Venice Film Festival – This Had Oscar Buzz

375 – My Own Private Idaho

We’re finally pulling one of our most passionate entries to our 100 Snubs series, Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho. Adapted loosely from multiple Shakespeare plays (particularly both Henry IVs), the film follows an epileptic young sex worker named Mike (River Phoenix) as he drifts the globe with his loyal cohort Scott (Keanu Reeves). Van Sant was post-Drugstore Cowboy ascendant when the film arrived, but it’s the Venice Film Festival-anointed performance by Phoenix that got the most attention and helps the film live in bittersweet infamy.

This episode, we talk about Phoenix’s stunning performance and his Oscar nomination for Running on Empty before his tragic death. We also discuss the highlights of Van Sant’s filmography, the unfair ridicule that greeted Reeves’ Bram Stoker’s Dracula performance, and where we would place the film in the 1991 Adapted Screenplay race.

Topics also include the 1991 Venice Film Festival, nipple pulling, and New Queer Cinema.

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364 – Bones and All

With Halloween this week and Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt now in theatres, what better time to discuss the BONES! The 2022 fall festival season felt like the first real movie moment post-COVID and anticipation was high for Guadagnino reuniting with his Call Me By Your Name star, Timothee Chalamet. Bones and All was a tale of young love and primal urges, an emotional cannibalism story set in the midwest that placed Chalamet opposite the emergent Taylor Russell. Despite the film earning some devoted fans (spoiler: including us!), this gory Badlands riff was probably never going to please the Academy.

This episode, we talk about the divisive reactions that have met some of Guadagnino’s work, including this and After the Hunt. We also talk about Chalamet’s ascent towards Marty Supreme, Russell’s breakout in Waves, and our favorite Luca movies. And surprise: Chloe Sevigny Six Timers quiz!

Topics also include Mark Rylance doing his best Mr. Herbert, the film’s allegorical interpretations, and the 2022 Venice Film Festival.

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358 – The Light Between Oceans

Listeners who remember our The Place Beyond the Pines episode will remember that this is a highly pro-Derek Cianfrance podcast. As his latest Roofman makes its TIFF world premiere, we’re looking back at his most recent theatrical release, 2016’s literary adaptation The Light Between Oceans. The film starred Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender as a post-WWI couple whose isolated life caring for an Australian lighthouse is upended when a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying baby. This melodrama about trauma, responsibility, and the ties that bind was once hotly anticipated before becoming a quickly forgotten Labor Day release.

This episode, we talk about how the final days of Dreamworks’ Disney deal led to its underwhelming release and our anticipation for Roofman. We also discuss Vikander’s Oscar win the previous year, Fassbender becoming overexposed as a leading man, and Rachel Weisz’s emotional turn as the mother of the stranded baby.

Topics also include the 2016 Venice Film Festival, Atonement as a comparison to the film, and Touchstone Pictures!

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356 – The Fountain

After an indie one-two punch of Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky was riding high as one of the major emerging directors at the turn of the century. For his next film, he would graduate to big budget studio fare with The Fountain, an ambitious and era-spanning science fiction tale of love and death. The scaled-down version that reached 2006 cinemas starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz and remains a love-it-or-hate-it head-scratcher that nevertheless fits perfectly within Aronofsky’s continued themes of the body and soul.

This episode, we talk about all that went down with the canceled version of the film set to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. We also talk where we stand with Aronofsky’s work pre-Caught Stealing, Jackman breaking away from Wolverine, and our deep affection for Clint Mansell’s score.

Topics also include Eddington, tree sap, and Donna Murphy doing science.

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341 – Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Festival Fever!)

estival Fever continues this week with a forgotten adaptation and the Venice Film Festival. Tom Stoppard earned his first Tony Award for Best Play for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an absurdist spoof of Hamlet and various theatre tropes from the perspective of two of the Bard’s minor characters. A film version was long delayed before Stoppard took over the director’s chair himself for his debut. Casting young actors Gary Oldman and Tim Roth as the interchangeable twosome, the film earned the festival’s Golden Lion despite mild reviews.

This episode, we talk about the history of the Golden Lion and how we think this film joined those ranks. We also discuss Oldman and Roth’s breakthrough in Mike Leigh’s Meantime, their major successes immediately after Stoppard’s film, and Richard Dreyfuss’ broad performance as The Player.

Topics also include Chloe Zhao’s upcoming Hamnet, listeners not being able to tell us apart, and our favorite Golden Lion winners.

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339 – 99 Homes

99HOMES_00014_CROP (l to r) Andrew Garfield stars as ‘Dennis Nash’ and Michael Shannon as ‘Rick Carver’ in Broad Green Pictures release, 99 HOMES. Credit: Hooman Bahrani / Broad Green Pictures

2014 fall festivals saw the debut of Ramen Bahrain’s 99 Homes, a dark crime saga centered around the housing crisis of the previous decade. Andrew Garfield (fresh off of his mildly received run of Spider-Man movies) stars as a father who tries to rebound from his eviction by taking up work with the slick real estate operator who evicted him, played by Michael Shannon. Once the film was released in the fall of 2015, Shannon earned Supporting Actor nominations at each of the major precursors, only to miss out on Oscar nomination morning.

This episode, we talk about Shannon’s snubbing and his two unlikely Supporting Actor nominations. We also discuss the short life of Broad Green Pictures, Garfield’s performance in Angels in America, and the 2015 Best Supporting Actor race.

Topics also include Joe’s first TIFF, Florida onscreen, and our upcoming May miniseries!

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337 – To the Wonder

With the whispers and rumors that Terrence Malick’s Jesus film The Way of the Wind maybe possibly perhaps who knows could finally premiere this year after filming in 2019, we thought it was time to discuss his work. One year after The Tree of Life earned Oscar nominations and the Palme d’Or, Malick had perhaps his fastest turnaround with To The Wonder. A semi-autobiographical tale of a cross-continental love affair souring once it reaches America, the film starred Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams as the onscreen love triangle. But once the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, it earned some of Malick’s harshest notices to date.

This episode, we discuss the mixed reception around Malick’s post-Tree of Life work and our own divided thoughts on the film. We also discuss the several famous names left on Malick’s cutting room floor, Javier Bardem’s performance as the town priest, and Rachel McAdams joins our Six Timers Club.

Topics also include Roger Ebert’s final review, Kurylenko as an action star, and “to the wonder, to the walls.”

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285 – A Bigger Splash

We’re stoked for Challengers this week, so naturally we’re talking about one of our favorites in the Luca Guadagnino resume, 2016’s underdiscussed and hot as hell A Bigger Splash. Premiering at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and playing internationally in 2015, but opening late spring 2016 in the States, A Bigger Splash is a rock-and-roll-inflected tale of sex and ego that loosely remakes La Piscine. With a foursome of stellar performances by Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Dakota Johnson, the film earned strong notices especially for Fiennes’ bawdy dance moves, but category confusion and the spring release hindered his chances.

This week, we talk about the film’s portrayal of desire and deception, and how slyly the film weaves in themes of morality. We also discuss Tilda’s vocal acting choice, Johnson’s career emerging from 50 Shades, and the 2015 Venice jury. And we reveal the topic for the coming May miniseries!!

Topics also include poolside etiquette, adult braces, and Regina King being edited out of Beastly.

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284 – The Sisters Brothers

If you think we are too dismissive of westerns, allow this week’s episode to contradict that notion! In 2018, Jacques Audiard made his English language debut with an adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s novel The Sisters Brothers. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix starred as gunslinging assassin siblings in 19th century America, with both on the pursuit of a detective and a scientist (played respectively by a reunited Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed) with a plot for gold. Despite the reputation of everyone involved, the film received a mild reception at fall festivals before a quiet September release.

This episode, we talk about the struggles of Annapurna to successfully switch from being a production house to a distributor. We also discuss the career of Reilly with the hopes of a career reappraisal, our feelings about the western genre and the attempts to revive it, and Audiard’s French submission contender in A Prophet.

Topics also include surprise Carol Kane, queercoding, and Jake going weird.

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264 – Everest (with Katey Rich!)

Following Thanksgiving tradition, Katey Rich returns to This Had Oscar Buzz to discussant film with indistinguishable white male actors, and this year we have chosen 2015’s Everest. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur and featuring a massive cast led by Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, and Jake Gyllenhaal, the film follows the true story of a disastrous trip up Mount Everest that left almost an entire crew dead. The prestigious cast and the film’s placement opening the Venice Film Festival led some prognosticators to suspect the film could be an Oscar player, but it ended up a straightforward disaster film that American audiences mostly dismissed.

This episode, we discuss how the film struggles to portray the reasons someone would want to climb Everest and Joe delivers his most hoot-worthy game yet. We also discuss Gyllenhaal’s recent questionable output, Elizabeth Debicki explaining things, and directors we confuse for Kormákur.

Topics also include mountain madness, author Jon Krakauer, and “wife on phone.”

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