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Venice Film Festival 2026 Reviews Spotlight Ambitious Competition Films
The Venice Film Festival is a major event where new movies are shown and reviewed.
The 2026 festival began on September 2.
Danny Boyle’s Ink opened the festival.
It is about the creation of a powerful tabloid newspaper in 1969 London.
Other competition movies include Wild Horse Nine, Primetime, Possible Love and Bucking Fastard.
Reviewers praised several performances and found some films exciting or thoughtful.
They also said that Possible Love takes too long to tell its story.
The festival includes documentaries, horror films, biographical films and movies shown outside the main competition.
Danny Boyle’s Ink opened the 83rd Venice Film Festival on September 2, starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy.
Competition films include Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love and Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard.
Deadline praised Ink’s energetic depiction of the launch of a new tabloid era in 1969 London.
Reviews highlighted strong performances in Wild Horse Nine and Primetime, while noting that Possible Love takes too long to develop.
The festival also features out-of-competition films by Paul Schrader and Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, plus films in the Orizzonti and Venice Open sections.
- Who
- The festival features filmmakers including Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh, Lance Oppenheim, Lee Chang-dong, Werner Herzog and Paul Schrader, alongside casts such as Jack O’Connell, Robert Pattinson and John Malkovich.
- What
- The 83rd Venice Film Festival began with Ink and presented reviews of competition, out-of-competition, Orizzonti and Venice Open films.
- Where
- The event is being held in Venice, with Ink set partly in 1969 London.
- When
- The 2026 festival began on Wednesday, September 2.
- Why
- The festival showcases new films seeking critical attention and, for some competition titles, awards-season recognition.
Critical Praise
Critical Reservations
Ink’s style and subject
Critical Praise
The review calls Danny Boyle’s energetic style a strong fit for the story and describes the film as thrilling.
Critical Reservations
The film’s tabloid world is presented as changing the media for better or worse, leaving its broader consequences morally unsettled.
Possible Love’s execution
Critical Praise
The review praises Lee Chang-dong’s vision, the cast of leading South Korean actors and the film’s visual presentation.
Critical Reservations
The nearly three-hour film is said to take too long to develop.
Festival films’ originality
Critical Praise
Wild Horse Nine is described as one of the year’s best films, while The Spiral is praised as an entertaining morality play and Bucking Fastard as unexpectedly sweet.
Critical Reservations
The Spiral is acknowledged not to reinvent the horror-thriller genre, and The Girl with the Leica is criticized for an over-complicated structure.
Key facts
- Festival edition
- 83rd Venice Film Festival
- Opening date
- Wednesday, September 2, 2026
- Opening film
- Ink, directed by Danny Boyle
- Competition titles reviewed
- Bucking Fastard, Ink, Possible Love, Primetime, The Spiral and Wild Horse Nine
- Other sections represented
- Out of Competition, Venice Open and Orizzonti
- Notable competition cast members
- Robert Pattinson, John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce
- Additional programming
- Films by Luca Guadagnino, Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders, plus documentaries and a short about ICE protests in Minnesota
Sources
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