Critical Consensus / Trailer and Clip: Nouvelle Vauge and History of Sound / Visitations: Buckley, Mescal, Roher / The People's Telluride #13

 CRITICAL CONSENSUS

I am posting Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores as of yesterday for many TFF #52 films:

Ballad of a Small Player     MC: 51     RT: 69    Combo: 120

Blue Moon                          MC: 78     RT: 97    Combo: 175

Bugonia                               MC: 74     RT: 92    Combo: 166

Frankenstein                        MC: 75     RT: 80    Combo: 155

Hamnet                                MC: 88     RT: 89    Combo: 177

The History of Sound          MC: 62     RT: 66    Combo: 128

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You    MC: 82     RT: 93    Combo: 175

It Was Just an Accident       MC: 88     RT: 98     Combo: 186

Jay Kelly                             MC: 66    RT: 86     Combo: 152

La Grazia                             MC: 69    RT: 76     Combo: 145   

The Mastermind                  MC: 79     RT: 89    Combo: 168

Nouvelle Vague                   MC: 72     RT: 88    Combo: 160

Pillion                                  MC: 85     RT: 100  Combo: 185

A Private Life                      MC: 66     RT: 69    Combo: 135

The Secret Agent                 MC: 87     RT: 100  Combo: 187

Sentimental Value:               MC: 89    RT: 95     Combo: 184

Spingsteen: Deliver Me...    MC: 69    RT: 100   Combo: 169

And ordered by combined Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes score:

1) The Secret Agent: 187

2) It Was Just an Accident: 186

3) Pillion: 185

4) Sentimental Value: 184

5) Hamnet: 177 

6) If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: 175 (tie)

6) Blue Moon: 175 (tie)

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere: 169

9) The Mastermind: 168

10) Bugonia: 166

11) Nouvelle Vague: 160

12) Frankenstein : 155

13) Jay Kelly: 152

14) La Grazia: 145

15) A Private Life: 135

16) The History of Sound: 128

17) Ballad of a Small Player: 120     

I'll have my own set of Professionals deliver their verdict in Monday's post.

TRAILER AND CLIP

From YouTube:

Trailer for Nouvelle Vague:

Clip from The History of Sound:

 VISITATIONS

Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal on Hamnet from Deadline.               

Daniel Roher on Tuner from The Hollywood Reporter.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE #13

You've have a few days left to get your ratings in for The People's Telluride.  At the moment we're at about half the respondents (maybe a bit more) that normally participate each year.  Additionally, the Pros are doing their part and I plan to have the The Professionals ratings up a week from today.

Again, email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

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

The People's Telluride / Many Trailers / The Film Stage's 50 Films

 THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

You've got a week left to get your ratings in for The People's Telluride.  At the moment we're at about half the respondents (maybe a bit more) that normally participate each year.  Additionally, the Pros are doing their part and I plan to have the The Professionals ratings up a week from today.

Again, email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

MANY TRAILERS

During and after the fest there were a number of teasers/trailers released for TFF #52 films.  Here are some of those from YouTube:

MEGADOC

THE SECRET AGENT

BUGONIA

HAMNET

URCHIN

THE FILM STAGE'S 50 FILMS

The Film Stage published a list of 50 films to see this fall along with their release dates.  As you might expect a number of TFF #52 films made the list.  Here are those that did in chronological order:

The History of Sound 9/12

Megadoc 9/19

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 10/10

Urchin 10/10

It Was Just an Accident 10/15

Ballad of a Small Player 10/15

Blue Moon 10/17

The Mastermind 10/17

Frankenstein 10/17

Bugonia 10/24

Nouvelle Vague 10/31

Sentimental Value 11/7

Jay Kelly 11/14

The Secret Agent 11/26

Hamnet 11/27

Included as "Other films to see" are:

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 10/24

La Grazia 12/5

The complete Film Stage post is linked here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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Reminder: The People's Telluride / MTFB and the Bets / Fewest Films Ever

REMINDER: THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

Well Friends...

It is time.  If you haven't already sent in your ratings for TFF #51 films that you saw, now's the time.  A reminder about the process.  Email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

MTFB AND THE BETS

MTFB went 23/25 on the "Final Bets"  missing on the inclusion of  The Young Mothers' Home and Resurrection.  Also, I had only one "possible" that made the lineup and that was Megadoc.

"Bets" I was proud about making predictions for:

*Blue Moon and A Private Life and predicting them despite contradictory premiere designations.

*Urchin which I snuck in at the last minute.

  

As I have alluded to, this year seemed to be the toughest to crack in a long, long time.

Statistically, this year was my least successful since I started doing the expanded "Final Bets" back in 2016.

2024: 25 0f 25

2023: 24 of 25

2022: 24 of 25

2021: 24 of 25

2020: No fest

2019: 24 of 25

2018: 25 of 25

2017: 24 of 25

2016: 20 of 20

Additionally, the first stab at "Bets" back in June was fairly successful going 7 of 10.  The films that screened that appeared on my very first "Bets" are in Bold below:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Blue Moon/Linklater

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) The Love That Remains/Palmason

5) Sentimental Value/Trier

6) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardennes

7) The Secret Agent/Filho

8) Hamnet/Zhao

9) Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

10) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

Here's the track record of initial bets going back to 2011:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10
2017: 7/10
2018: 5/10

2019: 4/10

2020: No fest

2021: 8/10

2022: 6/10

2023: 6/10

2024: 7/10

2025: 8/10 

The puts the average at 6.0  correct guesses per year.

FEWEST FILMS EVER

Through a series of events (such as missing all of Monday) I saw fewer films this year than any year since I started coming back in 2006.

Hamnet 5/5

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 5/5

Jay Kelly: 4/5

Blue Moon 3/5

That's it.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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TBAs for Monday

TBA'S FOR MONDAY

GALAXY 

4:15pm Frankenstein

THE ZOG

4:00pm If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

6:45pm Blue Moon

SHERIDAN OPERA HOUSE

6:45pm The Cycle of Love

MASONS HALL

6:30pm Highway 99 A Double Album

LA PIERRE

1:40pm Student Prints

6:15pm All That's Left of You

BACKLOT

1:15pm King Hamlet

3:00pm Bend in the River

4:45pm Chaplin: Spirit of the Times

TBAs for Sunday

TBA'S FOR SUNDAY

The Zog: Frankenstein 9:30 pm

The Palm: Frankenstein 10:00 pm

Sheridan Opera House: H Is for Hawk10:15 pm 

Mason's Hall: Megadoc 10:30 pm 

TBAs for Saturday

 TBA's FOR SATURDAY

At the Zog at 10:00pm-Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

At the La Pierre at 8:45pm- All That's Left of You

The TFF #52 Lineup Revealed

 “A Private Life” (d. Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2025)

“Ask E. Jean” (d. Ivy Meeropol, U.S., 2025)

“Ballad of a Small Player” (d. Edward Berger, Hong Kong/Macau, 2025)

“Blue Moon” (d. Richard Linklater, U.S./Ireland, 2025)

“Bugonia” (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.K., 2025)

“Cover-Up” (d. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, U.S., 2025)

“Everywhere Man: The Lives and Times of Peter Asher” (d. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, U.S./U.K., 2025)

“Ghost Elephants” (d. Werner Herzog, Angola/Namibia/U.S., 2025)

“H Is for Hawk” (d. Philippa Lowthorpe, U.K./U.S., 2025)

“Hamlet” (d. Aneil Karia, U.K., 2025)

“Hamnet” (d. Chloé Zhao, U.K., 2025)

“Highway 99: A Double Album” (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2025)

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (d. Mary Bronstein, U.S., 2025)

“It Was Just an Accident” (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg, 2025)

“Jay Kelly” (d. Noah Baumbach, Italy/U.K./U.S., 2025)

“Karl” (d. Nick Hooker, U.K., 2025)

“La Grazia” (d. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2025)

“Lost in the Jungle” (d. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Juan Camilo Cruz, U.S./Colombia, 2025)

“Lumière, le Cinéma” (d. Thierry Frémaux, France, 2024)

“Man on the Run” (d. Morgan Neville, U.S., 2025)

“Nouvelle Vague” (d. Richard Linklater, France, 2025)

“Pillion” (d. Harry Lighton, U.K., 2025)

“Sentimental Value” (d. Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark/Germany, 2025)

“Shifty” (d. Adam Curtis, U.K., 2025)

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2025)

“Summer Tour” (d. Mischa Richter, U.S., 2025)

“The American Revolution” (d. Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt, U.S., 2025)

“The Bend in the River” (d. Robb Moss, U.S., 2025)

“The Cycle of Love” (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K./India/Sweden, 2025)

“The History of Sound” (d. Oliver Hermanus, U.S., 2025)

“The Mastermind” (d. Kelly Reichardt, U.S., 2025)

“The New Yorker at 100” (d. Marshall Curry, U.S., 2025)

“The Reserve” (d. Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Mexico/Qatar, 2025)

“The Secret Agent” (d. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany, 2025)

“This Is Not a Drill” (d. Oren Jacoby, U.S., 2025)

“Tuner” (d. Daniel Roher, U.S./Canada, 2025)

“Urchin” (d. Harris Dickinson, U.K., 2025)

Short Films – The SHOW

“Last Days on Lake Trinity” (d. Charlotte Cooley, U.S., 2025)

“Sallie’s Ashes” (d. Brennan Robideaux, U.S., 2025)

“Song of My City” (d. David C. Roberts, U.S., 2025)

“All the Empty Rooms” (d. Joshua Seftel, U.S., 2025)

“All the Walls Came Down” (d. Ondi Timoner, U.S., 2025)

Backlot Screenings

“All I Had Was Nothingness” (d. Guillaume Ribot, France, 2025)

“Carol & Joy” (d. Nathan Silver, U.S., 2025)

“Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp” (d. Carmen Chaplin, Spain/U.K./Netherlands, 2024)

“Earth to Michael” (d. Nico López-Alegría, U.S., 2025)

“Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire” (d. Oren Rudavsky, U.S., 2024)

“King Hamlet” (d. Elvira Lind, U.S./Denmark, 2025)

“Megadoc” (d. Mike Figgis, U.S./U.K., 2025)

“Shooting” (d. Netalie Braun, Israel, 2025)

“The Golden Spurtle” (d. Constantine Costi, U.K./Australia, 2025)

“Their Eyes” (d. Nicolas Gourault, France, 2025)

Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. The Conversations series, sponsored by Indian Paintbrush, is devoted to cinema and culture. The outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public.

Special Screenings and Festivities

“Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D 2025: Restoration and Recreation” (d. Werner Herzog, France/Canada/U.S./U.K./Germany, 2010)

“Learning to Fly” (d. Max Lowe, U.S./France/Switzerland/Italy/China/Hong Kong, 2025)

“The New Yorker at 100: A Gallery Exhibition,” a curation of cinema-inspired cover art and cartoons from The New Yorker’s iconic archives

“Steal This Story, Please!” (d. Carl Dean, Tia Lessin, U.S., 2025)

4K Restoration of “The Gold Rush” (d. Charles Chaplin, U.S., 1925)

Festival Poster Signing with Daniel Clowes

Truth Be Told: Journalism and Filmmaking in the 21st Century, a Special Panel presented by Turner Classic Movies

Telluride Film Festival’s Education Programs present students with the opportunity to experience film as an art form and to expand participants’ worldviews through film screenings and filmmaker discussions, including:

FINAL BETS FOR TFF #52 / Telluride Reveals Free Screenings ( and its Guest Director)

 FINAL BETS FOR TFF #52

Here they are.  MTFB's Final stab at what Telluride will unveil tomorrow.  As I wrote on Monday...I'm not as solid as I'd like to be about this year's "Bets".  Nevertheless, here we go:

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) Bugonia/Lanthimos

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

9) The History of Sound/Hermanus

10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 

11) Tuner/Roher

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

16) Pillion/Lighton

17) La Grazia/Sorrentino

18) Resurrection/Bi Gan

19) Blue Moon/Linklater

20) The American Revolution/Burns

21) Merle Haggard: Highway 99/Hawke

22) Secret Oscar Isaac Documentary/??? (Turns out it's King Hamlet)

23) The Young Mother's Home/Dardennes Brothers

24) A Private Life/Zlotowski

25) Urchin/Dickinson

Other possibilities: All That's Left of You, Barrio Triste, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams, Pluribus, The Savant.

Now, I'm hitting the road!  See you in The Ride!

TELLURIDE REVEALS FREE SCREENINGS (AND ITS GUEST DIRECTOR)

The Telluride Daily Planet published a flyer today that reveals some screenings as well as the choices of films to screen from Guest Director Ezra Edelman:

The flyer confirms the Merle Haggard documentary (#21 on the Final Bets) and Ken Burns American Revolution (#20 on the Final Bets).  Also Adam Curtis' five part documentary Shifty and Paul Phelan's doc Learning to Fly.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Leaving Wednesday / Tribute Clues / The Mastermind Has a Trailer and a Poster / Blue Moon Madness / Documentary Hints / The 13th People's Telluride

LEAVING WEDNESDAY

Yup.  Leaving Wednesday.  I will post MTFB's Final Bets for TFF #52 on  Wednesday morning.  Then, as has been our custom, we'll drive to Salida on Wednesday.  We'll complete the drive to Telluride on Thursday after the official lineup is announced and I've posted it here. 

I have to tell you that this has been one of the more difficult years to crack and I am less than confident about the films that will be on The Final Bets  in a couple of days.

TRIBUTE CLUES

Telluride film fans have known for some time that the films screened at the Abel Gance outdoor theater on the last couple of evenings before the Festival begins are often clues to possible Tribute recipients.  Last year, for example, the free screenings were After Hours and Lady Bird.  They pointed to tributes for Thelma Schoonmaker and Saorise Ronan.  The third tribute last year was for Jacques Audiard...which neither free screening pointed to.

So what does the free screenings for this year portend?

Before Sunshine...Richard Linklater or Ethan Hawke or possibly both.  Linklater almost certainly be in Telluride with Nouvelle Vague and possibly Blue Moon.  Hawke may be in town with Blue Moon and/or with a documentary discussed below.

The Squid and the Whale almost certainly means Noah Baumbach is getting a Silver Medallion as well.  

As to the third tribute?  My best guesses would be Chloe Zhao (who I believe would have been tributes in 2020 had the fest occurred), Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Farrell, Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Jesse Plemons, Scott Cooper or Kelly Reichardt.  It could also be a behind the camera honoree as Schoonmaker was last year.

, 

THE MASTERMIND HAS A TRAILER AND A POSTER

From YouTube, here's the trailer:

And the poster:

I enjoyed the trailer and might be enough for me to put The Mastermind on my list for this weekend.

BLUE MOON MADNESS

It's real and it continues.  After my last post a helpful reader pointed me towards the Calabasas Film Festival which will be screening Blue Moon during its run from Sept. 17-22.  I looked it up...it's true. Here's a pic from the Calabasas Fest's home page:

That would explain the "disconnect" between Toronto and New York premiere designations and mean no Blue Moon at Telluride.  I'll tell you, though, I still think that Blue Moon might make an appearance at TFF #52.  Hope it does.

DOCUMENTARY HINTS

Last post you might have seen the section that mentions Oscar Isaac slipping in a visit to Telluride this weekend between screenings in Venice per Variety.  He's reported to be headed our way to support a mysterious documentary.  Try as I might, I haven't unearthed what it is.  

Since the last post I have also stumbled across a mention on social media of a probable documentary focused on Country and Western music legend Merle Haggard.  After some digging that would likely be a film that, at least as reported by a California TV News program, would be "Merle Haggard: Highway 99" and has been directed by Ethan Hawke.

Don't bother looking for it on IMDb.  It's not there.

I do have the video that ran at station KGET of Bakersfield, CA:

HE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION

For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

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Ten Bets (Plus)#10 for TFF #52 / Mystery Doc to Play Telluride / Cleaning Up Some Weirdness / Who Could Be at TFF #52? / Awards Watch Pod is All T-ride This Week / Trailers: Ballad of a Small Player and The History of Sound / the 13th People's Telluride

TEN BETS (PLUS) FOR TFF #52

We really are getting down to it.  Eight more days and the 52nd Telluride Film Festival opens.  So here's the penultimate set of "Bets" for what may play at TFF #52.  First, a recap of last week's "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 

11) Bugonia/Lanthimos

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

16) Pillion

17) La Grazia

18) Resurrection

19) Nuestra Tierra

20) Blue Moon

Other possibilities: A Private Life, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

This week' Ten Bets (Plus):

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) Bugonia/Lanthimos

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

9) The History of Sound/Hermanus

10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 

11) Tuner/Roher

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

16) Pillion/Lighton

17) La Grazia/Sorrentino

18) Resurrection/Bi Gan

19) Blue Moon/Linklater

20) A Private Life/Zlotowski

Other possibilities: Secret Documentary with Oscar Isaac, Barrio Triste, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

The Final Bets will be published next Wednesday in a Special Post!!!

MYSTERY DOC TO PLAY TELLURIDE

I've certainly been bemoaning the fact that Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein isn't indicated for Telluride.  Toronto has it listed as a North American premiere.  But it seems that at least one of members of that cast will make the trek from its Venetian World premiere to Telluride and that is none other than Dr. Frankenstein himself, Oscar Isaac.

How do we know this?  Variety had a huge, splashy piece on Frankenstein up yesterday with .  The piece includes interview responses from Del Toro, Isaac and Jacob Elordi who plays the monster.  Included in the story is this nugget:

"After the Venice gala, Isaac will fly to Telluride to screen a secret documentary that involves him. Then he travels back to Venice for the debut of “In the Hand of Dante,” a mob drama directed by Julian Schnabel."

A secret documentary?  Yes, it is.  I can't find a peep about it and I spent some time digging.

So, as you'll see above in the Ten Bets section, I've added that to the list of "Possibilities" and I'm very interested to find out what the story is here.

The complete Variety piece is linked here.

CLEANING UP SOME WEIRDNESS

In my last post I had a section describing some disconnects between  premiere designations between Toronto and New York.  Some of that has been explained.

A friendly reader pointed me toward the Camden International Film Festival which runs the weekend after Telluride so that also means before New York (Sept. 26-Oct. 13) and its lineup explains what seems to be the contradiction between the two film fest's designation. Three films in question will be playing Camden: Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence.  Camden lists Nuestra Tierra and With Hasan in Gaza as U.S. premieres and Evidence as a North American premiere.  That clears up what looked like a disconnect between  the Toronto and New York designations and means none of those films are likely playing at Telluride.

Meanwhile Sirat, another film with a TIFF/NYFF contradiction has been announced by Fantastic Fest (Sept. 18-25) as a U.S. premiere so the same logic applies and it looks like Sirat is definitively off the TFF#52 list.

That leaves Blue Moon, A Private Life and Barrio Triste as still unexplained TIFF/NYFF contradictory designations.  Of the three it feels to me like Blue Moon is the most likely to play Telluride then A Private Life and lastly, Barrio Triste.

WHO COULD BE AT TFF #52?

Hamnet: Chloe Zhao, Paul Mescal, Jesse Buckley, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn

Sentimental Value: Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Reinsve, Elle Fanning

The Ballad of a Small Player: Edward Berger, Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton

Nouvelle Vague: Richard Linklater, Zoe Deutch

Tuner: Daniel Roher, Dustin Hoffman

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere: Scott Cooper, Jeremy Allen White, Paul Walter Hauser, Jeremy Strong, Stephen Graham (and in a perfect world, the Boss himself)

The History of Sound: Oliver Hermanus, Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor, Chis Cooper

Jay Kelly: Noah Baumbach, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig

Bugonia: Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons

The Mastermind: Kelly Reichardt, John Magaro, Josh O'Connor, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Gaby Hoffman

Hamlet: Riz Ahmed, Joe Alwyn, Timothy Spall

Pillion: Henry Lighton, Alexander Skarsgard, Henry Melling

Blue Moon: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Canavalle

Secret Documentary: Oscar Isaac

Others from among the "Possibles" list:

Jodie Foster

Jennifer Lawrence

Robert Pattinson

Zendaya

Amy Adams

Anne Hathaway

Kate Mara

Rooney Mara

Orlando Bloom

Joel Edgerton

Felicity Jones

AWARDS WATCH PODCAST IS ALL T-RIDE THIS WEEK

Awards Watch gathered about half a dozen folks who will all be attending TFF for their podcast this week so the focus is all about predicting films and potential Tribute recipients.  It's interesting.  They've got a title or two that I don't currently have and a slew of guesses about Silver Medallions.    Take a listen if you're so inclined:

This links to the podcast.

TRAILERS: 

THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

THE HISTORY OF SOUND

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION

For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will by Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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It Was Just an Accident: Poster and Trailer / Guest Director Anyone? / New York and Toronto Re-visit / The 13th People's Telluride

 IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT: POPSTER AND TRAILER

11 days and counting to TFF #52.  As the fest approaches Neon released both a poster and a trailer for Jafar Panahi's Plame d'Or winner , It Was Just an Accident.  I've had  it on my Ten Bets list throughout the summer.  Last week's "Bets" had the film listed as the #2 Best Bet.  The film is described at IMDb  as this:

A small mishap triggers a chain reaction of ever-growing problems.

Fairly cryptic, eh?

The film opens in the U.S. on Oct 15th.

Here's the poster:

And the trailer from YouTube:

GUEST DIRECTOR ANYONE?

So it seems that TFF has established something of a new protocol about Guest Directors going forward.  for the third consecutive year the fest is down to the wire without having named a Guest Director.  as I wrote last year about this topic, for the past few years the fest announced the Guest Director usually in the third week of June.  But for TFF #50 and #51, they did not announce them until the big reveal of official film titles on the Thursday before the festival began.

Last year, that was the timing for the reveal of Kenneth Lonergan as Guest Director and for TFF #50 the announcement of multiple Guest Directors was also revealed the day before the fest.

So...I'm beginning to think that becomes the new normal.

Maybe we find out earlier, but I have my doubts.

NEW YORK AND TORONTO RE-VISIT

Poster for Sirat (which might still be in play for Telluride-see below)

I wrote last week about the premiere designations confusion that exists for three films announced for both the New York Fest and Toronto.  So, I thought I'd wander back to both festival's official online lineups to see if either fest had altered the premiere designations for any of the three films;

Landmarks: No change.

Blue Moon: No change.

A Private Life: No change.

 

Again all three films are listed as North American premieres by TIFF and as New York premieres for NYFF.  NYFF designating them as New York premieres is the real oddity.  It seems to me that if they're doing the North American premiere at Toronto then New York should have deemed them as U.S. premieres.

But there's more.  I went through all 18 non-revival films that New York labels as U.S. premieres and the 22 that they label as New York premieres and found that Sirat and Barrio Triste also are listed in the same weird and contradictory way as Blue Moon, Landmarks and A Private Life.  So, perhaps those two films are also actually still possible for Telluride.

Finally, a couple of other films are listed by NYFF as New York premieres and I can't detect why.  They are With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION

For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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

Ten Bets (Plus) #9 for TFF #52 / New York Spotlight Clues, Confusions and Confirmations / Marty Supreme Drama / First Photo of Hamnet

TEN BETS (PLUS) #9 FOR TFF #52

New info earlier this week from announcements coming from the New York Film Fest and the Toronto International Film Festival inform this week's Ten Bets.  New York's Spotlight section announcements seem to confirm that La Grazia and Pillion are headed to Telluride.  

What will NOT be playing Telluride as it will World Premiere at New York id the return of Daniel Day-Lewis to film acting in Anemone.

Confusion was created when New York also listed Blue Moon and A Private Life as "New York" premieres as opposed to a "U.S." premiere designation.  Much like Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) last week, that designation puts those film at odds with their "North American" premiere designations from TIFF.  Both designations can't be true.  Consequently I'll be putting both A Private Life as well as Blue Moon back on the list.

Toronto announced half a dozen new films and dropped their schedule on Tuesday.  The six films didn't reveal any Telluride possibilities but did confirm that No Other Choice and The Wizard of the Kremlin are not T-ride players. 

By way of recap, here's last week's Ten Bets (Plus):

1) Hamnet/Zhao

2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

3) Sentimental Value/Trier

4) The 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 

11) Bugonia/Lanthimos

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

And this week's goes like this:

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 

11) Bugonia/Lanthimos

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

16) Pillion

17) La Grazia

18) Resurrection

19) Nuestra Tierra

20) Blue Moon

Other possibilities: A Private Life, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

NEW YORK SPOTLIGHT CLUES AND CONFUSIONS 

Last Tuesday the New York Film Festival revealed their Spotlight section films and those reveals and their premiere designations provide us Telluride watchers with some clues.

First, the bad news... the Daniel Day-Lewis coming-out-of-acting-retirement film Anemone was announced as a NYFF World premiere...meaning no Telluride.

Some good news... from their designations as New York premieres it looks like Pillion and La Grazia are almost certainly Telluride bound.  La Grazia is opening Venice so has time to get to Telluride.

Some confusion:  Blue Moon and A Private Life were also listed as New York premieres which is a curious designation as those two films were announced by Toronto as Nort American premieres.  Both things cannot be true.  If the Toronto designation is correct then no Telluride for either film.  If the New York designation is trye that would signify a Telluride play as NYFF would almost assuredly have designated them as U.S. premieres if they were not playing Telluride.  That's illustrated by the U.S. premiere designation for Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.  It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.  For now, I'm back to cautious optimism about both films for Labor Day.

Some confirmations... Nouvelle Vague announced as a NY preem confirms for Telluride.

A couple of other notes...documentaries about Martin Scorsese and Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller are labelled World premieres so no Telluride for either.  I thought the Scorsese doc was a real possibility.

Here is the complete announcement from the New York Fest.

MARTY SUPREME DRAMA

Early in the week there was quite a bit of scuttlebutt that Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme might be showing up at a "fall fest" after all.  There was a good deal of speculation about what fest that might be.  With Toronto and New York purportedly done announcing films the likely culprits would be Telluride, New York or AFI.

Now, I was really hoping that might mean a landing at TFF #52 but replying to a query on X I expressed that it was my belief that the odds were 3-1 in New York's favor.  That estimate seems to have been born out.  According to World of Reel on Wednesday, if it is to happen it will be at NYFF.

FIRST PHOTO FROM HAMNET

We're 99% sure Chloe Zhao's Hamnet will bow at TFF #52.  Tuesday we got our first official image from the film that stars Paul Mescal and Jesse Buckley.  Here that is:

The IMDb description for Hamnet:

The story of Agnes - the wife of William Shakespeare - as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. A human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet.

Hamnet is set for a limited opening on Nov. 27th.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Late Breaking: Springsteen Added to New York / Die My Love Still in Play? / Gold Derby Oscar Ratings for What We Think Is Headed to TFF #52

LATE BREAKING: NEW YORK ADDS SPRINGSTEEN

Just announced this morning after the blog's post time, the New York Film Festival has added Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to its lineup as a Spotlight Gala.  Noteworthy is that the language of the press release refers to it as a premiere but does NOT indicate what level of premiere.

I have also been told that the original release may have suggested that it was a World premiere but that has been scrubbed for the current language.

All of this tends to support the notion that the film will, in fact bow initially at Telluride.

Here's the link to the NYFF announcement in its current form:

https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff/daily/scott-coopers-springsteen-deliver-me-from-nowhere-announced-as-nyff63-spotlight-gala/

DIE, MY LOVE STILL IN PLAY?

We haven't heard much about Lynne Ramsay and Die, My Love since Cannes.  But now, over the weekend, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel sourcing from Screen Daily suggests that Ramsay has been re-editing the film since Cannes.  Ruimy also reminds us that the same scenario occurred when Ramsay screened We Need to Talk About Kevin at Cannes in 2011 and then worked on further editing it afterwards.  Of course that film went on to screen at Telluride.

Ruimy even suggests that a repeat of that scenario is not completely out of the question writing:

"IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast seems to now be hinting that Ramsay went back to the editing room after Cannes to further shape “Die, My Love,” which might potentially explain its absence at the fall fests — although I still wouldn’t rule out a Telluride appearance."

The WOR story is linked here.

GOLD DERBY OSCAR RANKINGS FOR WHAT WE THINK IS HEADED TO TFF #52 

As many of you readers know, when the fest concludes on Sept. 1st and this space will then become focused on the awards season fortunes of the films that make up the TFF #52 lineup.  So I took a look at how the experts at Gold Derby had rated some of the films that we think may play T-ride in a few weeks.  Here's where they sit:

#3 Sentimental Value

#4 Jay Kelly

#7 Bugonia

#8 Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

#13 It Was Just an Accident

#15 Hamnet

#21 The Ballad of Small Player

#35 The History of Sound

#39 The Mastermind

#47 The Secret Agent

#48 Nouvelle Vague

If the Gold Derby experts are correct TFF #52 would have four films get Oscar nominated for Best Picture.

Here's the link to the latest Gold Derby line.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Ten Bets (Plus) #8 for TFF #52 / Venice Schedule Is Up / Jay Kelly Has a Teaser and Posters / First Looks at Nouvelle Vague

TEN BETS (PLUS) #8 FOR TFF #52

Lots of information flying around earlier this week from Toronto and New York allows us to clean up the Ten Bets as well as "possibilities".  By way of review, here's 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) 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.

Now, in light of the week's info...the new Ten Bets (Plus):

This week's new Ten Bets (Plus):

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 

11) Bugonia/Lanthimos

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

I was shocked that Blue Moon was announced by Toronto as a North American Premiere.  I would have bet actual money that it was going to be at Telluride.  I was almost as certain that The Love That Remains would also make it to TFF#52 but it was also announced as a TIFF North American premiere.

Here's the list of films that I had been T-ride watching which got nuked for TFF#52 by announcements earlier this week:

Blue Moon

The Love That Remains

Late Fame

Magellan

Mirrors #3

No Other Choice

Two Prosecutors

The President's Cake

Unidentified

Left-Handed Girl

Orphan

Orwell 2+2=5

Films that moved up the Ten Bets based on this week's information:

The Mastermind

Cover-Up

Hamlet

Resurrection

Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) is up in the air.  New York says it's a NY Premiere.  Toronto says it has the North American premiere.  If New York is correct means probably Telluride.  If Toronto is correct...no Telluride.

VENICE SCHEDULE IS UP

Early this morning the official public schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted.  The schedule appears to confirm that theses films are screening early enough to make it to Colorado:

La Grazia (Opening night film)

From 8/28

Ghost Elephants

Orphan

Bugonia

Jay Kelly

Megadoc

From 8/29

Cover-Up

After the Hunt

From earlier announcements from other fests we believe that Orphan and After the Hunt are off the table for Telluride.  

We're  also pretty sure that this helps signal that Bugonia, Jay Kelly and Cover-Up are headed to Telluride.

Ghost Elephants...that's Werner Herzog...making me think that it's in the bag for Telluride.  Megadoc?  I'm not so sure.  Also that could be complicated Francis Ford Coppola's health situation.

You can take a look at the full Venice schedule here.

JAY KELLY HAS A TEASER AND POSTERS

Maybe the hottest buzz for now is coming from Jay Kelly which we feel very confident is going to TFF #52.  Here's the teaser via YouTube:

and posters of George Clooney and Adam Sandler:

Ans some stills from a Vanity Fair "First Looks" article:

Jay Kelly opens on Nov. 14th.

FIRST LOOKS AT NOUVELLE VAGUE

Three stills from Rotten Tomatoes:

 

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