We’re just about five weeks away from the opening of the 81st Venice International Film Festival, the oldest such celebration of international cinema and the official kickoff to awards season in earnest. A gondola loaded with news about this year’s titles washed up on our shores this morning, and this year’s competition slate is packed.
It’s no surprise that Todd Phillips will bring his “Joker” sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” back to the late-summer Italian event. The first dark comic book film won the top prize there in 2019, slapping a huge international halo on it released to the public, eventually netting Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar, as well as a Best Original Score trophy for Hildur Guðnadóttir and nine other nominations, including Best Picture. The sequel, which was not a foregone conclusion when the first movie was made, but a Mack truck of Warner Bros. cash got the team back together, is said to feature a great many musical numbers and, as most already know, Lady Gaga as Joker’s therapist/lover Harlene Quinzel/Harley Quinn.
Other biggies at this year’s Venice include:
“Queer,” Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’s early 1950s novel, written while Burroughs awaited trial for the unintentional killing of his wife, and not published until 1985. It stars Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, and Henry Zaga.
Chilean director Pablo Larraín has the third in his trilogy of “important 20th century women” after “Jackie” and “Spencer”—this time Angelina Jolie as opera diva Maria Callas in “Maria.”
Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in Pedro Almodovár’s “The Room Next Door,” in which Swinton plays a war correspondent. Also in competition is Adrien Brody as architect László Tóth in “The Brutalist,” who survived the Holocaust. Brody as an artist in this setting has certainly done well in the past, winning an Oscar for playing Władysław Szpilman in “The Pianist.”
This year’s opening night film, not in competition, was already revealed as Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The full slate is below.
“The Room Next Door,” Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
“Campo di Battaglia,” Gianni Amelio (Italy)
“Leurs Enfants Après Eux,” Ludovic Bouckherma, Zoran Boukherma (France)
“The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet (U.K.)
“The Quiet Son,” Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin (France)
“Vermiglio,” Maura Delpero (Italy, France, Belgium)
“Sicilian Letters,” Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza (Italy, France)
“Queer,” Luca Guadagnino (Italy, U.S.)
“Love,” Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway)
“April,” Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia, France, Italy)
“The Order,” Justin Kurzel (Canada)
“Maria,” Pablo Larrain (Italy, Germany)
“Trois Amies,” Emmanuel Mouret (France)
“Kill the Jockey,” Luis Ortega (Argentina, Spain)
“Joker: Folie à Deux,” Todd Phillips (U.S.)
“Babygirl,” Halina Reijn (U.S.)
“I’m Still Here,” Walter Salles (Brazil, France)
“Diva Futura,” Giulia Louise Steigerwalt (Italy)
“Harvest,” Athina Rachel Tsangari (U.K., Germany, Greece, France, U.S.)
“Youth – Homecoming,” Wang Bing (France, Luxembourg, Netherlands)
“Stranger Eyes,” Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore, Taipei, France, U.S.)
OUT OF COMPETITION — FICTION
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Tim Burton (U.S., U.K.) – Opening Film
“L’Orto Americano,” Pupi Avati (Italy) — Closing Film
“Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole,” Francesca Comencini (Italy, France)
“Phantosmia,” Lav Diaz (Philippines)
“Maldoror,” Fabrice Du Welz (Belgium, France)
“Broken Rage,” Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
“Baby Invasion,” Harmony Korine (U.S.)
“Cloud,” Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Japan)
“Finalement,” Claude Lelouch (France)
“Wolfs,” Jon Watts (U.S.)
“Se Posso Permettermi Capitolo II,” Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
“Allégorie Citadine,” Alice Rohrwacher, JR (France)
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