Report From Venice
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‘Planetarium’ Review: Natalie Portman Goes Bilingual in Lush, Forgettable Drama
Rebecca Zlotowski’s sensual tale of Portman and Lily-Rose Depp as séance-performing sisters in pre-war France never coheres into something emotional or thought-provoking
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‘Frantz’ Review: François Ozon’s Post-War Tragedy Lacks Subtlety
The auteur’s examination of the perils of nationalism delivers most of its points with far too heavy a hand
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‘La La Land’ Review: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone Trip the Light Fantastic
In his follow-up to “Whiplash,” writer-director Damien Chazelle serves up a recognizable Los Angeles that’s also a singing, dancing land of dreams
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‘Nocturnal Animals’ Review: Tom Ford Gambles Big and Wins on Second Feature
Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star in a film that successfully melds grit and glamour, the past and present, fiction and reality
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‘Arrival’ Review: Amy Adams Talks to Aliens in Cerebral Sci-Fi Story
Denis Villeneuve’s tale of humanity’s first contact with ETs wants to appeal to both the heart and the head, but it succeeds mostly above the shoulders
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‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Review: Mel Gibson Says War Is Hell — Except When It’s Awesome
The “Passion of the Christ” director extols pacifism with one hand while making war brutally exciting with the other
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‘The Young Pope’ Venice Review: Jude Law Does the Vatican Rag
The first two chapters of the Paolo Sorrentino miniseries seem uncomfortably perched between satire and nighttime soap
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‘The Light Between Oceans’ Venice Review: Alicia Vikander Flirts With Tragedy, Settles Down With Sap
This sweeping tale, also starring Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz, takes a hairpin turn from Thomas Hardy to Nicholas Sparks
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Venezuelan Drama ‘From Afar,’ Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Anomalisa’ Take Top Prizes at Venice Film Festival
Festival also recognizes Robert Pattinson’s “Childhood of a Leader,” Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation”
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‘De Palma’ Venice Review: Fascinating Guided Tour Through a Master Filmmaker’s Career
Brian De Palma does all the talking, and the results are a documentary you wish could be twice as long
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‘A Bigger Splash’ Venice Review: Rocker Tilda Swinton’s World Is Rocked by Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson
Matthias Schoenaerts rounds out the cast of the drama set on a sun-baked Mediterranean island
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‘Equals’ Venice Review: Kristen Stewart Battles a Shiny Dystopia We’ve Seen Before
Director Drake Doremus’ idea of an emotion-free future feels cobbled together from “THX-1138,” “The Giver,” perfume ads and the Apple Store
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‘Janis’ Venice Review: Joplin Documentary Comes to Praise the Singer, Not Bury Her
Director Amy Berg bypasses tragedy porn in favor of vintage footage and new interviews to paint a complete picture of a singular American artist
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‘The Danish Girl’ Venice Review: Eddie Redmayne Discovers the Woman Within
The trans community gets a lush and slightly stiff prestige movie to call its own, buoyed by Redmayne and Alicia Vikander’s powerful performances
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‘Beasts of No Nation’ Venice Review: Idris Elba Creates Child Soldiers in Bold and Harrowing Drama
Writer-director Cary Fukunaga stares unblinkingly at real-life horrors, aided greatly by a powerful lead performance by young first-time actor Abraham Attah
