I still recall when Miguel Gomes took over the Directors’ Fortnight section with not one, but three films for the The Arabian Nights trilogy (Volume 1: The Restless One, Volume 2: The Desolate One and Volume 3: The Enchanted One) in one edition and it’s almost hard to believe that the filmmaker of Tabu and more recently the co-directed The Tsugua Diaries (also Quinzaine) was never in the Un Certain Regard or Comp sections. That changed in 2024 – a year that could potentially see the filmmaker launch his second feature in Venice. A co-production between Portugal, China, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, the dreamy Grand Tour stars the elusive Gonçalo Waddington as Edward and the woman on his heels in Molly by Crista Alfaiate.
Gist: In 1917, Rangoon, Burma is a city under British colonial rule. Civil servant Edward abandons his fiancée Molly on the day they are to be married. He flees in a state of melancholy, contemplating Molly’s condition. Determined to be married, Molly follows his trail.
Current temperature: Day 9 in the competition was reserved for Portuguese language cinema, and it appears that Portugal (by way of a double-lined travlogue) was favored over Brazilian film noir. This film landed some great scores and we aren;t done yet, but we’ve got a solid 3.0 average making this among the top five films featured this year.
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