Controversial Polanski wins prize
Print Edition
鈥淛oker,鈥 a daring take on the comic book villain starring Joaquin Phoenix, won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival on Saturday with Roman Polanski controversially taking the second prize.
It is the first superhero film ever to get this kind of arthouse kudos and could now be on its way to Oscar glory.
The last two Venice winners 鈥 鈥淩oma鈥 and 鈥淭he Shape of Water鈥 鈥 have gone on to lift the best picture Academy Award.
US director Todd Phillips paid tribute to Phoenix鈥檚 intense performance, saying he was 鈥渢he fiercest, bravest and most open-minded lion that I know.鈥
鈥淭hank you for trusting me with your insane talents,鈥 he said.
The movie, which The Guardian had described as 鈥渙ne of the boldest Hollywood productions for some time,鈥 has already sparked a heated debate. And there were audible gasps when French-Polish director Polanski 鈥 a pariah in Hollywood after his rape conviction 鈥 was handed the Grand Prix second prize for his Dreyfus Affair drama, 鈥淎n Officer and a Spy.鈥
Within hours of the 鈥淛oker鈥 premiere, some warned that Phoenix鈥檚 full-throttle portrait of a needy, embittered clown who lives with his mother could empower incels (or involuntary celibates) 鈥 the angry, misogynist young men who have been blamed for so much far-right and white supremacist violence. Vanity Fair鈥檚 Richard Lawson worried that it was 鈥渆xhilarating in the most prurient of ways, a snuff film about the death of order, about the rot of a governing ethos.鈥
He feared that it 鈥渕ay be irresponsible propaganda for the very men it pathologises.鈥
But most critics disagreed, with Variety鈥檚 Owen Gleiberman saying Phoenix has remade Batman鈥檚 arch-enemy as a 鈥淢ethod psycho, a troublemaker so intense in his cuckoo hostility that even as you鈥檙e gawking at his violence, you still feel his pain.鈥
Other reviews were equally ecstatic and a sequel with Robert Pattinson playing the Joker鈥檚 nemesis Batman is said to be in the offing. Phoenix reportedly lost more than 23 kilos to play the part.
Phillips defended his film saying the jury 鈥渦nderstood what we were trying to say and I hope that translates.鈥
But almost as many headlines are likely to be made by Polanski鈥檚 win.
Having spent most of his life as a fugitive from American justice, he was accused of drawing 鈥渙bscene鈥 parallels between himself and the persecuted French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was the victim of antisemitism and a miscarriage of justice around the turn of the 20th century.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
