Michael Fassbender's soaring status has been confirmed with his award for best actor at last week's Venice Film Festival. The Kerryman won the ornate Coppa Volpi for his performance as a sex- addicted New Yorker in Steve McQueen's drama Shame. There was further joy for the Irish with Robbie Ryan, among our very best directors of photography, picking up the best cinematography gong for Andrea Arnold's radical take on Wuthering Heights.
Fassbender’s victory did not come as a shock. His troubling performance had already picked up numerous raves from the world’s cinema press. Darren Aronofsky, the chairman of the jury, did, however, spring a great many surprises with the other awards.
The Golden Lion, the prize for best film, went to Alexander Sokurov's Faust.To that point, the (as it happens) not-so-smart money had been on Shame, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyor Yorgos Lanthimos's Alps. By the time Faustscreened, much of the press contingent had made its way to the Toronto Film Festival (or home).
Completely shunning Tinker, Tailorand Roman Polanski's star-studded Carnage, Aronofsky looked to have made an implicit gesture of support towards difficult art-house material.
The Silver Lion for best director went the way of Shangjun Cai's largely overlooked People Mountain People Sea. Equally surprisingly, Deanie Yip, a veteran Hong Kong-based performer, picked up the best actress prize for Ann Hui's drama A Simple Life.
