Venice Film Festival 2022 | Preview

The Venice Film Festival is just around the corner (August 31-Sept-10) and with it, begins the conversation about next year’s Best Picture in earnest. These late summer/early fall festivals (Venice, TIFF, Telluride) are where most of the eventual nominees and winners see their first audiences. Some outliers premiere at different festivals, like last year’s Best Picture (and Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor) winner CODA, which premiered at Sundance over a year before it eventually won its awards. However, most other nominees and winners came from the aforementioned festivals, including Best Director winner Jane Campion, who also won Venice’s prestigious Silver Lion on her road to the Oscars. Who will come away with the Silver Lion at the 79th Venice Film Festival, or better yet, the Golden Lion? Only time will tell, but it’s fun to look at the selections at this year’s festival and make some predictions.

Now Venice has multiple categories in its official selection, and one of those is Out of Competition. The name is exactly like it sounds; these selected films are not in competition for the awards. Why do films enter a festival if not for the chance to get awards? Because it is still a great way to build that all-important buzz. One of the buzziest entries this year is Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilds and starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. From the trailer, it gives some major Stepford Wives vibes. It reteams Olivia Wilde with one of the writers of Booksmart, Katie Silberman. Don’t Worry Darling marks Silberman’s first credited foray away from comedy, but comedies and thrillers share similarities once you get below the surface as they both involve walking that tightrope of tension and release. If you are in Venice and want to be a tastemaker, this film is probably up your alley. However, its theatrical release is September 23rd, so anyone unable to attend won’t have to wait long to see it.

In Competition, there are many exciting titles. The Banshees of Inisherin is a title that probably piques the interest of fans of In Bruges as it reteams writer/director Martin McDonagh with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. However, if we are talking prize potential, the ones with the most pre-festival buzz are Bardo (False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Son directed by Florian Zeller, and Tár directed by Todd Field.

Not much has been made available about Bardo other than a brief synopsis that it’s about a renowned Mexican journalist/documentary filmmaker who, after returning home, works through an existential crisis. You get a sense from the full title, and that it’s a comedy (dramedy?), that our narrator will be unreliable. Without much to go on, it’s hard to make many predictions, but Iñárritu goes hard, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he walks away with the Silver Lion with this film. If he does, it will mark a two-year streak for Netflix titles.

The Son, based on Florian Zellers’ play Le Fils, stars Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern. At its core, the film appears to be about the need to stay present in your child’s life. To recognize the present you’re in, and not try to hold on to or fix things in the past. The film sounds like it will illicit some shed tears, though that might help it do better at TIFF the following week to place in People’s Choice voting. Outside of festivals, it’s scheduled for a limited theatrical release on November 11th.

Of the early buzz films, I’m rooting for Tár to win the Golden Lion. It stars Cate Blanchett as a conductor Lydia Tár. The film’s cast also boasts Noémie Merlant, the only lead from Portrait of a Lady on Fire still acting. A teaser exists for the film, and it is a teaser in the true sense of the word. Thought was put into that trailer. If as much care was put into the narrative of the film, which boasts some real musicians amongst its cast, it should live up to its buzz and potentially walk away with that Golden Lion. Whatever happens, global audience will start getting a chance to see it when it goes theatrical on October 7th.