“He should be my film’s protagonist.” Time for a final recap. Each year, I am lucky for the opportunity to return to the splendid city of Venice in Northern Italy to attend the Venice Film Festival and catch the latest films premiering there. Unfortunately the selection at Venice 2026 was a huge disappointment – there were so few good films to talk about, that I can only really highlight these 6 films below worthy of being watched. The last few years were much better, but this year not a single film wowed me. This was my 10th year returning to Venice, and I’m always happy to be back, no matter how the films turn out (good or bad – it’s fun to be there and watch everything). In total, I viewed 32 films during Venice this year. The Golden Lion winner (Woman Unknown) was not one of my favorite of the fest by a long shot, however the Grand Prix runner up Possible Love is the one that actually should’ve won instead. I’m depressed by just how bad the line-up was! Nonetheless, I still want to mention my 6 favorites from Venice 2026 anyway. I always do my best to watch as many films as I can, hoping to find any hidden gems and breakout hits amid the debuts.
As always, I keep my Letterboxd page updated with screenings and comments daily. And I have also been posting thoughts, photos, and more updates on my main Twitter account @firstshowing during the fest. And I’ve been writing reviews for a number of the films, already published over the last few weeks. Before the festival started, everyone was hoping to see a few major premieres in Venice including Inarritu’s Digger or Fincher’s Cliff Booth film or even Dune 3 or Artificial. Alas, none of these showed up. Instead, while there were a number of engaging and entertaining new films, most of the line-up proved to be as forgettable as we all expected when it was first announced. There’s just not much else worth praising or recommending aside from these six (and the Slavoj Žižek doc). The two best films I saw while I was in Venice were not films from this year’s festival: I went to see a 10th anniversary special event Live in Concert screening of La La Land (it was incredible) because it originally premiered at Venice 2016. And then I caught Matt Johnson’s Tony film at a little cinema in Venice because I hadn’t seen it yet. As for the few films that I did like, here they are.
Below are my Top 6 films from the 2026 Venice Film Festival; these are the films that I enjoyed the most, or those that I couldn’t stop thinking about, and I hope everyone else gives them a look, too. My favorites:
Wild Horse Nine – Directed by Martin McDonagh
Thinking about my favorite films from Venice 2026, Wild Horse Nine stands out as the one movie that I enjoyed the most. It’s clever and funny and entertaining while dipping into darker, serious territory from time to time. It’s also just a complete joy to watch both John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell playing off of each other in this. I’m not sure yet if it’s his best movie, but Wild Horse Nine is definitely up there with In Bruges as one of the top films from Martin McDonagh so far. Going into the festival, I didn’t expect this film to win me over & land the top spot, but here we are. It’s easily one of my favorite Malkovich performances – up there with any of his iconic roles throughout his entire career. Not only does he craft such a kooky fun CIA character, the way he evolves subtly in his emotions and expressions over the film is sublime. I also dig Rockwell and the way they bounce off of each other. Their buddy-not-so-buddy shenanigans is what makes it so enjoyable, even if it’s about a particularly dark topic that’s just as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.
Possible Love – Directed by Lee Chang-dong
The other major stand out in the Venice line-up is, of course, Possible Love – acclaimed Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong’s latest film since he last premiered Burning at Venice 2018. I’m so glad he’s back! While it’s not better than Burning, this still a profoundly layered, complex, carefully crafted film about social class disparity. Featuring 4 excellent performances from the 2 couples that cross paths in this story: Jeon Do-yeon as Mi-ok, Sul Kyung-gu as Ho-seok, Cho Yeo-jeong as Ye-ji, and Zo In-sung as Sang-woo. This went in directions I was not expecting with an incredible finale. Possible Love is masterful modern cinema made by one of the most honest filmmakers who understands what is broken within society. He continues to focus the lens correctly on the actual problems, and the people that are stuck within this system, struggling simply to exist and be free and survive. There’s so much to consider, many aspects to analyze, and so much thoughtfulness within this otherwise somber film about how people of different social classes can’t mingle.
Look Back – Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
After being immensely disappointed with Hirokazu Koreeda’s film Sheep in the Box at Cannes a few months ago, I was delightfully surprised to discover that Look Back is just wonderful. An instant favorite! Such a delight. I fell in love mostly with the lightness of the film, its beautiful colors in every single shot (shot on 35mm film by DP Senzo Ueno), the charm between these two girls, and how uplifting and encouraging it is (despite what happens in the story – those familiar with this tale already know). Yes even though it’s just an adaptation of the same anime (and the manga of course) it’s still so wonderfully realized and brought to life on screen by Koreeda and his group of young actors portraying Kyomoto & Fujino. Anyone who has watched Koreeda’s films knows he’s a master at getting amazing performances out of young Japense actors, and here he proves that true once again. There are multiple young actresses at various ages starring as Kyomoto & Fujino and they’re such a joy to watch in this. When it gets dark & weird, they still keep it light and friendly and wholesome. And while I wish it wasn’t so dark, I still love this film & will be talking about it for a while.
NAZA – Directed by Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
This is one of the best documentaries of 2026! A must watch! They really should be showing this doc in schools and history classes everywhere. I was shocked, and I remain shocked, by the things discussed in this film and how brazenly they talk about what is going on. I cannot believe that this is happening in the world today and I cannot believe we can just shrug it off. Naza actually IS the incredible documentary that should be the first ever doc to get a Best Picture nomination this year. It deserves it. Vital investigative journalism cinema that can actually make a real difference in the world. There’s a line in the beginning talking about the concept of the film – he says “we look out at the city, but the city can’t look back at us” and it has been stuck in my mind ever since. It’s a reference to how surveillance and propaganda is so bad that they have to film up on the rooftops so no one can find them. But this also becomes a haunting setting for the truths that are revealed in here. All that matters is people watch this film and wake up to the truth of what’s happening.
A Good Little Soldier – Directed by Stéphane Brizé
One of the only other films that really stood out in the Main Competition line-up is the French film A Good Little Soldier aka Un Bon Petit Soldat (in French) – directed by Stéphane Brizé. It’s a brutally honest look at modern corporations & how rotten they are from the inside out, following the story of a HR manager who sacrifices her own integrity to keep her job when the big boss up top ignores a legitimate harassment complaint. For the first half of the film, there’s a remarkable balance between the humor and the criticism, as it depicts ever so carefully the ridiculousness of modern corporate culture. The biggest laughs come from Vincent Lindon co-starring as the insurance company’s perfectly glorious asshole CEO, who lashes out in ways that are cringe but amusing because they’re just so absurd. Alba Rohrwacher stars as Carla Moretti, the French divorced mom who does her best to do her job and maintain order. Eventually the humor comes crashing down when it wades fully into the more depressing half of the story, but it’s so compelling it’s still worthy of a recommendation anyway. It’s also so damning – which is what we need more of in cinema today.
Primetime – Directed by Lance Oppenheim
Not my top film of the festival, but still very good anyway and worthy of a recommendation. It is especially entrancing due to the distinct visual style & narrative choices made by director Lance Oppenheim. He re-imagines this true story of the “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen as a cautionary tale and unsettling look at how entertaining rose above actual journalism and news. The sensationalized TV series about taking down these “predators” hosted by a guy who’s an egotistical maniac is exactly a “success” story that connects right to today’s news mayhem. Similar to Danny Boyle’s Ink (which almost made the cut on this list) it’s a frightening look at how depraved yet viciously satisfying “entertainment” took over news because it excites people more than almost anything else. Robert Pattinson is – as always – utterly sensational and entirely magnetic in the lead role as the slimy Chris Hansen. Every glance, every word he speaks, everything is spot on. However, the real highlight of the film is Skyler Gisondo playing “Decoy Dan” giving one of the best supporting performances of this year. Plus there’s a fantastic brief appearance by Alex Winter in here, too.
Recapping my 2026 Venice Film Festival experience, this was one of the worst line-ups I’ve encountered in the 10 years I’ve been attending this fest. Not exactly a complete disaster, but so unimpressively lackluster & unexciting. Aside from a handful of really good (but not amazing) films, the rest of the selection was stuffed with duds, misfires, and bogus experimental cinema that did not need to be there. They missed out on many of the most interesting new debuts this fall, including Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, Simon Stone’s Elsinore with Andrew Scott, Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, the Zellner Brothers’ Alpha Gang, Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother with Mahershala Ali, Luca Guadagnino’s Artifical, Jennifer Peedom’s Tenzing, Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero, or anything else that is actually exciting in the fall festivals. So many new films that premiered at Venice were letdowns: The Echo Chamber is forgettable, Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard is incomprehensible, Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw’s doc Burgundy isn’t really about wine, Casey Affleck’s Company is boring, Ali Asgari’s A Bit of Light is dim, Florian Zeller’s Bunker is just so awful. How did all these films get in? Did no one double check them? I’m jut not sure why Venice keeps struggling to play all the better films in these past few years. Why does this keep happening? How can they fix this? Whatever the case, I always hope for the best when I arrive by boat to this festival every year. I’m always ready to enjoy more cinema each and every year in Venice and beyond.
And that’s all for Venice 2026 (aka #Venezia83), wrapping up our news from the fest. As already covered before, May el-Toukhy’s Danish film Woman Unknown won Golden Lion – view the full list of 2026 winners here. My coverage is finished now with this list of favorites and my final thoughts on the films this year. Of course I’m still looking forward to returning to Venice again in 2027, always an especially invigorating time watching these films every day. Always happy to discover the latest hits from wherever they might be from.
Read more posts in: Editorial, Feat, Lists, Review, Venice 26
