VENICE, Italy – Angelina Jolie enthralls as opera singer Maria Callas, Beetlejuice returns and he is just as much fun, Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson (Dolly de Leon’s “cutie pie” in Triangle of Sadness) seduce, and Jude Law grips as an FBI agent. Those are the early highlights so far as the 81st Venice International Film Festival unspools in this seaside destination.
As the world’s oldest film festival and one of the most prestigious nears its halfway mark, the biggest buzz is how...