Venice, Venice...

The Venice Film Festival is done, and the list of winners is interesting.

The Golden Lion for Best Film went to Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, the movie is about a story between two cowboys living in the grasslands of Wyoming in the 60's. It's a love story as well. Yep - that's between two men. I wonder how they managed to pull this off.

The Silver Lion for Best Director went to Philippe Garrel for his work on the three-hour Les Amants réguliers, about a group of students amidst the May 1968 French riots - an idea that has been touched on by filmmakers such as Bernardo Bertolucci in his film The Dreamers and Jean Luc Godard in one of his works whose name eludes me. The film also won a technical award for its cinematographic proficiency.

The Jury Special Prize went to Mary, a film from Abel Ferrara starring Juliette Binoche and Matthew Modine. It's about how Binoche's character, an actress, turns to God after portraying Mary Magdalene in a film made by Modine's character.

George Clooney's biopic on Edward R. Murrow, entitled Good Night, and Good Luck won the Best Actor award for David Strathairn, who played Murrow, and the Best Screenplay award for Clooney and Grand Heslov.

The Best Actress went to Giovanna Mezzogiorno for her role as Sabina in Cristina Comencini's La bestia nel cuore, adapted from Comencini's own novel. I thought Lee Young-ae would clinch it, but anyway...

The Best Young Actor or Actress award went to, Ménothy Cesar in Vers le sud, by filmmaker Laurent Cantet.

Park Chan-wook's film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance won three out of competition awards, which I think was pretty impressive. Takeshi Kitano's new film Takeshis' was well received but I don't think it won anything.

Well, time to get that A Bittersweet Life review out of the closet. See ya in a few.