Dwayne Johnson’s “Smashing Machine” is watching the Venice Film Festival
Benny Safdy’s “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne Johnson as MMA legend Mark Carr, applauded at the Venice Film Festival.
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Venice – Indie director Jim Jalmonsch unexpectedly won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, along with “father’s sister and brother” in a three-part meditation on the uneasy connection between parents and adult children.
His gentle comedy received mostly positive reviews, but it wasn’t a top prize favorite. Instead, many critics were hoping for “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a tragic and true life explanation of killing a five-year-old Palestinian girl during the Gaza War.
In the end, the film directed by Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania won the runner-up Silver Lion.
Set in Dublin, New Jersey and Paris, “My Mother’s Sisters” features an ensemble cast of Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mimi Biarik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicki Creep, Indy Moore and Luka Sabbatt.
Each installment gently drifts through a domestic encounter where nothing happens, but the small gestures and silence sketch the nastyness of a generation that plagues families.
“All of us who make films, we’re not motivated by competition, but this is something I really appreciate. This unexpected honor,” said Jarmusch, who gave him his name in the 1980s for quirky, low-budget productions such as “Down By Law.”
In other categories, Italian Toni Serbilo was named Best Actor for his portrayal of the hardships of a tired president approaching the end of his mission in “La Grazia,” directed by longtime collaborator Paolo Sorrentino.
China’s Xhinii has won the best actress for her role in “The Sun Rises on Us All,” a drama directed by Kaishanjun, which delves into the issues of sacrifice, guilt and unresolved emotions among estranged lovers who share dark secrets.
The Venice Festival marks the beginning of the awards season, regularly throwing big favorites for the Oscars, collecting over 90 Oscar nominations here in the past four years, winning nearly 20.
Venice has often been considered the most appealing and least political of major film festivals, but in 2025, the most powerful influence film focusing on current events casts a long shadow of the ongoing invasion of Gaza in Israel.
When he released his film last weekend, Jarmusch admitted his concern that one of his major distributors had taken money from a company with ties to the Israeli military.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” was a fan favorite that won a 24-minute standing ovation in its premiere as her car helped with the real audio of a young girl’s hopeless plea while under Israeli shootings.
“The cinemas can’t get back to their backs, nor can they erase the atrocities committed against her. They can’t recover what they took, but cinemas can keep her voice up and resonate across the border,” Ben Hania said Saturday night.
“Her voice will continue to resonate until justice is accomplished, until accountability becomes reality.”
Best Director Nod went to Benny Safdie for “The Smashing Machine.” This starred in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the role of Mark Kerr, a pioneer in real life mixed martial arts.
“To be among the Giants and Giants of the past this year, it’s just blowing my mind,” said Safdi, who previously co-directed the film with his older brother Josh.
The Special Jue Award was marked by the threat of repeated earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on his black and white documentary “Under the Clouds,” in Naples, by the threat of repeated earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Among the films that left Venice empty-handed were a trio of photographs from Netflix: Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear thriller House of Dynamite, retelling of Guiller Model Toro’s Frankenstein, and Noah Banbach’s Dramedy Jay Kelly.
“There’s No Other Option” by South Korean Park Chang Wook also failed to win the award despite a strong review of Yorgos Lanthimos, a similar “Bagonia.”
