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After winning an Oscar a Anthony Hopkins for The Father the French director and playwright Florian Zeller is in competition in Venice with the dramatic The Son which is not a sequel to his previous film, although there is Hopkins in the role of the father of the protagonist, but a reflection “on the sense of guilt, on family ties and, ultimately, on love” says the director. He will also succeed with Hugh Jackman?
In the film, the actor is Peter, whose busy life with a demanding job, a newborn born to his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby), is upset when ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) warns Peter that their 17-year-old son Nicholas hasn’t been to school in months and is haunted, distant and angry. Peter struggles to care for Nicholas as he wished his father (Hopkins) had looked after him, as he juggles his job, Beth’s new baby, and offering her dream location in Washington.
Hugh Jackman, first time at the Mostra
It is the first time that the Australian actor has landed on the Lido and docking in Venice tweets: “I am honored to sit next to Florian Zeller to discuss our film. The son“Fifty-three years old former Wolverine of the X-men he made his debut at the Mostra with an intense and dramatic role after he won us over in recent years with his skills as a dancer and singer. First for Les Misérables for which he earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Music and Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards. And then he came The greatest showman who told the extraordinary adventure with songs and performances of Barnum, the inventor of the circus of freaks, a critically acclaimed musical (less well the proceeds went) where he acts together with Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams And Rebecca Ferguson and that in 2019 – before the lockdown – it had resulted in a musical tour in Europe and the United States of America.
Competition
The other film in competition today is French Saint Omer inspired by a true news story. The director of Senegalese origins Alice Diop witnessed the trial of a woman who killed her little daughter by abandoning her on a beach in France at high tide. As the trial progresses, the words of the accused and the testimony of the witnesses will upset Rama’s certainties, and also question our ability to judge.
Casey Affleck and the dream come true
Out of competition there is the film with Casey Affleck, Dreamin ‘wild. Who wonders what would happen if a childhood dream came true suddenly and thirty years later than expected. This is what happens to singer-songwriter Donnie Emerson (Affleck). The dream of being successful comes true suddenly and unexpectedly when he is approaching his fifties. And if on the one hand this brings with it the hope of second chances, on the other hand it also evokes the ghosts of the past mixed with long-buried emotions, while Donnie, his brother Joe and the whole family find themselves dealing with the recently won fame.
Among the other events at the Lido, the presentation in Orizzonti Extra of Ghost nighta film written and directed by Fulvio Risuleo with Edoardo Pesce And Yothin Clavenzani. Which tells a night long adventure in the folds of everyday life, perception and personal lives where a second generation young man and a policeman who is not afraid to abuse his power meet and clash.
‘Bentu’, the return of Mereu
Still Italian cinema at the Days of the Authors where it is presented Bentu from Salvatore Mereu. The Sardinian land without frills or special effects is the protagonist together with an elderly farmer and a boy. Bentu (Wind) is a story about time and the ability to know how to live it without haste, a film about the relationship between the two protagonists and about patience, which we have forgotten with our daily running. After Assandirapresented at the Festival in 2020, Mereu returns to the Lido with a film that does justice to slowness, restoring the centrality of the environment and its rhythms in spite of the frenetic bulimia of modern living.
