A magnificent madness opens the doors of the Lido. A work in which all the phantasmagorical, irreverent, and lysergic visions of the American director overflow. From Michael Keaton to Winona Ryder, from Monica Bellucci to Jenna Ortega, from Willem Dafoe to Justin Theroux, a festively macabre dance in theaters starting September 5.
From the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (dated 2007) to the return of the “little pig spirit.” At the Lido, Tim Burton plays at home, even if it’s a Ghost House. Thus, hats off to the Biennale for selecting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the 1988 film that will arrive in theaters starting September 5, to open the doors of the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival (FOLLOW THE LIVE COVERAGE). The brilliance of the idea is palpable from the opening credits: when the Warner logo shifts to black and white, applause erupts during the press screening. So, after 35 years, following his refusal to direct sequels to Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton delights us with this unleashed amusement park where it’s wonderful and exhilarating to get lost. Because, in the end, Ingmar Bergman was right: “The film, when it is not a documentary, is a dream.” Or a hilarious nightmare, if the unconventional Tim is behind the camera.
A dance against conformity
All of Tim Burton’s cinema is a cinema of loss, of defeat, and sometimes, of redemption. The new Don Quixote, the director fights the weapons of imagination against conformity, the pastel-colored hypocrisy of supposed normalcy, and certain headless Hollywood producers like the villain of Sleepy Hollow. From Enfant Prodige to Anzian Prodige, the director born on August 24, 1958 continues to mix chills and laughs because we humans are made of fears and desires. After all, the dead are sometimes more alive than the living. And that is precisely the charm of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. A sequel where the past dances, frantic and passionate with the present. Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte fades into MacArthur Park by Donna Summer. And yet, we remain, likewise, delighted. Not to mention the imaginative Soul Train scene, where the film pays homage to soul music, and even if one is foreign to any dance used around the globe, it is impossible not to tap along with the foot.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton’s film with Monica Bellucci at Venice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the film’s plot
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a family saga, but in triplicate. Three generations of the Deetz family return to the fictional county of Winter River, Connecticut. Lydia hosts a television show about ghosts, but the little pig spirit won’t stop bothering her. She has a daughter, Astrid, a cultured outsider, worried about climate change and very lonely. As often happens, the devil, or someone like him, meddles, and the portal to the afterlife is accidentally opened. Problems multiply in both the land of the living and the dead. And as predictable as the cherry on a Manhattan cocktail, someone has the terrible idea of saying Beetlejuice’s name three times. And chaos ensues.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, new backstage clip with Michael Keaton
From the homage to Mario Bava to the cast
It is wonderful that Tim Burton, a director known and loved all over the world, pays homage in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Mario Bava, who did not receive all the recognition he deserved. The mask of the demon appears in this dizzying sequel in a stunning black-and-white sequence. And Monica Bellucci plays a wicked and voluptuous villain, as if she stepped out from a frame of Italian gothic cinema. Applause also for Willem Dafoe, the head of the Afterlife Crimes Unit with a past as an actor, for Jenna Ortega who plays Lydia’s sixteen-year-old daughter and Charles and Delia Deetz’s granddaughter, and for Justin Theroux, Lydia’s manager and boyfriend. Likewise, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara return with style and effectiveness to inhabit the characters from the 1988 feature film. So there’s nothing left but to enjoy the show: “It’s Show Time.” And please, no phones on and selfies when you’re at the cinema, otherwise if Beetlejuice catches you, it will be painful.
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Venice Film Festival begins, guests and program