'Vegas: Based on a True Story' screens in Venice

Amir Naderi's "Vegas: Based on a True Story" celebrated its premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, and the first responses from attending critics aren't bad.

Fionnuala Halligan at Screen Daily:

"He does his actors no favours, although there are good performances here. Once – and if – the viewer gets past the film's deliberately ugly feel, there's a pretty powerful story in Vegas that has resonance on several levels."

Deborah Young in The Hollywood Reporter:

"The cinematography, as in all Naderi films, is calculated to the inch and highly expressive in its spareness, while wind chimes creating a sense of evil foreboding."