Day three saw the official red carpet premier of After the Hunt, which has continued to procure very mixed reviews, prompting many on film twitter to hastily declare it a catastrophic misfire (the good ol’ folk on film twitter tend to oscillate between extremes often, especially regarding film festival premieres, especially during awards season). This hasty condemnation though can quickly snowball and materialize into something a studio/filmmakers have to actively fight against during their campaigns. You don’t want to walk out of Venice feeling like everyone thinks you’re the reject, and having that label follow your throughout your awards-run. That’s dangerous territory for After the Hunt.
In reality, though, the film is still performing decently on Letterboxd, and it’s faring better on Metacritic than on Rotten Tomatoes. Is it a poor awards launch? Yes. Is the film dead? Not exactly. Roberts will be the primary target as far as awards hopes go. We expect her to still land a Globe nom (easily) and a SAG nom (likely), but miss out on an Oscar nom. As we said in our previous article, though, to her advantage, Best Actress has a lot of space this year. Could she bring her co-star Michael Stuhlbarg—who received very strong mentions even from detractors—into the fold for a Globe/SAG nom? Possibly, but unlikely.
The biggest premier of the day was Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, the auteur’s 16th feature film, after the highly successful DECISION TO LEAVE but some recent controversy with the WGA. To no one’s surprise, the film was a huge hit and adorned with praise from all corners. Variety calls it “a dazzling murder comedy — a masterclass in controlled chaos” and Time Out thinks it’s Chan-wook’s “masterpiece.” The Hollywood Reporter says that “even a subpar Park Chan‑wook film has more going for it than a lot of directors’ best work,” and noted that while the humor sometimes overshadows emotional depth, Park remains a “master craftsman.” The Guardian thought it was a “sensational state‑of‑the‑nation satire” and IndieWire labeled it “bleak, brilliant, and mordantly hilarious.” Also a huge standout was the film’s lead, Lee Byung-hun. Expect him to figure into critics prizes at the end of the year.
We think No Other Choice currently stands as the clear favorite to win the Golden Lion, and judging by the remaining titles still to premiere, we’re predicting that won’t change—but we’ll see. Park Chan-wook is undeniably one of cinema’s most visually meticulous, uncompromising, and subversive directors, and it’s almost laughable that he has yet to be honored with Oscar recognition. That could change this year with this celebrated film, but we also have to acknowledge that Neon is handling the release and awards campaign—and with three other major contenders (Sentimental Value, It Was Just an Accident, and The Secret Agent), how much of their resources can they realistically devote to this film? All four are destined to be counted among the best films of the year, all four stand a strong chance in the International Feature race, and all four will have champions. If No Other Choice does win the Golden Lion, Neon will be fielding a historically rich bench for awards consideration, with the firepower to hit all the necessary marks.
Two documentaries from giants of the field—Laura Poitras’s with Cover-Up (chronicling Seymour Hersh’s breakthrough reportage) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Below the Clouds (a black-and-white mosaic of life in and around Naples)—have been drawing glowing reviews. Both Poitras and Rosi have already earned Academy recognition, and these standouts look poised to contend again in the Documentary category. Here at Frames and Flicker, we’re especially thrilled to have another one of Rosi’s hauntingly beautiful films to look forward to.