Venice Festivals by Year: Prizes, Juries, Favorites   Other Fests: Cannes / Chicago Stay tuned for more yearly indexes!  Browse Films by Title / Year / Reviews Nick's Flick Picks Home / Blog / E-Mail		Jurors: Catherine Deneuve (president), Paulo Branco, Cameron Crowe, Chulpan Khamatova, Bigas Luna, Park Chan-wook, Michele Placido     Golden Lion: Still Life, China, dir. Jia Zhangke Special Jury Prize: Daratt (Dry Season), Chad, dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Best Director: Private Fears in Public Places, France, Alain Resnais Best Actress: The Queen, Helen Mirren Best Actor: Hollywoodland, Ben Affleck Marcello Mastroianni Prize: The Untouchable, Isild Le Besco Best Screenplay: The Queen, Peter Morgan Technical Contribution: Children of Men, Emmanuel Lubezki (cinematography) FIPRESCI Prize: The Queen, UK, dir. Stephen Frears SIGNIS Award: Golden Door, Italy, dir. Emanuele Crialese Venice Horizons Award: Courthouse on Horseback, China, dir. Jie Liu Future Film Festival Digital Award: INLAND EMPIRE, USA, dir. David Lynch Competition Films I Have Seen: Ranked in order of preference   My Golden Lion: Syndromes and a Century (Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) - Apichatpong's fascination with repetition and with jungle/office contrasts may wear thin, but here it remains clever, insinuating, special I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Malaysia, dir. Tsai Ming-liang) - Another auteur who insists on repeating himself, but he haunts space so gorgeously, bravely holds his shots, works uncannily with doubles The Fountain (USA, dir. Darren Aronofsky) - Risks being heckled as corny in pursuit of grand, peculiar, inventive, romantic strokes I found quite moving; score to die for, or die to (full review) Children of Men (USA/UK, dir. Alfonso Cuarón) - Bravura sequence shots are instant legends; volatile mood, schizzy score similarly stunning, film feels naggingly lacking in soul, though Still Life (China, dir. Jia Zhangke) - A thing of odd beauty and slowly dawning wonder; some longueurs amid dazzling shots, but evocative and subtly risky; feels built to last The Black Dahlia (USA, dir. Brian De Palma) - So much risk-taking, so many split outcomes at this fest, nowhere more than here: a clunky whole with some of year's most exquisite parts (full review) Private Property (Belgium, dir. Joachim Lafosse) - A smart and unusually low-key performance by Huppert, fine support from les frères Renier, but fails to generate any lasting impression Black Book (The Netherlands, dir. Paul Verhoeven) - Punchy expo and subsequent bursts imply Verhoeven at slutty-witty best, but turns boring and gross, viz. spilled tub of shit as key prop The Queen (UK, dir. Stephen Frears) - Sheen is good, editing lively in build-up, score okay, but handful of steely scenes cannot efface pinched, bare, mothy feeling of whole Bobby (USA, dir. Emilio Estevez) - Emilio flies papa's liberal flag, yields West Wing meets Wonder Years meets Altman, on subpar night for all three; nice casting of Stone Hollywoodland (USA, dir. Allen Coulter) - Am I seeing same movie as everyone else? Seemed laughably stilted when not suffocatingly self-serious; even more risible at closing time (capsule review) Sidebar Films I Have Seen: Ranked in order of preference   INLAND EMPIRE (USA, dir. David Lynch) - Torn fabric is key symbol; Lynch rends the screen with violent dreams. Remarkably harrowing for something so oblique. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (USA, dir. Spike Lee) - Typically of Lee, it's overlong and uneven—but when has he had better reason? A furious, priceless document. The Devil Wears Prada (USA, dir. David Frankel) - Remarkably insinuating for a film with dead-weight subplots, blunted finish. Trio of actresses work wonders. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (USA, dir. Dito Montiel) - Unmistakably a debut; just as clearly a memoir. Room to improve but rich in setting, character. Infamous (USA, dir. Douglas McGrath) - Jones's preening superciliousness and film's gamble on gaudy tone keep it from repeating Capote. Bad news: feels too thin. World Trade Center (USA, dir. Oliver Stone) - Can't blame Cage or the ever-reliable Peña, but the film's less too soon than too little. Slick and oddly bland. Competition Films I'm Curious to See: Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)   Daratt (Dry Season), Chad, dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Paprika, Japan, dir. Satoshi Kôn Golden Door, Italy, dir. Emanuele Crialese Private Fears in Public Places, France, dir. Alain Resnais These Encounters of Theirs, Italy/France, dir. Daniele Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub Exiled, Hong Kong, dir. Johnnie To Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See: Listed alphabetically   Belle toujours, Portugal/France, dir. Manoel De Oliveira Courthouse on Horseback, China, dir. Jie Liu Dong, China, dir. Jia Zhangke The Hottest State, USA, dir. Ethan Hawke The Island, Russia, dir. Pavel Lounguine Retribution, Japan, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa Suely in the Sky, Brazil, dir. Karim Aïnouz Trackbacks: Permalink Venice Page 2006 Home Blog E-Mail