Anticipating Venice, 8/25.

Let's start with an online viewing tip, a trailer for Eric Rohmer's Venice-bound Les amours d'Astrée et Céladon. That's via european-films.net, where Boyd van Hoeij reviews Claude Chabrol's La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two), "a deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form. For his story of a girl torn between two men Chabrol works with many of the reliable members of his extended film and real family, though the addition of two women, actress Ludivine Sagnier and Cécile Maistre, the director's stepdaughter and first assistant director who debuts as a screenwriter on the film, are new assets that might have triggered this renewed confidence and sharp wit."

"Critics who have seen Atonement have reacted with breathless superlatives." The Telegraph's David Gritten interviews Joe Wright, who, at 35, is the youngest director to open the Venice International Film Festival. Gritten also talks with Philippe Aractingi, whose Under the Bombs, also premiering in Venice, was shot in Lebanon, at times even as Israeli bombs fell around them.

"Stateside censors have slapped Ang Lee's follow-up to Brokeback Mountain with the harshest possible rating after deeming the film too erotic for US audiences," reports the Guardian. "However in a startling show of solidarity with its filmmaker just days ahead of Shanghai-set wartime spy tale Lust, Caution's world premiere at the Venice film festival, US distributor Focus Features has decided not to contest the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) NC-17 certification."

"A lot of ink has already been spilled analyzing the 64th Venice Film Festival lineup, with special focus on the undeniable preponderance of English-language pics," writes Jay Weissberg for Variety. "Maybe fest topper a target="_blank" href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/director/en/5743.html">Marco Müller's argument can be taken at face value: The Anglophone world at the moment just happens to be making films strong on innovation and star power." Meanwhile, Colleen Barry talks with Müller for the AP.

Posted by dwhudson at August 25, 2007 8:39 AM