21 Films Chasing Top Prize at Venice Film Festival
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12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Monday, August 30, 2021 estament to the bottomless public appetite for whether Stewart can match the revelatory turn by the British royals and their most tragic figure, no Emma Corrin, who won endless praise and a Golden Tless than three new portrayals of Princess Diana Globe this year for her performance in season four of are on the way in the coming months. “The Crown” the Netflix smash. Many have quibbled over the returns to Netflix next year to cover her final terrible details, including Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, years, while a Broadway musical about the princess who worried on Britain’s ITV: “I find Americans tell opens in November. Before all that, Kristen Stewart me they have watched ‘The Crown’ as if they have will take on the role that has made and broken careers taken a history lesson. Well, they haven’t.” But few in “Spencer”, which premieres at the Venice film festi- could resist the drama, with the Daily Mail saying val this week. Here is a selection of the great and not- Corrin “captures the fact that there was something so-great attempts that have gone before her. tragic about Diana before she even became tragic”. There won’t be much of a wait before another dollop ‘Diana’ (2013) of Diana, as “The Crown” returns next year, this time To date, the biggest budget take on the Queen of with Elizabeth Debicki (“Tenet”, “The Night Hearts was this Naomi Watts vehicle, widely acknowl- Manager”) in the role. edged to be an absolute stinker. Watts later admitted it was “a sinking ship”. The Guardian could not help ‘William & Kate’ (2011) themselves: “I hesitate to use the term ‘car crash cine- But if you have tired of Diana rehashes, her chil- ma’, but the awful truth is that, 16 years after that terri- dren now provide plenty of fodder for TV movies, too. ble day in 1997, (Diana) has died another awful death.” “William & Kate”, shot in Los Angeles for US channel Lifetime, was released to coincide with the royal wed- ‘Diana: Her True Story’ (1993) ding. Newsday said it had “the dramatic vitality of a One of the least excruciating of the many TV movies tree stump”. Trying to find something positive to say, dished up mostly for American audiences, The Sun news- London’s Evening Standard came up with: “It is rec- paper still found this adaptation of a popular biography “as ognizably a film, in that it takes place on a screen. shallow as a toddler’s play-pool”. The biggest challenge Events run in a forward direction.” Clearly, the film was trying to recreate that famous hairdo, with the film- was not made with snooty journalists in mind, and the makers reportedly auditioning seven wigs before they got to catch a glimpse of her famous namesake. a paparazzi photographer to chase down the princess, film has a resounding five stars from royal fans on the look right on Serena Scott Thomas (sister of Kristin). Unfortunately, it was due for release in September inevitably made for awkward viewing. The film is now Amazon. The good news for them is that Lifetime has 1997 and was yanked from the schedules following available only via a German DVD release. followed it with no less than three Harry and Meghan ‘Diana & Me’ (1997) Diana’s death on August 31. Though the filmmakers movies: “A Royal Romance”, “Becoming Royal” and The “lost” Diana movie stars Toni Collette as an reshot some scenes in a bid to win back the distribu- ‘The Crown’ (2020) the forthcoming “Escape from the Palace”. Escape for Australian named Diana Spencer who travels to Britain tors, the plot, which includes Collette teaming up with The comparison that matters for “Spencer” is Meghan, that is, but not the rest of us. —AFP 21 films chasing top prize at Venice Film Festival he Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice is based on an Elena Ferrante novel and stars Olivia Film Festival set to begin September 1, will Colman as a woman obsessed with another mother Tbe awarded to one film among 21 contenders and daughter. from across the globe. Here are the films in the running: ‘Spencer’: Germany/UK Chilean director Pablo Larrain follows the ‘Madres paralelas’ (Parallel Mothers): Spain last years of marriage between Princess Diana Two single women prepare to give birth in a and Prince Charles and stars Kristen Stewart maternity ward in Pedro Almodovar’s latest film with and Jack Farthing. regulars Penelope Cruz and Rossy De Palma. ‘Freaks Out’: Italy/Belgium ‘Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon’: US A circus troupe in Rome becomes increasing- Ana Lily Amirpour’s fantasy film starring Kate ly desperate with the onset of WWII in Gabriele Hudson, Craig Robinson and Jeon Jong-seo follows Mainetti’s film. a girl with super powers who escapes a mental asy- lum and rejoins the world in New Orleans. ‘Qui rido io’ (The King of Laughter): Italy/Spain Toni Servillo stars as Naples’ famous turn- ‘Un Autre Monde’ (Another World): France of-the-century comedian Eduardo Scarpetta in The last of Stephane Brize’s trilogy about the Mario Martone’s biopic. world of work, it stars Vincent Lindon as a boss forced to make tough decisions. ‘On the Job: The Missing 8’: Philippines Erik Matti’s action film with prisoners- ith a $165-million budget and a cast to rival the ‘Cursed’ ‘The Power of the Dog’: New Zealand/Australia turned-hitmen that explores corruption in the star system of Arrakis, hopes are high for Despite its ready-made audience and clear cinematic Two brothers feud on a Montana ranch after one media is a sequel to 2013’s “On the Job”. W“Dune” as it prepares to land in Venice next potential, previous transfers to film have been famously diffi- comes home with a new wife, in Jane Campion’s film Friday for its world premiere. The cast list is exciting cult. “It is cursed by its excellence,” said Lloyd Chery, author starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst. ‘Zeby nie Bylo Sladow’ (Leave No Traces): enough, including Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason of a French reference book about Dune. Cult Franco-Chilean Poland/France/Czechoslavakia Momoa, Oscar Isaac and Javier Bardem. But what has sci-fi filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky was the first to try his ‘America Latina’: Italy/France The true story of a witness to the fatal beat- fans really feverish is the man behind the camera: Canadian hand, spending no less than four years in the 1970s on the Italian twins Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo ing of a young activist in Warsaw by the militia Denis Villeneuve. project, with Salvador Dali, Alain Delon and Orson Welles wrote and directed this love story thriller starring under the Communist regime by Polish director Through hits like “Sicario” and “Arrival”, Villeneuve has lined up, along with Pink Floyd for the music. Elio Germano. Jan P. Matuszynski. put himself alongside Christopher Nolan as one of the rare In the end, the money could not match the ambition and it directors who can deliver deadly serious cinema that also became part of tragic movie lore, recounted in the 2013 doc- ‘L’evenement’ (Happening): France ‘Kapitan Volkonogov Bezhal’ (Captain packs theatres. Crucially, he has also proved a safe pair of umentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune”. In the 1980s, in the wake of A young woman risks prison as she seeks an Volkonogov Escaped): Russia/Estonia/France hands when handling totems of 20th-century geekdom, “Star Wars”, studios grew more interested. Fresh from abortion in 1960s France in Audrey Diwan’s drama. Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov’s after his critically adored “Blade Runner 2049”, a sequel to “Alien”, Ridley Scott was tapped to direct, before it was thriller follows a state interrogator in the former the sci-fi classic. passed to David Lynch. Seven versions of the script and six ‘Competencia Oficial’ (Official Competition): Soviet Union who flees, hoping to repent. punishing months filming in Mexico led to many monumental Spain/Argentina A prototype sets being built and thousands of costumes. But Lynch’s mad Penelope Cruz stars as a filmmaker dealing with ‘The Card Counter’ US/UK/China Set many millennia in the future, “Dune” follows the vision was fatally undermined by the Hollywood machine, two difficult leading men, including Antonio A gambler is haunted by his past as a serv- Banderas, in the comedy directed by Gaston Duprat iceman in Paul Schrader’s revenge thriller star- tribal battles for control of “spice”, a drug that extends life and the movie bombed on release in 1984. and Mariano Cohn. ring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish and Willem and delivers prophetic powers, on the inhospitable planet Dafoe. of Arrakis, which also happens to be infested with giant A trilogy? ‘Il Buco’ (The Hole): Italy/France/Germany worms. The brainchild of author Frank Herbert, “Dune” was There have been popular TV adaptations since, includ- Michelangelo Frammartino’s film is based on the ‘E’ stata la mano di Dio’ (The Hand of God): first published in 1965 and became a six-volume space ing “Children of Dune” starring James McAvoy, but never true story of a group of speleologists who in 1961 Italy opera of massive influence, not least on “Star Wars”. “It is on the grand scale that the novels seemed to demand. Cue discovered a deep cave in a remote area of Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino’s drama is set in Naples the biggest-selling and most-read science fiction novel Villeneuve, and his all-star cast.