67th Venice Film Festival
Midway through the second day at the 67th Venice International Film Festival and Picturehouses has already seen some excellent stuff. The festival opened with a screening of the hotly anticipated Black Swan directed by The Wrestler helmer, Darren Aranofsky. The film was incredible from stat to finish, with the word “masterpiece” already passing some people’s lips (including my own). Black Swan, which stars Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel as a dedicated ballet dancer and her obsessive teacher – think The Red Shoes – is as muscular and disciplined as a ballet dancer’s toes. From begging to end this tightly wound psychological thriller is intense, gripping, disturbing, frightening and beautiful, in a strange way reminiscent of Antichrist or a Cronenberg movie. For my money, we have already seen the winner of the prestigious Golden Lion. It remains to be seen whether the Tarantino led jury will agree next week. Natalie Portman would be unlucky not to get at least an Oscar nomination, as she is superb in the role of her life – having done a whole year’s worth of dedicated ballet work in preparation.
Out of competition, I saw two Chinese movies on the first day: Andrew Lau’s breathtaking and exciting martial arts epic Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen starring Donnie Yen, and Stanley Kwan’s youth-orientated dance flick Showtime. In the former, Yen repirses a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the classic Fist of Fury. Like the great man himself, Yen did all his own coreography and the fights are unbelievable. The pre-credits action is one of the most brilliant pieces of pure entertainment I’ve seen this year. The pace slackens a bit after that first ten minutes, but on the whole it is a decent thrill-ride and another cracking Chinese blockbuster in the mould of Curse of the Golden Flower and Hero (although with slightly more contemporary setting in 1930s Shanghai).
Showtime was far less good, in production values and entertainment. Aimed at Step Up/Dance Flick audience, the film is probably not my cup of tea to begin with. But with massive walk-outs and an incoherant narrative, I’m probably not the only one who didn’t fall in love with it. Involving a troupe of Shanghai dancers, who teleport into 2009 in order to install the contemporary Chinese youth with a better work ethic and a love of performance, the film feels slightly like a piece of children’s television. It comes to life a bit during the dancing, but this is not one I’d recommend.
On the second day (so far) I have been lucky enough to watch three more films which are in competition. First up, early this morning and after about three hours sleep, was Norwegian Wood, the Japanese adaptation of a modern literary classic in the form of Haruki Murakami’s novel of the same name. It was beautifully shot by Vietnamese director Ahn Hung Tran, but like many adaptations loses a lot from the source material. The narrative was rather too linear (it probably would have benefited from the (500) Days of Summer treatment). The character’s are also less charming and the humour of the book is mostly absent. A failure, I guess. But a handsome failure.
Then came Julian Schnabel’s sprawling Arriaga-esque Miral, which was very much the Weinstein Company’s token prestiege picture. Inferior to last year’s Ajami in about every way, the film is heavy-handed, preachy and high on exposition, as it told the story of the creation of Israel and the plight of the Palestinian people. It was hard to disagree with its intent or message, but it is clumsy and badly acted (in English) by a cast pressumably speaking a their second or third language. It certainly didn’t feel authentic. Though it received a huge round of applause at its conclusion, so see it for yourself. It is sure to get a decent international release. Especially with names like Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave in the supporting cast.
Finally, I also saw Happy Few, a quite wonderful little French film by Antony Cordier, about two couples who swap partners on a long term basis, with no ground rules. With its brilliant cast, naturalistic direction and dialogue, and its frank portrayal of love and sex, it was certainly the second best thing I have seen on the Lido so far this year. Certainly it was cliché free and very funny, as it explored the inevitable problems caused by this complicated dynamic. Some of it felt improvised, it felt so natural, with many of the scenes taking place in long single takes. It is one of those movies which looks deceptively simple. I won’t be offended if it is selected for the top prize. Though, so far, Black Swan should walk away with it.
The 67th Venice International Film Festival continues until the 11th of September, so stay tuned for further overage and exclusive podcasts.
