A Good Day

Danny Boyle, Aron Ralston and James Franco of "127 Hours"

Three films today and all of them good but not great.

Started the day with "Poetry" from Korean film director Lee Chang Dong. "Poetry" won the Best Screenplay award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It features Jeong-hee Yoon as a grandmother dealing with a troubled grandson who also has decided to write poetry. She's quite good. But the film clocks in at nearly 2 and 1/2 hours and felt like it could use some judicious editing. 2 and 1/2 stars.

Then: Peter Weir's "The Way Back" featuring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris and Colin Farrell as three very different captives in a WWII era Soviet gulag who escape and walk their way to freedom. Based on a true story, the film does credit to the real people who made the 4,000 mile walk from Siberia to India. Sturgess is solid as the focal point of the film but Ed Harris (as you might expect) is outstanding. Matching Harris note for note is Farrell in a very nearly great performance. Couple this with his small supporting role in last year's "Crazy Heart" and you're beginning to see an actor maturing into something special. 3 stars!

And the capper on the day: Danny Boyle's "127 Hours." How do you follow a film that took the world by storm and won 8 Oscars (as Slumdog did)??? You film the true story of hiker Aron Ralston who, in order to save his life, amputated his own arm so that he could escape from a canyon in Utah in which he was trapped. James Franco plays Ralston and is onscreen 99% of the time. He's fantastic. The Oscar buzz for him started today here in Colorado. "127 Hours" is graphic and harrowing and the best thing I've seen here in Telluride so far this year. 3 stars!!!But....

Tomorrow has 5 films scheduled that I'm planning to get to including Innaritu"s "Biutiful" with Javier Bardem (and Bardem is supposed to be great), Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" which has just taken the Venice Film Fest by storm and may get some Oscar notice for Natalie Portman and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech" which seems to be the film getting the best buzz here this year.

Then there's Monday which will start with Mike Leigh's "Another Year" and will also almost certainly include the sneak of Julian Schnabel's "Miral." And the Apparition people are still very tight lipped about anything concerning"Tree of Life." But I will say I haven't personally seen Mr. Pitt and haven't actually met someone who has seen him with their own eyeballs.