Venetian exceptional selection Behind the scenes of the highest award for American comics

The 76th Venice International Film Festival closed on the 7th with the Golden Lion award for "Joker", a popular comic character. It is unusual for Hollywood majors to win the highest award at the three major film festivals in recent years. The judges seemed to have selected works that should be honored in the “straight ball game”, eliminating surrounding observations and noise.

Joker is a well-known villain character that appears in the US comic “Batman”. The film depicts the process until Arthur, a spirited illness artist, turns into an evil clown joker, with dark images devoted to realism and heavy bass music centered on stringed instruments. Director Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix created a new Joker statue as an original story.

It's rare for a comic-based work in Venice to enter the competition. This is because the three major film festivals that show art-oriented works are considered “comics”. However, when it was screened, it gained enthusiastic support.

Participants in film festivals from all over the world ...