Oscar Contenders Emerge Midway Through Venice from Festival Favorite Filmmakers

While the Telluride Film Festival this past Labor Day weekend was a launchpad for many awards contenders having a breakout moment, from Karla Sofía Gascón in “Emilia Pérez” to the co-leads of “The Nickel Boys,” the past three days marking the midpoint of the Venice Film Festival put a spotlight on world premieres for the latest projects from three alumni, featuring a bevy of A-List talent, many of whom already have an Academy Award.

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Working backwards, Day 7 of the festival marked the first public screening of the highly anticipated “Queer” from Luca Guadagnino, the director’s eighth film to screen at Venice. The adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novella “Junkie” uses quite a few of his collaborators from “Challengers,” the other film he released this year, which will have its own separate awards campaign, but the Oscars category it has been pegged for from the start is Best Actor for lead Daniel Craig.

As Lee, a gay expat living in post-WWII Mexico City, who seeks out mind-altering drugs while simultaneously courting a young veteran named Allerton, played by newcomer Drew Starkey , the former James Bond does hit several unexpected emotional notes that warrant consideration from awards bodies.

Ultimately, it is Starkey that may be the harder sell, for though he does prove to be a more than sufficient match for Craig, his Allerton is all too opaque for viewers to truly connect to. His name alone may be the most intimate detail we ever learn about him. Fellow “Queer” cast member Jason Schwartzman may even be more of a Best Supporting Actor contender for how he goes through a physical transformation to play his part, and injects a healthy dose of humor into the film. But a big press run for Starkey is already bound to happen naturally, out of curiosity around this being his first big film role, so how he’s able to communicate what the complexities of Allerton are will really make a difference in terms of his chances at an Oscar nomination.

Oscar nominee Lesley Manville serves as a bit of a ringer as well, only really appearing in the third act, but, again, hit a home run as the character actress often does. Another Best Supporting Actress nomination would not totally be out of the question, but it could be an uphill battle if more contenders with more screentime emerge.

Behind the scenes, the names that stand out are screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, costume designer Jonathan Anderson, editor Mario Costa, and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who all happen to have also worked on “Challengers” this year, and have succeeded on both fronts. For Kuritzkes, he very well could have the unique distinction of being the first writer since Francis Ford Coppola to be nominated for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay in the same year. “Queer” already has the familiar narrative of someone adapting work that was once considered unadaptable.

However, the rest of Guadagnino’s collaborators are only able to win the Oscar for one film, and only Anderson, who happens to be a superstar fashion designer for Loewe and his own namesake brand (a detail that could actually hurt him, as the Oscars are voted on by peers, something he lacks within the film industry as a costume rookie) is doing more exciting work in “Queer,” as Academy members love period fashion. Production Designer Stefano Baisi, also a newcomer, has “Queer” and another upcoming Guadagnino film as his only credits on IMDb, but his work building a midcentury Mexico City set at the film’s shooting location in Rome is very notable. The film also boasts a stirring original song.

All in all, “Queer” is the more experimental, divisive film, meaning it will probably play better with the Directors Branch than “Challengers.” The prolific filmmaker has yet to receive a Best Director nomination, but with the two varied films he has delivered this year, the recognition for Guadagnino would feel right. Time will tell if “Queer” is a Best Picture nominee, though, as there are maybe two to three shoo-ins for a Best Picture so far, even after Telluride and most of Venice has taken place.

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is another director who has been to the Venice Film Festival countless times, making it an ideal place to have premiered his English language feature debut “The Room Next Door.” Although the audience rapturously embraced the film at its world premiere, with some saying it had a record standing ovation, there are only a handful of Oscar categories that it is truly a contender for.

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As the film tells the story of two women rekindling their friendship as one of them prepares to die, stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, both Oscar winners for their work in “Michael Clayton” and “Still Alice,” respectively, have a case to vie for Best Actress. Swinton would be the stronger choice for the twists and turns in the arc she plays as the cancer-stricken friend choosing to end her own life. Moore would have a better shot moving to the Best Supporting Actress category, but the film begins and ends with her perspective, so that may be a hard sell.

“The Room Next Door” is a different flavor of Almodóvar, even past it being in English, but there are already many nitpicks to be made with the first act, affecting his chances at a Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nomination (the film is based on Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel titled “What Are You Going Through.”) The film would really have to significantly appeal to women in the Academy, as a story of female friendship, to have a chance at Best Picture, but the Sony Pictures Classics release seems most suited to be solely a Best Actress vehicle for Swinton alone.

Finally, “The Brutalist” from Brady Corbet, the actor turned filmmaker who has had all three of his features premiere at Venice, and even been in at least one film that has premiered on the Lido, is really the surprise frontrunner for a Best Picture nomination among the three Venice alumni discussed here. A 215-minute runtime is an attention grabber, though is only seen as a positive if the film is good.

Corbet ultimately lands the plane, with his epic about a Hungarian architect who emigrates to the United States post-WWII, and dedicates his life to building a masterpiece structure for a wealthy, wolfish client. The filmmaker is not going to beat the pretentious allegations, and even a Best Director winner like Damien Chazelle struggled to get voters onboard with a three hour long piece, but just based on how Corbet spoke at the press conference for “The Brutalist,” he is good at bringing the focus back to the merit of the work rather than how long it is.

Should the Venice competition title win the Golden Lion as currently expected, it would get the final boost needed to get distribution and become a major player in the Oscar race. Both Adrien Brody, who won a Best Actor Oscar for “The Pianist,” and Felicity Jones, who received a Best Actress nomination for “The Theory of Everything,” are treading familiar territory as an artist traumatized by the Second World War, and his wife who supports him despite all obstacles, so Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress campaigns are warranted. Guy Pearce also stands out as said sinister client, putting the veteran performer in the running for his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Below the line, it is hard to imagine a film with such reverence for architecture to not at least be considered for Best Production Design, especially with Oscar nominee Judy Becker spearheading that department. Ambitious use of VistaVision, shot by Lol Crawley, also puts “The Brutalist” in the conversation for Best Cinematography. The editing by Dávid Jancsó and score by Daniel Blumberg are highlights as well.

Ultimately, in the context of awards season so far this year, where almost nothing is settled, Corbet is coming in hot with a strong narrative. The original screenplay from Corbet and his wife Mona Fastvold is so detailed that one could mistake the film for a biopic, and his summation of the film as being about a man who escaped fascism only to encounter capitalism is timely. The film will also appeal to directors who can respect he took this big of a bet on himself, so the sky’s the limit as far as awards potential goes for “The Brutalist.”