THE NEW MALICK AT TFF #46?
Like a lot of the film community, I've been keeping an eye on the latest film, A Hidden Life, from auteur Terrence Malick for...well...a long time. News appeared this week that might nudge its chances of playing at Telluride a bit closer to a reality.
Fox Searchlight acquired the film for U.S. distribution after its play in Cannes. The film was reportedly acquired for somewhere between $12-14 million.
The anticipation at this point is that Searchlight will likely position the film for a fall release, plays at a fall fest or fests and campaign it as an awards contender.
Malick is notoriously reclusive and his previous Telluride brief, as best as I can sniff it out, came in 1998 as a producer for the film Endurance (IMDb link here).
Fox Searchlight's participation certainly doesn't hurt the films chances of playing at TFF #46 as the distributor has become a frequent presence in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend. Last year Searchlight was at the fest with Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Favourite and The Old Man and the Gun. In 2017, FS screened The Shape of Water at TFF #44 which, of course, went on to capture the Oscar for Best Picture. Searchlight has also has Best Picture wins in the last decade with 12 Years a Slave and Birdman both of which also played the Telluride fest.
So...this week's acquisition activity probably bumps up the chances that A Hidden Life makes its way to southwest Colorado in about thee months.
THE CRITICS AT CANNES
Checking in with Reini Urban's collection of critical responses to the films that have been screening this last week-plus at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.
With just a few days left before awards are handed out Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite sits atop the overall critical reception. The film boasts a cumulative 8.57 rating on a scale of 10 (with over 200 critics counted) making it not only the highest rated film of the Palme competitors but the top rated film when all categories are considered.
Parasite has U.S. distribution from a relative newcomer on the scene: Neon. Despite its youth, Neon has been well represented at Telluride the past few years with The B Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography (2016), Border (2018) and The Biggest Little Farm (2018) all making the TFF lineup so Parasite becomes a serious potential TFF #46 film.
Other notes from the critical compilation: 3 other Palme competing films are in the critics top ten at the moment. That includes Almodovar's Pain and Glory (8.43 at #3) , Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (7.76 at #6) and Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (7.57 at #9).
Robert Eggers The Lighthouse is at #2 with a 8.48 rating. The Lighthouse is being distributed domestically by A24. Aside from the Tarantino film which with be released in the U.S. on July 26th, the other four films have a shot at Telluride.
Other Cannes films that I've taken note of as potential TFF choices and their critical response at this point include:
Young Ahmed/Dardennes- 5.47
A Hidden Life/Malick- 6.93
Matthias and Maxime/Dolan 5.84
Frankie/Sachs 5.53
Joan of Arc/Dumont 6.30
Port Authority/Lessovitz 5.56
Diego Maradona/Kapadia 7.11
Family Romance/Herzog 5.95
The Climb/Covino 6.76
A rating above 6.0 is generally regarded as good to great but hasn't necessarily been a determinative factor regarding whether TFF programs a Cannes film.
The Palme and other awards will be announced tomorrow and Saturday.
The Urban critical compilation is linked here.
COMING SOON
Still of Sarah Paulson in The Goldfinch (from IMDb)
Anton Volkov's Trailer Track website says we're about to get the first trailer for John Crowley's The Goldfinch. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson and Ansel Engort.
The film is set for U.S. release on Sept. 13th and is distributed by Warner Bros with Amazon Studios distributing worldwide and also acting as a production company for the film.
All of this means that it's a TFF #46 possibility.
Stay tuned for the trailer.
That's it for today. Come back Monday for a look at Cannes awards results and if that menas anything for Labor Day weekend.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)
FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page
COMMENT TO THE BLOG
No comments:
Post a Comment