Being a member of the surging, surly throng of the festival press corps in Venice is a little like being in a family: You’re thrown together by circumstance, forced to politely endure each other’s character flaws while jostling for limited space and resources. (And considering that I was surrounded by people speaking in a language I couldn’t understand, many of whom also couldn’t understand me, really did make me feel like I was with my family. I’m kidding, Mom.) Yet the more we all perp-walked together through the cattle-chute lines, the more we endured the evil-eye-ing from the blue-jacketed security guards at the Pala Lido doors (they have a look that suggests they’re already mentally picking their teeth with your bones) and the more we maneuvered our way around the omnipresent armed guards surrounding the festival’s gated HQ (Polizia? Some paramilitary unit? Your guess is as good as mine), the more we bonded in mutual exasperation. What we have to put up with, our sheepish shrugs to each other say, just to watch a movie! Read more »

For a festival so associated with Italian cinema and American premieres (in past years, at least), Venice has shown plenty of Lido love to the Middle and Far East this year. In addition to new works from Mostra fixtures like Kitano and Kiarostami, the latest from anime godheads Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo on the Cliff) and Mamoru Oshii (The Sky Crawlers) are screening, as well as a short from China’s big art-house gun, Jia Zhangke. (He’s also a producer on one of the Chinese features competiting for the grand prize this year; more on that in a second.) Viewers looking for something to counter the usual fest-circuit Eurocentrism could sample entries from Turkey, the Philippines and Egypt, as well as several shorts programs that are truly all over the map. You expect—nay, demand—such foreign-exchange services from a large-scale event like this. There have been a few notable occasions in this year’s Venice, however, when a talented director has tried to conduct their own contained cross-cultural study and, well…let’s just say the result ended up being pitched between a bad cinematic ambassador and flat-out ass-backward. Read more »

Italians have a reputation for being a passionate people, renowned for expressing their emotions in a highly demonstrative manner. The stereotype is always someone yelling loudly and gesticulating broadly, and as an Italian-American, I’ve found myself getting into arguments with people about why this caricature is borderline demeaning. (These arguments, of course, almost always end with me yelling loudly and gesticulating broadly.) But having spent a few days in the country of my ancestors, I can safely say this: The people I’ve met here are very passionate about cinema. Settling in to the Pala Lido screening room—a cavernous theater where the competition entries are screened for the general press—it was possible to witness various conversations between the native journalists suddenly devolve into barrages of violent gestures. "Il cinema è morto?," "Fascista propaganda!" and "Il ultimo maestro, Roberto Benigni!" could occasionally be heard among the flurry; it was possible to go hours within the highly fortified walls of the Festival’s HQ and neither hear English nor see an idle hand. Read more »

Waiting on the dock for a water bus to take you from Venice proper to the Lido—the southern island strip that hosts the city’s film festival—you can feel the small holding area between land and sea swaying back and forth, sometimes strong enough to almost knock you off your feet. As you watch the ship come in, the waves buffeting this crowded mini-Pequod with a concentrated amount of force, you think: It’s going to be a bumpy ride. But then you get on, and regardless of how skilled your driver is (or isn’t) at steering his vaporetto, the 20-minute trip isn’t nearly as rough as expected. It’s surprisingly smooth, and the route takes you around the back of Venice, giving you a fresh perspective on the city’s landmarks.

The 65th Mostra Internationale’s boat, however, was being rocked before the red carpet had even been laid down, and judging from the prefest press, you’d think the event had already jumped the shark. Read more »