GETTING GROOVY

Bringing charm, chutzpah and their dancing shoes to the Venice red carpet were thick pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt, aka Hollywood’s most handsome who never seem to age. Looking like they swallowed the script of Pitt’s film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the two men were a sight for sore eyes, whether it was motoring around in a water taxi or doing a fun gig, dressed in almost identical black tux, on the red carpet, as they showcased their chemistry and their film Wolfs, in which they play professional fixers who prefer to work alone but must come together after being hired for the same job.

Their chemistry at Venice resulted in the news, a few days later, that the two would next come together for ‘Ocean’s 14’. There hasn’t been any official announcement yet but boy, are we excited!

Also, Pitt’s girlfriend Ines Ramon made her red-carpet debut at Venice, with the two — said to be in a relationship since 2022 — holding hands on the carpet and then joining Clooney and his wife Amal for a double dinner date.

SHE’S BACK!

Making a red-carpet appearance after a long gap was Pitt’s ex Angelina Jolie who brought her film Maria to Venice. The 49-year-old stunner also gave up her trademark auburn locks for a blonde-haired look. The actress wept during an eight-minute standing ovation at the Sala Grande Theatre at the world premiere of the Pablo Larrain biographical drama about the Greek opera singer Maria Callas, which has now generated strong Oscar buzz and a possible Best Actress nomination for Jolie.

Angelina Jolie showcased her film Maria, wiping away tears of joy after the film received a standing ovation at its premiere

HOLLY ROYALTY

Daniel Craig, debuting a new look, and wife Rachel Weisz brought old Hollywood glamour to the Venice red carpet, with their public display of affection firing up the Internet. That the two looked smashing — Weisz pulled up in a glittery Versace dress that seemed to trail a mile or two behind her while Craig rocked a crisp cream suit and a white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone — was the cherry on the cake. The couple are rare with their two-gether public appearances, and so on the few occasions that they do step out as a pair, the world can’t have enough of them.

Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig fired up the festival with their chemistry

A RARE APPEARANCE

The mostly reticent and rarely-seen Jude Law lit up the Lido with his powerful performance as an FBI agent fighting neo-Nazi terrorists in Justin Kurzel’s timely crime thriller The Order that elicited a seven-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere. This was before the actor took selfies with screaming fans, mostly female.

Based on true events, The Order is set in 1983 Idaho and sees a lone FBI agent, played by Law, follow a series of increasingly violent bank robberies and car heists, coming to realise that they are the work of a group of dangerous domestic neo-Nazi terrorists, inspired by the radical leader Robert Jay Mathews, played by Nicholas Hoult, that are plotting a war against the US government. Timely, did we say?

THE JOKER... AND THE QUEEN!

The reviews coming out of Venice have been less than favourable, but that wasn’t going to stop Team Joker Folie a Deux from bringing drama to the red carpet. After all, the film stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. The multi-hyphenate talent shut down the red carpet at Venice with the star of her all-black ensemble being her sparkly lace Philip Treacy headpiece. Fiance Michael Polansky joined her on the carpet and so did director Todd Phillips and Phoenix, who looked striking with his head of salt ’n’ pepper hair.

The Room Next Door

Pedro Almodovar’s first feature-length film in the English language took home the festival’s biggest prize — The Golden Lion. Receiving a whopping 17-minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere — the longest in recent memory — The Room Next Door touches upon intense topics like euthanasia and the climate change crisis and is powered by stirring acts from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton playing friends separated for years who come together when one of them is terminally ill and is considering euthanasia. Carrying forward their chemistry from reel to real, Moore and Swinton were an electric presence on the Venice red carpet.

The Brutalist

American filmmaker Brady Corbet took home the best director trophy for his three-and-a-half-hour-long epic historical drama in which Adrien Brody plays a visionary architect, who, along with his wife (played by Felicity Jones) flees post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, with their lives being changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client.

At Venice, Brody was moved to tears by the well-deserved standing ovation that the film received. It is significant that eight out of the last 12 films to have premiered at Venice have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Directing. Corbet is a shoo-in for this one.

Babygirl

Festival head Alberto Barbera had teasingly suggested that this year’s lineup would be audaciously heavy on sex. Babygirl is a case in point.

The film directed by Halina Reijn tackles the complexity of female sexuality and the issue of consent which resonates in this post #Metoo era, with Nicole Kidman playing a high-powered CEO who puts her job and picture-perfect family on the line when she engages in a torrid affair with an intern (Harry Dickinson), who taps into her darkest fantasies.

Kidman, who won best actress at Venice for Babygirl but couldn’t accept the award in person because of the sudden demise of her mother, said that Reijn’s “female gaze” guided her to tell a story that is “liberating for women,” as it touches on many topics, including “marriage, truth, power, consent”. Antonio Banderas, who looked sharp at his appearance on the Venice red carpet, also stars in the film.

And yes, speaking of Kidman, the 57-year-old actress was a vision in Schiaparelli couture at the premiere of Babygirl, but we really have to ask the question: where is that waistline vanishing?

Queer

Also taking the amorous route is the more directly named Queer. Director Luca Guadagnino’s reimagining of William Burroughs’s autobiographical novel has Daniel Craig playing a sexually restless character, Lee, who yearns for a younger man. As the focus shifts from desire to Lee’s quest for mind-liberating jungle drugs, the film becomes even more bold and audacious, with Craig, putting his rugged 007 avatar to rest and turning in a tour de force act.

Craig was asked at the festival press conference whether he ever saw the possibility of a “gay James Bond”. The actor, who has played Bond in five films, rolled his eyes in reply, with a more direct Guadagnino letting it rip with: “Guys, let’s be adult in the room for a second.”

Vermiglio

Taking home the Grand Jury Prize was Maura Delpero’s film set in a sleepy village in the mountains and which follows a large rural family deeply affected by events both local and global. Inspired in part by the director’s own family history, the film has been praised as “a momentous vision of everyday rural existence in the high Italian Alps” with jury president Isabelle Huppert expressing her admiration for the film’s slanted take as “a war story without any war in it”.