Maria
Screenwriter Steven Knight and director Pablo Larraín have confected this intense biopic about the final years of the OG diva herself, Maria Callas; she is living in Paris in retirement, a haunted figure in dark glasses, and Angelina Jolie is probably the only actor who could take this on (although Jennifer Coolidge could give it a go). We can surely look forward to some juicy flashbacks with Jolie giving us La Divina in her sensational prime and, given that Maria was in a relationship with Aristotle Onassis, Knight could even have imagined a colossal King Kong v Godzilla-type diva-off with Jackie Kennedy.
Babygirl
Nicole Kidman has form when it comes to representing transgressive age-gap relationships. Here she plays a high-flying CEO who has a thrilling affair with a much younger male intern played by Harris Dickinson. The drama promises to question corporate power dynamics and sexual politics.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Todd Phillips’s first Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix as the malign supervillain-antihumorist caused a sensation and resonated with Trumpian male disaffection the world over. Now he is back for a sequel with Phoenix back in the role and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. DC will be hoping that the fledgling Joker franchise will counter the new anti-superhero mood.
Harvest
Greek New Wave auteur Athena Rachel Tsangari has directed and co-written this adaptation of the Jim Crace novel, set in medieval England. Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen and Arinzé Kene star in a disturbing drama of outsiders who arrive in a remote village to find they are to be made scapegoats for a barn burning down.
Queer
William Burroughs’ LGBTQ+ classic is now adapted by Justin “Challengers” Kuritzkes into a film directed by Luca Guadagnino. Daniel Craig pushes his post-007 career envelope by playing Lee (based on Burroughs himself), an American drifter in 1940s Mexico City who conceives a passion for another expat American and drug abuser, Eugene, played by Drew Starkey.
April
Abortion dramas can go over very well with film festival juries (such as Audrey Diwan’s Happening at Venice in 2021 and Cristian Mungui’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days at Cannes in 2007). Yet Dea Kulumbegashvili’s film – about a Georgian doctor who gets into trouble for recommending terminations –
is a strong contender for other reasons than these. The Georgia-born, New York-educated director whose feature debut Beginnings was so admired, is one of the most exciting talents in world cinema.
Wolfs
It wouldn’t be Venice without a beaming George Clooney in unfeasibly expensive sunglasses arriving on the Grand Canal in a luxury cruiser. Now George is showing up with that other alpha silver fox Brad Pitt (though their schedule will be kept far apart from that of Angelina Jolie) to promote this feelgood action romp. George and Brad play two supercool pro fixers and cleanup operatives who insist on working alone but wind up having to be a quarrelsome partnership. The supporting cast includes Clooney’s old pal Richard Kind.
The Quiet Son
This movie from French directing sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin tackles the ugly resurgence of the far right. Vincent Lindon plays Pierre, a middle-aged French widower with two sons: one is an overachiever who goes off to study at the Sorbonne while the one left behind drifts into neofascism. It is heading for a shocking act of violence.
Of Dogs and Men
Israeli director Dani Rosenberg tackles the horror of Gaza. A young woman comes to her kibbutz on a mission to save her dog which she thinks survived the Hamas attack – and meanwhile, over the fence, the retributive massacre in Gaza unfolds.
Diva Futura
Is this the Italian Boogie Nights? Pietro Castellitto, son of veteran actor Sergio Castellitto, plays notorious Sicilian-born porn impresario Ricardo Schicchi who founded the model agency Diva Futura (“Future Star”). This diversified into adult-movie casting, production and TV broadcasting and became a one-stop shop for all Italy’s erotic entertainment needs – to the fury of the Catholic church.
The Brutalist
Weighing in at 215 minutes, Brady Corbet’s drama is set to be one of the festival’s challenges. It is a study of an architect, perhaps haunted, like Coppola’s Megalopolis, by the pugnacious spirit of Ayn Rand. Adrien Brody plays a émigré Hungarian architect in the postwar US who is commissioned by a charismatic plutocrat played by Guy Pearce.
Vermiglio
There could be a touch of Don Siegel in this wartime drama from Italian writer-director Maura Delpero. In a mountainous village in 1944, far from Italy’s fighting and political agony, a deserter arrives and causes emotional turmoil in the heart of a farmer’s daughter.