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: Jorge Semprún (president), Guglielmo Biraghi, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Abbas Kiarostami, Margarethe von Trotta, Mario Martone, Peter Rainier, Moses Rothman     Golden Lion: Cyclo, Vietnam, dir. Tran Anh Hung Grand Jury Prize: God's Comedy, Portugal, dir. João César Monteiro The Star Maker, Italy, dir. Giuseppe Tornatore Best Director: A Midwinter's Tale, UK, dir. Kenneth Branagh Best Actress: La Cérémonie, Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert Best Actor: The Deathmaker, Götz George Best Supporting Actress: The Story of a Poor Young Man, Isabella Ferrari Best Supporting Actor: Nothing Personal, Ian Hart Best Screenplay: Det Means Girl, Abolfazl Jalili Best Cinematography: Maborosi, Masao Nakabori FIPRESCI Award: Beyond the Clouds, Italy/France, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni & Wim Wenders Cyclo, Vietnam, dir. Tran Anh Hung Competition Films I Have Seen: Ranked in order of preference   My Golden Lion: The Crossing Guard (USA, dir. Sean Penn) - This is the only one I've watched, ages ago, and I barely recall it beyond relentless miserabilism. So, we shall see! Sidebar Films I Have Seen: Ranked in order of preference   Strange Days (USA, dir. Kathryn Bigelow) - City on fire! The too-muchness of this apocalyptic, sci-fi, gun-toting, post-Rodney drama-cum-thriller is just right. Apollo 13 (USA, dir. Ron Howard) - As deftly edited a mall movie as I can remember, deeply felt, acted across the board with unfussy precision. I love it. Unzipped (USA, dir. Douglas Keeve) - Energy stays high at 73 minutes. Mizrahi has more than enough personality to keep the balloon aloft. Nothing new, but fun. The Celluloid Closet (USA, dirs. Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman) - Generously illustrated companion to a landmark book that always favored polemic over nuance. A force for good. Dolores Claiborne (USA, dir. Taylor Hackford) - Hackford is not nimble enough with the temporal shifts, cold milieu, and difficult tone. Ambitious but strained. Mighty Aphrodite (USA, dir. Woody Allen) - Broad bloodline-irony-fate threads bind faux-Sophoclean slapstick to threadbare hooker-redemption farce. Awkward. Braveheart (USA/UK, dir. Mel Gibson) - Waterworld (USA, dir. Kevin Reynolds) - Jade (USA, dir. William Friedkin) - No one agrees with Friedkin that this over-heated, under-reasoned twaddle is his best. Dull. Limply prurient. Actors napping. Competition Films I'm Curious to See: Ranked in order of interest; more on this year's lineup here (opens in a new window)   La Cérémonie, France, dir. Claude Chabrol God's Comedy, Portugal, dir. João César Monteiro Maborosi, Japan, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda Det Means Girl, Iran, dir. Abolfazl Jalili Clockers, USA, dir. Spike Lee Cyclo, Vietnam, dir. Tran Anh Hung Kardiogramma, Kazakhstan, dir. Darezhan Omirbaev Guantanamera, Cuba, dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea & Juan Carlos Tabío Who Killed Pasolini?, Italy, dir. Marco Tullio Giordano The Star Maker, Italy, dir. Giuseppe Tornatore A Midwinter's Tale, UK, dir. Kenneth Branagh The Deathmaker, Germany, dir. Romuald Karmakar Sender Unknown, Mexico, dir. Carlos Carrera Nothing Personal, Ireland, dir. Thaddeus O'Sullivan The Story of a Poor Young Man, Italy, dir. Ettore Scola The Flying Dutchman, The Netherlands, dir. Jos Stelling Sidebar Films I'm Curious to See: Listed alphabetically   French Twist [Gazon maudit], France, dir. Josiane Balasko Carl-Theodor Dreyer: My Métier, Denmark, dir. Torben Skjodt Jensen Wild Horses, Argentina, dir. Marcelo Piñero The Doom Generation, USA, dir. Gregg Araki The Day of the Beast, Spain, dir. Álex de la Iglesia Flamenco, Spain, dir. Carlos Saura Palookaville, USA, dir. Alan Taylor Stonewall, USA/UK, dir. Nigel Finch Trackbacks: Permalink Venice Page 1995 Home Blog E-Mail