Elvis Presley, Enzo Ferrari and Leonard Bernstein.

Biographies have their due at this year’s Mostra, after three great personalities who marked the 20th century, appeared on the screens of the 80th Venice International Film Festival gathering positive, but also several negative, reviews.

Enzo Ferrari, the legendary founder of the Italian automobile company of the same name, was played by Adam Driver in Michael Mann’s Ferrari. The speed races he loved, his factory, the mental burden of the premature loss of his son, Dino, but also his stormy love life (he lived simultaneously in two houses with two different women) are captured in Mann’s film, which in general praised for its narrative power and the performances of Driver and Penelope Cruz who plays his wife.

But the same is not true of Leonard Bernstein’s biopic, “Maestro,” directed by Bradley Cooper keeping the role of the iconic composer and conductor for himself.

The film unfortunately sheds little light on Bernstein’s rich musical output, focusing instead on his relationships with his wife and secret lovers.

In fact, more reactions have been caused by the prosthetic nose of the protagonist for the needs of the film in order to look more like the famous director of the New York Philharmonic than his performance. With critics citing offensive Jewish stereotypes, as Bernstein was Jewish. However, Cooper has the support of the composer’s children, who have expressed their satisfaction with the film adaptation of their father’s life.

Comments were also moderate for “Priscilla” by Sofia Coppola, which is based on Priscilla Presley’s book “Elvis and I” which was published in 1985 and records fragmentary episodes of Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s life together.

The films “Comandante” by the Italian Edoardo de’Angelis starring Pierfrancesco Favino, who also opened this year’s event, and “Promised Land” by the Dane Nicolai Arcel are also based on real people. The first tells the true story of Salvatore Todaro, a submarine commander in World War II, who after a fierce naval battle with a Belgian vessel decides not only to save the enemy crew but also to lead them to a safe port.

In the second screened during the first days of the anniversary Festival, Mands Mikkelsen teams up again with Arcel (The Queen’s Love) and plays a real person from the 18th century, Ludwig Cullen: a lonely captain of humble origin, who is determined to pursue his dream at any cost. He asks the King’s permission to cultivate the inhospitable moorland of Jutland and establish a royal colony there, in exchange for a title of nobility. Mikkelsen in this Danish period blockbuster stole the show with his performance attracting the spotlight.

Praise reviews for “Poor Things” by G. Lanthimos

The event of this year’s Mostra, however, is the film by Giorgos Lanthimos “Poor Things”, which has received only positive reviews, an extremely rare fact for a festival premiere. Everyone here at the Lido is talking enthusiastically about the imaginative and daring direction of the Greek filmmaker, the wonderful performances by Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, the dazzling cinematography and of course the sharp, erotic, feminist and political theme that is discussed every day in all the wells, while the film is considered one of the favorites for the event’s major awards. The Guardian calls it a “virtuoso comic epic”, Variety calls it a “luscious coming-of-age story like no other”, TIME calls it a “twisted gothic tale” and the Hollywood Reporter calls it a “fantastical Odyssey”.

The celebration of Greek cinema in Venice

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 3, the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Hellenic Film Center, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism, organized a cocktail party at the Lindo to honor the Greek filmmakers who, in recent years, have made their presence felt at all international festivals, often winning major awards.

The directors of the Berlin, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam, and Tribeca festivals spoke in the warmest terms about the dynamics of Greek cinema, while producers from all over Europe met with their Greek colleagues with a view to future collaborations. Also noteworthy is the interest they showed in filming in our country. Giorgos Lanthimos had already left Venice for the Telluride festival in the USA, but the film was represented by the editor Giorgos Mavropsaridis and the notary Giorgos Stefanakos who makes his first film appearance in “Poor Things” (another one will follow) with a small but highly enjoyable role.