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To watch Marco Bellocchio’s incendiary poliziottesco film Slap the Monster on Page One is to realize that the playbook of fascism has hardly changed over the past half-century. Exposing the thinly veiled collusion of right-wing politicians and reactionary media outlets, the demonization of leftist protesters, and the hypocritical piety that ran rampant during Italy’s “years of lead,” Bellocchio’s film probes the ways in which truth is undermined to shape public opinion and sway elections.

As the editor of Il Giornale, a fictional Italian newspaper, Giancarlo Bizanti (Gian Maria Volontè) certainly understands the power of seizing control of a narrative before one’s even been formed. Speaking to the lonely, embittered Rita (Laura Betti)—whom he manipulates into betraying her left-wing activist ex, Mario (Carrado Solari), ultimately falsely implicating the man in the murder of his current girlfriend, Maria (Silvia Kramar)—he says, “Let’s not try to lose our sense of reality.

Roughly assembled; order within tiers based chronologically on viewing date.

01:

Cut (Amir Naderi, Japan), Anna (Alberto Grifi, Massimo Sarchielli, Italy), Faust (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia), Louyre - This Our Still Life (Andrew Kotting, UK), Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz, Philippines)

02:

Vieni, dolce morte (dell’ego) (Paolo Brunatto, Italy), A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada), Whores’ Glory (Michael Glawogger, Austria), A Simple Life (Ann Hui, Hk), Il potere (Augusto Tretti, Italy), Himizu (Sono Sion, Japan), Conference (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA), Die Herde des Herrn (Romuald Karmakar, Germany), Life without Principles (Johnnie To, Hk), Late and Deep (Devin Horan, USA), Iz Tokio (Aleksej German Jr., Russia)

03:

Il canto d’amore di Alfred Prufrock (Nico D’Alessandria, Italy), Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland ), Black Mirror at the National Gallery (Mark Lewis, UK), Meteor (Chrisoph Giraret, Matthias Müller, Germany), Il villaggio di cartone (Ermanno Olmi,...

Dueling festival lineups! It seems that for every announcement for the Toronto International Film Festival lineup comes a competing (and often overlapping)  one from Venice.  Here we're collecting the finalized Venice lineups so far. (Above image: Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer.)

Competition

The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...