Set in the late ’60s but all too current, a pressing journey into the transformation of information into entertainment, supported by the good performances of Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce
“It must be surprising.” “Ugly always has an effect.” Sharp and snappy, it is one of the many lightning-fast exchanges within the newly formed editorial team of Sun. He moves on the viscous balance between success and ethics Inkthe opening film of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, greeted by applause from the press in the Sala Darsena.
«It’s great to be here“, he said Danny Boylehis first time at the lagoon festival. «It’s a film made with little money, so I expected that no one would see it, and instead Alberto (Barbera, the director of the Festival, ed) and here I am.”
Ink and the unscrupulous rise of the Sun
Director of the cult Trainspotting and the first two chapters of the trilogy opened by 28 days laterOscar winner for Slumdog MillionaireBoyle expands the play Ink by the British playwright James Grahamwho also wrote the film in competition at Venice 83. It immerses us in the London 1969 on Fleet Streetor the path of journalism that for centuries hosted the major British newspapers: The Guardian, The Observer, The Telegraph, The Mirror… Along the way, lowering your ear to the asphalt, you can hear the noise of rotary presses in a very fascinating sequence.
That’s right The Mirror That Rupert Murdoch targeted: the tabloid to beat, with unscrupulousness and freshness, aiming for entertainment. The controversial Australian publisher is played by Guy Pearcewho regains that convincing attitude of a bold man of power already shown off in The Brutalist.
Murdoch buys the baby Sun to entrust it to the journalist Larry Lamb, embodied by Jack O’Connelljust seen as a singing and story-telling vampire The sinners. It is the beginning of a reckless ride that led The Sun to be the best-selling English tabloid.
The portrait of Rupert Murdoch
«We didn’t want to portray Murdoch as a monstertoday many do,” Boyle explained. «He then was a breath of fresh air in a very rigid British society. He faced a lot of prejudice due to his Australian origins. He didn’t like the British establishment and that’s a position I share. There are things about him that can be reflected in.”
Ink in fact he doesn’t take sides. Respecting the journalistic rule “Show, don’t tell”, he shows, without explaining. It leaves the viewer free to orient themselves. Meanwhile, we observe how photos of scantily clad girls, horoscopes, weather and violence become the editorial priorities of a newspaper that transforms information into entertainment of dubious taste.
Ink shows the harbingers of clickbait, of influencers, of OnlyFans, of a journalism that takes off its jacket and seems to have emerged from an evening at the bar if not from the nightclub. Excellent performance by Jack O’Connell, in a free dive towards the absence of moral limits.
“I knew Jack was the right guy,” Boyle says. «In the previous film I saw it in this slightly crazy character who has the ability to take you to a dark place». The British director even compares him to Al Pacino The Godfather. It is no coincidence that his office in the editorial office of the Sun was recreated somewhat along the lines of the iconic crime movie.
Boyle had in fact already directed O’Connell in 28 years laterin the role of the unhinged and ferocious Jimmy Crystal, a character later explored in depth in 28 years later – The Temple of Bones.
With frenetic editing by Fin Oates and an explosive soundtrack, Ink it’s not a great movie but overall it’s a good movie. Among the credits, there is sound Johnnie Burnor the Oscar winner de The area of interest.
Ink runs at the same pace as Sunpressing and overwhelming. And sometimes redundant. In the end, inevitably, a bit of uneasiness remains: it was the end of the 60s but it seems a reflection of today.
Journalism according to George Clooney
On the opening night it reveals InkVenezia 83 awards the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to George Clooney. And the Hollywood star also had words on the current condition of journalism and freedom of information.
«The state of journalism in the world is worrying. The rich have ownership of the Washington Post and some of the major sources of information and that’s concerning,” Clooney said. “But there is still hope for good journalism. My wife and I admire him and we are children of journalists. It is a profession that has always been challenged. However, I believe that information will always find a way to be free.”
