The 82nd Venice Film Festival wraps up Saturday, with juries preparing to hand out its prestigious awards, including the coveted Golden Lion for best picture. The ceremony will also honor standout achievements in acting and directing, capping a star-studded competition that has showcased some of the year’s most talked-about films.
Among the heavyweights vying for attention, Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite made waves with its urgent exploration of nuclear decision-making, while Guillermo del Toro reimagined Frankenstein in gothic splendor, featuring Oscar Isaac as a haunted Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his raw and tragic creation. Park Chan-wook struck a different tone with No Other Choice, a biting satire on the brutal realities of white-collar competition.
The festival also saw surprising turns from Hollywood stars. Dwayne Johnson impressed with a dramatic performance as a fighter battling painkiller addiction in The Smashing Machine. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons brought intensity and unease to Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative Bugonia, where kidnapper and kidnapped engage in a twisted power struggle. As the festival concludes, all eyes are on Venice to see which films and performances will set the stage for the upcoming awards season.
