Much has been made of the lackluster summer at the box office. The reason behind this is no mystery, and goes beyond the prominence of DVD and high cost of tickets. As the president of Canada’s largest theater chain acknowledged, the films were just bad. One would be hard pressed to disagree. From the formulaic (Must Love Dogs) to the unnecessary (Herbie Fully Loaded) to the irredeemable (Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo) there have been so many bombs this summer that the neighborhood multiplex looks like a fall out shelter.

Geographically, truly great cinema shines in Italy, where Venice hosted its 62nd international film festival. It is a portion of La Biennale which also highlights theater, visual art, architecture and dance. Cinema was included in 1932, making the competition the oldest of its kind still in existence.

The festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, has gone to some of the world’s most memorable films including The Battle of Algeirs (La Battaglia di Algeri, 1965) and Goodbye, Children (Aurevoir, Les Enfants, 1987). It also introduced the west to Akira Kurosawa and Japanese cinema when it awarded the Golden Lion to Rashomon in 1951. This year the festival is shining a light on films from the east with The Secret Life of Asian Cinema, three days of showings chronicling the history of Asian film.

This year’s films in competition ran from the silly to the sublime. One of the top contenders was Good Night, Good Luck, the story of TV journalist Edward R. Murrow’s fight against Joseph’s McCarthy communist witch hunts. This is Clooney’s second turn in the director’s chair following 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Good Night is notable not just for its pertinent subject matter but for the use of stock footage of Senator McCarthy rather than actor. Though it did not win best film honors Clooney and his writing partner, Grant Heslov, received the award for best screenplay. Also, the film’s lead, David Strathair, won for best actor.

Ultimately, the Golden Lion for best film went to Brokeback Mountain by acclaimed director, Ang Lee. Returning to beautiful visual style made most famous in the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon , Lee tells this story of two cowboys who fall in love on a Wyoming ranch. The film stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal who both have been highly praised for their performances.

John Turturro’s musical, Romance and Cigarettes, offers the prospect of something many of us having been hoping for since the video of Fat Boy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice”: Seeing Christopher Walken dance. With a star studded cast including James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, theater Legend Elaine Stritch and Steve Buscemi ( it’s been far too long) Turturro tells the story of a working class man, his infidelities and their consequences
Also in competition were Ralph Fiennes film The Constant Gardener, about a murder mystery in Kenya; Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, South Korean director Park Chan-wook final chapter in his series of films that began with a botched kidnapping and The Brothers Grimm, by former Python- member Terry Gilliam. The film was torn apart by critics in the states so it will be interesting to see how it fares in the competition.

Some exciting films were shown out of competition. Everything is Illuminated is the directorial debut of Liev Shrieber most well known for his roles in Scream and The Manchurian Candidate. The movie is based on the beautiful novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. It’s about a young Jewish man going to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride has also been well received. The animated feature is voiced by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

By now, all the red carpets have been rolled up and the only traces of the festival are wrinkled programs and empty champagne bottles floating nest to gondolas. Most of these films however are making their way to a theater near you (art house or otherwise). This alone should provide a substantial amount of hope for the future.