Baaria
The likes of Charlize Theron and Nicolas Cage will be gracing the red carpet at this year's Venice Film Festival this year but it was Baaria that opened the event last night.
It was a nice change to see an In Competition contender getting the spotlight on the opening night with so many other festivals turning to the big Hollywood blockbusters to kick things off in a high profile style.
With a budget of $35.5 million Baaria is he most expensive Italian movie ever made and warranted the attendance of Pier Silvio Berlusconi, son of the Italian prime minister, at the screening.
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore the film follows three generations in Tornatore's hometown of Bagheria in Sicily and it's the first time in twenty years that an Italian movie has headlined the Venice Film Festival.
The movie is based partly on Tornatore's, who won a Best Foreign Film Oscar for Cinema Paradiso in 1988, memories of living in Sicily.
And already the critics are divided some fell in the love with this sweeping epic whilst others hated it.
Geoffrey MacNab from The Independent said: "The magnificence of much of the film-making only makes it all the more disappointing that the storytelling doesn't hang together better. Perhaps there is a political subtext here.
"Maybe Tornatore is evoking an era when Italians like Peppino were ready to stand up for their rights, whatever the sacrifice. The problem is that Baaria simply doesn't have the dramatic sweep to justify its inordinate running time."
And some Hollywood glamour came to the red carpet last night as Eva Mendes attended the opening screening as did filmmaker Ang Lee.
This year the festival will premiere more than eighty movies and this year there is a very strong American presence both in and out of competition.
After a disappointing festival twelve months ago Venice looks set to turn things around this year with the likes of Demi Moore, Richard Gere and Matt Damon all set to walk down the red carpet over the coming days.
And the healthy number of American movies on display this year further highlights Venice's desire to grab some more headlines as they have put together an exciting line-up.
Matt Damon's The Informant will be screened along with Men Who Star At Goats, the new one from Gorge Clooney, and the Cormac McCarthy adaptation The Road.
The Venice Film Festival runs from 2nd - 12th September.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Venice Film Festival