"Riveting" thriller with Stephen Graham earns 16-minute standing ovation at world premiere

Stephen Graham's new thriller has received a rapturous reception, getting a 16-minute long standing ovation at its world premiere. Bunker is led by Oscar-winners and real-life married couple Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem and it debuted last night at the Venice Film Festival.

The movie focuses on an architect who "accepts a controversial commission to build a luxury bunker for a tech billionaire", a choice that begins to unravel the "seemingly stable lives" of him and his publisher wife (via BFI).

Graham stars in a supporting role, while the movie from writer-director Florian Zeller also features The Batman's Paul Dano and The White Lotus' Patrick Schwarzenegger.

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Following the Venice screening, the audiences stood for 16 minutes which, according to Deadline, is one of the longest-ever at the festival. That means it sits just behind The Room Next Door's 18 minutes and The Voice Of Hind Rajab's 22 minutes.

Bunker was called "riveting in all its obsessive-compulsive meticulousness" by Variety, while Deadline said Zeller has "created a scenario that ought to concern every one of us".

However, in a less glowing review, IndieWire suggested it was a "paranoid drama that’s as airless and unsatisfying as the dead marriage that it dissects".

Speaking about the film at a Venice press conference, Graham explained: "For me personally, when I read the script, I was blown away by it.

"But it was the kind of working man's attitude towards his environment and in my country, the cost of living is going through the roof. It's kind of re-gentrification with the people that used to live in that area, and particularly where we set it in London. If you can't afford to live in the area where you grew up and your granddad grew up, where do you go? We had a home and now we can't afford to have that home, so where do we go?"

"And with the context of what we're speaking about, what I loved was the ethical question within the context of the script," he added. "As human beings, without ethics, we have no future, so I really thought that was something powerful within the script."

Bunker is due to screen at the BFI London Film Festival, which takes place between 7-18 October.

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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International.  Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.