7 Movies That Seize the Otherworldly Magic of Venice

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There’s nowhere on earth fairly like Venice. The floating metropolis, with its looming domes, bustling canals, spindly bridges, waterfront palazzos, and drifting gondolas, typically appears like a hazy, idyllic land from a half-remembered dream. It’s why this glittering assortment of islands has impressed everybody from Henry James and Edith Wharton to Casanova, Byron, Hemingway, and Cocteau, to not point out auteurs like Luchino Visconti and David Lean, who turned their lenses on La Serenissima’s shimmering waters and honey-hued church buildings.

However simply as filmmakers have been captivated by the jaw-dropping fantastic thing about Venice, they’ve additionally been intrigued by its thriller—when night time falls, town transforms right into a misty, abandoned, dimly lit labyrinth the place a slowly simmering sense of hazard appears to lurk simply beneath the floor of the lagoon. Consequently, for each sun-drenched, Venice-set rom-com there are additionally loads of spine-chillers which hone in on town’s inherent spookiness.

It’s this sheer abundance of ambiance and theatricality that makes it the proper setting for the Venice Movie Competition, the oldest cinematic showcase of its form, which kicks off its glamorous 81st version on August 28. Forward of opening night time, we have a look again on the most ravishing releases which have performed out on these historic streets and waterways, from the ’50s to now.