“The Wrestler” Wins the Golden Lion, Anne Hathaway Wins Nothing

Talk about a flat festival. This year Venice really amounted to almost nothing, in my humble, outsider’s opinion. I have always thought it to be the most glamorous, perhaps prestigious festival in the world, with the exception of Cannes, which it may very well be, but compared to other years it definitely seems to have made an abnormally small impact. Perhaps Toronto and Telluride clogging up the interwebs didn’t help and that most U.S. bloggers didn’t attend meant that there was less publicity. They are the loudest voices and without them on the scene, we hear a lot less. On the upside, “The Wrestler” and “Rachel Getting Married” got tremendous reviews that will no doubt lead to louder buzz when they are shown at Toronto this year and with any luck, the Oscars too. Other films I have been interested in didn’t do too bad review wise either, including “The Burning Plain,” "Burn After Reading" and “Ponyo on Cliff by the Sea.”

According to Reuters, Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” which had both Variety and Hollywood Reporter falling head over heals with rare praise and you can watch a clip of it featuring interviews with Aronofsky and Rourke here, won the Golden Lion for Best Film. This isn’t surprising, just great to hear. Alexei German Jr. won the Silver Bear for Best Director for his film "Paper Soldier.” Best Actor went to Silvio Orlando for "Il Papa di Giovanna," I thought it’d go to Mickey Rourke who now seems poised for an Oscar nomination, and Best Actress went to Dominique Blanc for "L'Autre," and I thought that’d go to Anne Hathaway for “Rachel Getting Married.” How could the not give it to her? I guess awarding one non-European film was enough. They’ve given their acting awards to Americans and American films frequently, so votes against Anne because of that make total sense. Whatever, with Toronto well underway, I’m ready to move on.

This post provided by our friends at Fataculture.