A gentle study of dysfunctional families by veteran American director Jim Jarmusch clinched top prize at the Venice Film Festival Saturday, while a harrowing docu-drama about the Gaza war took second.
Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, drew mostly positive reviews for its humourous portrayal of awkwardness and guilt.
The “Broken Flowers” director, who wrote the script for three family get-togethers in upstate New York, Dublin and Paris, had called it “a kind of anti-action film”.
“Thank you for appreciating our quiet film,” he said during his acceptance speech.
In a move that might disappoint campaigners against the Gaza war, the Venice jury under American director Alexander Payne did not reward “The Voice of Hind Rajab” with the Golden Lion.
Instead, the film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli troops last year, which reduced many festival viewers to tears, was given the grand jury second prize.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania produced a dramatised re-telling of Hind Rajab Hamada’s ordeal after she was trapped in a car that came under fire while she and her relatives were fleeing Gaza City.
It was the most talked about movie on the Venice Lido and tipped by many as the likely winner after a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Wednesday.
Hind Rajab’s story “is not hers alone”, Ben Hania said as she accepted her award.
“It is tragically the story of an entire people enduring genocide, inflicted by a criminal Israeli regime that acts with impunity,” she added.
Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix as well as Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”) and Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) joined the film as executive producers after editing had been completed.
Jarmusch signalled his opposition to Israel’s continued siege and bombardment of Gaza by wearing a badge saying “Enough” on the red carpet for the Venice awards ceremony.
– Best actors –
Elsewhere on Saturday, China’s Xin Zhilei won the best actress award for her role in “The Sun Rises on Us All” directed by Cai Shangjun.
The 39-year-old actress plays a woman trying to make amends with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed.
Italy’s Toni Servillo won the best actor award after wowing audiences in Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia”, playing a principled politician facing a moral dilemma.
The veteran film and stage actor portrayed an Italian president at the end of his career wrestling with whether or not to sign a bill to legalise euthanasia.
Big-budget productions such as Netflix’s “Frankenstein” by Guillermo del Toro and “Jay Kelly” by Noah Baumbach as well as Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” with Emma Stone went home empty-handed.
In the secondary “Orizzonti” (“Horizons”) section of the festival, gay Mexican truck driver drama “En el Camino” by David Pablos scooped top prize.
“Father Mother Sister Brother” is the first Jarmusch film to compete at Venice. The American had previously opted to showcase his productions at rival festival Cannes.
Film bible Variety said his film had his “trademark wry humor but also new notes of mellow, generous wisdom”.
Screen called it a “tender family triptych”.
– Major platform –
Critics were broadly positive about the line-up of films in Venice this year. The festival is an important launch platform for big-budget international productions and arthouse films.
Several previous winners of the prestigious Golden Lion have gone on to Oscar glory, such as “Nomadland” and “Joker”.
“The Smashing Machine” by American director Benny Safdie, a touching film about late 1990s mixed martial-arts (MMA) pioneer Mark Kerr, picked up the third-place directing prize on Saturday.
The Hollywood Reporter called the film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a “compellingly gritty and offbeat biopic”, while Johnson was even tipped by some for a best actor award.
“Sotto le Nuvole” (Below the Clouds), a sumptuous documentary about Naples by acclaimed Italian documentary maker Gianfranco Rosi, won a special jury prize.
The Gaza conflict has been a major talking point throughout this year’s festival and many prize winners mentioned the war while on stage on Saturday night.
An open letter calling on festival organisers to denounce the Israeli government over its offensive in Gaza has been signed by around 2,000 cinema insiders, according to the organisers.
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