2 hours ago
1 
Another Venice Film Festival is wrapping up, where I’ve been reporting from as a critic, and this year’s edition has been jam-packed with bold movies.
After a somewhat lacklustre edition of Cannes in May, Venice has outclassed it this year with exciting titles that have delivered including Frankenstein, Bugonia, A House of Dynamite and The Smashing Machine.
It’s also still breaking records in its 82nd edition, with devastating Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab a receiving a history-making 23-minute ovation.
Below I’ve complied a list of some of the films I saw, including best, worst and everything in between.
(Sadly this doesn’t include The Voice of Hind Rajab, as when working a film festival you can’t always work around the screening schedules to see everything you wanted – at least one will fall through the net.)
Get personalised updates on all things Netflix
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro’s TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we’ll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
Best movie – A House of Dynamite
This taut doomsday thriller from Netflix ended up being the best film I saw at the festival, combining an urgent and thought-provoking message for fans with nail-biting drama.
A House of Dynamite stars Idris Elba as the US president, Rebecca Ferguson and Jared Harris among a sprawling cast of government and military characters scrambling to react in real-time after a single unattributed nuclear missile is launched at America.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, it’s a welcome return from the Oscar winner to the political thriller genre that she dominates – and a terrifying warning.
I was on the edge of my seat throughout – and be prepared for that ending.
In select UK cinemas from October 3; on Netflix from October 24.
Worst movie – In the Hand of Dante
Filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s comeback proved a bit of a disaster, with his centuries-spanning In the Hand of Dante (starring Oscar Isaac, alongside Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Al Pacino and Jason Momoa) an overindulgent mess.
It turns out politics – with Israel supporters Gadot and Butler being targeted for disinviting in an open letter to the festival from activists for disinviting (they weren’t, but both opted to stay away from the Lido) – was far from the only issue for that film.
In the Hand of Dante has a few bright spots, including Pacino’s movie-stealing turn as a conspiratorial uncle and Butler as both violent gangster and pope, but it’s not enough to distract from an at-times incomprehensible script and vast lurches in tone and between genre.
Isaac leads the cast as real-life writer Nick Tosches, who’s apparently the reincarnation of famed Italian medieval poet Dante Alighieri, as the film flits backwards and forwards over 700 years.
A UK release date is yet to be confirmed.
Most surprising movie – Dead Man’s Wire
Dead Man’s Wire was a film I expected to be good as a a crime drama from Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant, his first movie in seven years.
But I was totally – and pleasantly – surprised by the unexpectedly dark and chaotic comedy tone to his film about the real-life story of Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) kidnapping his mortgage broker, played by Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery, in the 1970s.
Featuring an outstanding turn by Skarsgård, who just keeps impressing, its anti-capitalist bent will sit well in a world where Luigi Mangione is a folk hero – audience members even whooped and clapped at the end in my screening.
A UK release is yet to be confirmed.
Most unusual movie – The Testament of Ann Lee
Coming from the team behind this year’s awards darling The Brutalist, The Testament of Ann Lee hit the Lido with a lot of excitement surrounding it just one year later.
This time its Mona Fastvold in the director’s chair for a radical, intense and sometimes bonkers musical telling of the founder of the Shakers movement, co-written with partner Brady Corbet.
Starring Amanda Seyfried, who gets to show off her lovely voice again thanks to the film’s arresting music, it’s a pretty off-the-wall movie that will prove divisive; while it earned a 15-minute standing, there were several walkouts from my press screening.
What’s guaranteed though is that you’ve never seen a film like The Testament of Ann Lee before.
A UK release is yet to be confirmed.
Biggest disappointment – After the Hunt
After the Hunt is not a bad film in my opinion, it’s just that I had high expectations – and it could have been better.
It undoubtedly gives Julia Roberts her meatiest role of her recent career – maybe even since Erin Brockovich, which netted her an Oscar – and features excellent supporting turns from Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri.
The movie examines the fallout after a popular philosophy professor’s (Roberts) friend and colleague (Garfield) is accused of ‘crossing a line’ by her protégé (Edebiri).
But while director Luca Guadagnino and screenwriter Nora Garrett confront the idea of the perfect victim, After the Hunt avoids making much more than surface-observations about the complications of cancel culture amid the #MeToo movement.
In UK cinemas from October 17.
Most obvious Oscars contender – The Smashing Machine
I fully expect to see Dwayne Johnson as an Oscar front-runner next year, after he hard-launched his dramatic acting career with Mark Kerr biopic The Smashing Machine on the Lido.
An impressively restrained but transformational performance, the former wrestler and action/comedy star was taking no chances here, despite it being a role tailor-made for him.
He called on Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, herself an Oscar nominee in 2024 for Oppenheimer, to play a supporting role, and teamed up with indie filmmaker Benny Safdie, giving this even more of a ‘legit’ edge.
Plus Hollywood has always found it hard to resist comebacks, reinventions or happy endings during awards season.
In UK cinemas from October 3.
Everyone’s next film obsession – Frankenstein
Frankenstein is a gothic treat from long-time fan of the novel Guillermo del Toro, who leaned into the popular reading of the monstrousness of the inventor (Oscar Isaac) over that of the creature (Jacob Elordi) for his Netflix adaptation.
And many fans will surely lose their minds over Elordi wearing only what appears to be a pair of hot pants made from bandages for a large part of the film, while the ‘hot monster’ debate continues purely because he looks worlds apart from the famous Boris Karloff bolt-necked version from Universal horror films in the 1930s.
But more seriously, both Isaac and Elordi turn in remarkable performances, powering the film’s central conflict amid a lot of blood and body parts.
Del Toro in his happy horror home combined with the accessibility of it being a Netflix film, and starring two of the most beloved actors on social media right now, means our Hallowe’ens are about to be hijacked.
In select UK cinemas from October 17; on Netflix from November 7.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·