In Venice in September, cinema is projected with glamour, mysticism and fantasy.
We don’t forget the industry and the market that underpins it, and we will continue to do journalism in that sense, but we like to be dazzled by this story, to live it and say it like that for a few days. To be part of this dream that considers cinema as something so special.
It is for this reason (and also to bring scoops) that Javier Zurro is covering the Venice Film Festival from the Lido, a city flooded (ha) with cinema for almost two weeks.
The Spanish presence was very important. Pedro Almodovar chose this festival to present his first feature film in Englishwith two stars like Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore at his side. The affection that unites them is visibly so special that the photos of the three of them alone look like an Almodovarian film. We were with Tilda Swinton and explained why American critics get it wrong The next piece and drew interesting comparisons between Almodóvar and British director Derek Jarman (whom Tilda cared for during the last months of her life, drawing a curious parallel with Julianne Moore’s character in the film).
Another of the great Spanish directors, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, has also chosen Venice to present, but in this case a series, which for us is very special because they let us pass four nights on the plateau of the final scene, a complex sequence shot. Is called New Years and Sorogoyen He told us that it was also very special for him. because it turned out to be a very intimate story, with a lot of personal charge.
The third important title of Spanish cinema that we saw in Venice and that could be the one that Spain presents to the Oscars to obtain a nomination (is on the shortlist next to The Blue Star And Second prize, by the way two films with musical plots) is Framethe story of the Spaniard who pretended to be a Holocaust victim. It is produced by the directors of The infinite trench, Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, and Zurro says that Eduard Fernández gives an “apotheotic” interpretation.
At the time of writing this newsletter, we do not know the winners, who will be announced on Saturday, September 7, but we have talked about a film that is generating a lot of buzz, The Brutalist, about a Bauhaus architect (played by Adrien Brody) who flees to the United States and there he will find out whether the American dream is true or not. The three and a half hour film, shot technically in a special way (in 70 mm and VistaVision), is very critical and has been highly praised by critics. This also happens in the last days of the important exhibition in Weimar on this school of architecture and design that represented a revolution. An exhibition which we speak of tangentially in this recent report, and which addressed in more depth the relationship between the Bauhaus and National Socialism, since it rejected Nazism but some had to collaborate, even though the Nazis hated this school which is over a hundred years old.
The disappointments in Venice came with joker 2 (but with a spectacular Joaquin Phoenix), with the biopic of Maria Callas by Pablo Larraín and with the film The wolves, by Brad Pitt and George Clooney. On the other hand, a beautiful production which yes you liked it Bitelchus Bitelchus Tim Burton’s The Walking Dead, which hits theaters this weekend. It has also attracted attention little girl, where Halina Reijn directs Nicole Kidman in a risky role on the submissive role in BDSM with a feminist approach.
While waiting for the winners (Almodóvar is well placed by the critics) and already thinking about the next festival, which is the one in San Sebastian, I leave you with the rest of the bulletin. Beam roll and keep reading, we bring you articles and books that I have selected for you and films that, from the city of canals, Javier Zurro recommends so that you can go to the cinema in your city this weekend.
Three recommended articles
Massification and posture knocking on the doors of Romanesque art and volunteer guides (sometimes a kindly neighbor who holds the keys to a church, for example) are tired of being ignored. We spoke with one of them.
Last week we said that one of the most notable new releases in September was Juan Tallón’s new novel, The best in the world. We spoke with him and we discussed how to navigate the mixed territories of reality and fiction.
Vincenzo Cerami, who wrote the screenplay for Life is beautiful, wrote A bit petty bourgeois during the “years of lead” and it was a great success in Italy in the 70s, which is now reissued with a prologue by Nicola Lagioia, author of the wonderful “The City of the Living”.
Three recommended books
The Fulgencio Pimentel publishing house begins the year by publishing something very sweet in its comic book collection: a collection of rare documents from Simon Hanselman title Romantic coffee which includes what he self-published in his fanzines between 2016 and 2023, as well as other pages scattered throughout. The publisher already calls it a “monumental work”. In bookstores in September.
Nórdica publishes one of its beautiful editions with 47 poems by Emily Dickinson written from Amherst bird watching, The secret of the oriole, in bilingual edition. Nórdica presents here the first pages. In bookstores September 9.
As part of the recovery of works by Kurt Vonnegut what does Blackie Books do, is published Galapagos, about how a financial crisis destabilizes countries and how a strange virus sweeps the world. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?, but Vonnegut wrote it in 1985. In bookstores September 12.
Three recommended films, by Javier Zurro
I am still in Venice (This Saturday we will know already the winners, don’t miss it on elDiario.es) but in the meantime I bring you these three recommendations of films to see in theaters:
Bitelchus Bitelchus: Tim Burton is back! It’s not that he never completely left it, but his talent seemed to have taken a long vacation because he hadn’t hit the mark for quite a while. He had to go back to his origins, to one of the characters that made him an icon, to make a good film again. It’s not that this sequel is a masterpiece, but it is a pleasure of the first order.
a silence: perhaps what happened recently with Alice Munro, whose daughter accused her stepfather of abusing her and the writer of keeping silent, makes this film by Joaquim Lafosse more relevant, which investigates precisely this silence, that of couples of people who have committed sexual abuse. An irregular film, but complex and very relevant.
Pepi Fandango: the story of Peter Perezbetter known as Pepi Fandango, is one of those that a screenwriter writes for you and the producers reject it as implausible, which is perhaps why the documentary is the best way to tell the story of this Holocaust survivor whose music reminds him of the horror, but it also brings him relief. A beautiful film about the healing power of art.
Librotea’s recommendations
This week, Librotea offers us a new discussion between Juan José Millás and Juan Luis Arsuaga, tinged with the melancholy of the end of summer, the return to work and the famous back to school:
