Ang Lee Wins Golden Lion

Posted on September 8, 2007

Ang Lee has won the prestigious Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival today. His win was his second, after Brokeback Mountain won two years ago. A surprise winner, Lust, Caution is a sexually explicit and violent thriller set in Shanghai during World War Two.

It is overwhelming, because this movie has taken me to some very difficult places," Lee told the red carpet award ceremony on the Lido waterfront. "I have invited you to come along with me and in the end to stay down there with me ... You are the seven samurais, I needed your help," he added, addressing the seven-member jury.
Brian De Palma, whose "Redacted" shocked audiences in Venice with its brutal reconstruction of the real-life rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers, won the Silver Lion award for best director. Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche and his drama "La Graine et le mulet" ("The Secret of the Grain"), was one of two runner-up jury prize winners, and was described by the jury as the "revelation" of the 2007 edition of the festival.
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Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There," one of six U.S. productions in the 23-strong main competition, took the other runner-up prize for his conceptual biopic about singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In a bold piece of casting, Australian-born Cate Blanchett was one of six performers to play the singer at various stages of his life, and it paid off when she was named best actress in Venice this year. Hollywood star Brad Pitt was the surprise winner of the best actor award for his portrayal of outlaw Jesse James in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

It's interesting that Brad Pitt won an award, considering how he's been talking about the film in interviews. He really is downplaying the film's appeal. So, either he thinks the film isn't any good or he's decided to try the negative sell with movie goers.

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