Nathaniel in Venice: "Parallel Mothers" and city impressions

Nathaniel reporting from Venice - Day 1, Part 1

"Dont Look Now" .. the most famous Venice movie?

Dearest readers, what's the first thing you think of when you think of Venice? My first memory of the city,  vicariously, is Madonna's gyrating gondola ride in the "Like a Virgin" music video. Nothing as seismically sexy is likely to occur in pandemic 2021 (tourists and masks kinda kill that vibe) but I did witness the paparazzi chasing a celebrity the literal minute I exited the airport to board a boat to my airbnb. Seeing paparazzi in the country that invented the word was fun but I didn't recognize the celebrity (short girl with black hair and baggy clothing with heavily tatted tall boyfriend?). Auspicious beginnings. 

Venice is one of the most beautiful cities you'll ever see this side of Copenhagen, and that's surely due to all the canals; Oh to live on the water! Travelling to the movies each morning by boat is going to be heaven. Coming back to the main island at night to sleep, though, is as eery as any shot from Don't Look Now (1973), since every street feels like walking down a dark alley, even in the middle of the day. The buildings are uncomfortably close together  -- sometimes you have to turn sideways for other pedestrians -- and the streets are utterly mazelike. With the caveat that I have a terrible sense of direction, I was lost four times in the first 24 hours. 

My first screening was the opening night film Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers so the festival began, figuratively, with Penélope Cruz asking the audience to smize...

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Elisa's Venice Diary #1: Almodovar, Campion. Here are lions.

by Elisa Giudici

What a start! There's a way of saying in Italian: il buon giorno si vede dal mattino. It means you can tell if something is remarkable from the very beginning, as you can judge how a day will be by the way it begins. Well, the first day of my fifth year as a press pass holder in Venice was so amazing I am not going to tell you if I liked what I saw, but how much I enjoyed every single title.

PARALLEL MOTHERS by Pedro Almodóvar
I was unsure about the opening movie of Venezia 78 due to Pain and Glory: how to follow up such an intimate, powerful, memorable movie (the kind of film a director puts his entire life in it, and that he or she can only make once or twice in a career). How can the follow up be anything but a disappointment? Happy to report Pedro Almodóvar is far from having finished the meaningful things he wants to say while endlessly rearranging his favorite themes and actresses...

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Streaming Review: "Worth"

By Ben Miller

With the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks approaching, Sara Colangelo’s Worth paints a compassionate picture of the victims and their families while attempting to get into the heads of the lawyers in charge of assigning a dollar amount to the victims. While the lead trio are each superb, the host of character actors and actress recounting their lost loved ones tug at the heartstrings.  Poignantly acted and directed, the film lacks the flash and grandstanding of the usual Hollywood fare, but still delivers a heartfelt message on the value of life.

Following the 9/11 attacks, to stave off the potential of economically disastrous lawsuits against the airlines, the United States Attorney General assigns respected lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (Michael Keaton) as the Special Master of the fund allocated to compensate victims and their families of the attacks...

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Review: Nia DaCosta's "Candyman"

by Matt St. Clair

When the 1992 horror classic Candyman made its way to theaters, audiences were introduced to a figure who serves as a representation of America’s original sin and a tragic monster akin to those from the classic era. The original Candyman (Tony Todd) pursuing grad student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) has invited comparisons to The Phantom of the Opera, another lovelorn monster.  But the latest direct sequel of the same name by director Nia DaCosta is less of a Universal Monster-esque tragedy.

Though it continues the original storyline, the new Candyman (2021) expands its racial commentary to tackle generational pain, police brutality, and gentrification...

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Review: Aretha biopic "Respect"

by Patrick Ball

The scene is a packed movie theater in Oakland, California on Christmas Day, 2006. The film is Dreamgirls. We’re finishing up the iconic musical number “Listen”, a solid 75-80% into the movie. Beyoncé’s Deena Jones hits the last passionate note and the audience loses it, clapping and hollering, and a woman stands up and screams “You GO, EFFIE!” That was how powerful Jennifer Hudson’s Academy Award winning performance was, that this woman was ascribing every fabulous moment in the movie to her and her character, even when another character/actress was onscreen.

Hudson has had a bumpy road as a film actress since then, but is back in a big way in Respect, the long awaited Aretha Franklin biopic...

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