Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Both of us were on the Lido for the very first time.
Nate Jones:This was the first Venice to take place since last yearsSAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
On one hand:The stars were back!
Did you notice any effect on the quality of the films in competition?
and Todd PhillipsJoker: Folie a Deux(whichI did not).
Still, Corbet was one of only two American directors in competition this year.
(The other was Phillips LOL.)
Stateside filmmakers were better represented in the wider festival.
Too self-conscious about pissing off their followers, their films politics often felt pre-digested.
What do you make of this?
But thats enough high-falutin talk for now.
Jones:I thought youd never ask!
However all the fall festivals are at a weird moment, Oscar-wise.
Not sinceNomadlandin 2020 has the eventual Best Picture winner bowed at Venice, Telluride, or Toronto.
That season comes with a considerable asterisk, of course.
I dont know if we saw any future Best Picture winners at the Lido this year.
The closest was probablyThe Brutalist.
(They got Ana de Armas a nom forBlonde, for goodness sake.)
Jolie feels like a lock, and might even be the early frontrunner.
(Both films will be released by A24.)
This time, the only music Joker will be dancing to is a sad trombone.
