EGYPT. Journey to Immortality - An Intriguing Day Trip from Venice to Conegliano

EGYPT. Journey to Immortality - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

(Venice, Italy) Thought-provoking. That is how I would describe the EGYPT. Journey to Immortality exhibition at Palazzo Sarcinelli in the town of Conegliano. I was fascinated by how focused the ancient Egyptian culture was on preparing for the afterlife. And that provoked many thoughts.

The Field of Aaru, also called the Field of Reeds, was the Egyptian heavenly paradise ruled over by the god Osiris, full of lush fields, waterfalls, and eternal peace. 

As I wandered through the exhibition and absorbed the sacred artifacts, I tried to get myself into the heads of the ancient Egyptians and their mysterious culture. If you truly believed that you had the capacity to become immortal, living in the same paradise as the gods, eating the same food, hunting in the same fields, it would make sense to do everything you could to prepare for the journey to the afterlife. And from what the ancient Egyptians have left behind for us to witness, it is clear they took the voyage to immortality very seriously. 

The Egyptians believed the soul resided in the heart. After death, the deceased had to complete a long and perilous journey through Duat, passing tests to enter through gates and portals guarded by deities. At the end of the voyage, the heart was weighed on a scale balanced by an ostrich feather. Hearts that balanced the scale would be allowed to enter paradise. Hearts that were heavy with evil would tumble off the scale and into the jaws of Ammit, a fearful female demon. 

EGITTO. Viaggio Verso L'Immortalità gives the public an opportunity to explore the history and spirituality of this mystifying culture.  There are over 100 artifacts, including sarcophagi, mummies, statues, amulets, and objects of everyday life. 

Eyes for a funerary Mask (664-332 BCE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

I saw many ancient artifacts that I didn't understand. I had many questions that weren't answered. So I decided that I would experiment with Gemini AI, and ask it a bunch of questions. Here's how that went.

Gemini, are the souls of the ancient Egyptians tied to the earth?

That's a fascinating question. While the ancient Egyptians believed that the soul needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife, they didn't necessarily believe that the soul was tied to the Earth in the same way we might think of a ghost being tied to a specific location.

Here's a breakdown of their beliefs:

• Afterlife: The Egyptians believed that after death, the soul would embark on a journey to the afterlife. This afterlife was a spiritual realm, not a physical place on Earth.
  
  
• Judgment: The soul would be judged by the gods to determine its fate in the afterlife. If the soul was deemed worthy, it would be allowed to enter the Field of Reeds, a paradise-like place.
  
  
• Eternal Existence: The soul was believed to exist eternally, even after leaving the body. However, its experiences and quality of life in the afterlife depended on its actions and behavior during life.

While the soul might need a physical body to exist in the afterlife, it wasn't necessarily tied to a specific location on Earth. The Egyptians believed that the soul could move freely and experience the afterlife without being confined to a particular place.

Thank you, Gemini, but I am still not clear. The body is mummified and stationary. It is wrapped in linen and placed inside a sarcophagus. The soul is free and wandering around. Why was the body mummified? Does the mummy come back to life?

That's a great point! The Egyptians didn't believe that the mummy would come back to life in the physical sense. The mummification process wasn't intended to resurrect the body.

Instead, they believed that the soul would use the preserved body as a kind of "spiritual vehicle" in the afterlife. It was like a spiritual body that the soul could inhabit and use to interact with the spiritual world.

Think of it like a car. The car itself doesn't move, but it's a vehicle that allows someone to travel. In the same way, the mummified body was a vehicle that allowed the soul to "travel" and experience the afterlife.

So, while the body was immobile, it was still considered essential for the soul's existence and activities in the spiritual realm.

So, the body was like a home?

Exactly. The ancient Egyptians believed that the body was like a home for the soul, providing a place for it to reside and interact with the spiritual world. It was a crucial part of their understanding of the afterlife and their beliefs about the soul's journey.

OK. But I still don’t quite get it. You die. You have a soul. But why do you need the body? Can you please delve deeper?

That's a great question! The ancient Egyptians had a unique belief about the afterlife that might seem different from our modern understanding.

They believed that the soul, or "ka," needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife. This body wasn't just for appearances; it was thought to be essential for the soul's activities and interactions in the spiritual realm.

Here are a few reasons why they believed the physical body was so important:

• A Home for the Soul: The body was seen as a kind of vessel or home for the soul. Without it, the soul might wander aimlessly or be unable to perform certain tasks.
  
  
• Interaction with the Afterlife: The Egyptians believed that the soul needed a physical body to interact with the gods, ancestors, and other beings in the afterlife. It was like having a physical form to communicate and participate in the spiritual world.
  
  
• Preservation of Identity: The body was seen as a unique identifier of the individual. It was believed that the soul would recognize its body in the afterlife, helping to maintain a sense of identity and continuity.

While this belief might seem strange to us today, it was a central part of ancient Egyptian culture and religion. It helps us understand why they went to such great lengths to preserve their bodies through mummification.

Mummy of a Baby with Sarcophagus (1st-2nd century CE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

I then said adieu to Gemini, which is renowned for its inaccuracies, and consulted the PBS.org site NOVA: 

"The ancient Egyptians believed that a person's Ka (vital force) and Ba (personality) left the body at the time of death. But they also believed that Ka and Ba could be lured back if an idealized re-creation of the body was offered. This re-unification of body and spirit was the ticket to the nether world....

Egyptians stopped making mummies beteen the fourth and seventh century AD, when many Egyptians became Christian. But it's estimated that, over a 3000-year period, more than 70 million mummies were made in Egypt."

Canopic Chest (1550-664 BCE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

That is a very brief overview. EGYPT. Journey to Immortality has got some fascinating artifacts, and is an excellent introduction to the spirituality of ancient Egypt. But, to me, it did not provide enough detail and explanation of what we are witnessing. The ancient Egyptians left us so many astonishing physical realities about their version of the Afterlife to ponder. After all, there is a pyramid on the back of the U.S. dollar bill!

If you are thinking of taking a day trip to Conegliano to visit the exhibition, I would suggest first playing some Egyptian kid games on the British Museum website, a fun and easy introduction to the culture, so that you will better appreciate the precious objects you are seeing in real life. Thankfully, the descriptions of the actual artifacts inside the museum are in both English and Italian.

I was curious as to how an Egyptian exhibition with actual mummies and ancient artifacts had made its way to Conegliano. It turns out that the curator, Egyptologist Maria Cristina Guidotti, was the former head of the Egyptian section of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. 

The Florence collection is second in Italy only to the Egyptian Museum of Turin. It was mainly formed during the 19th century thanks to Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Tuscany, who, together with King Charles X of France, financed an expedition to Egypt in 1828. They split the loot between Paris and Florence. 

Amulets in the Shape of the Wdjat Eye
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

It's simple to get to Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano from Venice, about an hour by train. When you arrive, walk outside the front of the station. Cross the street, staying to the right. Head toward the great stone staircase. At the top, turn right, walking under the promenade until you arrive at Palazzo Sarcinelli. The museum is less than 10 minutes from the station. 

EGYPT. Journey to Immortality runs until April 6, 2025, and has funky, old-fashioned Italian hours with lunch figured in. From Wednesday to Friday, it's open from 10am to 1pm, and then from 2pm to 7pm. On Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays it runs from 10am to 7pm. 

Go to the Visit Conegliano website to make a day of it, and plan your adventure away from the crowds of Venice. 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Imagine! Never-Before-Seen-Footage of John Lennon -- "One to One: John & Yoko" - Venice Film Festival World Premiere

One to One: John & Yoko - Directed by Kevin Macdonald

(Venice, Italy) I am always amazed at how many people's lives John Lennon impacted, mine included. His talent, courage, and raw honesty made such an impression on me when I was coming of age in the 1970s that he influenced my entire life and career. John Lennon is one of those rare human beings who has morphed into a myth.

My first novel, Harley, Life a Person, is about a 14-year-old artist living in the New Jersey suburbs who thinks she's adopted. She has three goals: to find her real father, get to the Imagine Circle in Central Park, and to finish her painting for her high school play. Harley was born on the anniversary of John Lennon's death, in the same hospital, when her mother went into labor at a Lennon memorial concert in New York City. 

Harley's Ninth continues the story. It takes place all on one day, October 9th, the day John Lennon was born. Harley has her first art exhibition opening in a gallery in New York City. Harley's Ninth includes a fictionalized version of an actual art exhibition in New York City that I went to presented by Yoko Ono in 2004 to celebrate what would have been Lennon's 64th birthday.

From the One to One concert in New York City in 1972 - Photo: John Skelson

Now, the Scottish filmaker Kevin Macdonald has made a spectacular documentary about the first 18 months that John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in Greenwich Village in the 1970s. The film culminates on August 30, 1972 when John Lennon performed in the One to One Benefit Concert, his only full-lenth show after leaving the Beatles. The film premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2024, exactly fifty-two years ago.

Kevin Macdonald is more than a decade younger than me. While I was growing up in New Jersey about 45 minutes outside of Manhattan, he was growing up in Scotland. When asked what drew him to make One to One, he said, "I had been, and continue to be, a big Lennon fan. ... I got into the Beatles very young, when I was ten or eleven. I must have heard them on the radio. I asked my parents for a Beatles record for my birthday... I listened to them obsessively and became a fan. And when Lennon was shot in 1980, it was the first star I felt a personal connection with who died in that way. I actually felt it."

By the time John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, I was living in New York City. By coincidence, my apartment on West 11th Street was right around the corner of their first tiny apartment on Bank Street. 

I, along with the rest of Manhattan, actually felt it, too: 

Remembering John Lennon on the 40th Anniversary of his Death

Imagine Circle in Central Park, NYC

What is genius about the film is the innovative format used by Macdonald and co-director & editor Sam Rice-Edwards: rapid clips of TV shows and commercials of that moment in time in the United States, from the Vietnam War to The Price is Right game show to ads for Coca-Cola. And they sprinkle never-before-seen-or-heard before recordings from the Lennon Estate throughout the film -- as if someone was flipping through channels on a television while talking on the phone. 

It is not only a film about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It is a riveting history lesson that brings all the turmoil and innocence of the 70s alive. 

Recreation of John & Yoko's tiny one-room apartment on Bank Street - Photo: Mercury Studios

In 1971, Yoko convinced John to leave their estate in England and move to a tiny one-room apartment in on Bank Street in Greenwich Village, where they lived before moving uptown into grander digs in the Dakota on the Upper West Side. 

 

At the foot of the bed was a large TV set that they watched obsessively, which becomes a character in the story. One day, they watched an exposé by Geraldo Rivera about the horrific conditions in the Willowbrook children's home, which was the impetus for the One to One Concert at Madison Square Garden on August 30, 1972.

Kevin Macdonald's wife, Tatiana, is an Oscar-nominated set decorator who recreated the apartment exactly as it would have been when John and Yoko lived there, down to the quilt on the bed. The apartment is the only element of the film that wasn't created by the film and audio recordings of John and Yoko themselves. Both John and Yoko had their own cameras, or they had other people filming, and they recorded much of their lives. 

John Lennon’s move to New York City was like the arrival of a hurricane. He soon became involved in anti-war and protest movements. He associated with radicals like the Black Panthers and Jerry Rubin and Allen Ginsberg, who delivers a poem about toilet paper in the film that not even his estate knew existed.

John and Yoko suspected that their phone was being tapped (it was), so they started recording their phone calls. Six months into the project, Kevin Macdonald was sent a bunch of recordings of those phone calls. They were old-fashioned tapes from the 1970s that had been sitting in a box somewhere. Sean and Yoko had never even heard them before because they had never been digitized. Some of them are hilarious, like the ongoing quest of trying to find thousands of flies for an art project that Yoko was working on.

The most chilling part of the phone calls was when Jim Keltner, the renowned drummer from Elephant's Memory, the band who backed-up Lennon at the One to One concert asks: "You're not frightened that this might lead to an assassination?" And John says, "Don't worry. I don't aim to get shot. I'm an artist. I'm not a politician."

What is especially haunting on a personal level is that Jim Keltner was my neighbor in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. In fact, his wife, Cynthia Keltner, is in the acknowledgments of Harley, Like a Person because she was an early reader and helped me get the tone right. Jim has a recording studio in his back yard, and the Beatles and John Lennon would drop by. I was stunned to hear Jim ask that question...

Sean Ono Lennon is the music producer -- and it's great. I just loved the entire film. I wish I could tell you when you can see it, but right now it's still only being shown at film festivals.

Kevin Macdonald at One to One: John & Yoko premiere
Venice Film Festival, August 30, 2024
Photo: Cat Bauer

One to One: John & Yoko premiered on August 30, 2024 at the Venice Film Festival on the 52nd anniversary of the original concert. Whenever and wherever you get the chance to watch it, no matter how old or young you are, make every effort to see it.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Vampires in Venice (2024 edition)

(Image: Matteo Borrini)

An old 2009 post entitled Vampires in Venice recently became one of my Top 10 most popular posts. I wondered why. It turns out that Vampires in Venice are once again in the news. 

From the New York Post in March 2024:

16th-century ‘vampire’ buried with brick in her mouth — to stop blood-sucker from eating the dead

And another from Archeology News: 

Scientists reconstruct face of 16th century ‘vampire woman’ buried with brick In her jaws

Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 16th-century woman believed to have been buried as a vampire.
Credit: Cicero Moraes, OrtogOnline 2024

My original 2009 post is so old that most of the links are outdated and no longer function. I've tried to clean it up a bit, yet keep the same tone from 15 years ago. 

In fact, there was so much updating to be done, that I decided to grab the original Vampires in Venice post I wrote on March 6, 2009 out of the Way Back Machine and put it back where it was, and publish this as a new post today, September 28, 2024, mashing the whole thing together with new notes. So, some of this is from 2009, and some of this is from 2024. 

What I wrote today is in italics. Have fun!

Starting off with the original: 

(Venice, Italy) I have been threatening to write a book called Vampires in Venice for a long time now -- in fact, I just read the first Stephenie Meyer Twilight book to prepare. Vampires are very big in my genre; it seems like every YA writer has climbed on the vampire bandwagon.

Whenever another vampire book arrives on the scene, I think, HHmmph. You guys don't know nothin.' We got real vampires over here in Venice, baby, not some weeny American vampires. Our vampires are thousands of years old. They are professionals and do not seek the spotlight like the Hollywood vampires do. Our vampires are distinguished, love to listen to classical music, and have learned how to drink red wine instead of blood.

Now, today, after 500 years, we finally have some proof:

(ANSA) - Rome, March 6 - The remains of a 'vampire' have been found in a grave in Venice lagoon, an Italian forensic anthropologist has claimed.

That image (at the top) is an ANSA photo depicting the proper way one must impale a vampire -- through the mouth with a brick, not through the heart with a stake as they do in America. Because, of course, the point is to get them to stop sucking blood, which is difficult to do with a brick in one's mouth.

From the March 6, 2009 ANSA article: 

It was thought that these vampires, who were buried next to the bodies of plague victims, fed on their dead neighbours until they felt strong enough to rise from the grave and begin feeding on the living, perpetuating the cycle of contamination.

Gravediggers were therefore responsible for identifying possible vampire women among the dead by signs of shroud-chewing around the mouth and impaling them with a brick to stop them feeding, according to Borrini.

The woman's skeleton was found in mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576 - in which the artist Titian also died - on the small island of Lazzaretto Nuovo. Venice authorities had designated the island a quarantine hospital in 1468 following an earlier plague epidemic.

Click here to read the entire article:

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-03-06_106329688.html

That link does not work. Here is a similar New Scientist article from March 4, 2009, with a link that works:

'Vampire' discovered in mass grave

However, the following discussion is about the March 6, 2009 Ansa article (are you confused?):

In the article, you will notice that the plague was blamed on the female vampires, not the males. That is an outright Venetian myth designed to confuse you. It is an old Venetian trick to say one thing, but do exactly the opposite.

In fact, it's perfectly legal to behave in such a fashion, and if you can get away with such behavior, you get extra bonus points. Believe me, there are just as many male vampires as there are female vampires. In fact, I would say males outnumber females 3 to 1.

[UPDATE APRIL 3, 2017 - That link no longer works, nor do many others on this dusty post. However, there is an update to the story on the National Geographic site.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2024 TO UPDATE APRIL 3, 2017] - That link no longer works, but I found a National Geographic link from February 27, 2010 that does. Now, the poor woman is not only accused of being a vampire but also a witch!

The skull of the "Vampire of Venice," found in a mass plague grave with a brick stuck in its jaw.

Photograph courtesy National Geographic Television

"Vampire of Venice" Unmasked: Plague Victim & Witch?”

(Next, I leap into a discussion about the plague -- remember, I'm writing this 15 years ago:-)

The Plague of 1576 is the plague that inspired one of Venice's most beloved holidays and famous churches -- Redentore. From the Comune's website (none of the links function):

The plague 

In the three years between 1575 and 1577 the Serenissima was tormented by the plague: aided by the high density of the population, the disease spread through the city, causing terrible losses. Almost 50,000 died, which was more than a third of the city's inhabitants.

That image you see of the man with a hat and a beak and a wand is a plague doctor. The beak was stuffed with medicinal herbs, etc. to keep the doctor from catching the plague.

The vow 

On September 4, 1576, the Senate decided that the Doge should announce the vow to erect a church dedicated to the Redentore (Redeemer), in return for help in ending the plague.

The end of the plague 

On July 13, 1577, the plague was declared definitively over and it was decided that the city's liberation from the terrible disease should be celebrated on the third Sunday in July.

Ah, those were the days! When doctors ran around dressed as birds with long beaks, and gravediggers jammed bricks into the mouths of female vampires to stop them from munching on dead plague victims. Just think: we still celebrate the Redentore holiday today!

You regular readers will remember we had a discussion about the Church of Redentore before, which was designed by Palladio. The blog was entitled (by strange coincidence): "Where's the Blood?"->

Where's the Blood? Palladio Redux - Venice, Italy

The vampire depicted in the very top photo was discovered out on the Island of Lazzaretto Nuovo. You must take Vaporetto 13 to get there, and if you think I am joking about the number, I am not. You can wander out there and visit the island, which is, in reality, full of precious archaeological discoveries.

You can even take an archaeological vacation. It sounds so fascinating, I think I'll head out there some day soon and report back. Here's their website:

UPDATED INFO ABOUT THE ISLAND OF LAZZARETTO NUOVO:

The island is open for visits from March to November, for guided visits only.
The visit lasts about two hours. It includes the historical-archeological itinerary of the Lazzaretto Nuovo inside the walls (the museum exhibit inside the Tezon Grande and the open-air archeological digs), as well as the naturalistic walk of the marshlands outside the walls ("The Path of the Barene").

Guided visits in English are scheduled every Saturday at 11am, from April 13th to October 19th 2024 (in August only exclusive tour). Reservation by email is required, no later than the preceding Thursday. The scheduled visits takes place only with a minimum number of reservations. We will confirm the reservation as soon as the number is reached. 

Please kindly write to info@lazzarettiveneziani.it and wait for our confirmation.
This visit costs 10€ per person, 5€ for children up to 14 years. The contribution is donated to non-profit activities for the ecomuseum. Payment is at the entrance on the day of the visit by debit or credit card. The island can be reached by the ACTV Line 13: departing from Venice-Fondamente Nuove or from Treporti at 10.25 a.m. (return by vaporetto at 12.55 a.m.) 

Back to the original:

And don't worry. Venetian vampires do not drink the blood of the average tourist. After consuming too much McDonald's and other fast food, humanity's diet has gotten so tasteless their blood is almost undrinkable for our poor vampires.

Venetian vampires prefer to snack on your soul.

Ciao from Venezia

Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

The Movie Stars Are Back! Recap of the 81st Venice Film Festival 2024

George Clooney & Brad Pitt at photocall for Wolfs
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

(Venice, Italy) After the dearth of movie stars at last year's film festival due to the Hollywood actor's strike -- a crucial battle over Human Creativity versus Artificial Intelligence (the actors won, yay!) -- the celebrities have returned to Venice to glitz up the Red Carpet and glam around the town. 

This year, I saw fewer films than usual because of scheduling conflicts and a computer booking glitch (I was the glitch). Venice often tries to capitalize on the presence of international journalists in town for the film festival, and schedules openings to other venues around the same time.

Renzo Rosso checking out the selfie he just took with Oprah Winfrey
as she talks with Graça Machel at the DVF Awards
Photo: Cat Bauer

Within the span of a couple days, there were press previews for Julian Lennon's thoughtful photography retrospective Whispers at Le Stanze della Fotographia, and the marvelous celebration of craftsmanship at Homo Faber's "The Journey of Life," both on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. 

Diane von Furstenberg's inspiring DVF Awards, now in its 14th edition, saw Oprah Winfrey arrive with her sidekick, Gayle King down at Arsenale (I ran into them in the ladies room!) as the Biennale Art exhibition Strangers Everywhere played on in the background. 

On Sunday, September 1st, the Regata Storica, Venice's main rowing competition, shut down the Grand Canal for hours. Boat taxis carrying dazzling human cargo zoomed across the lagoon from the historic center to the Lido, and special water busses were added to the usual vaporetto lines. The joint was jumpin.' 

Here is my annual quickie recap of the films I managed to see, with letter grades and links to the reviews that I agree with the most.

Winona Ryder & Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

At the press conference, Tim Burton said that over the past few years he had become disillusioned with the movie industry. If he was going to do anything again, he wanted to do something from his heart -- something he wanted to do. He had lost himself a little bit. Beetlejuice was re-energizing -- it was a way to get back to doing the things he loved doing the way he loved doing it with the people he loved doing it with. It didn't matter how it turned out. He just enjoyed and loved making the film with all these people. 

And the public was ready. After waiting 36 years for the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scored the second-biggest September opening weekend of all time with an impressive domestic box office of $110 million.

Here's a review from Justin Change at NPR that pretty much sums up the general consensus:

Beetlejuice is back, in a supernatural screwball sequel

Fortunately, there isn’t a whiff of cynicism to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Burton shows real affection for the first film’s characters and genuine curiosity about how they’re doing three decades or so later.

I love that Beetlejuice and Tim Burton are part of the zeitgeist when the world is bleak, and I think the rest of the planet should get into the same spirit of doing things we love the way we love doing them with the people we love. I'm happy that people are going to the theater to see it on the big screen surrounded by other human beings. Grade B+

Nicole Kidman on the Red Carpet for Babygirl
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

2. Babygirl

Babygirl opens with a close-up of Nicole Kidman's character having an intense orgasm with her loving husband played by Antonio Banderas, which turns out to be fake. I never quite connected with the character, although Kidman ended up winning Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. It would be excellent if the film inspired more May-December romances between younger men and older women. 

Tim Grierson at Screen Daily sums it up: 

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in Halina Reijn’s erotic May-December drama

Halina Reijn’s third feature works better in the bedroom than in the boardroom. Babygirl is an erotic drama about a powerful CEO who embarks on an ill-advised affair with a much younger intern, finally accessing the sexual desires this tightly-wound woman has never permitted herself to enjoy. Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are excellent as these carnal combatants, each of their characters jockeying for control. But the writer-director’s larger ideas — about sexism in the workplace and the feelings of shame surrounding sexual kinks — fail to burn as hot as the two leads’ fiery chemistry. 

Babygirl opens on Christmas Day in the US and on January 10, 2025, in the UK. If your marriage is in trouble, this might be a good reason to get out of the house during the holidays. Grade: B-

3. One to One: John & Yoko

In 1972, John and Yoko left their estate in England for a tiny one-room apartment on Bank Street in the West Village with a large television set at the foot of the bed. As an uber Lennon fan, I absolutely loved director Kevin Macdonald's original way of presenting a treasure trove of unseen archives, footage, home movies, and telephone conversations.

We relive the time that led up to Lennon's only live performance without the Beatles, the One to One concert at Madison Square Garden in August to benefit the children of Staten Island's Willowbrook institution. 

The review by Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter is excellent:

'One to One: John & Yoko' Review: An Exhilarating and Deeply Political Vision of a Year in the Life

Director Kevin Macdonald combines footage of a 1972 benefit concert with a rich assortment of archival material in his portrait of the former Beatle and his artist wife during their first months in New York.

In its mix of remarkable archival material, the film is both tender and galvanizing, summoning up what New York felt like in 1972 (yes, I would know) and offering a fresh slant on a country’s upheaval and a generation’s countercultural awakening.

I'm in the middle of writing a separate post about the film with more information. I can't find a release date yet. But whenever and wherever it screens, make every effort to see it, no matter how old or young you are. It's a great history lesson. Grade A+

Jude Law in The Order - Photo: Michelle Faye

4. The Order

About 15 minutes into The Order, I started wondering when Jude Law was going to show up. Then I realized he had been on the screen all along -- that's how different this character is from the "matinee idol" -- as one journalist called him -- that we are used to. Based on real events, Law plays FBI agent Terry Husk on the hunt for real-life white supremacist Bob Matthews, who formed an army called The Order in the 1980s whose mission was to make America white again.

The Deadline review by Stephanie Bunbury sums it up with eloquence:

‘The Order’ Review: Jude Law Shines In Justin Kurzel’s Brilliantly-Shot, Sweeping Slice Of Political Americana — Venice Film Festival

The Order was real, the investigation was real; the police characters, however, are not individually real. Terry Husk is hardly an unfamiliar fictional standby — a grizzled veteran cop who drinks too much, focuses on his job with such ferocity that he hasn’t realized his family has left him and is merely inches from being completely washed up: never was a character better named. He could feel like no more than a cliché, but Jude Law brings such a range of nuance to every exchange that he is always fully, complicatedly human.

The Order will get a limited release in the States on December 6, 2024. Amazon Prime Video is distributing it outside the US; I imagine it will eventually make its way into your home. I thought it was riveting, so yes, see it. Grade: A-

Cate Blanchett on the Red Carpet for Disclaimer
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC 

5. Disclaimer

I only saw one episode, Chapter 5, of this seven-part Apple TV+ series directed by Alfonso Cuaron starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, so I can't offer an opinion except to say I was intrigued, but not absorbed. 

Let's hear the opinion of Ben Travers at IndieWire:

‘Disclaimer’ Review: Alfonso Cuaron’s Vicious Apple Series Is an Astute, All-Consuming Thriller 

Venice: Cate Blanchett's latest TV series is a methodical, magnificent mystery of complicity about an acclaimed documentarian whose dark past resurfaces in a vengeful widower's debut novel.

Complicity. Narrative. Form. Cuarón isn’t shy in laying out his thesis, instructing the audience to watch carefully as his seven-episode adaptation of Renée Knight’s 2015 novel plays out. What information do we know, and what information do we only presume to know? Who’s providing it? How are they providing it? These questions are always top of mind, but the four-time Academy Award winner behind “Roma,” “Gravity,” and “Children of Men” trusts in his story — and his team’s storytelling prowess — to sweep you up anyway. Which it does, and they do. “Disclaimer” is a cunning psychological thriller with twists and turns enough to thrive as pure entertainment. But never does it drift from its initial portent, so that when the truth comes crashing down, it levels everyone involved, onscreen and off.

Apple TV+  will release the first two episodes on Friday, October 11 with new episodes each Friday until the finale on November 15. Definitely check it out if you've got Apple TV+. Should you invest in a subscription? Ben Travers grades it A-

George Clooney (with Amal Clooney, center) & Brad Pitt at Sala Grande premiere of Wolfs
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

6. Wolfs

George Clooney and Brad Pitt seem to genuinely enjoy being movie stars, and I genuinely enjoy watching them play off each other. The first time I encountered their witty banter in person was during a press conference back in 2008 for Burn After Reading. It was my very first press conference at the Venice Film Festival for this blog -- I had been there before as a member of the press when I wrote for the International Herald Tribune's supplement Italy Daily, but had never attended a screening of a film, and followed by a press conference. I was like a kid in a candy store. It was exciting, especially because I asked George Clooney a question. 

Now, 16 years later, the stars still have the same vibe. In Wolfs, they both play a fixer hired by two different women to clean up what appears to be a dead body in a penthouse suite of a luxury hotel. 

From my favorite critic, Owen Gleiberman at Variety:

‘Wolfs’ Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry

The two actors go at each other in Jon Watts's likable throwaway caper, which plays like an exercise in movie-star nostalgia.

These two have been stars since the ’90s, and no one, least of all themselves, is pretending that they’re young. Yet no one makes aging into the new cool more than they do. Clooney is the rare actor who has always worn his gray like the essence of glamour (when you catch a shot of him in the old days, the dark hair looks all wrong), and now, at 63, with a silver beard and hair not just two-tone but marbled, he’s achieved a kind of fine-wine mystique. As for Pitt, a mere spring chicken at 60, he kind of is ageless.

...Clooney and Pitt had this kind of chemistry before, in “Ocean’s Eleven,” where it was in the very detachment of their banter that they found a bond. In “Wolfs,” Clooney and Pitt revel in the crack timing, in the I-truly-do-not-like-you obscene banter, that makes even the most casual insult take wing. As the movie goes on, these two will learn to work together, but the film’s anti-grammatical title is saying that each one is a lone wolf. They have no desire to mesh like wolves. The joke, of course, is that from their stylish leather jackets to their secret Mr. Big to their reading glasses, they’re kind of the same man.

Wolfs will have a limited release in theaters on September 20, then stream globally on Apple TV+ starting September 27. The reason to see it in theaters is to have a fun date night out if you're of a certain age and in a long-term relationship. Otherwise, it might be another reason to subscribe to Apple TV+. Grade: B

7. Master and Commander

Director Peter Weir received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and I went to the award ceremony because I messed up my reservation for The Room Next Door, which would go on to win the Golden Lion for Best Film. Ethan Hawk gave a warm, wonderful introduction, saying that Peter Weir gave him his first role in Dead Poet's Society, which led to him coming to Venice for his first film festival 35 years ago in 1989.

The award ceremony was followed by a screening of Weir's 2003 film Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe about a brash 19th-century British warship captain who prepares to attack a superior French vessel. It had gotten excellent reviews back in the day so I stayed to watch it. I'm not a fan of naval war battles, and there was only one brief, distant woman with no dialogue in the entire film. So I got bored and left. 

Martin Pengelly at the Guardian reviewed it 20 years later in 2023 and absolutely loved it.  

Master and Commander at 20: a miraculous masterpiece of action cinema

This article is more than 9 months old

Peter Weir’s adventure didn’t find enough of an audience in 2003 but its old-fashioned sturdiness has given it a long life

Master and Commander is an action movie with a brain. Its thrills are never mindless. Weir’s recreation of life in the close confines of a warship in 1805 is meticulous, fascinating and sometimes, rightly, nausea-inducing. Crowe and Bettany’s interpretation of a friendship between two men matches such artistry precisely. As Gabriella Paiella said for GQ earlier this year, much of the film’s lasting appeal springs from that portrayal of male closeness.

It was called an "absolute masterpiece" and scored 85% at Rotten Tomatoes, so apparently I am in the minority. If it sounds like your type of entertainment, you can rent or buy it wherever you get your movies. 

Daniel Craig on the Red Carpet for Queer
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

8. Queer

From the moment we see Daniel Craig as William Lee, he is loud, drunk, obnoxious, but still charming, and definitely not James Bond. Split into three chapters and an epilogue, I loved the first chapter of the film. Later, when we moved to the jungles of South America in search of a drug called Yage that causes telepathy, it lost its focus, yet director Luca Guadgnino kept his originality and creativity. And Daniel Craig was brilliant all the way through.

‘Queer’ Finds Daniel Craig Cruising for Sex, Drugs — and an Oscar

The actor who redefined James Bond goes for broke in Luca Guadagnino's beautiful, filthy, extraordinary take on William S. Burroughs' novel

Whether or not Luca Guadagnino‘s screen adaptation will change the book’s standing remains to be seen — but this sordid, steamy, and exceedingly swooning take on Burroughs’ novel will certainly move you to appreciate how he makes the author’s amour fou tale his own. And it will definitely alter your view of Daniel Craig. The British movie star had already been in the process of shaking off his association with a certain career-defining role, in addition to jogging your memory in regards to his range beyond Bond — his dandy sleuth in the Knives Out movies is worlds away from the antihero employed in her majesty’s secret service. Embodying Burroughs’ alter ego and cycling through Lee’s lust, jealousy, world-weariness, neediness, and bliss, Craig cracks this smitten, doomed romantic wide open. It’s the role of a lifetime if you hold nothing back. So he doesn’t.

Queer doesn't have a wide release date yet, but it will screen at the New York Film Festival on October 6. You don't have to see it on the big screen, but you should definitely see it. Grade: B+ Daniel Craig: A+

Lady Gaga & Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à deux
 Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

9. Joker: Folie à deux

I thought the first third of Joker: Folie à deux was promising, and that it might actually be as great and daring as the first Joker, which won the Golden Lion in 2019. Alas, it is not. It dwindles down into a repetitive courtroom drama with songs. 

From Owen Gleiberman at Variety again:

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Star in a Cracked Jukebox Musical — but It Doesn’t Let Joker Be Joker Enough

The concept is audacious but the execution less so in a movie that takes a step back from the danger of "Joker."

...As a critic, I’ve experienced my share of debates, but I have never understood the morally judgmental quality that hung over the criticisms of “Joker.” That the film invited us to have a deep identification with a twisted sociopath wasn’t, in my book, a weakness; it was a strength. (It’s for that same reason that I love “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Taxi Driver,” and “Natural Born Killers.”) The movie was, among other things, an allegory of the Trump era, but it’s almost as if the critics were saying, “We don’t like the movie because Arthur is a nasty incel who leads an uprising just like Trump!” To me, the criticisms of “Joker” were sort of comparable to a studio executive giving notes that basically said, “Jake LaMotta in ‘Raging Bull’ isn’t likable enough.”

Did the critics, with “Joker,” turn into cautious executive scolds? In my opinion, they did. But the upshot is that Todd Phillips, making what I think is a huge mistake, listened to them.

It's sad to watch the world become homogenized again, and Joker along with it. Sure, go see Joker: Folie à deux. Dress up as Joker for Halloween. But don't expect to see the transformational film we saw the first time. Joker 2 is scheduled to be released domestically in the US on October 4. Grade: B-

10. TWST/Things We Said Today

Another Beatles documentary, this time set in 1965 and the build-up to Fab Four's concert at Shea Stadium in August. I was 10 years old at the time. Romanian director Andrei Ujica is four years older than me. It is always interesting to see the impact that the Beatles had on people of that time the world over. 

In order to tell the story, Ujica uses animated drawn teenage figures of real-life New York City budding writer and poet Geoffrey O'Brien and real-life fan girl Judith Kristen who are going to the concert. Then he uses archival material from the era, like the frenzy outside the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan, Watts riots in Los Angeles, Harlem, Jones Beach, and the 1964-65 World's Fair, which I, too, went to with my family. It was interesting to see the footage from my childhood again. And I would actually stay in the penthouse suite at the Warwick Hotel during a Christmas in the city. I enjoyed the nostalgia. 

From Marc van de Klashorst at the International Cinephile Society:

Venice 2024 review: TWST / Things We Said Today (Andrei Ujică)

“An intriguing and original way to look at our past and see how history is shaped once all the dust is blown off.”

The film definitely meanders at times, and while scenes of (predominantly white) people enjoying Jones Beach or shots of workers at New York’s fish market have their function, they do break up the narrative thrust Ujică introduces through his two ‘characters’.

Conceptually, TWST / Things We Said Today is an intriguing and original way to look at our past and see how history is shaped once all the dust is blown off. Its execution is artistically sound, but at times too unfocused to keep its ideas at the forefront. That doesn’t diminish the fact that this is a relevant work, but one can’t shake the feeling that another round of editing might have delivered a tighter film.

For me, the bar was set so high by One to One: John & Yoko, that I couldn't work up the same amount of excitement for this film. The documentary has a release date of September 30, but I'm not sure where. Grade: B-

11. Kjarlighet (Love)

I didn't expect to enjoy this film by writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud from Norway as much as I did. It's conversational and character-driven, and nothing much happens except people experience the joy and sadness of human relationships. What's interesting is that the characters all have unique jobs that we don't often see on film: a straight female urologist and her gay male nurse; a straight male divorced geologist; a married female art historian who works for the city of Oslo.  

From Leslie Felperin at The Hollywood Reporter:

'Love' Review: A Charming and Intelligent Norwegian Dramedy to Win Over Hears and Minds

The film, about two colleagues with very different approaches to sex and romance, is the second in a planned thematic trilogy from writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud.

The unfussy camera setups by DP Cecilie Semec, lit so as to benefit from the low-angle sunlight of Nordic summer nights, unfurl in long languorous takes that just sit back and let the actors do all the work. Fortunately, the cast here is well up to the job, and the dialogue, especially between Hovig and Jacobsen, have a charming musicality about them, like bright duets. Along the way, the film makes some interesting points about friendship as well as romance, especially when it comes to studying the reaction of Marianne’s art historian friend Heidi (Marte Engebrigtsen), who is scandalized by Marianne’s adventures in zipless fucks. Love, to quote that woozy old ballad, is indeed a many-splendored thing that takes many forms — a multiplicity that Love the film is quietly alive to.

Love will be released on December 25 in Norway. At this time, there is no US distribution. I hope the next installment, Dreams, also premieres at the Venice Film Festival. And I'll keep my eye out for the first film in the trilogy, Sex. Grade: B+

Kevin Costner at Horizon: An American Saga press conference - Photo: Cat Bauer

I didn't see either Chapter 1 or the new Chapter 2 of Horizon: An American Saga because it was completely sold out on the last day of the Venice Film Festival. But I did go to the press conference because I wanted to see Kevin Costner. Years ago, around 1975, in Costa Mesa, California, Kevin Costner and I had the same acting coach, Greg Bach, before Kevin became famous. We filmed a scene on videotape (which included a kiss:-) and were part of a screening at someone's posh house in Laguna Beach with our parents as guests.

Kevin seemed an unlikely movie star back then, but he had a quiet intense determination that shone through on the screen. He said he conceived of Horizon way back in 1988. In response to a question from a journalist, he said, "Horizon is not a message to my country. It's a reminder to my country of how difficult it was... that people made this journey across an angry Atlantic ocean to start a new life. America moved by inches."

Kevin said that if a movie is authentic, it will live forever and stand the test of time. "I don't know how I'm going to make Chapter 3 right now, but I'm going to make it."

Until next year.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog