The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its lineup, and it's a gloriously chaotic mix of auteurs, rock reunions, and one very long tribute to a director with a problematic legacy. Danny Boyle's latest, adapted by James Graham from his own play, dives into the primal scene of modern Britain: Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) buys the Sun in 1969, turning it into a raucous powerhouse of sexist smut and Tory politics, while the British establishment winces at the colonial Australian press baron. Jack O'Connell plays editor Larry Lamb, because every origin story needs a sidekick.
Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky continues his colossal, controversial multimedia project with a new installment from hundreds of hours of immersive improv footage shot in Ukraine 15 years ago. This episode follows Soviet scientist Lev Landau ("Dau") as he experiences sexual angst and ponders love under totalitarianism - because why not make an already bizarre project even more unclassifiable?
Documentary maker Lance Oppenheim makes his feature debut with a film starring Robert Pattinson as real-life TV presenter Chris Hansen, host of To Catch a Predator. The show lured child abusers to a sting house for sensational arrests, but the film asks: is Hansen kind of a predator too? Meta, much?
Sophie Fiennes directs Slavoj Žižek in the third and final installment of his "pervert's guide" trilogy, this time tackling utopias. Expect deconstructive fireworks as the impish Hegelian thought-maestro dissects movies, TV, art, and pop culture with his signature fetishisation of surfaces.
Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy offers a chilling twist on Rebecca. Post-WWII Denmark, a widower is set to marry his child's nanny, but she must wear his late wife's wedding gown. Cue a chilling revelation from the past, because nothing says "new beginnings" like a dead woman's dress.
Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, who previously made a film about Blur, now turn to Oasis's colossal reunion tour. Featuring backstage footage, a dual interview with Liam and Noel Gallagher, and a structure by Steven Knight, the doc asks: is this a positive message about music's importance, or a cynical payday for everyone involved? (Spoiler: it's probably both.)
Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong returns after a hiatus since 2018's Burning - though his short story collection was well received last year. His new Netflix-produced film explores the tense relationships between two couples whose lives and destinies intertwine. Because nothing says "Netflix original" like existential dread.
Martin McDonagh brings his trademark toxic-male bonding to Venice with a jet-black comedy thriller. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play cynical CIA men in Santiago, 1973, plotting to overthrow Salvador Allende. But Malkovich needs a break, so they vacation on Easter Island - where grisly secrets are exposed. Because even coup plotters deserve a holiday.
Luca Guadagnino delivers a seven-hour, two-part documentary love-letter to Bernardo Bertolucci. Festival director Alberto Barbera assures you'll stay glued to the screen, but it must also confront Bertolucci's abusive behaviour towards Maria Schneider during Last Tango in Paris. Seven hours is a long time to sit with that.
Florian Zeller brings his elegant, lacerating drama to Venice with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. A fashionable architect horrifies his wife by accepting a commission to design a survivalist bunker for a creepy oligarch. Because nothing says "I love you" like a luxury panic room.
Toni Servillo makes his requisite festival appearance as a grumpy retired illustrator tasked with babysitting his four-year-old grandson for 72 hours. Their fractious relationship becomes a revealing confrontation, because grandparents are just unpaid therapists.
Finally, Al Pacino and Kiefer Sutherland star in a Manhattan mob drama scripted by Luc Besson. Sutherland plays Father Joe, a fiery priest battling gangsters personified by Pacino. Because who wouldn't want to see a priest take on the mob with Besson's signature brashness?