In September 2017, I realized, for the first time, at the Venice Film Festival, more known under the name of Venice international film Festival as a spectator / blogger, before exploring Puglia (the heel of the boot) for a few weeks. A first experience really encouraging, which gives me a clear desire to return in a few years, to the Mostra film festival at the end of August of course, but mostly to move on to this beautiful destination, especially in Tuscany before reaching Rome at the end of October for its Film Festival, which welcomes him as many directors of scale that make the trip to present their film.
The films and meetings
I’ve seen twenty films during the festival, but I have not had the opportunity to meet all of their directors. In this article, I will focus on filmmakers that I met and who were able to share information about their film. A beautiful way to learn more about their thinking and their ideas.
The Third Murder of Kore-Eda Hirokazu
Shigemori is a lawyer, charged with defending Misumi, suspected of robbery and murder. It has already been 30 years of prison and the chances of winning the trial are slim, especially given that Misumi has confessed to the crime. Yet, in the course of its investigation, Shigemori begins to doubt the guilt of his client.
My opinion in a few words
We find the themes dear to the director’s report parent-child through multiple characters. The developer is proposing a complex form of reflection on justice. A murder can it be right ? The death penalty is it a murder ? Kore-eda presents a look dark enough on the justice system, not necessarily the truth.
What says the director
I wanted to show the work of a lawyer properly. When I spoke with lawyers, they said, “The court of justice is not the place to determine the truth”. They said that nobody could know the truth. I found it interesting and it gave me the desire to make a drama justice in which the truth is not revealed. Generally, the films bring the truth to the end. In this film, the legal process ends, but the characters do not find the truth. This means that our society tolerates a system that is imperfect, which can hold only with people judging others without knowing the truth.
I also takes the genre against the foot. In this kind of plot, the events usually become more clear as, and here, it is rather the opposite. It begins with an event which seems to us clear, and when the film progresses, it becomes less certain of what he was able to pass. Even after the verdict we remain uncertain.
From a technical point of view, the sequence of face-to-face between the prisoner and his lawyer, separated by a simple ice cream was very difficult to turn because it left little room for movement. So I tried this movement at the interior of the characters.
Mother!
A couple sees their relationship called into question by the arrival of guests unexpected, disrupting their tranquility.
My opinion in a few words
For the first time, I’ve been really disappointed by a film by Darren Aronofsky; Formally, no problem, it is always very well done. The atmosphere is oppressive, and this empire as and as the film progresses.
On the merits, however, the director does too much. It multiplies the stakes, the parables and metaphors of a more or less coherent and not necessarily relevant. By analyzing a little more, we understand his intentions, but we are not convinced for all that.
Read my full analysis of the Mother
What says the director
I chose not to put music, because it guides you in your feelings, and I didn’t want the public to feel safe. The film is based on the mystery and the viewer should not know what to feel. I have turned the world into a home, because if someone throws garbage in your house, you can get angry more easily than if someone does it in the street.
The character of Michelle Pfeiffer is, despite appearances, a sort of guardian angel for a Mother. She doesn’t love him necessarily, but she sees problems coming and try to warn them. It is she who awakens the character’s mother for the first time to what is happening around her. I had no pre-intention to make a work controversial, but the film expresses anger and personal on the state of this world. There is always a level of taste in the cinema, there will always be people who don’t like it, but you will never be bored. This film is a roller-coaster, you get in at your risk and peril.
Virtual reality, a journey to the future
The Venice festival was also the occasion to discover some of the films and experiences in virtual reality.
Separate the silence is an experience VR single-and multi-sense that is based on touch and smell as well as sight and sound to create an experience that is moving and surprising. Placed in the position of one of the two characters hospitalized, a brother or a sister, you feel what they feel, feel what they can feel and see what they see from their hospital bed. The movie creates a new level of involvement with the characters that is unique. The film also encourages a social element, because you need to talk to your colleague to bring together the two perspectives in order to understand the complete story. You leave the experience feeling really emotional, as if you had awakened from a dream, the smell of coffee always in your nose and the contact of doctors focusing on your arms still palpable.
I have also tested Alice, The reality Play, a journey to the heart of the world of Lewis Caroll. For once, the experience goes far enough, interacting with live actors. A shame as the 3D effects are of the quality to be quite limited. Finally, The Last Goodbye offered an experience quite hard-hitting. In the film, he discovers a concentration camp survivor who goes from car to return in those places that have changed forever.
The complete list of selected films in the program of “Movies in virtual reality” in Venice, 2017