VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

The 75th Venice Film Festival drew to a close last night and while I wasn’t there long enough to see everything, my week on the Lido was certainly enough to see the Italian festival throw down a clear challenge to Cannes.

It got off to a cracking start with First Man (★★★★★), the story of how Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the Moon. It’s directed by Damien Chazelle, whose last two films – Whiplash and La La Land garlanded nine Oscars between them: First Man, due out next month, will surely add to the collection. Ryan Gosling is a model of ‘right stuff’ restraint as Armstrong.

Heading up the red carpet at the Sala Grande a couple of days later were Bradley Cooper and a magnificently be-feathered Lady Gaga for the wonderfully watchable A Star Is Born (★★★★★), which also sees Cooper making his directorial debut. Gaga is a nomination-grabbing revelation in the role made successively famous by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand, while Cooper – despite the occasional moment of self-indulgence - impresses as much behind the camera as he does in front. Out next month too.

Westerns have been big at the festival this year, and The Sisters Brothers (★★★★) is in the classic tradition, with Joaquin Phoenix and John C Reilly on top form as hired guns Charlie and Eli Sisters, and Jake Gyllenhaal as an early private detective.