|
Venice Festivals by Year: Prizes, Juries, Favorites Other Fests: Cannes / Chicago
Browse Films by Title / Year / Reviews Nick's Flick Picks Home / Blog / E-Mail |
Jurors: Zhang Yimou (president), Catherine Breillat, Jane Campion, Emanuele Crialese, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Ferzan Ozpetek, Paul Verhoeven
 Competition Films I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference My Golden Lion: I'm Not There (USA, dir. Todd Haynes) - Even without kaleidoscopic style, so bounteous in characters, idioms, questions, ideas, it would feel like many movies in one Lust, Caution (Taiwan/USA, dir. Ang Lee) - Takes Clayton structure and Atonement beauty to whole new level; Tang Wei a brilliant find; Lee finally gets his hands dirty! Michael Clayton (USA, dir. Tony Gilroy) - Ties itself in a needless, loopy knot, but a great character study of corporate self-loathing; looks sensational; Tilda is genius (full review) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (USA/Australia, dir. Andrew Dominik) - Will never improve on friend's friend ("The weather is overacting!"), but some aspects and sideline perfs attain majestic texture Redacted (USA, dir. Brian De Palma) - I disliked myself the next day for feeling prone to show-offy concepts and strident acting, but the fever pitch did get to me 12 (Russia, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov) - Mikhalkov's maximal urges sometimes weigh this down, but its ethical sense is much more complex than that of immortal source text (capsule review) Atonement (UK, dir. Joe Wright) - Composer, designers, actors, and D.P. pull a few luscious tricks out of what increasingly reveals itself as designer-knockoff bag In the City of Sylvia (Spain, dir. José Luis Guerín) - A rather smug flaunting of jewel-shaped construction and heightened sound design; polished, but less seductive than it means to be (full review) In the Valley of Elah (USA, dir. Paul Haggis) - Jones excels, but the movie's credible soul-sickness loses a battle against formula; the investigation plot simply never flies Nightwatching (UK/The Netherlands, dir. Peter Greenaway) - Warm marriage portrait at center. Gusts of humor and verve, but defiantly distant, stolid camera refrigerates them. The Darjeeling Limited (USA, dir. Wes Anderson) - Yes, train is marvy, but instead of stepping outside his own belly-button, Anderson immaturely hauls an entire country into it (full review) Sleuth (UK, dir. Kenneth Branagh) - Sleekness clicks at times but usually seems tacky and overconfident; three huge egos on full display in a story that never worked  Sidebar Films I Have Seen:Ranked in order of preference A Girl Cut in Two (France, dir. Claude Chabrol) - Vague, stale drama with none of Chabrol's usual tension or precision. Bizarre tone. Magimel embarrasses himself. Competition Films I'm Curious to See: Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window) The Secret of the Grain, France/Algeria, dir. Abdellatif Kechiche Sukiyaki Western Django, Japan, dir. Takashi Miike The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, France, dir. Eric Rohmer Le Chaos, Egypt, dir. Youssef Chahine The Sun Also Rises, China, dir. Jiang Wen Help Me, Eros, Taiwan, Lee Kang-sheng Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See: Listed alphabetically The Beloved, France, dir. Arnaud Desplechin Beyond the Years, South Korea, dir. Im Kwon-taek Cassandra's Dream, UK, dir. Woody Allen Christopher Columbus: The Enigma, Portugal, dir. Manoel de Oliveira Death in the Land of Encantos, Philippines, dir. Lav Diaz Disengagement, Israel, dir. Amos Gitai Far North, UK, dir. Asif Kapadia The Girl by the Lake, Italy, dir. Andrea Molaioli Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, USA, dir. Jonathan Demme [Rec], Spain, dirs. Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró Sad Vacation, Japan, dir. Shinji Aoyama The Speed of Life, USA, dir. Ed Radtke Useless, China, dir. Jia Zhangke |
| Trackbacks: | Permalink | Venice Page | 2007 | Home | Blog |