Sofia Coppola’s new drama Somewhere has been awarded the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.

The drama, which features a stellar turn from Stephen Dorff as the layabout father of Elle Fanning, surprised attendees as it was declared the best of the fest, trampling competition from favourites like Black Swan.

Not only that, but the festival jury - who were led by geek titan Quentin Tarantino - were unanimous in their decision to give Coppola’s film the much coveted shiny.

Other flicks that won big were Alex de la Iglesia’s A Sad Trumpet Ballad, which bagged the Silver Lion (or Best Director) gong, Vincent Gallo’s Essential Killing (which took home the Special Jury Prize and Best Actor award) and Attenburg, which earned Ariane Labed a Best Actress trophy.

Black Swan didn’t go home empty handed, though – Mila Kunis grabbed the Best Young Actor prize.

A full run-down of the awards...

Golden Lion For Best Film:
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)

Silver Lion For Best Director:
Alex de la Iglesia (Balada triste de trompeta)

Special Jury Prize:
Essential Killing (Jerzy Skolimowsky)

Coppa Volpi For Best Actor:
Vincent Gallo (Essential Killing)

Coppa Volpi For Best Actress:
Ariane Labed (Attenberg)

Osella For Best Screenplay:
Alex de la Iglesia (Balada triste de trompeta)

Marcello Mastroianni Award For Best Young Actor Or Actress:
Mila Kunis (Black Swan)

Osella For Best Cinematography:
Mikhail Krichman (Silent Souls)

Special Lion For An Overall Work:
Monte Hellman

European Cinema Award:
The Clink Of The Ice

Leoncino d’Oro Prize:
Barney’s Version

Queer Lion For Best Gay Film:
In the Future

The 67th Venice Film Festival is winding down but the Golden Lion is still up for grabs. 

Tomorrow night, Quentin Tarantino will announce which of the 24 films in competition will walk away with the coveted top prize.

Despite hurricane-like storms battering the Lido over the week and the ever-growing shadow of the Toronto Film Festival looming over the Atlantic, it’s still been a strong line-up.

It means the jury members have a tough decision on their hands when it comes to dividing the prizes, for there seems no one obvious candidate, unlike last year, when Samuel Maoz’s tank-set drama Lebanon took the honours.

This time, there are several contenders. The critic’s favourite is clearly the 75-minute Tarkovsky-inspired Silent Souls, by Russian director Aleksei Fedorchenko, who – if he won – would follow fellow countryman Andrei Zvyagintsev, who claimed the Golden Lion in 2003 for The Return.

Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood, his beautiful adaptation of the 1987 Haruki Murakami novel of the same name, must also be up there – though the fact the Vietnamese director won in 1995 for Cyclo may count against him.

Of the American films, Kelly Reichardt’s western Meek’s Cutoff stands a chance – though I’m tempted to believe its filmmaker may claim a Silver Lion for Best Director or its cinematographer Chris Blauvelt may be awarded a prize for artistic achievement.

Still, with Tarantino as the head of the jury, don’t bet against his old friend Takashi Miike taking the prize for his Samurai epic 13 Assassins.

It wouldn’t be fair, but then festival juries are never known for being fair, right?

Absorbing, rich and blessed with a wonderfully dry sense of humour, Barney’s Version is a sophisticated treat.

Adapted from the prize-winning novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler, it’s the sort of bleak comedy that Hollywood rarely has the guts to make anymore. 

At its core is yet another titanic turn from Paul Giamatti, with a character that ranks alongside Harvey Pekar in American Splendor and Miles in Sideways.

He plays Barney Panofsky, a foul-mouthed US television producer who runs his own company Totally Unnecessary Productions, known for producing long-running soap ‘O’Malley of the North.’

While there are some in-jokes – David Cronenberg plays a director who snoozes on set, Denys Arcand cameos as Maître d’ – Barney’s Version is no insider look at showbiz.

In truth, Barney’s profession is secondary to his love life. Married three times, what we see is Barney’s version of events as he reflects on the mistakes he made.

Though nominally set in the present, with Barney now 65 years old, much of the film is seen in flashback as his the three relationships that defined his life unfold.

His first wife, the free-spirited, unfaithful Clara (Rachelle Lefevre) is not with us for long. Meeting her in Rome in 1974, after their baby is still born, she commits suicide.

The second spouse, known as Mrs. P (Minnie Driver, in excellent comic form), is a Jewish Princess who just doesn’t stop talking.

But it’s at their lavish wedding that he meets the love of his life, Miriam (Rosamund Pike), a New York DJ for a jazz station who Barney falls instantly in love with – so much so, he ducks out of his reception to pursue her.

As he says, much later on, “Have I ever given up when it comes to you?” And for all his bitterness and bad behaviour, Barney is also an incurable romantic, something that makes him fascinating to watch.

Giamatti doesn’t put a foot wrong here, convincing us with ease that Barney is a likeable fellow (without ever trying to ingratiate himself with the audience).

There’s also a glorious turn from Dustin Hoffman, who plays Barney’s father, a retired cop who seems as politically inappropriate as his son.

Directed by Richard J. Lewis, this is a major achievement for a director best known for his involvement in landmark television show, C.S.I.

And don’t be surprised if Giamatti walks away with the Best Actor prize here over the weekend.  

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