Unbelievable....
Had a tremendous day of film here in the San Juan Mountains...
Started off the day with Todd Solondz's "Life During Wartime"...Great film! Incredible performances across the board...just amazing...standouts: Shirley Henderson, Allison Janney, Cirian Hinds, Paul Ruebens, Michael K. Williams, Ally Sheedy and Rich Pecci...but really...the entire ensemble is phenomenal...I'm betting half way thru that this is my favorite film of the festival...and today was a great day for films. 4 stars out of 4...
Next up was "Farewell" a French film that we just sort of added as a filler between "Life" and "Up in the Air"...and...what a great film! A true life story of Cold War intrigue and masterfully done! Super performances from leads Emir Kusturica and Guillaume Canet with great support from veteran Fred Ward as Ronald Reagan and Willem Dafoe...Stunningly good movie! 3 and 1/2 stars out of 4...It's really good.
Then, amazingly, we were in the crowd to see the World Sneak Premiere of Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney. It gets surreal here. Sat two rows behind Reitman, two seats to the right of TFF 36 Guest Director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways, Election) and right behind AMPAS (that's the Oscars people) President Sid Ganis. Soooo..the movie is a winner...a worthy follow up to his success with "Juno". It's a more mature film. And it was a hoot to see how nervous Reitman was...not that surprising,though, considering how high the expectations are for this film. But it's a winner! Highlight is that I got to ask a question during the Q & A and then also got in a joke that actually made Ganis, Payne and Reitman himself laugh. Seriously, since I've actually spoken to Laura Linney and made Jason Reitman laugh this weekend...I think I could die happy. Clooney's great, Vera Farmiga..great, Anna Kendrick...really great...Amy Morton (saw her in New York two months ago in August:Osage County) great... Overall 3 and 1/2 stars ...GO SEE IT!
And then we concluded the day with "The Last Station". Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James Mc Avoy bring us the realization of writer/director Michael Hoffman's adaptation of a novel about the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life. And it rocked! Plummer...great, Mirren...great and McAvoy better than he's ever been. It's a wonderful performance as Tolstoy's secretary and the audience's representative. 3 stars. The evening topped off with a Q & A with director Hoffman and Oscar winner Dame Helen...and a sighting of Dame Helen's husband as we left the theater, director Taylor Hackford.
An amazing day of film in Telluirde...Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!
I'm glad to hear that you've been having a great time! It seems that you always do, but the stories are always fabulous! I'm really looking forward to these, since it sounds like they're all going to be fabulous. Since I'm near the city, the movie theaters here might actually show some of these movies! "The Last Station" sounds interesting, I've never been a fan of Paul Giamatti, but I love James McAvoy, so that should be an adventure. Hope you guys keep having a great time!
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