After ‘Bunker’ Scores a Huge Venice Ovation, Will the Film and Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Be Major Oscar Contenders? — SkimNews
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- "Bunker" premiered at the 83rd Venice Film Festival and received the longest applause of any film at the festival, a reaction that took critics — who had given the Florian Zeller marital drama a tepid reception earlier in the day — by surprise.
- Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz star as a married couple whose relationship hits an impasse when the architect husband accepts a job building a luxury bunker for a tech billionaire; Zeller said he wrote the script with the pair in mind to 'blur the line between reality and fiction.'
- Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera was said to have led additional cheers for Bardem and Cruz on premiere night, and word from the screening suggested the rapturous applause stemmed more from excitement at having the glamorous couple in attendance than from the film itself.
- Paul Dano delivers what the source calls the strongest overall performance in a brief scene as a shadowy tech mogul, injecting social commentary about Silicon Valley oligarchs; recent Emmy winner Stephen Graham also features as a creepy neighbor.
- Sony Pictures Classics has stronger Oscar bids elsewhere, including John Turturro in "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York" and Tom McCarthy's "A Statement," meaning "Bunker" may mainly supplement — rather than anchor — Cruz and Bardem's separate awards pushes.
- The last two Venice Golden Lion winners propelled by strong post-premiere reactions ended up without any Academy Award nominations, underscoring the limited correlation between a rapturous festival debut and Oscar success.
Why it matters: For Sony Pictures Classics, 'Bunker' looks more like a complementary awards vehicle for Cruz and Bardem than a tentpole Oscar bid, given the studio's stronger contenders in 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York' and Tom McCarthy's 'A Statement.' The tepid critical response combined with the historical record of recent Golden Lion winners failing to land Oscar nominations suggests star power at the premiere, not the film itself, drove the evening's biggest ovation.
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