Oh hello there.

Greetings from an aeroplane over the sea. We are currently passing over Ireland, which is sending all its bumpiest air up our way, those bastard Catholics. I occasionally go through bouts of flight phobia, and I would say I’m firmly in one at the moment. I know turbulence is just like waves on the ocean—which is a mantra I sometimes say to myself in my head—and that after 10 days of being on all kinds of boats, I should be just fine with that. But the truth is, I was sometimes scared on those boats—at least the water taxis, which go much faster than the vaporetti and bank at much steeper angles. My taxi to the airport this morning happened during a thunderstorm, and I could see lightning striking down in various places on the horizon and I wondered if maybe we shouldn’t have been out on the open water. But I made it to the airport and then promptly fell asleep in a chair in the lounge until it was time to board. 

Writing this letter is helping with some of my flying nerves, but forgive me if I’m a bit rambly and unfocused. It’s hard to stay on task when you are at least a small bit convinced that you’re soon going to go plummeting down to earth. 

While the festival itself has a few more days to go—awards will be handed out on Saturday—my Venice 2026 has come to end. Though there were stresses and disappointments, it was, all told a good trip, maybe not one with as much cinematic wonderment as I’d once hoped for, but I saw some interesting things, got to spend quality time with colleagues I don’t see terribly often, and ate every carbohydrate that came my way, Hungry Hungry Hippos style. When I go to Toronto, I’m going to eat nothing but salads, because I think their lettuce is safe. O, Canada! 

The last movie I saw at Venice was Casey Affleck’s third directorial feature Company, a movie I knew very little about beyond the vague plot description on the festival’s website. Based on that, I assumed I would be watching some snowy, neo-Western crime saga. Y’know, tough guy stuff like guys like to make. But, um, that is not exactly what Company is! 

I prefaced my Hollywood Reporter review of the movie with a big ol’ spoiler warning, so I’ll extend you the same courtesy. If you do not want to know what Casey Affleck’s third directorial effort—which will probably struggle to find a distributor who will release it wide—is about, then skip ahead a few paragraphs.