Thursday, July 31, 2025

Ten Bets #7 for TFF #52 / Is This Thing Off ? / Blue Moon Has a Trailer / The Secret Agent and Left-Handed Girl Get Dates

TEN BETS #7 FOR TFF #52




Four weeks from today we'll see the actual lineup for TFF #52.  Until then it's all speculation.  So, let's speculate.  But first, a recap of last week's Ten Bets:

This week's new Ten Bets:

1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Bugonia/Lanthimos
9) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
10) The History of Sound/Hermanus

Other possibilities: Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, A House of Dynamite, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up.


With some new information over the last week, the new Ten Bets are so:

This week's new Ten Bets:

1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach


Other possibilities: Bugonia, Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, The Drama, Pillion, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Train Dreams.


Jay Kelly moves into the Ten Bets on the strength of some reporting earlier in the week.  It bumps Bugonia.  New additions to the "Possibles" include: Pillion, The Drama, At the sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The wizard of the Kremlin and Train Dreams ( I know it played Sundance but maybe it'll be an exception like The Outrun last year).


IS THIS THING OFF?




It sure seems that way as the New York Film Festival announced yesterday that Bradley Cooper's Is This On? was announced as that fest's Closing Night film and will be a World Premiere which means it will not play Telluride or Toronto either for that matter.

It has been a film that I have had high hopes for vis-a-vis TFF #52 but, alas, Nope!


BLUE MOON HAS A TRAILER


Listed currently as a "Possibility" for TFF #52, Richard Linklater's Blue Moon is set for release  on Oct. 24th.  I've had Blue Moon in earlier iterations of the Ten Bets and still feel pretty good about its chances of making the lineup.

Anyway, Sony Pictures Classics released a trailer for the film on Tuesday.  here it is from YouTube:


I liked it.



THE SECRET AGENT AND LEFT-HANDED GIRL GET DATES




Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent has been dated for U.S. release.  Neon has set a New York roll out for Nov. 26th followed by release in L.A. on Dec. 5th.  The Secret Agent was a big winner at Cannes gaining awards for Best Director and Best Actor among the films in competition for the Palme d'Or.  

Its description at IMDb is as follows:

In 1977, a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks.


Meanwhile...




Netflix announced yesterday that Shih-Ching Tsou's Left-Handed Girl has been dated for a Nov. 14th theatrical release allowing it to meet Academy Awards requirements for Oscar consideration should it be submitted.  The film played as a part of Cannes Critics Week and had a healthy Cannes-ratings.org average of 7.74 (8th best overall of all films that played in various sections of Cannes).  The film also picked up the Semaine Distribution Prize.

The film was produced, co-written and edited by Oscar winner Sean Baker (who won Oscars for each of those jobs for Anora last year).

Its IMDb description:

A single mother and her two daughters relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall, each navigating the challenges of adapting to their new environment while striving to maintain family unity.



EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

1 comment:

two0ten said...

And the same day it becomes a Telluride possibility, TIFF announces No Other Choice as a North American Premiere. Another contender off the list!