venice film festival reviews
‘The Spiral’ Review: Jasmine Trinca’s Real Housewife of Bari Makes a Faustian Pact With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Enigmatic Stranger in Crackling Chiller
Italian genre specialist Paolo Strippoli’s Venice competitor traces the escalating horror of a wife and mother whose fear of having a less-than-perfect family takes her to dark places.
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‘Bunker’ Review: Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Are Riveting as a Married Couple Growing Apart in Needling but Schematic Psychological Drama
Stephen Graham and Patrick Schwarzenegger also star in Florian Zeller’s latest, about the ethical and emotional questions raised when an architect considers a lucrative commission from a tech billionaire.
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‘Look Back’ Review: Hirokazu Koreeda’s Lovingly Crafted Manga Adaptation Is a Delicate Charmer About Teen Friendship and Art, Joy and Sorrow
Based on the celebrated standalone manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the tender story was previously translated to the screen in a 2024 medium-length anime retelling.
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‘Possible Love’ Review: Korean Master Lee Chang-dong’s Transfixing Meditation on Economic and Emotional Unease Is a Quiet Powerhouse
The 'Burning' director returns after an eight-year absence with this complex drama for Netflix, about the awkward commingling of two couples on either side of the wealth divide.
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‘Primetime’ Review: You Might Feel the Need to Shower After Watching Robert Pattinson as ‘To Catch a Predator’ Host Chris Hansen
Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers also star in Lance Oppenheim’s first narrative feature, revisiting the ethically muddy ‘Dateline NBC’ ratings phenomenon.
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‘Burgundy’ Review: The Classic French Vin Rouge Is a Way of Life in Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Captivating Oenology Doc
The directors behind ‘The Truffle Hunters’ and ‘Gaucho Gaucho’ continue their ethnographic exploration of age-old traditions inextricably embedded in the land.
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‘Wild Horse Nine’ Review: John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell Make a Perfect Pair in Martin McDonagh’s Poignant, Blood-Dipped Buddy Comedy
Steve Buscemi also stars in this story of two CIA operatives who take a trip to Easter Island while readying for the Chilean military coup that would overthrow the Salvador Allende government.
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‘Bucking Fastard’ Review: Kate and Rooney Mara Embrace the Weirdness in Werner Herzog’s Nutty but Thin Tale of Two Sisters Who Behave as One
Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson also star in this mock-Irish fable about siblings whose hunger for love compels them to tunnel through a mountain.
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‘Duse’ Review: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi Radiates Feverish Luminosity in Challenging Historical Character Study
Pietro Marcello imagines the twilight years of legendary Italian stage actress Eleanora Duse in the period between World War I and the rise of fascism.
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‘After the Hunt’ Review: Julia Roberts Is in Brittle Command Even if Luca Guadagnino Isn’t in a #MeToo Drama That Mistakes Abrasive for Provocative
Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny also star in this psychological thriller about a sexual assault accusation that tears through the Yale philosophy department.
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‘La Grazia’ Review: Toni Servillo Is Magnificent in Paolo Sorrentino’s Exquisite Character Study of a Powerful Man Taking Stock
The director of Oscar winner 'The Great Beauty' imagines the final days in office of a fictional President of the Italian Republic in this Venice Film Festival opener.
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‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Review: Frustrating Sequel Is Most Electric When Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Sing, Dance and Romance
Todd Phillips follows his neo-noir psychodrama with another probe into the title character’s tormented mind, this time with splashy musical numbers.
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