Monday, May 29, 2017

Cannes Concludes and Awards Are Announced / The Telluride Analysis / Oscar Players in the Cannes Afterglow / Non-Cannes Trailers

Good Memorial Day Monday to all...


CANNES CONCLUDES AND AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCED





The 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to its conclusion last night with the awarding of prizes in the main competition category.


The winners:

Palme d'Or: The Square (Ruben Ostlund)
Grand Prix: 120 BPM. (Robin Campillo)
Jury Prize: Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)
Director:  Sofia Coppola-The Beguiled
Actress: Diane Kruger-In the Fade 
Actor-Joaquin Phoenix- You Were Never Really Here
Special 70th Anniversary Honors- Nicole Kidman
Screenplay- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)


In the Un Certain Regard section past Telluride tribute recipient Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity took the top prize and Taylor Sheridan's Wind River won the award for Best Direction. April's Daughter was the winner of the Jury Prize.

Of note among the winners was Coppola's historic win for direction as well as the rare double win for actor and screenplay for Ramsay's film.  A bit of a surprise was the lack of any mention for a Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which Indiewire had listed as having the third best odds for the Palme.


THE TELLURIDE ANALYSIS



So here's my best quick Telluride assessment of the winners' chances in as far as T-ride is concerned:

The Square- Magnolia is the distributor which was last at Telluride with Viva in 2015.  Magnolia hasn't had a deep relationship with the fest.  That combined with The fact that Ostlund hasn't played there either makes me think that 2017 may well be the fourth consecutive TFF at which the Palme d'Or winner does not play.  Cannes at TFF- 25%

120 BPM- A solid critical darling of Cannes #70 and with U.S. distribution from The Orchard, which scored well at Telluride last year with Pablo Larrain's Neruda have it in good position as a T-tide possible.  Probably gets the biggest boost of any Cannes film  that I haven't already had my eye on. Chances- 55%.

Loveless- Zvyagnistev's Leviathan played in the San Juans three years ago and so Loveless was already a hot prospect to get to The SHOW this Labor Day.  Its Jury Award probably boosts to shot. That and the fact that it's distributor is frequent Telluride player Sony Pictures  Classics suggests a high likelihood of a return for Mr. Z.  Chances- 70%.

The Beguiled- 0% chance as it opens at the end of June.

In the Fade- Could this crack the T-ride lineup?  Fatih Akin's lack of Telluride history, the film's lack of U.S. distribution and a middling critical response makes me think that the film's chances are small.  Chances- 20%.

You Were Never Really Here-  A double award win, Lynne Ramsay and coming from a Amazon Studios, this film, which I already thought had a reasonable shot at Telluride, moves even closer, I think.  Chances- 70%.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer- After a couple of great years at Telluride, I have no doubt that A24 will be back with something this year.  I'm just not sure that it will be this Lanthimos film.  It could happen but my guess is that other A24 films may have a better shot (Woodshock, Good Time and especially The Florida Project).  Still, a T-ride play could happen.  Chances- 35%.


A couple of other notes...I imagine that Rasoulof's Man of Integrity has an even chance of playing and despite its awards shut out, I still believe that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck is a likely Show for The SHOW.

Finally, don't be surprised if Chloe Zhao's The Rider makes the T-ride lineup.
 Additionally, Faces/Places from Agnes Varda and JR looks like a very good bet.
Complete coverage and analysis of Cannes award winners can be found at the following links:






OSCAR PLAYERS IN THE CANNES AFTERGLOW



The general consensus coming from France as the Cannes Fest concluded was that the Croisette was low on Oscar potential with most observers suggesting that the only real player in terms of Best Picture might be Wonderstruck.

Though there may well some other players as well, especially in the foreign language category...I'm looking at you Loveless...take a look at where some of the sages of Oscar come down as Cannes was coming to an end:





NON-CANNES TRAILERS FOR FILMS WE COULD SEE 


And as Cannes was winding down, there was the release of trailers for two films that did not play in France but that could find their way onto the lineup over Labor Day weekend.

We found out this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the Liam Neeson starrer The Silent Man and that the story of the real Watergate Deep Throat had a trailer.  Here it is from YouTube:




Along with the trailer, here are some posts that accompanied its release and the SPC pickup news:





Additionally, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Room's Jacob Tremblay, released its first look video this week.  From Lionsgate, the film is slated to open in mid-November.  Both factors suggest the possibility of serious festival and awards play.

Here's that video, also from YouTube:




Deadline provides some of the details for the film.


That will do it for this Monday in May...more to come on Thursday...



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