The kickstart of the fall film festival season, Venice has served as the ground where films begin to stake their claim for the rest of the year and beyond. The best film in its competition each year receives the Golden Lion. Below are my reviews for all of those films.
1949: Manon*
1950: Justice Is Done
1951: Rashomon
1952: Forbidden Games
1954: Romeo and Juliet
1955: Ordet
1957: Aparajito
1958: Rickshaw Man
1959: General Della Rovere / The Great War
1960: Tomorrow Is My Turn
1961: Last Year at Marienbad
1962: Family Diary / Ivan’s Childhood
1963: Hands over the City
1964: Red Desert
1965: Sandra
1966: The Battle of Algiers
1967: Belle de Jour
1968: Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed
1980: Atlantic City / Gloria
1981: Marianne and Juliane
1982: The State of Things
1983: First Name: Carmen
1984: A Year of the Quiet Sun
1985: Vagabond
1986: The Green Ray
1987: Au revoir les enfants
1988: The Legend of the Holy Drinker
1989: City of Sadness
1990: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
1991: Close to Eden
1992: The Story of Jiu Ju
1993: Shortcuts / Three Colours: Blue
1994: Before the Rain / Vive L’Amour
1995: Cyclo
1996: Michael Collins
1997: Hana-bi
1998: The Way We Laughed
1999: Not One Less
2000: The Circle
2001: Monsoon Wedding
2002: The Magdalene Sisters
2003: The Return
2004: Vera Drake
2005: Brokeback Mountain
2006: Still Life
2007: Lust, Caution
2008: The Wrestler
2009: Lebanon
2010: Somewhere
2011: Faust
2012: Pietà
2013: Sacro GRA
2014: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
2015: From Afar
2016: The Woman Who Left
2017: The Shape of Water
2018: Roma
2019: Joker
2020: Nomadland
2021: Happening
2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
2023: Poor Things
2024: The Room Next Door
2025: Father Mother Sister Brother
*Films I have not seen yet
Films with Josh 