“Late Fame”
Critic-turned-filmmaker Kent Jones adapts Arthur Schnitzler as a backstage seduction: Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe), a forgotten poet, is suddenly exalted by a coterie of young artists—chief among them Gloria (Greta Lee), an actress whose flattery and gamesmanship reignite his hunger for relevance. Mentorship, nostalgia, and self-myth collide.
Venezia Spotlight
“Motor City”
Writer-director Potsy Ponciroli delivers a lean, largely wordless 1970s Detroit revenge tale: a working-class romantic falls for a gangster’s girlfriend, gets framed, and returns from prison with a single purpose. Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Ben McKenzie, Lionel Boyce, and Amar Chadha-Patel fuel muscle-car chases, needle-drops, and bruised yearning.
Venice Critics’ Week (SIC)
“100 Nights of Hero”
Filmmaker Julia Jackman adapts Isabel Greenberg’s fable of love and resistance: in a medieval court, a lecherous wager threatens Cherry (Maika Monroe), but her maid Hero (Emma Corrin) counters with a hundred nights of storytelling to fend off a seducer (Nicholas Galitzine). The tales fold desire, solidarity, and defiance into a lavish storybook frame with Charli XCX, Felicity Jones, Richard E. Grant, and Amir El-Masry.
Honorable Mentions
Brief highlights of additional premieres and special presentations to watch:
- “Ghost Elephants” — Werner Herzog: A quest across Angola’s highlands for a near-mythic herd becomes a meditation on pursuit, patience, and the point where mystery should remain mystery.
- “Nuestra Tierra” — Lucrecia Martel: Co-created with María Alché, a documentary inquiry into land, memory, and an Indigenous community resisting dispossession.
- “Kim Novak’s Vertigo” — Alexandre O. Philippe: A cine-essay that reframes an icon through process, memory, and how one role can script a life.
- “Cover-Up” — Laura Poitras: A rigorously argued portrait of investigative reporting centered on the costs of chasing uncomfortable truths.
- “Back Home” — Tsai Ming-liang: A quiet, hour-long diary of daily rhythms and devotion where time dilates until the ordinary glows.
- “How to Shoot a Ghost” — Charlie Kaufman: A playful, melancholy short—starring Jessie Buckley—that turns moviemaking into a séance, asking what art can capture and what always slips away.
Follow along with all our coverage of the 2025 Venice Film Festival.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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