Empathy

Here comes the day of the Joker. Todd Phillips is looking for strike two with Joker: Folie à deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and a spectacular Lady Gaga. Will the sequel earn Phillips his second Golden Lion? Coming up against it in the main Competition is Diva Futura by Italian-Texan actress and filmmaker Giulia Louise Steigerwalt: the story of the famous porn talent scout Riccardo Schicchi, played by Pietro Castellitto. There’s one actor that we can tell wouldn’t mind bringing home a Lion, we are talking of Vincent Lindon, who plays the part of a widowed father in The Quiet Son by sister-and-sister filmmaking duo Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin. A meaningful entry in the Orizzonti section, given the latest crisis in the Middle East, is a film by Palestinian director Scandar Copti: Happy Holidays, a sociological thriller walking the fine line between truth and lie. Alex Ross Perry dedicates his doc/biopic Pavements to the Pavement – the Californian indie rock band. In the Orizzonti Extra line-up, Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo is the debut feature of Egyptian filmmaker Khaled Mansour, with the Rambo in question being the protagonist’s dog. In the Classics section, we shall see Anthony Mann’s glorious western Bend of the River of 1952, starring James Stewart. The International Film Critics’ Week programme for today lists black comedy Paul & Paulette Take a Bath by English filmmaker Jethro Massey, while the Venice Days programme has a family drama, Alpha., by the Dutch Jan-Willem van Ewijk.