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Beetlejuice sequel and Hollywood stars light up Venice Film Festival’s grand opening. The festival is scheduled from August 28 to September 7.
The Venice Film Festival began with a spectacular premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel, bringing a wave of star power to the glamorous event on the sun-drenched Lido. A-listers like Lady Gaga, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Julianne Moore, and Brad Pitt have descended on Italy’s historic city, ready to inject some much-needed Hollywood sparkle into the world’s longest-running film festival, known as ‘La Mostra’.
Arriving in style by water taxi across the Venetian lagoon, the stars are set to reignite the festival’s glamour after a subdued edition last year, impacted by the Hollywood writers’ strike. The opening night’s highlight was the out-of-competition world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, with Michael Keaton reprising his role as the mischievous ghoul, joined by Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Monica Bellucci.
This fantastical dive into the afterlife is a deeply personal project for filmmaker Tim Burton, renowned for his love of the strange and ghoulish. “In recent years, I became a bit disillusioned with the movie industry,” Tim Burton admitted to journalists. “This film re-energized me, allowing me to return to what I love, working with the people I enjoy and creating in the way I find most fulfilling.”
The festival’s tone shifts on Thursday with the much-anticipated screening of Maria, where Angelina Jolie portrays Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s biopic about the legendary opera diva’s tumultuous life. Maria is among 21 films vying for the prestigious Golden Lion.
Another film generating significant buzz is Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips’ dark psychological thriller and sequel to his 2019 Venice-winning film. Returning to the gritty world of Gotham City, Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Oscar-winning role as the troubled clown, with Lady Gaga joining the cast as his equally twisted companion, Harley Quinn.
Also making waves is Daniel Craig, starring in Queer by Italy’s Luca Guadagnino. This adaptation of William Burroughs’ novel is set against the vibrant backdrop of 1940s Mexico City. Meanwhile, Australian director Justin Kurzel’s The Order features Jude Law as an FBI agent delving into the world of white supremacy in the Pacific Northwest.
Spain’s celebrated director Pedro Almodóvar returns with his first English-language feature, The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Additionally, Nicole Kidman teams up with Antonio Banderas in the erotic thriller Babygirl, directed by Halina Reijn, which explores the dangerous power dynamics within a relationship between a powerful CEO and her young intern.
The festival’s diverse lineup includes The Brutalist, directed by Brady Corbet and featuring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect whose life changes dramatically after emigrating to America post-World War II.
While the festival draws attention for its blockbuster premieres, it also shines a spotlight on thought-provoking independent films. This year, documentaries exploring the war in Ukraine are particularly prominent. Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Ukrainian director Olha Zhurba and Russians at War by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova provide compelling insights into the ongoing conflict. Also of note is Amos Gitai’s Why War, a film based on correspondence between Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud on the nature of war, and Goran Hugo Olsson’s Israel Palestine on Swedish Television 1958-1989, a documentary pieced together from decades of public broadcasting archives.
For Tim Burton fans, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice offers a nostalgic return to the chaotic world he first brought to life 36 years ago. When asked about the possibility of a third installment, the director joked, “Given it took 35 years to make this sequel, I’d be over 100 by the time a third film is made. It’s possible, thanks to medical science these days, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
With AFP
