‘Love Life’ Review: Kōji Fukada’s Film Is An Uneven Melodrama On Grief And Intimacy [Venice]

When it comes to biopics, they don’t get much more intensely intimate than Andrew Dominik‘s “Blonde.” And the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month confirmed that Ana de Armas expertly channels Marilyn Monroe in her performance. In fact, de Armas got so close to Monroe during the film’s production the actress attempted to contact the deceased starlet, in a way.

Fresh from a tumultuous Venice and a Madison Garden concert in between, Harry Styles was back on the festival circuit this weekend for the Toronto world premiere of Michael Grandage’s My Policeman.

Looking dapper in a blue blazer, Oliver Stone is chit-chatting with the press inside a glass box on the terrace of an antiquated hotel on the Venice Lido. He’s been posing for a few photos and doing rounds of interviews during this afternoon of rain that has somewhat dampened the festival glamor.

No movie has been a bigger node of controversy in recent weeks than Olivia Wilde‘s sophomore feature, “Don’t Worry Darling.” And now that its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival has come and gone, let’s hope that the drama surrounding this film finally dissipates. Critics didn’t love it, nothing juicy happened on the red carpet or at the screening, and it’s time for everyone to move on.   READ MORE: Olivia Wilde Address All Of The ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Gossip …Again That appears to be the tactic Shia LaBeouf wants to take now.

Writer/director Florian Zeller cannot manage to reproduce the magic of “The Father” with his latest film, “The Son.” This latest screen adaptation of Zeller’s trilogy of stage plays about families falling apart, co-written with Englishman Christopher Hampton, expands its setting outside the limited confines of a single apartment – yet somehow manages to feel less cinematic. Without a clever conceit to elevate the material, this domestic drama is a mostly middling piece of maudlin manipulation.

She recently announced her pregnancy on Loose Women, and now Love Island star Amy Hart has revealed that one of the ladies has asked her to name her baby after her! Speaking exclusively to OK! about baby names with her boyfriend of one year Sam Rason, the pregnant star says that panellist Denise Welch told them they will have to name their baby after her. She said: “We think we could have conceived when we were in Venice and we met up with Denise Welch there, and when I told her she was like: ‘Oh my God, you’re going to have to call it Denise!’ “I want to have one girl and three boys but my preference changes every day on what I want first.” Going on to reveal if the pair have a short list of names, Amy explained: “We have this app for baby names which is like Tinder and puts a list together of ones you’ve both liked.

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (October 5-14) has announced its full line-up, including opening film Scent Of Wind, directed by Iran’s Hadi Mohaghegh, while Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai will be honoured as Asian Filmmaker Of The Year.

Chris Pine's rep is denying a fan theory. In a statement to ET, the 42-year-old actor's rep shuts down claims that Harry Styles spit on Pine at the premiere of their flick, at the Venice Film Festival. «This is a ridiculous story… a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation,» Pine's rep tells ET.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed distribution deals for Italy and Greece following the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The Israeli-Ukrainian co-production plays in Venice’s Horizons Extra section, and will have its North American premiere on Sept. 14 at Toronto Film Festival in the Contemporary World Cinema section. Rome-based P.F.A Films Srl will distribute the film in Italy, with a theatrical release planned for April 2023. The company’s recent titles include “Fabian – Going to the Dogs” by Dominik Graf, “The Audition” by Ina Weisse, and “Border” by Abbasi Ali.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Even the most solidly founded of marriages can be strained and shattered by the death of a child. For handsome, wholesome Japanese couple Taeko and Jiro, however, that tragedy shows up all the fault lines that were already in their young relationship, and that’s before living ghosts of the past show up for both partners. Koji Fukada’s “Love Life” unabashedly embraces melodramatic contrivance in its examination of modern middle-class love tested as much by social prejudices as by personal demons; it just does so with such pallid, polite reserve that its sentimentality never becomes transcendently moving. As such, this agreeable but overlong pic finds the Japanese writer-director still struggling to regain the form of his jolting 2016 Cannes prizewinner “Harmonium.”

Grief and guilt are the twin quiet rivers running beneath Koji Fukada’s ambiguously titled Venice competition entry Love Life, a delicately tangled story of generational conflict and the silences that, without being overtly aggressive, can drive people apart. Anyone familiar with the work of Japan’s greatest cinema maestro, Yasuhiro Ozu, will recognize the general territory. It is a space within which tectonic social shifts are disguised under layers of traditional social observance, often involving large meals, and where profound emotions may be — and often must be — contained within a glance.

If you thought Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde were set to be the hottest couple at the Venice Film Festival, you've got the wrong person!!! During the standing ovation for the couple's forthcoming film,  Styles planted a kiss on none other than his co-star Nick Kroll.  In video from the event, you can see Styles and Kroll finding each other in the crowd after the film's premiere. The two actors, both looking dapper in blue suits, kiss each other on the lips and embrace as onlookers cheer. Harry Styles kisses Nick Kroll during the standing ovation for #DontWorryDarling.

Reviews of Olivia Wilde’s psychological drama “Don’t Worry Darling” premiering at the Venice Film Festival are now out. And while it’s a little too early to land on a consensus (our review is mixed), unless you’ve been living under a rock, the film and the spectacle surrounding it have threatened to become one of the biggest, nosiest dramas of the year.

Florence Pugh made a sparkling statement on the 79th Venice International Film Festival red carpet on Monday. The actress is in Italy for the premiere of Olivia Wilde's forthcoming film  where Pugh stars opposite Harry Styles. Pugh brought her grandmother as her date for the premiere, and the two walked the red carpet in perfect style.

Olivia Wilde arrived on the Lido Monday morning for the hotly-anticipated press conference for her latest film Don’t Worry Darling. Wilde was joined by her principal cast, including Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine. As previously reported, Florence Pugh, the film’s lead, was not in attendance because her flight from the Budapest set of the Dune sequel didn’t land in Venice until after the presser began. Pugh is expected to attend the film’s evening premiere.

Olivia Wilde declined to speak in detail about those Florence Pugh feud rumours as she appeared at a Venice Film Festival press conference to discuss her new movie “Don’t Worry Darling”.

Refresh for latest…: Ever since Olivia Wilde first introduced her sophomore directorial effort, Warner Bros/New Line’s Don’t Worry Darling, at CinemaCon last April, followed by a steamy trailer a few days later, anticipation surrounding the film has escalated — for various reasons. It’s now at a fever pitch here in Venice where the movie will world premiere this evening.

“Don’t Worry Darling,” as the actress will not be in attendance at the press conference for the movie at the Venice Film Festival, where it’s having its world premiere, TheWrap has learnedPugh will still appear on the red carpet for the film’s premiere and will be in attendance at the screening. She will be flying in from the set of “Dune: Part Two.”Director Olivia Wilde and co-star Harry Styles both arrived in Venice on Sunday and will be present for the press conference.TheWrap exclusively broke the news a couple of weeks ago that Pugh, who is the star of the psychological thriller, would have a severely limited promotional presence for the film.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has scored key territory deals on Japanese director Koji Fukada’s “Love Life,” which makes its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Set in contemporary Japan, “Love Life” is a character-driven film revolving around Taeko and her husband, Jiro, who are living a peaceful existence with her young son, Keita. When a tragic accident brings the boy’s long-lost father, Park, back into her life, Taeko throws herself into helping this deaf and homeless man to cope with the pain and guilt. Popular Japanese actress Fumino Kimura (“The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill”) headlines the film. MK2 Films has now sold the movie to Teodora (Italy), Imagine (Benelux), Leopardo (Portugal), Demiurg (Ex Yugoslavia), New Cinema (Israel), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact Films (India) and Encore Inflight (Airlines).