Last night Quentin Tarantino's jury decided on the winner of this year's prestigious Golden Lion award. Earlier that morning, there had been speculation among press that the superlative Russian drama, Ovsyanki (Silent Souls) was going to take the top prize. It would certainly have been the popular choice with journalists, as almost everybody I spoke to signalled that it was their pick of the films in competition. Indeed, the festival's own daily paper rated Ovsyanki the winner among critics, after compiling review scores of each of the 24 in competition films and providing aggregate scores. My choice would have been Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, the festival's opening feature. But, at the end of the day, it wasn't me, or the critics, or audiences, or even the festival's director Marco Muller, that would determine the winner. That task fell to Tarantino and his jury, composed of Guillermo Arriaga, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Arnaud Desplechin, Danny Elfman, Luca Guadagnino and Gabriele Salvatores. Their (apparently unanimous) choice was Sofia Coppola's Lost-in-Translation-a-like Somewhere - a film which only claimed ninth place among critics (but then what do critics know). Coppola thanked her father, Francis Ford Coppola, for teaching her about film-making upon accepting the award in the Sala Grande. I really liked Somewhere. In fact my review said that it was the equal to Lost in Translation suggesting that if it had come out first, then this would be the film to which Lost in Translation was being unfavourably compared. But it was quite far down my list. I rate Black Swan (of course), 13 Assassins, Ovsyanki, and possibly Essential Killing, Barneys Version and Noi Credevamo, above the Coppola film. But it wasnt to be Black Swans evening, with the drama only scooping the award for the best young actor/actress, which went to Mila Kunis, who is 27! A better choice might have been the young newcomer Luigi Fedele, from the Italian film La pecora nera (you know, because he is actually a child?) The films star, Natalie Portman, was thought to be almost guaranteed the actress prize, which instead found its way into the hands of Ariane Labed for her work in Greek film Attenberg. As much as Attenberg was pointless and frustrating, Labed was good in it. Although, after Portman, I would have rated Michelle Williams for her work in Meeks Cutoff, or Yahima Torres for Venus Noire (a French historical biopic). Labed is on the right (below), alongside her co-star from the film Evangelina Radou; Best actor was less controversial, as Vincent Gallo took it home for his portrayal of an Afghan on the run from US forces in Essential Killing. Mostly silent, Gallo is terrific in the thriller and deserves his prize. Paul Giamatti was my favourite actor overall for his title role in Barneys Version portraying the loves and losses of one embittered misanthrope over a thirty year period. But Gallo was a worthy winner, for sure. The veteran director of Essential Killing, Jerzy Skolimowski, was rewarded with a special jury prize for his efforts. The aforementioned Ovsyanki didnt leave empty handed. It scooped a deserved prize for cinematography, which was awarded to Mikhail Krichman, whilst best director and screenplay honours both went to Spaniard lex de la Iglesia, for his Spanish civil war/murderous clown rampage film, Balada triste de trompeta. I was divided on that film and I continue to switch between admiration and disgust. But, in fairness, it is a very visually and narratively unique movie, a fact which deserves some recognition. For screenplay, I would have favoured La passione, an Italian comedy about an amateur production of the Passion of Christ, whilst Aronofsky would have taken directors honours. Tarantino favourite Monte Hellman received an award for an overall work for The Road Nowhere, explaining the award thus:
Monte Hellman is a great cinema artist and minimalistic poet. His work has inspired this jury and its our honour to honour him
The full awards listing, as stolen directly from the official festival web page are below, and remember you can find all my Venice reviews HERE. VENEZIA 67 The Venezia 67 Jury, chaired by Quentin Tarantino and comprised of Guillermo Arriaga, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Arnaud Desplechin, Danny Elfman, Luca Guadagnino, Gabriele Salvatores, having viewed all twenty-four films in competition, has decided as follows: GOLDEN LION for Best Film: SOMEWHERE by Sofia COPPOLA (USA) SILVER LION for Best Director to: lex de la Iglesia for the film BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA (Spain, France) SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to: ESSENTIAL KILLINGby Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI (Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland) COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor: Vincent GALLO in the film ESSENTIAL KILLING by Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI (Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland) COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress: Ariane LABED in the film ATTENBERG by Athina Rachel TSANGARI (Greece) MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress: Mila KUNIS in the film BLACK SWAN by Darren ARONOFSKY (USA) OSELLA for Best Cinematography to: MIKHAIL KRICHMAN for the film SILENT SOULS (OVSYANKI) by Aleksei FEDORCHENKO (Russia) OSELLA for Best Screenplay to: lex de la Iglesia for the film BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA by lex de la Iglesia (Spain, France) SPECIAL LION FOR AN OVERALL WORK to: Monte HELLMAN LION OF THE FUTURE LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis Venice Award for a Debut Film Jury at the 67th Venice Film Festival, comprised of Fatih Akin (President), Nina Lath Gupta, Stanley Kwan, Samuel Maoz, Jasmine Trinca, has unanimously decided to award: COGUNLUK (MAJORITY) by Seren YCE (Turkey) VENICE DAYS