{"id":37584,"date":"2017-08-31T00:25:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T05:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=37584"},"modified":"2018-10-03T14:52:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T19:52:50","slug":"venice-2017-early-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2017\/08\/31\/venice-2017-early-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Venice 2017: Early days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mostra<\/a><\/p>\n

DB here:<\/p>\n

After the triumph of Rosita<\/em>\u00a0(more on that to come), the first full day of the Biennale<\/a> launched with several press screenings and press conferences. The opening conference featured Festival President Paolo\u00a0Baratta (below), Director Alberto Barbera, and jury heads including Annette Bening (below), Beno\u00eet Jacquot, and John Landis (below).<\/p>\n

\"Annette<\/a><\/p>\n

During that session, two subjects recurred: Netflix and Virtual Reality. Some Netflix films are playing out of competition: Our Souls at Night<\/em>, with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda (who will get honorary Golden Lion awards); and Netflix\u2019s first Italian production, Suburra<\/em>. In addition, the Mostra will show all the episodes of Errol Morris\u2019s Netflix series Wormwood<\/em>. Barbera remarked that festivals must follow where auteurs lead. Now that so many filmmakers are directing telefilms and series \u201cwith the same attitude\u201d they employ in theatrical features, festival progamming\u00a0must take notice.<\/p>\n

\"Barbera<\/a>Similarly with VR. Baratta pointed out that this medium is now being used by artists, and Venice has a historical and aesthetic obligation to keep up with moving-image explorations. Barbera added that for him VR was not the future of movies; it\u2019s a new medium that will exist alongside them. Just as film didn\u2019t kill theatre and television didn\u2019t kill film, VR is likely to flourish on its own. It will likely have its dedicated venues, such as MK2\u2019s VR theatre in Paris and similar spots in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

John Landis admitted that he was intrigued by VR and wanted to learn how to use it. Can it tell a full-length story? (Most VR pieces are short and situation-bound.) Can it focus the viewer\u2019s attention\u2014a key component of traditional visual narrative? Landis noticed that his experiences of VR gave the viewer great freedom of when and where to look. Could storytelling harness that freedom? It was good to see a filmmaker pondering these basic issues.<\/p>\n

We saw the first screening of Alexander Payne\u2019s Downsizing<\/em>, a sharp and heartfelt satire on consumerism and ecology. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig play a couple who decide to take advantage of a new technology that shrinks humans to 5-inch heights, and thus allows them to live more cheaply and reduce the strain on the planet.<\/p>\n

The situation takes several unpredictable turns and in the face of impending disaster veers into a Capraesque optimism. Yet there\u2019s a somberness here too, perhaps most akin to that in About Schmidt<\/em>. Alexander mentioned Chekhov as an influence, and he admired the writer for realizing that emotional effects stand out against \u201ca cold background.\u201d The clinical scientific milieu of the downsizing operation and the arid cheerfulness of Leisureland, a sort of micro-EPCOT, provide that backdrop for the problems facing tiny Matt Damon.<\/p>\n

In the press conference, Damon called Alexander\u2019s direction meticulous and \u201csure-handed.\u201d That shows\u00a0in the film: No bouncy-camera\u00a0grab-and-go, but precisely staged scenes. One sequence, that showing the medical mechanics of the downsizing process, is shot for shot as cogent and engaging a stretch of cinematic storytelling as I\u2019ve seen in a long while. There\u2019s also a good gag when Damon wakes up from the surgery and immediately\u2026well, I can\u2019t spoil it. Below, here are Jim Taylor, co-screenwriter; actor Hong Chau, who plays a Vietnames dissident; Payne; and Damon.<\/p>\n

\"Payne<\/a><\/p>\n

Our old friend Mark Johnson produced the film. It was encouraging to see the huge press turnout and the excellent reviews (Variety<\/a> Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/em>, The Wrap<\/a>) that Downsizing<\/em> got. It goes immediately to Toronto.<\/p>\n

\n

Thanks to Peter Cowie, Alberto Barbera, Michela Lazzarin, and all of their colleagues for inviting and assisting us.<\/p>\n

We have a blog entry devoted to Alexander Payne here<\/a>, where he mentions his and Jim’s long-germinating plans for Downsizing<\/em>. Kristin compares his work to Chekhov there too.<\/p>\n

\"Lion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DB here: After the triumph of Rosita\u00a0(more on that to come), the first full day of the Biennale launched with several press screenings and press conferences. The opening conference featured Festival President Paolo\u00a0Baratta (below), Director Alberto Barbera, and jury heads including Annette Bening (below), Beno\u00eet Jacquot, and John Landis (below). During that session, two subjects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[206,237,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-directors-payne","category-festivals-venice","category-film-comments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37584"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40366,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37584\/revisions\/40366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}