I have been getting quite a few emails from people dumbfounded that the Venice Film Festival could reject “The Tragedy of Macbeth” when, gosh, U.S. critics have been going gaga over Joel Coen’s Bill Shakes adaptation. Listen, I get it, it looks weird from the outside, but many things come into play when big gun film festivals such as Cannes and Venice pick their lineup of films — especially the political.
We have to remember, Venice also rejected the lovely “Bergman Island” just last year and just this year gave the cold shoulder to Terrence Davies’ equally lovely “Benediction”. The ‘Macbeth’ rejection does illustrate how just because you’re a high-profile director, it doesn’t mean that you automatically get selected into competition. This happens way too frequently, and often for subpar work.
The Venice selection committee didn't like the film, and refused it a slot, which is fair and indeed commendable. They risked alienating a true festival ally like Joel Coen. However, my source deep inside the programming team told me, quite bluntly, THEY JUST DID NOT LIKE IT. He went on to mention that there was a clear divide between American and European film taste and that the gap was getting bigger and bigger.
I am still very much looking forward to finally catching “The Tragedy of Macbeth” sometime soon, it looks, at the very least, visually stunning.