All people share one certainty: sooner or later they will die. They don’t know, yes, neither when nor how. Jack hopes to at least leave before his beloved wife, Babette. Even though she loves him so much that she wants the exact opposite. true love good It seems that the only far-off concern for his gentrified family is the final farewell, strange but happy. Until a more immediate fear looms on the horizon of the protagonists of White Noise: a toxic stain in the sky. This is how masks appear on the screen, like in the seats. Because the catastrophe changes, but the feeling is familiar to every viewer. Just like the themes that run through Noah Baumbach’s film, which opened the competition for the 79th Venice Film Festival on Wednesday: misinformation, mass movements, capitalism, alternative medicine or mental health. It was received with a relatively positive consensus. For his merits, for his mistakes. And maybe because the visitors of Mostra are film fans, but above all living and fragile people. Like all.
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And more after the last two years. A deluge flooded the Lido in Venice last night. The clouds stopped this morning, but eventually the sun broke through. Something similar to what the festival itself is trying to do in this edition: show a path to normality amidst the fog of the coronavirus. The face mask in the room has been changed from mandatory to highly recommended. The local press confirms that the celebrations have returned to their glory. And competition no longer requires Covid certificates or interpersonal distancing. On the contrary, it has removed the barriers that separated fans from the red carpet – where today, among others, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paraded. It’s about filling souls and cinemas, showing that the seventh art has survived too many misfortunes to fall victim to a global pandemic. Mostra (which also hosted a video message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at its opening gala asking not to turn our backs on his country) knows this better than any other event: it stopped during World War II, it trembled during ’68. But here it is. And it’s celebrating its 90th anniversary, the oldest film festival in the world.
US politician Hillary Clinton comes to the opening ceremony of the Mostra. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)
When it began in August 1932, Adolf Hitler had months to come to power. And this year’s opening film (which Netflix shows in some cinemas before it goes online at the end of December) also alludes to this period: Professor Jack, played by Adam Driver, has devoted his entire existence to studying the German dictator. He himself defines his degree program as “advanced National Socialism”. He’s always talking about it with his students and professional peers, a group of wise men who take it upon themselves to refer to one another as “brilliant.” While poking fun at the academic world, the film begins with a portrait of a family that is as absurd as it is touching. Jack, Babette (Greta Gerwig) and their four children. A home with worries, emotions, but also with shortcomings. As one of the daughters says in the film, “Family is the cradle of misinformation.” Here’s the Baumbach stamp.
Namely by Don DeLillo. Because for the first time the filmmaker adapts the work of someone else instead of inventing it: the National Book Award-winning Noise in the Background, which the American master released in 1985 from the comfort zone of his previous films, concentrated on the everyday dynamics of an intimate circle and mostly inspired from his own memories. “I was familiar with the language of the novel. When I read it, it coincided with the start of the pandemic and I couldn’t believe how relevant it was to this historical moment and our lives,” the director assured at the film’s press conference. “The film is about how we create rituals and strategies that allow us to delay the threat of death,” he added.
Anyone who has read the book will swear that the film adaptation is extraordinarily faithful to the original. And few would dispute the author of Frances Ha or Marriage Story’s talent for creating believable characters and worlds. White Noise is the umpteenth proof that Baumbach knows the camera, the narrative rhythm and, above all, humanity. For example: the end of the toxic cloud crisis. Cut. Full supermarket. An ellipse is enough to say that life goes on, forget the consumption system and start the box immediately.
The jury members of the Venice Festival, directed by the actress Julianne Moore, which includes the Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen and the British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro. MARCO BERTORELLO (AFP)
It is not for nothing that the director has received applause and recognition for years. Some compared him to Woody Allen, although it is now clear that his career has its own distinctive identity. He himself must be aware of this, because he seems to like certain dialogues and sequences and wants to show how much he is able to raise the level. If the text comes from DeLillo, the rapid accumulation of sensationalism is up to the director.
Despite these stresses, the filmmaker never loses the flow of his work. And that covers many tones, genres and themes. As one viewer summed up her friend at the end of the screening: “I don’t know anything. I get lost And then I get it.” The director was asked about this exact mix, drinking from several decades of film. “Brian de Palma was told, ‘You’re using Hitchcock techniques.’ And he replied, “No, Hitchcock made them available to all of us,” he replied.
Certainly Lars von Trier is sometimes inspired by works from the past. But it is just as clear that the Danish filmmaker, who presents Exodus, the third season of his series Riget in Venice, more than 20 years later, has his own style. Viewing just one of the five chapters this Wednesday suggests avoiding hasty judgments. It’s handy to know the plot from two decades ago to orient yourself: A state-of-the-art hospital has been invaded by supernatural forces and events. It is likely that they will return blood, strangeness, some provocation and irony, including self-parody. So much so that the first round of applause came after just 20 seconds when a character insulted the original creation. Here too the Dane is peculiar: his followers don’t have to wait until the end. They celebrate him from the start.
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