Fall Begins in Venice

Katy Haziran 28, 2021

First among film fests every year is always Venice, known to pretentious spectators & bona-fides alike as the Lido. The Italians beat Colorado's notably casual Telluride folks by mere days every year, kicking off a weeklong stretch of international premieres before that little Labor Day weekend in the Rockies can steal its thunder. Venice boasts a big opener every year, with George Clooney's political potboiler "The Ides of March" popping the champagne on August 31 with its world premiere.

Great poster!!

George Clooney is sort of the male Barbra Streisand, at least when it comes to micromanaging his film projects. Clooney directs, produces, co-wrote and co-stars in "The Ides of March," a tense political thriller during the frantic last days leading up to a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary. Ryan Gosling stars an up-and-coming campaign press secretary finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate's shot at the presidency. Based on Beau Willimon’s play “Farragut North,” purported to be a fictionalized depiction of Howard Dean’s failed run.

Everybody loves Ryan Gosling and this is sort of his year. After the giddy/awesome "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and the Cannes smash "Drive," which opens here in the States on September 16 (thank God), "The Ides of March" is the third in a trifecta of 2011 trophies. I know for a fact I'm gonna love the shit out of "Drive," and given Clooney's proven mastery of the political thriller, I'm expecting "Ides" to bring its A-game. Marisa Tomei plays a New York Times reporter (of course), with Paul Giamatti as the scheming rival and Philip Seymour Hoffman meaning serious business as Clooney's survive-the-scandal. We'll know Wednesday whether or not I'm right, once the critics descend upon "Ides" and weigh in with the first do-or-die verdict that determines the fate of every film's hopes for Oscar Gold and greater, but I can tell you right now that I am.