The Venice International Film Festival often serves as a springboard for films that later go on to win Oscars. Over the past decade, such films have included “La La Land,” “The Shape of Water,” “Roma,” and “The Brutalist,” as well as “Joker” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.”
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According to the BBC, this year the festival featured fewer big-budget Hollywood films vying for awards than usual, but six films are already generating significant Oscar buzz.
“Primetime”
Robert Pattinson is having truly impressive years. Robert Pattinson’s year has so far been really remarkable. In the film “The Drama,” he shone as a comically disturbed groom, stood out with a vivid cameo in “The Odyssey,” and now, according to the BBC, he has taken on perhaps the most interesting role of his career.
“Primetime” tells the story of Chris Hansen and his controversial TV show “To Catch a Predator,” in which, in the early 2000s, potential sexual offenders were lured into traps and forced to expose themselves on camera.
Pattinson, who is also a producer of the film, appears in almost every scene. He speaks and moves almost like the real Hansen but also gives the character a unique menace and manic intensity.
According to the BBC, the Academy likes portrayals of real people, and Pattinson is a popular independent film actor with the charisma of a Hollywood leading star. Therefore, the publication suggests it might be time for his first Oscar nomination.
“Wild Horse Nine”
Martin McDonagh’s last film “The Banshees of Inisherin” was nominated for nine Oscars but did not win any. Will “Wild Horse Nine” fare better?
It is a politically engaged dark comedy about two CIA agents vacationing on Easter Island in 1973. The film again features one of McDonagh’s favorite dysfunctional male duos, but this time, instead of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson who starred together in “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “In Bruges,” the lead roles are played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell.
According to the BBC, Malkovich is one of the main contenders for the Best Actor Oscar.
Malkovich has always stood out for his strange, hard-to-look-away-from characters, but in this film, his portrayal of an aging, weary hitman is not only eccentric but also unexpectedly sensitive and complex.
The BBC notes that the actor is also helped by the fact that 72-year-old Malkovich has already been nominated for two Oscars, most recently for “In the Line of Fire” (1993). His chances may also be boosted by the Academy’s fondness for comeback stories.
“Flesh Impact”
“Flesh Impact” is a rare guest at the Venice festival: a short film that could contend for an Oscar in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
It is a warm, 17-minute film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. It was created to commemorate Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday.
Gyllenhaal imagines Monroe as a living 100-year-old woman who auditions for a Broadway play. The play’s director is played by Gyllenhaal’s husband, Peter Sarsgaard. During the audition, Monroe takes the opportunity to tell her life story in her own words.
“Flesh impact” is a term used by Billy Wilder to describe a quality that made moviegoers feel as if they could reach out and touch Marilyn Monroe on screen.
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The BBC highlights an unexpected casting choice: the role of Monroe was played by 93-year-old Ellen Burstyn, who has won Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards. Young Monroe is portrayed by Dakota Johnson in flashback scenes.
“Woman Unknown”
The Danish drama “Woman Unknown,” which just appeared on screen, was mentioned among possible contenders for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. According to the BBC, this is supported by important film themes, a tense plot, impeccable period details, and a restrained yet expressive performance by Mathilda Arkel.
The film was directed by May el-Toukhy. It was the only main competition film at Venice directed by a woman.
The action takes place in Copenhagen shortly after World War II. Arkel plays a nanny engaged to her employer, a widowed industrialist portrayed by Carsten Bjornlund.
But one day, a former school friend recognizes her on a tram. He threatens to expose her sexual relationship with a German during the Nazi occupation.
“Woman Unknown” explores the boundaries people are willing to cross to survive, as well as how men justify violence against women.
“Possible Love”
Lee Chang-dong’s last film “Burning” came out in 2018, but the complexity and subtlety of his new film “Possible Love,” according to the BBC, explain why it took the director so long to return.
This biting drama centers on a middle-class director played by Cho Yeo-jeong. With the help of a wealthy man portrayed by Zo In-sung, she is making a documentary about an exceptional factory worker played by Sul Kyung-gu and his wife played by Jeon Do-yeon.
The director grows closer to the film’s subjects through drinking sessions and weekend trips. But can two couples truly form a sincere connection despite social class differences? Or is their friendship merely a convenient arrangement?
Currently, “Possible Love” holds a 100% rating on the critics’ review platform Rotten Tomatoes. According to the BBC, the film has a real chance of being nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category.
“Musk”
Alex Gibney’s documentary about Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, lasts a full four hours.
According to the BBC, the four-hour documentary consistently tells the story of the tech magnate’s life—from childhood in South Africa and early years in Silicon Valley as an ambitious tech enthusiast to stunning success leading Tesla and SpaceX and supporting far-right political forces worldwide.
Gibney’s film “Taxi to the Dark Side” won the 2008 Oscar for Best Documentary. The BBC says “Musk” is receiving so much attention that it could repeat this success.
The billionaire himself called the film “a defamatory work that misses the mark and, worse, is boring, even though it lasts four hours.”
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The BBC assesses that Musk’s criticism of the film contradicts what can be seen in it.
