Movies

Just before director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “Oppenheimer” plants a fixed image of Ted Hall in the popular imagination, along comes Steve James’s sensitive, studious documentary “A Compassionate Spy” to preemptively set any records straight. Unpacking the life and work of the prodigious teenage Manhattan Project physicist who passed key information about the endeavor to the

Prolific Singapore-based production company Akanga Film Asia, led by producer Fran Borgia, has revealed a robust film slate, including several global co-productions. Borgia and filmmaker Yeo Siew Hua teamed on 2018 film “A Land Imagined,” which reaped a rich haul of awards around the world, including top prizes at Locarno, Golden Horse, El Gouna, Pingyao,

The political activism of pop stars is, as a rule, on the restrained side. Those who make their allegiances clear still tend to keep all factions in their fanbases sweet by limiting divisive rhetoric, or filtering their politics through broadly palatable humanitarian causes; those who speak a little more frankly still risk the wrath of

“Walls Can Talk,” the latest film by Spain Carlos Saura, director of “Raise Ravens,” “Deprisa, Deprisa” and “Carmen,” has been acquired for intentional sales by Madrid-based Latido.   Produced by María del Puy Alvarado at Malvalanda (“Madre,” “The Mole Agent”) and distributed in Spain by José Maria nd Miguel Morales’ Wanda Vision, “Walls Can Talk” will

Master documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose “Sacro Gra” won the Venice Golden Lion in 2013, is back on the Lido with “In Viaggio,” a doc about Pope Francis’ travels in which the director creates a counterpoint between archival footage and images that Rosi shot himself. Variety has been given access to an exclusive clip (above)

Dystopian narratives have been popular with filmmakers lately, in times when dark prophecies resonate. But sometimes life pens a much better script than any screenwriter could, as is the case with Giulia Amati’s “Kristos, The Last Child,” which has its world premiere Friday in Venice Days, a sidebar of the Venice Film Festival. Leipzig-based Deckert

Two Korean and two Indian movies make the cut in the Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents main competition section. Thet are joined by one each from Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Germany. The section has a track record of making significant discoveries among new Asian films and directors.The selected titles are eligible for multiple

Janus Films has acquired North American rights for Hlynur Pálmason’s “Godland,” which bowed at Cannes and is bound for Telluride and Toronto. The film follows a young Danish priest in the late 19th century who travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes

By Peter Debruge It’s been nearly three decades since “In Bruges” writer-director Martin McDonagh decided to try his hand at writing for the theater, knocking out the first drafts of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” — a dark comedy so violent that the actors find them slipping in all the fake blood on stage — and “The

Since 2007, Venice’s Queer Lion Award has reflected and elevated the best in LGBTQ cinema. Fifteen years later, founder Daniel N. Casagrande said this year’s Venice Film Festival will be “the most queer edition ever.” Among the fest’s 30 LGBTQ-themed titles, 19 are competing for the Queer Lion, including a record six films from the

The Italian film industry is in a paradoxical state: production is booming but box office is bust. Italy’s five features vying for a Venice Golden Lion – plus a myriad more scattered in other Lido sections – reflect cinema Italiano’s current creative vibrancy, if you look at the cream of the crop; however, the average

After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film ($15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy in what appears to be an act of police brutality. An all-out war sparks

High-profile espionage cases in the post-war period often invoke the grisly fate of the Rosenbergs, the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed by electric chair for sharing atomic secrets with the Soviet Union in peace time. But in the new documentary “A Compassionate Spy,” filmmaker Steve James tells the incredible story of Manhattan

British director Joe Wright, who helmed Winston Churchill drama “Darkest Hour” – which earned Gary Oldman an Oscar for his portrayal as the British prime minister – is set to change historical sides and direct TV drama “M,” which chronicles Benito Mussolini’s rise to power. The high-end series, which is based on Antonio Scurati’s Premio

Netflix on Friday announced a slate of upcoming films and TV series from Indonesia. The company says this is its most ambitious outreach in the populous and influential Southeast Asian country. The seven new titles span sci-fi thriller, comedy and period drama genres and involve big name creators Joho Anwar (“Satan’s Slaves,” “Impetigore”), Timo Tjahjanto

The titles of Fukada Koji’s films almost drip with bitter irony. “Sayonara” seemed to be a farewell to human actors. Instead of being harmonious, Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize-winner “Harmonium” was pitch black and steeped in quiet violence. Fukada’s latest, Venice Film Festival competition title carries the moniker “Love Life.” But its subject matter

MK2 Films, which is at Venice with “Love Life” playing in competition, is reteaming with Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel on “The Falling Star,” a darkly comic mystery thriller. The directing duo is rolling off “Lost in Paris,” their international breakout film, which had a buzzy premiere at Telluride in 2016. The film was also

The inaugural Soho House Awards, hosted by Stanley Tucci, were presented Thursday night in London. Honorees included actors John Boyega, Ellie Bamber (“Les Misérables”), Yasmin Finney (“Heartstopper”), Evan Mock (“Gossip Girl) and Paapa Essideu (“I May Destory You”) and makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury. Musicians Michael Kiwanuka and Self Esteem were honored and also performed during

Hillary Clinton and Universal’s Donna Langley praised U.S. director, producer and social justice activist Ava DuVernay for being “a path breaker, a change maker, a historical filmmaker,” as Clinton put it, during the 13th DVF Awards. The gala was held Thursday on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg to

Will “Bardo” be Alejandro González Iñárritu’s third best director Oscar in a row following “Birdman” and “The Revenant” wins? It’s a question many were asking heading into the Venice Film Festival, where the Netflix-backed “Bardo” world premiered in competition.  They had plenty of time to contemplate their answer as the three-hour-film wrapped at 12:15 a.m.

Without a doubt, “Scooby-Doo” is one of the most beloved cartoons ever created. In the decades since America’s most iconic dog and his mystery-busting teammates first appeared on TV, the team has since appeared in over 40 films, ranging from direct-to-video animated flicks, theatrical releases, a series of live-action prequel films that aired on Cartoon

The upcoming Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance Somebody” stars BAFTA-winning actor Naomi Ackie as the legendary singer, which means the debate over Black British actors taking roles away from American actors is bound to resurface. The debate surged in 2017 after Samuel L. Jackson called out Daniel Kaluuya’s casting in “Get Out,” for which

The DC FanDome virtual event will not be held this fall, Variety has confirmed. First established in 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic, DC FanDome was a virtual event that showcased upcoming projects for DC films, with the two conferences held so far showing off trailers for anticipated projects like “The Batman,” “The

“Don’t Worry Darling” broke the internet with its first trailer, which included a scene in which Harry Styles’ character performs oral sex on Florence Pugh’s character on a dining room table. It turns out there would’ve been even more provocative scenes featured in the trailer had director Olivia Wilde gotten her way. The filmmaker told

“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” is a movie longer than its title, and maybe even more pretentious. It’s the first film that Alejandro G. Iñárritu (“Birdman,” “The Revenant”) has made in his native Mexico in 22 years, and you feel, in every scene, the sweat and ardor of his ambition. He wants

Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson will lead the cast of “Dumb Money,” an upcoming film about last year’s GameStop stock market explosion. Based on the nonfiction book “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich, “Dumb Money” is directed by Craig Gillespie, from a script penned by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum.

Amiah Miller and Bill Heck are rounding out the cast of Searchlight Pictures’ upcoming horror thriller film “Dust.” The film stars Sarah Paulson of “American Horror Story,” Annaleigh Ashford and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in a story set in 1930s Oklahoma. It follows a woman who, during the region’s increasingly perilous dust storms, is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her

The 79th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off the fall Oscar race on Thursday afternoon with Todd Field’s “Tár,” a drama starring Cate Blanchett as a famous composer embroiled in a public scandal. The film was showered with an ecstatic six-minute standing ovation as the crowds at the Sala Grande Theatre kept chanting “Bravo!“ even

“Gigi & Nate” begins with two leaps. The first is out of terror, when Gigi, a capuchin monkey at a sad-sack roadside petting zoo, tries to steer clear of her “caretaker.” The second is the sweet leap of boy-joy that 17-year-old Nate Gibson takes off a rocky ledge and into a pond. In this amiable,

40 years ago, Hugh Grant made his film debut in 1982’s “Privileged,” a little-seen effort about undergraduates at Oxford (where Grant studied English lit), which was funded by the Oxford University Film Foundation. In its July 14, 1982, review, Variety said the film — which also marked the bows of producer Andy Paterson, director Michael