VENICE, Italy — The Venice Film Festival was lighter on blockbuster Hollywood fare this year, but that might have been a good thing in the end: There were more important things to talk about. As the 83rd edition winds down, here are some of our biggest takeaways. Musk was everywhere (in the movies) Before Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour documentary “Musk” even premiered, billionaire Elon Musk had already made several appearances on screen at the festival, two of which were in montages. Danny Boyle’s “Ink” — about how Rupert Murdoch and Larry Lamb transformed The Sun newspaper into a popular and salacious tabloid — closed with a Murdoch-created coda of the world resembling “Oppenheimer” that included images of Musk as part of the new media landscape with his ownership of X. “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” had him closer to the beginning, along with images of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump and international conflicts, illustrating the collective madness that bookended Oasis’s 2009 breakup and the band’s 2025 reunion tour. And Musk’s name was often on the lips of the young independent Russian journalists, in regards to Starlink, attempting to cover the war in Ukraine from afar in Julia Loktev’s documentary “My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exile.” Gibney wasn’t surprised that Musk was everywhere. As he told The Associated Press, Musk has become a kind of “stock villain.” Films weren’t an escape, but a mirror Sometimes, Venice is all about the star moments. This year the festival did get some George Clooney, but the focus was less on movie star glamour than the state of the world. By and large the films were less escape than mirror. In “NAZA,” Israeli military insiders sketch out what they say is the systemic killing of Palestinian civilians in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. “My Undesirable Friends: Part II—Exile” shows the lengths Russian journalists will go to in an attempt to continue telling the truth about their country’s war on Ukraine. “Musk” gives a sobering look at the world’s richest man, his failures, his successes and his manipulations, and his influence on culture and the geopolitical landscape. In “Possible Love,” Lee Chang-dong grapples with wealth disparity in South Korea, through the lens of a laid off worker who was injured in police violence against strikers. “Woman Unknown” wonders whether one can transcend class, in post-World War II Denmark. There was a social consciousness and aching regret even in the more Hollywood projects. “Wild Horse Nine” opines on the sins of the CIA, and the people carrying out the operations, leading up to the 1973 military coup in Chile. “Bunker” wonders why tech billionaires whose fortunes are predicated on connecting people are preparing for the apocalypse. The 1969-set “Ink” considers the sensationalist media landscape, and what sense of civility and decorum was lost in the name of profits: Decades later, a man would die by suicide as the “To Catch a Predator” team skirted protocol in the name of television ratings, dramatized in “Primetime.” The rock stars stole the show (and made us cry) It seemed surprising at the time that a very glossily packaged Oasis reunion tour documentary (that’s already in theatres) had the most jaded of festivalgoers weeping, but perhaps it shouldn’t have been. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe it’s festival delusion. Or maybe a few Oasis bangers, shared with tens of thousands of emotional fans, are simply what we all need as a respite from everything else. The crowd isn’t always wrong. There were some powerhouse performances Last year excluded (sorry Dwayne Johnson, Clooney, etc.), the festival has launched more than a few best actor nominees (and winners), like Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist” and Brendan Fraser in “The Whale.” This year, those leaving Venice with the most Oscars buzz are two actors of different generations who haven’t yet won the coveted award: John Malkovich, for the pain and madness he brought to a dying CIA agent reconciling with his past in “Wild Horse Nine,” and Robert Pattinson, for transforming into a calculating, theatrical, ratings-hungry Chris Hansen in “Primetime.” Ben Affleck showed up No one expected a Ben Affleck moment and it was for sweet, family reasons: Supporting his brother younger brother Casey Affleck and his nephews in the gothic drama “Company.” It also features their parents, who both died this year and to whom the film was dedicated. Unlike the Gallagher brothers and Mara sisters, however, they didn’t pose together. Stars got (a little) political and everyone was asked about AI It seemed like no one could escape politics, or questions about artificial intelligence, in the many news conferences. Clooney said he thinks we’re living in a “kakistocracy.” Susan Sarandon said that she’s losing work over her support for Palestinians in the war on Gaza. “I’ve had movies taken away recently, because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still,” Sarandon said. And Venice jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal, when asked if movies and stars should be political, said she believes that films are “fundamentally, unavoidably political.” As for AI, both Clooney and Boyle worried about how it might negatively affect journalism, while a documentary about Diesel brand founder Renzo Rosso embraced the technology. Ellen Burstyn felt the love Ellen Burstyn, the 93-year-old recipient of the Golden Lion award, not only made the long journey to Venice to collect the prize, but appeared in two films as well, including a short in which she plays Marilyn Monroe at 100. Burstyn couldn’t help but cry at the ceremony. “You can’t imagine how meaningful this is to me. It’s one thing to win an Oscar, a Tony or an Emmy — all of which I’ve won,” she said. “But this? It’s a lot.” Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
