Julia Roberts says humanity ‘losing art of conversation’ in defence of new #MeToo-themed film
After the Hunt, directed by Luca Guadagnino, centres on an accusation of sexual assault at a university
Jay Kelly review – even a George Clooney sizzle reel can’t save this dire Noah Baumbach effort
The affable star plays an affable star assessing his life and career at a Tuscan film festival in a wildly sentimental and self-indulgent piece of cine-narcissism
Bugonia review – Emma Stone might be an alien in Yorgos Lanthimos’s macabre conspiracy theory comedy
Jesse Plemons delivers an efficient punch as the fanatical Teddy who abducts Stone’s dead-eyed corporate ice queen in Lanthimos’s Korean remake
Emma Stone declares belief in aliens during Bugonia film promo
Actor says she agrees with astronomer Carl Sagan that it is narcissistic to think there is no other life in universe
Orphan review – László Nemes’ fable of resentment and rage in post-uprising Hungary
This always interesting film-maker displays impressive technical control in this painful, sombre story about a boy who meets the father he never knew
Ghost Elephants review – Werner Herzog embarks on a mission to track down giant jumbos
In his inimitable fashion, Herzog follows a South African naturalist’s quest to discover a new species of elephant in Angola
La Grazia review – Paolo Sorrentino opens mighty window on Italian leader’s despair
The director has rediscovered his voice working again with actor Toni Servillo, who plays a president looking back on a career of empty rectitude
Activists hope to shift Venice film festival focus on to crisis in Gaza
Questions over biennale’s stance dominates launch, with protest planned for one of event’s big nights on Saturday
‘We are seeing a new maturity’: how ‘extended reality’ is coming of age at the Venice film festival
At the festival’s pioneering immersive section, a ‘seamless evolution’ of VR and mainstream film-making is revolutionising narrative
Mother review – Noomi Rapace is a fanatical Mother Teresa full of fury
Rapace plays the canonised Kolkata nun with hard-bitten intensity in a complex, lurid story that veers between faithful telling and bouts of fun
From Frankenstein to Putin, monsters are stalking the Venice film festival
Artistic director says monsters are ‘fil rouge’ this year, as Guillermo del Toro unveils his vision of Shelley’s classic
Going nuclear: Kathryn Bigelow back in geopolitical territory with atomic thriller
A House of Dynamite, told from perspective of White House officials, will premiere at Venice before Netflix rollout
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough review – a candid portrait of a literary one-off
Paul Sng’s documentary finds the Trainspotting author as funny, sharp and unrepentant as ever – from boyhood in Leith to globetrotting fame and a hallucinogenic trip in Canada
The Toxic Avenger review – strong cast struggles to revive stale horror franchise
Peter Dinklage does his best as a humble nerd transformed into a bulbous monster wreaking vengeance on his bullies, but this is dismal schlock
‘These are moist times we live in’: the strange, sticky world of Australian film-maker Philip Brophy
Brophy’s short films Salt, Saliva, Sperm & Sweat and No Dance have been restored for a whole new generation of twisted moviegoers