Sophia Coppola’s “Somewhere” won the festival’s main prize Saturday, immediately turning heads because of the past romantic links between Tarantino, 47, and the 39-year-old Coppola.
In addition, Spanish civil war drama “A Sad Trumpet Ballad,” made by Tarantino’s long-time friend Alex de la Iglesia, earned two prizes, including the one for Best Screenplay, despite being almost universally panned by critics, and the jury created a special career prize for director Monte Hellman, Tarantino’s mentor.
Meanwhile, Asian films that attracted critical acclaim during the festival were shut out of the prizes. Ditto for homegrown Italian productions.
On Sunday, less than 24 hours after the 11-day festival concluded, Tarantino defended his choices, noting that Coppola’s prize was unanimous even though she knew nobody else on the jury, and saying that as a writer he felt that de la Iglesia’s film featured the best screenplay.
And regarding Hellman, 78, the oldest director with a film in what the festival said was its youngest in-competition lineup ever, Tarantino scoffed at charges of favoritism.
“I remember talking to him (Hellman) in 1992 at the Sundance Film Festival, when I was there with my film ‘Reservoir Dogs’,” Tarantino said.”I actually had a friend on the jury and he told me that a friend on the jury is your worst enemy as they would be too embarrassed to give you a prize. I wasn’t going to let anything like that effect me.”
Hellman’s “Road to Nowhere” was considered a clear middle-of- the-pack selection in informal polls of critics following the main competition.
The Italian media jumped on the favoritism issue immediately, perhaps remembering Tarantino’s scathing attacks on their film industry in recent years.
“The presidency of Quentin Tarantino runs the risk of turning into the most obvious conflict of interest possible if you remember that’Somewhere’and ‘Road to Nowhere’ were charming and interesting in their own ways, but nothing more than that,” wrote Paolo Mereghetti, chief film critic for Correre della Sera, Italy’ s largest newspaper.
The Italian film blog Cinema Lovers went further: “The 67th Venice Film Festival turned into the first Tarantino Film Festival, “the blog said.
It is perhaps expected that the Italian media would be quick to blast Tarantino for any perceived indiscretion. Three years ago, he pulled no punches in criticizing what he said was a ” disappointing” modern Italian cinema industry. A self-described fan of the Italian cinema from the era of Fellini, Rossellini, Antonioni, and De Sica, Tarantino said more recent Italian fare has fallen short of the standards set by its predecessors.
“Recent Italian films I’ve seen are all the same,” Tarantino said in a 2007 interview with the Italian magazine Sorrisi & Canzioni.”They talk about boys growing up, or girls growing up, or couples having a crisis, or vacations of the mentally impaired. ”
Those comments drew rebuttals from all corners in the Italian film world, ranging from award-winning filmmaker Marco Bellocchio to actress Sophia Loren.
The Italian press got in on the act as well, with the daily newspaper L’Unita saying at the time that Tarantino was himself “mentally impaired.”
La Repubblica criticized Tarantino’s work, saying it had eroded badly since he made “Pulp Fiction” in 1994.
On other occasions since then, Tarantino has made similar jabs at modern-day Italy. Now, after some of his friends were awarded coveted Venice prizes — whether deserved or not — the Italian media is punching back.