Thursday, May 25, 2017

Cannes Turns Toward the Finish Line / The Acquisitions Front / What's It Mean for Telluride?

It is a Thursday and that must mean another post at MTFB...


CANNES TURNS TOWARD THE FINISH LINE



By the time I punch the button to post the next edition of MTFB on Monday the 70th Cannes Film Festival will have concluded and winners of various prizes will have been announced.  As the last few competition films take their bow over the next two days speculation will increase dramatically as to which films and film makers will be rewarded.  We can join that fun with the caveat that the juries for each of the sections which present awards will almost certainly defy expectations,  It seems they always do.  That said...


Indiewire has been running a continually updated article that handicaps the race.  As I post this morning (and it could have changed since then) their favorite for the Palme d'Or is Robin Campillo's 120 Beats per Minute.  At the #2 spot is Andrey Zyvagintsev's Loveless and at #3 is Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck.

The complete Indiewire article is here.


Meanwhile, the critical response, which can sometimes give a picture of possible Cannes prize winners (look at this critical vs. prize winning assessment from MTFB from last year) is shaping up this way as I write...

Top three critical Palme d'Or films from the Urban collected critics:

1) Good Time (7.40)
2) 120 BPM (7.060
3) The Meyerowitz Stories (6.75)

From Todas Las Criticas:

1) The Day After (7.59)
2) Good Time (7.42)
3) The Meyerowitz Stories (6.83)


From Screen Daily:

1) 120 BPM (3.8)
2) Loveless (3.5)
2) Good Time (3.5)

In other films that are not playing the main competition slate the top films critically are...

From Urban:

1) The Florida Project (7.98)
2) Faces/Places (7.72)
3) Western (7.65)

From Todas Las Criticas

1) The Florida Project (8.00)
2) Western (7.92)
3) Lovers for a Day (7.86)


Here are the links for each of the critical collections:

Reini Urban

Todas Las Criticas

Ioncinema



THE ACQUISITIONS FRONT



At Cannes, as films are unspooling and critics and juries are assessing there is also the story of films that are getting picked up for U. S. distribution.


Indiewire has been keeping a running compilation of Cannes Fest acquisitions.  Of note:

The Cohen Media Group has snagged L'Amant Double (at TFF #43 last year-Journey Through French Cinema)
The Orchard has 120 BPM (last year @ TFF-Neruda)
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Loveless and The Rider TFF 2016- Toni Erdmann, Maudie, Norman).

These deals probably up the chances of each of these four films to make it to Labor Day in the San Juans.

The Indiewire article is here.

Specific acquisition stories are here from Variety, Deadline and from The Film Stage.



WHAT'S IT MEAN FOR TELLURIDE



With just a couple of days left of Cannes it's good to remember that the Cannes/T-ride crossover averages around eight films.

T-ride profiles that have increased that last ten days:

Faces/Places (Varda and JR)
120 BPM (Campillo)
L'Amant Double (Ozon)
The Rider (Zhao)

Staying Steady:

Wonderstruck (Haynes)
Loveless (Zvyagintsev)


Losing steam:

Happy End (Haneke)
Redoutable (Hazanvicius)

Jury Still Out:

You Were Never Really Here


That's Thursday's post.  More on Monday including Cannes winners and the impact on TFF...if any...


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