Primetime (2026) - A Vanishing Feature (Venice 26)

 Primetime (2026)

Returning to the Venice Film Festival after a year is an indescribable feeling. It honestly makes me feel so good knowing that my passion drives me this far just to watch movies. I don’t know, I’m proud of this thing that might seem insignificant on the surface. The streets leading to the Lido put such a deep sense of peace over me, and walking through them with the girl I love makes it even better.
This year brought a new A24 title (just like last year), and with low expectations and very little information about it, Daria and I found ourselves watching the highly anticipated Primetime. I’ll try to be concise, partly to avoid giving away too much information given the preview nature of the screening. I liked the film, not overly so, but not too little either. I see it as a minor work in the A24 catalog, not because it’s disappointing, but for the simple reason that it’s a short film, perhaps too short to fully immerse oneself in.
Let me explain.
Primetime tells a story rich in tension and charged with pathos, but it doesn’t hit the way it should for one simple reason: you physically don’t have enough time to get inside the characters’ heads. Pattinson’s Chris Hansen is great, as is the character played by Skyler Gisondo, along with Merritt Wever. 

Everyone is genuinely great, but everyone has what feels like reduced screen time. It’s as if the film wants to give importance to each character, but without going all the way. It almost seems like screenwriter Ajon Singh wasn’t entirely clear on who to assign the role of protagonist to. In the opening moments it seems to be Pattinson, then in the second half of the film it becomes Gisondo, and then Pattinson again. In short, this narrative indecision doesn’t help clarify or define the structure of the characters at all, and it somewhat discourages the viewer regarding which way to point their moral compass.
Throughout the story you understand who is on the side of good and who is on the side of evil, but they don’t fully convey the idea. 
It feels like they intentionally wanted to remain ambiguous so as not to paint anyone as the bad guy or the good guy (even though, of course, it’s crystal clear in the film). 
It’s more of an subconscious detail that leaves you feeling a bit disoriented. 

The short runtime of an hour and fifty minutes doesn’t help you get deeply into the story either, beyond the characters. It grabs the viewer through its spectacle and pompous staging (besides the subject matter itself, which is inherently fascinating), but on the narrative side, the hook isn’t juicy enough to truly land the audience.
Aside from a somewhat ambiguous ending (where you are led to think the worst), the weakest aspect of the film is its core idea: "the eccentric character obsessed with their own idea of success." I don’t say this because it’s done poorly here, but simply because for the third consecutive year A24 is unfreezing the exact same narrative modus operandi that’s been overdone. We had “The Brutalist” and “Marty Supreme” dealing with this exact theme; why tell the decline of the American Dream once again in such a short span of time? 
It becomes redundant and loses its otherwise powerful narrative impact.


That said, I don’t want to diminish Primetime (which remains a very enjoyable film), but rather call out A24’s studio choices in continuing to churn out stories of this exact mold. Lance Oppenheim’s debut feature is a raw portrait of post-9/11 America. 
It’s a very interesting rollercoaster where the 4:3 aspect ratio pairs perfectly with the subject matter, as well as the VHS format of period-accurate cameras. A very successful debut feature that pairs a soundtrack that is as striking in its contrast as it is contextualized. With its overwhelming sound design and the beautifully gritty cinematography so typical of the production company, Pattinson’s latest effort is something worth seeing and appreciating (even in its flaws), in this day and age more than ever.
I can’t wait for the next Festival, and I hope to organize things better so I can catch more than just one film. 
As I said at the start: it’s always a wonder.