The last post

So it was the last day. As we destroyed Tom Tykwer’s cocktail party until 5am, there was no way of sitting in a cinema at 8am again. At least I made it for the 10am screening of Platos Academy. Well, kind of, because I fell asleep during the movie.

Nevermind, after a short break at the villa, I decided the flat needed some cleaning – and I needed sleep. In the evening, I went past the Sala Grande and asked some passer-by who won the golden lion. The choice of Somewhere surprised me a lot, though. That did not stop me from watching it again, people boo-ing during the intro. I guess they had expected something else.

Anyway. Back to the villa to the good-bye party. This was really hard, as the festival is a real microcosm, where you hardly talk and interact with any other people but those involved in the festival. Which makes you grow really strong bonds. The goodbye was long.

And so was the night.

This was the last post. Venice was great. Thanks to Cineuropa, Europa Cinemas, the Venice Days and the European Parliament for making this possible.

Day of decision

Getting up after the Zebraman 2 late night session wasn’t easy. However, we had to get up for Feo’s Lux Prize Film Die Fremde, a Akinesque German-Turkish drama about families, honour and archaic structures. We were actually blown away by this film, so that at the end of it, you could hear packs of tissues rattling all trough the screen, as well a the occasional sniffing. Die Fremde was one of the best films I have seen so far, even though it’s not in competition. But well.

After that, we met once more in the beautiful garden of the Villa Degli Autori to find the film which would be awarded our special mention. We decided for Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies, which was also my favourite choice and an amazing, twisted and well written drama. So well done, Denis.

We used the afternoon for a swim, which was very welcome, especially with the sunset behind us. After we went for lunch, we spontaneously to go and watch Tom Tykwer’s drama Drei. It was surely the biggest pile of shit I have seen in Venice so far. Sorry Tom. As punishment, we decided to crash his party and drink his cocktails away.

I did so until 5 in the morning.

Two days in Venice

Wednesday was a rather special day. After I had to carry my flatmate through the flat’s courtyard we went to our daily discussion. Walter Stokman was an amazingly inspiring speaker and greatly emphasised on the importance and function of documentary. After we’ve been advised that we should not go to Venice as the water level was too high, we spent a calm afternoon on the beach.

The evening screening was Et in terra pax, and I was slowly going bonkers. I stopped counting how many rapes and murders I have seen. However none of the Italian films we have seen came without it. If the national film output of a country can be considered as a mirror of their soul, Italy does definitely require help. Or a new government.

Scena Del Crimine by Walter Stokman was a Dutch documentary about criminality in Naples. Again? Again. Why do they make us watch that stuff? What have we done to them? This said, if I had not already watched 547756 films on violence in Italy, it would have been really good.

Really good was Zebraman by Takashi Miike. IMDB describes it as follows: Being a failure as a teacher and a familyman, Shinichi tries to escape everyday live by dressing up as “Zebraman”, the superhero. Sounds stupid? It is! Zebraman is the perfect midnight movie, having smuggled a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer in the screen, having fun with your pals and just randomly shout and clap as if we were taking part in some sort of interactive theatre piece.

Thursday started with a sore head, but basically I felt good. It was the discussion that got me rolling again, and in the afternoon we went to see beautiful but too touristy Venice. After seeing every tacky tourist shop, Ines and I decided to have an ice cream. What a nice life.

Our film-night started with Seren Yüce’s Majority. It’s good. 13 Assassins is more fun and, again, included the audience in terms of interaction. Every creative kill was highly acclaimed, people clapped and we had a good time, looking forward to Zebraman 2. In the audience with us were Tilda Swinton and Quentin Tarantino, who both obviously enjoyed the movie.

Zebraman 2 on the other hand was a slight let-down. It was not bad. But having turned onto a more serious and philosophical script, it was just not what we hoped for. Still, I don’t regret that. But going to bed at 4 if you have to get up by 8 is not enough.

Beaches, Scandinavia and Western

Tuesday was yet another late start, although I planned on getting into my 4-5 films a day rhythm again. The discussion kicked off, debating the importance of film festivals. My proposition that film festivals could be decentralised didn’t have a very positive response, although they admitted that there is a lack in courage in programming and directing of the festivals.

After lunch I decided and go to see Svinalängorna by the Swedish actor Pernilla August. While Europe is busy congratulating themselves for their oh-so-amazing achievement in film, it seems that it are the Scandinavian countries that, silently, bring the true cinema on screen. A dark story with amazing cinematography and an absolutely thrilling plot. Gosh, I loved it. And where’s that country where Swedish actresses come from? After that, I tried to catch Promises Written in Water by Vincent Gallo, but did not get in. We went to the beach instead. That’s great about the Biennale.

Notre Étrangère, tonight’s bigger Giornate film, was a 82-minute torture, pointless and boring.

The Happy Poet made up for that, being a low-budget, nice little film. We had good fun, were laughing and applauding the plot. Good for a late night. But not late enough, because we decided to see I Crudeli by Sergio Corbucci. This film was Quentin’s opening film for the Quentin Tarantino Film Festival in Austin, TX, and his personal festival dedication.

Shortest post on earth.

Today’s screening log:

Casey Aflecks new film: Crap.
Cirkus Columbia: Very good.

Starspotting and my “day off”

This morning I only got up around 10. I couldn’t be bothered to see another French movie, especially not François Ozon. And I also simply couldn’t.

The discussion today was way better then expected, especially after Hagen pissed off the guy from Variety and started some controversy. After that, on my way home, I bumped into Willem Dafoe. He is tiny and not that beautiful.  I was intrigued to be standing next to the guy who had sex with Charlotte Gainsbourg in  front of millions of people. But then again, I’ve been told that the close ups were done by pornographic actors, not by Dafoe and Gainsbourg. Lars Von Trier, why did you do Antichrist?

In the afternoon we went to see Little Voices. I slept through it. Enough said?

After a mini flat party, we decided to go see Post Mortem. It was a really good movie, but it didn’t capture me or anything. More exciting was the fact that I was sitting two rows behind Quentin Tarantino.

Horror in three dimensions and why people don’t like author cinema.

So Saturday was one of my most anticipated days: I got up, early as usual, to go to the cinema tent and to see Sofia Coppola’s new movie Somewhere. Somewhere is, as you’d expect, incredibly beautiful, extremely slow and just magical. However, I am still not sure if it’s really that great. It is doing very well in terms of observing and watching, but sometimes it feels like she can’t pull the story together. Which, in a way, is nice, because when she tries to do so, she doesn’t really seem to succeed (Marie Antoinette was horrible). Then we sprinted to our discussion on Roots and Memories – you can find the video footage here, as well as my blog post.

In the afternoon, we decided to hang around the Lido and just do nothing but sip drinks and watch the world pass by. Venice seems to be the a perfect place to do that. When we got bored, we went to see the Short Film selection which was even more boring. Not a good idea.

Black Ocean was another bad idea. It suffered from the classical French syndrome: Guys, you talking to each other for 90 minutes does not make a great film, sorry.

The best part of that day was the flat party which led to really good discussions – and wine and food of course. To finish off the day, we decided to see My Child’s Eye. A Japanese 3D horror movie which was really good fun and really scary. However, technically speaking the movie was crap. But hell. I believe that horror movies really benefit from 3D technology, whereas I think it acts more as a gimmick for most films.

Screening log so far: Black Swan, Machete, Dark Love, The Accordion*, Le bruit des glaçons, Miral, Incendies, Somewhere, The Futurist*, Mechanisms of Spring*, Il Capo*, Casus Belli*, Les Barbares*, Atom*, Black Ocean, My Child’s Eye. (* = short films)

You and whose army

Black Swan and other traumatic experiences

Second of September. I got up around seven, so I could queue for the 8.30 screening of Black Swan. Contrary to my expectation, there wasn’t that much of a queue, so we grabbed a coffee and a Coke and discussed the meaning and the importance of the dying fox in Antichrist. But more importantly: Italians know how to make coffee. I’m glad our Italian flatmate likes making coffee for us.

Arriving in Venice