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Affleck, Mirren Top Venice Film Fest
The Golden Lion may be Ben Affleck's golden ticket back into Hollywood's good graces.
While the late-entry Chinese drama Still Life actually took home the gilded feline, the Venice Film Festival's top prize, Affleck did manage to pull off one of the fest's biggest surprises, being named Best Actor for his role in the noir thriller Hollywoodland.
Aside from a handful of Razzies, the win marks Affleck's first professional accolade in ages and puts the actor on track for a comeback three years in the making. (Gigli, anyone?)
The 33-year-old Oscar winner appeared in the Allen Coulter-directed drama as George Reeves, the star of the 1950s TV series The Adventures of Superman.
The film, which follows the investigation into Reeves' mysterious death and also stars Adrien Brody and Diane Lane, has already garnered solid reviews for the cast, Affleck shockingly included, and debuted at number two over the weekend, albeit with a paltry $6 million.
Still, he'll take the superlatives where he can get 'em.
But Jennifer Garner's other half wasn't the only name-brand star to take home top honors on the Lido.
Helen Mirren, no stranger to accolades herself, was named Best Actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, a film well in line with the festival's death- and mirth-themed entries, chronicling the days following Princess Diana's 1997 death. The Stephen Frears-directed drama also took home the award for Best Script.
The top honor, though, went to Still Life, another unexpected winner at Venice.
"We were told there would be a surprise film at the end of this festival, and we didn't have a lot of discussion," Catherine Deneuve, the head of the jury voting on the Golden Lion's recipient, said.
"The beauty of the cinematography and the quality of the story, without getting political, the characters, we were very touched and we were moved. We know it's a very special film."
In addition to being a surprise late entry into the 21-film-strong competition, the Chinese film was far from the critics' favorite at the start of the fest--that honor was split between The Queen and Emilio Estevez's star-studded Bobby, chronicling the run-up to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination.
Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life, or Sanxia Horen for film purists, was shot in the all but destroyed Chinese village of Fengjie, a landscape casualty in the country's development of the Three Gorges Dam, a national undertaking that displaced more than 1.13 million people.
The film follows natives of the village who still return to their desolate former home.
Spike Lee also took home an award at the festival, receiving the Horizons prize for his documentary depicting the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The film also had its premiere last week on HBO.
The fest's Silver Lion prize, the Best Director equivalent, went to Venice vet Alain Resnais for Private Fears in Public Places. It was the second win for the 84-year-old French auteur, whose Last Year at Marienbad took home the Golden Lion in 1962.
The special jury prize went to Daratt, the first African film to compete in nearly two decades. It centered on a man's journey for revenge, set in war-torn Chad.
The 11-day fest came to a close Saturday, when the jury doled out the awards.
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