Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
On this Boxing Day, I take a look at my latest assessment at the Oscar nomination chances for the categories of Visual Effects as well as Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. I last assessed these categories on Nov. 25th. As always, TFF #46 films are indicated with Bold.
VISUAL EFFECTS
1) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2)
2) The Irishman (4)
3) The Lion King (1)
4) Avengers: Endgame (3)
5) 1917 (-)
6) Alita: Battle Angel (-)
Other possibles: Gemini Man, Cats, Captain Marvel
SOUND EDITING
1) 1917 (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (2)
3) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (3)
4) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (6)
5) Avengers: Endgame (5)
6) Joker (-)
Other possibles: Ad Astra, The Irishman, Toy Story 4
SOUND MIXING
1) 1917 (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (3)
3) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2)
4) Once Upon a Time... (5)
5) Rocketman (6)
6) Ad Astra (4)
Other possibles: The Irishman, Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4
PRESENT FOR IN THE ABSENCE
If you read the previous post, you know that I crowed about getting my first Oscar film screener. That came last week from the producers of the Oscar short-listed Documentary Short Subject film In the Absence.
The 29 minute film explores the sinking of a South Korean ferry boat in 2014 that cost the lives of nearly 300 people and seeks to reveal the choices among bureaucrats that contributed to the loss of life.
I found it harrowing and moving, and of course will now keep my fingers crossed that it moves from the short list to the list of nominated doc shorts that are announced on Jan. 13th.
Here's a link to Anne Thompson's (Indiewire) video interview with the two lead actors from Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life: August Diehl and Valerie Pachner.
Best Picture nominations predictions were last posted here on Nov. 18th. As always, TFF #46 films are indicated in Bold. The film or performers previous position in these predictions are indicated in parentheses.
1) Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (1)
2) The Irishman (2)
3) 1917 (7) 4) Parasite (3) 5) Marriage Story (4)
6) Jojo Rabbit (5) 7) The Two Popes (6)
8) Joker (10) 9) Ford v Ferrari (9)
10) The Farewell (-)
Other possibles: Bombshell, Little Women, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Now for first predictions for Visual Effects, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing:
VISUAL EFFECTS
1) The Lion King
2) Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
3) Avengers: Endgame
4) The Irishman
5) Ad Astra 6) The Aeronauts
Other possibles: 1917, Cats, Captain Marvel, Gemini Man
SOUND EDITING
1) 1917 2) Ford v Ferrari
3) Star Wars; Rise of Skywalker
4) Ad Astra
5) Avengers: Endgame
6) Once Upon a Time...
Other possibles: Joker, The Irishman, Gemini Man
SOUND MIXING
1) 1917
2) Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker 3) Ford v Ferrari
4) Ad Astra
5) Once Upon a Time...
6) Rocketman
Other possibles: Avengers: Endgame, Judy, Cats
OSCAR NOMINATION TOTALS FOR TFF FILMS
Over the last couple of weeks, MTFB has predicted all 21 feature categories for Oscar nominations. If I'm 100% correct, this is how TFF #46 films will fare on announcement morning-Jan. 13, 2020
Marriage Story is projected to have seven nominations: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay and Original Score
The Two Popes is projected to have five nominations: Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Production Design
Ford v Ferrari is projected to have five nominations: Picture, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing
Parasite is predicted to have four nominations: Picture, Director, Film Editing and Cinematography
Judy is projected to have two nominations: Actress and Makeup/Hair
Pain and Glory a single nomination for Actor
A Hidden Life a single nomination for Cinematography
INDIE SPIRIT NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced this week and a few TFF #46 films were in the mix.
Uncut Gems was one the bigger presences among the nominees as the film lead in total nominations (along with The Lighthouse) with five. It was nominated for Best Feature, Direction, Actor (Sandler), Screenplay and Editing.
Marriage Story was also highly feted with nominations for Best Feature and Screenplay and the film will also receive The Robert Altman Award.
TFF #46 films with single nominations included:
A Hidden Life for Best Feature
Judy for Best Actress (Zellweger)
Waves for Best Supporting Actress (Russell)
and both Parasite and Portrait of a Lady on Fire for Best International Feature.
Regular readers of this space know that The Composite Telluride is the melding of the ratings of The People and The Professionals. My thought when I began putting composites together was that it might give an even more complete overview of the reactions, in a general sense, of the attendees to each year's festival
Each table shows the films, in order of best composite, that were shared by both The People and The Pros with their composite rating in parentheses and their two respective ranked positions in brackets.
Though I didn't originally do a composite Telluride in 2012, I have gone back and created that over the weekend.
2012
1) Argo (9.25) [2/2]
2) Stories We Tell (9.10) [3/1]
3) The Attack (8.70) [5/3]
4) Central Park Five (8.450 [1/13]
5) The Sapphires (8.36) [4/8]
6) Frances Ha (8.27) [5/9]
7) Amour (7.67) [10/6]
8) Rust and Bone (7.65) [7/16]
9) Baraka (7.50) [10/10]
10) The Iceman 7.41 [8/17]
11) No (6.61) [12/21]
12) The Gatekeepers (6.58) [14/18]
13) Hyde Park on Hudson (6.33) [14/20]
14) At Any Price (5.83) [9/24]
15) Everyday (4.88) [15/25]
2013
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) [1/2]
2) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) [4/1]
3) Gravity (8.75) [3/3]
4) Nebraska (8.38) [5/6]
5) All is Lost (8.26) [6/7]
6) Inside Llewyn Davis (8.25) [7/5]
7) Blue is the Warmest Color (8.15) [2/11]
8) The Past (7.71) [9/10]
9) The Lunchbox (7.55) [13/4]
10) The Wind Rises (7.1) [18/8]
11) Labor Day (7.0) [10/14]
11) (tie) Prisoners (7.0) [12/13]
13) Tracks (6.84) [16/12]
14) Palo Alto (6.4) [16/17]
15) The Invisible Woman (6.19) [20/18]
16) The Unknown Known (5.73) [15/20]
17) Under the Skin (5.1) [18/21]
2014
1) Birdman (9.18) [2/1]
2) Foxcatcher (8.83) [4/2]
3) The Imitation Game (8.79) [1/7]
4) Wild Tales (8.43) [3/4]
5) '71 (8.15) [6/3]
6) Mommy (7.42) [8/8]
7) Red Army (7.30) [7/11]
8) Two Days, One Night (7.21) [13/9]
9) Mr. Turner (7.10) [14/6]
10) Wild (6.71) [8/13]
11) Rosewater (6.52) [12/14]
12) The Homesman (6.38) [16/11]
13) Madame Bovary (6.18) [15/12]
2015
1) Spotlight (8.86) [2/3]
2) Son of Saul (8.74) [5/1]
3) Beasts of No Nation (8.62) [3/5]
4) Steve Jobs (8.17) [10/4]
5) Carol (8.13) [8/6]
6) Black Mass (7.98) [7/9]
7) Room (7.97) [1/11]
8) 45 Years (7.84) [11/7]
9) Anomalisa (7.78) [14/2]
10) Suffragette (7.07) [12/12]
11) He Named Me Malala (6.22) [13/13]
2016
1) Moonlight (9.19) [1/1]
2) La La Land (8.91) [2/2]
3) Manchester by the Sea (8.13) [5/4]
4) Arrival (8.01) [6/7]
5) Maudie (7.89) [3/9]
6) Sully (7.68) [10/6]
7) Toni Erdmann (7.65) [9/8]
8) Things to Come (7.25) [19/3]
9) Una (6.85) [15/10]
10) California Typewriter (6.78)[13/11]
10) Into the Inferno (6.78) [21/5]
12) Wakefield (6.26) [12/14]
13) Bleed for This (6.12) [14/13]
14) Norman (5.97) [16/15]
2017
1) The Shape of Water (8.72) [2/1]
2) Lady Bird (8.58) [1/5]
3) Faces Places (7.96) [5/2]
4) Darkest Hour (7.90) [3/8]
5) Hostiles (7.78) [4/9]
6) The Rider (7.63) [10/2]
7) Battle of the Sexes (7.62) [6/7]
8) First Reformed (7.32) [13/6]
9) Lean on Pete (7.16) [7/12]
10) First They Killed My Father (7.05) [15/10]
11) Loving Vincent (7.00) [12/11]
12) Wonderstruck (6.6) [10/13]
13) Downsizing (6.17) [16/14)]
14) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (6.16) [8/15]
2018
1) Roma (9.20) [1/1]
2) First Man (8.51) [2/2]
3) Free Solo (8.33) [5/3]
4) Cold War (8.16) [6/3]
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (7.91) [8/5]
6) The Favourite (7.66) [9/6]
7) Boy Erased (7.43) [4/10]
8) White Boy Rick (6.94) [7/11]
9) The Front Runner (6.74) [10/13]
10) Destroyer (6.69) [12/9]
11) Border (6.57) [16/8]
12) The Old Man and the Gun (6.56) [14/10]
All Time Top Ten Composite scores through 2018:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
7) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
8) La La Land (8.91) 2016 (Won Best Director)
9) Spotlight (8.86) 2015 (Won Best Picture)
10) Foxcatcher (8.83) 2014
AND NOW...YOUR 2019 COMPOSITE TELLURIDE RATINGS...
1) Parasite (9.11) [2/1]
2) The Two Popes (8.93) [1/2]
3) Marriage Story (8.54) [4/3]
4) Ford v. Ferrari (8.46) [3/7]
5) A Hidden Life (8.01) [5/5]
6) Waves (7.90) [12/4]
7) Pain and Glory (7.63) [5/9]
8) The Report (7.53) [9/8]
9) Motherless Brooklyn (7.22) [10/11]
10) Uncut Gems (7.00) [14/10]
11) Judy (6.93) [7/13]
12) The Aeronauts (6.75) [8/14]
13) The Climb (6.57) [15/12]
Both Parasite and The Two Popes will join the All Time Composite Top Ten displacing Spotlight and Foxcatcher.
The biggest disconnect between The Peeps and The Pros this year came with the evaluation of Waves where The Pros substantially regarded it more highly (The Pros gave it their fourth highest average rating while The People had it at #12). Two other films that were somewhat of a disconnect were The Aeronauts and Judy which The People regarded more highly than The Professionals.
Finally, here's the updated Composite All Time Top Ten:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Parasite (9.11) 2019
7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
8) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
9) The Two Popes (8.93) 2019
10) La La Land (8.91) 2016 (Won Best Director)
TFF OSCAR HISTORY PART FOUR
Here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the last half of the 90's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1995 (1)
Shanghai Triad- Cinematography
1996 (11/2)
Sling Blade- Adapted Screenplay-WON, Actor-Billy Bob Thornton
Secrets and Lies- Picture, Actress-Brenda Blethyn, Supporting Actress- Jean Marie Baptiste, Director-Mike Leigh, Original Screenplay
Breaking the Waves- Actress-Emily Watson
Koyla- Foreign Language-WON
Fly Away Home- Cinematography
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life- Documentary
1997 (4/1)
Affliction- Supporting Actor-James Coburn-WON, Actor-Nick Nolte
The Sweet Hereafter- Director- Atom Egoyan, Original Screenplay
1998 (3)
Central Station- Actress- Fernanda Montenegro, Foreign Language
Tango-Foreign Language
1999 (1)
The Straight Story- Actor-Richard Farnsworth
FORD V. FERRARI NEW TRAILER
Over the weekend 20th Century Fox/Disney released a new trailer for James Mangold's Ford v. Ferrari. Here that is from YouTube:
And a new poster as well:
TORONTO AWARDS JOJO
The Grolsch Audience Award for favorite film at the Toronto International Film Festival went to Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit won the prize. TFF #46 films came close to the win with Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story named as first runner-up and Bong Joon-ho's Parasite named as second runner-up.
Last year Green Book won the TIFF audience award and then went on to win Best Picture on Oscar night.
After ten days and some 70 responses, The People's Telluride for TFF #46 is complete. Those responding were asked to rate the films they saw on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being "not so good" and 5 being"OMG! This film is fantastic!"
Before the big reveal, here's some Peoples Telluride history...
The first Peoples Telluride was posted on Sept. 10, 2012. The top ten films from that year's fest from the populist perspective were:
1) Stories We Tell- 4.80
2) Argo- 4.75
3) The Attack- 4.70
4) The Act of Killing-4.41
5) Wadjda-4.2
6) Amour 4.17
7) Barbara- 4.17
8) The Sapphires-4.11
9) Frances Ha-4.07
10) (Tie)The Hunt and Baraka - 4.00
In subsequent years the top ten were:
2013:
1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)
2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)
3) Gravity (4.40)
4) The Lunchbox (4.25)
5) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.15)
6) Nebraska (4.08)
7) All is Lost (4.06)
8) The Wind Rises (4.0)
9) Ida (4.0)
10) The Past (3.81)
2014:
1) The Imitation Game (4.73)
2) Birdman (4.46)
3) Wild Tales (4.23)
4) Foxcatcher (4.20)
5) Merchants of Doubt (4.04)
6) '71 (3.90)
7) Red Army (3.63)
8) Wild (Tie 3.50)
8) Escobar: Paradise Lost (Tie 3.50)
8) Mommy (Tie 3.50)
2015:
1) Room (4.47)
2) Spotlight (4.45)
3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)
4) Ixcanul (4.31)
5) Son of Saul (4.30)
6) Marguerite (4.23)
7) Black Mass (4.13)
8) Carol (4.02)
9) Rams (3.98)
10) Steve Jobs (3.86)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.37)
2) La La Land (4.33)
3) Maudie (4.29)
4) The Eagle Huntress (4.21)
5) Manchester by the Sea (4.18)
6) Arrival (4.13)
7) Bright Lights (3.90)
8) Frantz (3.89)
9) Toni Erdmann (3.80)
10) Sully (3.79)
2017:
1) Lady Bird (4.38)
2) The Shape of Water (4.22)
3) Darkest Hour (4.04)
4) Hostiles (3.99)
5) Faces Places (3.71)
6) Battle of the Sexes (3.68)
7) Lean on Pete (3.66)
8) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (3.57)
9) The Other Side of Hope (3.45)
10) Wonderstruck (3.43)
And from last year:
1) Roma (4.47)
2) First Man (4.34)
3) Shoplifters (4.29)
4) Boy Erased (4.23)
5) Free Solo (4.19)
6) Cold War (4.02)
7) White Boy Rick (3.88)
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)
9) The Favourite (3.76)
10) The Front Runner (3.69)
The Peoples collective yen best films since I began the poll in 2012 have been:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14)
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13)
7) Room (4.47) (15) and Roma (4.47) (18) TIE
9) Birdman (4.46) (14)
10) Spotlight (4.45) (15)
AND NOW...THE 2019 PEOPLES TELLURIDE
16 films had sufficient responses from The People to make the 2019 list:
1) The Two Popes (4.51)
2) Parasite (4.36)
3) Ford v. Ferrari (4.35)
4) Marriage Story (4.14)
5) Pain and Glory (3.81-Tie)
5) A Hidden Life (3.81-Tie)
7) Judy (3.80)
8) The Aeronauts (3.67)
9) The Report (3.66)
10) Motherless Brooklyn (3.64)
11) Lyrebird (3.62)
12) Waves (3.61)
13) Inside Bill's Brain (3.39)
14) Uncut Gems (3.22)
15) The Climb (3.07)
16) First Cow (3.02)
The 4.51 rating for Fernando Meirelles' The Two Popes means it lands in The Peoples Telluride all time top ten (well since I started the thing in 2012) at the #7 spot. It will displace Spotlight which will drop to #11.
The new All Time Peoples Top Ten now is:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture
7) The Two Popes (4.51) (19)
8) Roma (4.47) (15) TIE Nominated Best Picture
8) Room (4.47) (18) TIE Nominated Best Picture
10) Birdman (4.46) (14) Won Best Picture
Also...here's were Best Picture Oscar nominees from Telluride have landed on the Peoples list for each year since it was started in 2012:
2012: Argo-4.75 (Winner) #2, Amour-4.17 #6
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.55 #2 (Winner), Gravity-4.40 #3, Nebraska-4.08 #6
2014: Birdman-4.46 (Winner) #2, The Imitation Game-4.73 #1
2015: Spotlight-4.45 (Winner) #2, Room-4.47 #1
2016: Moonlight-4.37 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.33 #2, Manchester by the Sea-4.18 #5, Arrival-4.13 #6
2017: The Shape of Water-4.22 #2 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.38 #1, Darkest Hour-4.04 #3
2018: Roma-4.47 #1, The Favourite-3.76 #9
The COMPOSITE TELLURIDE (slamming The Pros and The Peeps together) will be coming your way on Monday!
TFF OSCAR HISTORY PROJECT PART THREE
Here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the first half of the 90's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1990 (10/2)
-Cyrano de Bergerac- Costumes- WON, Foreign Language, Actor- Gerard Depardieu, Art Direction, Makeup
-Reversal of Fortune- Actor- Jeremy Irons- WON, Director- Barbet Schroeder, Adapted Screenplay
-The Nasty Girl- Foreign Language
-Ju Dou- Foreign Language
1991 (4)
-Rambling Rose- Actress-Laura Dern, Supporting Actress-Diane Ladd
-Oxen- Foreign Language
-Raise the Red Lantern- Foreign Language
-Wild by Law- Documentary
1993 (12/3)
-The Piano- Actress-Holly Hunter-WON, Supporting Actress-Anna Paquin-WON, Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jane Campion, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costumes
-Three Colors: Blue- Director-Krzysztof Kielowski, Original Screenplay
-Farewell My Concubine- Foreign Language, Cinematography
1994 (11/3)
-Bullets Over Broadway- Supporting Actress-Dianne Wiest-WON, Supporting Actress- Jennifer Tilly, Supporting Actor- Chazz Palminteri, Director-Woody Allen, Original Screenplay, Costumes, Art/Set Direction
-Ed Wood- Supporting Actor-Martin Landau-WON, Makeup-WON
-Dust of Life- Foreign Language Film
-Strawberry and Chocolate-Foreign Language
FIRST OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Here from Neon is the official trailer for Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire from YouTube:
Portrait is set for U.S. release on Dec. 6th.
THANKS
And finally, for today, big gratitude to some of my industry type friends who not only participated in this year's Professional Telluride but who also pumped its posting this past Monday. Specifically Sasha Stone and her sight Awards Daily who included much of it on there on Monday. That's linked here.
Also, Jordan Ruimy had the results up at World Reel on Tuesday.
And Tweets and Re-Tweets Monday came from: Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit, Marshall Flores/Awards Daily, Chris Willman/Variety, Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture and Erik Anderson/Awards Watch.
That's the blog for today. More to come on Monday...including the 2019 COMPOSITE TELLURIDE.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Welcome to Monday and the return here at MTFB to the traditional twice a week publishing schedule.
THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE
Here it is. One week after the last day of the 46th Telluride Film Festival I have for you The Professionals Telluride. This year's ratings averages for many of the films that played last week.
This year's professionals include a total of 18 pros who attended the festival and represent broad spectrum of views regarding the film industry. It includes critics, bloggers and others who are part of the biz.
Here's the list of this year's pros:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Marshall Flores/Awards Daily
Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit
Gary Kramer/Salon
Scott Menzel/We Live Entertainment
Kenny Miles/We Live Entertainment
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Eugene Novikov/Rotten Tomatoes
John Rhodes/Screencraft
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Chris Willman/Variety
Anonymous
Huge thanks to these very busy pros who graciously took the time to supply me with their ratings of the films that they saw last week at TFF #46.
Here's the rundown of the Professionals ratings for each year since I started polling the Pros in 2012.
2018:
1) Roma (4.73)
2) First Man (4.17)
3) Cold War (4.14-tie)
3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)
6) The Favourite (3.90)
7) Watergate (3.60)
8) Border (3.50)
9) Destroyer (3.25)
10) Boy Erased (3.20)
11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)
12) White Boy Rick (3.06)
13) The Front Runner (3.05)
2017:
1) The Shape of Water (4.5)
2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)
2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)
2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)
5) Lady Bird (4.20)
6) First Reformed (4.0)
7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)
8) Darkest Hour (3.85)
9) Hostiles (3.79)
10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)
11) Loving Vincent (3.63)
12) Lean on Pete (3.50)
13) Wonderstruck (3.25)
14) Downsizing (3.10)
15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)
2015:
1) Son of Saul (4.44)
2) Anomalisa (4.42)
3) Spotlight (4.41)
4) Steve Jobs (4.31)
5) Beasts of No Nation (4.27)
6) Carol (4.11)
7) 45 Years (4.06)
8) Taxi (4.00)
9) Black Mass (3.85)
10) Time to Choose (3.57)
11) Room (3.50)
12) Suffragette (3.49)
13) He Named Me Malala (2.83)
2014:
1)Birdman (4.72)
2)Foxcatcher (4.63)
3)’71 (4.25)
4)Wild Tales (4.20)
5)Leviathan (4.17)
6)Mr. Turner (4.10)
7)The Imitation Game (4.06)
8)Mommy (3.92)
9)Two Days, One Night (3.90)
10)The Homesman (3.80)
11)Red Army (3.67)
12)Madame Bovary (3.30)
13)Wild (3.21)
14) Rosewater (3.06)
2013:
1) 12 Years a Slave (4.7)
2) Blue is the Warmest Color (4.4)
3) Gravity (4.35)
4) Tim's Vermeer (4.3)
5) Nebraska (4.3)
6) All is Lost (4.2)
7) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.1)
8) Starred Up (4.0)
9) The Past (3.9)
10) Labor Day (3.6)
11) Bethlehem (3.6)
12) Prisoners (3.5)
13) The Lunchbox (3.5)
14) Salinger (3.3)
15) The Unknown Known (3.3)
16) Palo Alto (3.2)
17) Tracks (3.2)
18) Under the Skin (3.1)
18) (tie) The Wind Rises (3.1)
20) The Invisible Woman (3.0)
2012:
1) Central Park Five-4.7
2) Argo-4.5
3) Stories We Tell- 4.3
4) The Sapphires 4.25
5) (Tie) Frances Ha and The Attack- 4.2
7) Rust and Bone- 4.0
8) The Iceman- 3.8
9) At Any Price- 3.7
10) (Tie) Amour and Baraka- 3.5
12) No- 3.4
14) (Tie) Hyde Park on Hudson and The Gatekeepers 3.0
15) Everyday- 2.8
And the all time TFF Top Ten prior to the films of TFF #46 according to the industry pros since starting this in 2012:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Roma (4.73) (18)
3) Birdman (4.72) (14)
4) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
4) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
6) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
7) La La Land (4.58) (16)
8) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
8) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
15 films earned enough responses from the Pros to make it onto the list for this year.
And now...drumroll please...This year's Professionals Telluride (with averaged rating in parenthesis):
1) Parasite (4.75)
2) The Two Popes (4.42)
3) Marriage Story (4.40)
4) Waves (4.29)
5) A Hidden Life (4.20)
6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (4.17)
7) Ford v. Ferrari (4.11)
8) The Report (3.87)
9) Pain and Glory (3.83)
10) Uncut Gems (3.78)
11) Motherless Brooklyn (3.58)
12) The Climb (3.50)
13) Judy (3.13)
14) The Aeronauts (3.08)
15) The Assistant (2.75)
Parasite's 4.75 moves it to the #2 spot on the Top Ten films to play Telluride among the Pros since I started collecting these responses in 2o12. The new All Time Top Ten:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19)
3) Roma (4.73) (18)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
8) La La Land (4.58) (16)
9) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
9) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
And finally...because MTFB is about to change its focus to the Oscar prospects for this year's crop of films from TFF... Here's where Oscar nominees for Best Picture from TFF have landed each year according to The Professionals:
2012: Argo-4.50 (Winner) #2, Amour-3.50 #10
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.70 #1 (Winner), Gravity-4.35 #3, Nebraska-4.30 #5
2014: Birdman-4.72 (Winner) #1, The Imitation Game-4.06 #7
2015: Spotlight-4.41 (Winner) #3, Room-3.50 #11
2016: Moonlight-4.82 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.48 #2, Manchester by the Sea-3.95 #4, Arrival-3.88 #7
2017: The Shape of Water-4.50 #1 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.20 #5, Darkest Hour-3.85 #8
2018: Roma-4.74 #1, The Favourite-3.90 #6
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE IS COMING ON THURSDAY...YOUR RATING DEADLINE IS TOMORROW EVENING.
OSCAR AND TFF: A HISTORY PROJECT PART TWO
Picking up where I left off last week...here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the latter half of the 80's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1985 (2)
Colonel Redl- Foreign Language
The Journey of Natty Gann- Costumes
1986 (3)
Blue Velvet- Director-David Lynch
The Decline of the American Empire- Foreign Language
My Secret Little Village- Foreign Language
1987 (4/1)
Babette's Feast-Foreign Language- WON (first win for Best Foreign Film from TFF)
Au Revoir Les Enfants- Foreign Language, Original Screenplay
The Whales of August- Supporting Actress-Ann Sothern
1988 (2)
Salaam Bombay- Foreign Language
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown- Foreign Language
1989 (6/2)
My Left Foot- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON (first Best Actor win from TFF) , Supporting Actress- Brenda Fricker-WON (first win for Best Supporting Actress from TFF) , Picture, Director-Jim Sheridan, Adapted Screenplay
Cinema Paradiso-Foreign Language-WON
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren- Documentary (First TFF with multiple Oscar wins)
On Thursday, I'll have the TFF Oscar history from 1990-1994.
TRAILERS AND SUCH FROM TFF #46 FILMS
Since last Thursday's post we have seen the emergence of a trailer as well as a behind-the-scene featurette and a clip from TFF #46 films. Here they are:
TRAILER FOR WAVES
FEATURETTE FOR JUDY
CLIP FROM BILLIE
The word is that we can also expect a new trailer for Ford v. Ferrari very soon.
RE-THINKING THIS PROJECT
Now that TFF #46 is in the rear view...
This year's experience at TFF was different for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the decision by the Festival to deny my annual request to be accredited as a journalist. I had been granted that status for eight years running and it became particularly useful in 2017 and 2018 as my pass status changed from the Patron Pass that had been a gift from former students who also hosted us in Telluride.
As you all know, that Patron Pass was a Golden Ticket. When that situation changed in 2017 (and, in fairness, I had known that would be the case for a number of years) the journalist credential became very important. It doesn't afford quite the same ease of access as a Patron Pass but it gets close.
I don't know why the request was denied but I have a couple of pretty good guesses. At the top of the list are posts that may not have been well received by the fest folks. And, of course, I have no doubt that the fest does not care for the central organizing principle of the blog...sussing out the possible films that will make the lineup before they're announced each year.
The festival explained in the email that denied the press credential that I was welcome to apply for the journalist accreditation again next year, but there is no guarantee that I get approved. And I fully understand and acknowledge that the fest has every right to accredit who gets the credential and who doesn't. I get that.
Further, I get how whiny this sounds. Privileged and whiny. For the vast majority of folks who attend with the Festival, Acme or Cinephile passes or who stand by in the individual ticket sales lines...this must seem, and understandably so, like just so much unearned grumpiness.
Yea...I get that too.
And yet, the whining continues...
I did eight films this year. My average has been 11.
Other considerations...
As all of you know...Festival level passes are pricey (and required for anyone requesting journalist status) and lodging in Telluride is, let's say... a challenge both in terms of cost and availability. Many of you know that my real gig is teaching at a public high school in Oklahoma...so you probably have a reasonable notion of my annual income.
Then there's the time and miles. It's a lot.
I will say that it is heartening to speak to readers on line and around town. I honestly don't know how many people read the thing but it seems like a bunch. I also am pleased at the number of times one of the journalists (you know, the accredited ones) that come into town to cover the fest pass along the value that they place on the blog via email, Twitter or in person at the fest. I have often wondered at what level, if any, the blog gets read by Guests of the fest. I know that it happens at least a little bit because of a couple of past experiences.
As I've said on a number of occasions, when I first started this thing, I really didn't know if anyone would ever read it and, even if they did, whether anyone would take it seriously.
I just know that I felt untethered and lost last week and I'm not sure what I do to change that between now and next Labor Day or, more accurately, between now and when passes go on sale.
I have heard and seen in print this effort described as a "passion project" and it has been but the passion took a hit this year and I'm not sure where that lands me over the next few months.
Bottom line...maybe nothing changes...maybe it all changes. At this point it's all up in the air (Jason Reitman/George Clooney TFF #36 reference).
Thanks for letting me ramble.
That's today's MTFB. More to come on Thursday including THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE. Your deadline to rate TFF #46 films is tomorrow evening!
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Here it is...the final list of 25 films/programs that I expect to play the 46th Telluride Film Festival. The actual announcement should come sometime tomorrow morning and, of course, I'll have it here for you before I take off for the San Juans myself. I expect to be in T-ride around 10 MDT tomorrow night. In alphabetical order...Here we go...
1) The Aeronauts
2) Beanpole
3) The Climb
4) Country Music
5) Family Romance LLC
6) First Cow
7) Ford v Ferrari
8) A Hidden Life
9) Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
10) Judy
11) The Kingmaker
12) Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
13) Lyrebird
14) Marriage Story
15) Motherless Brooklyn
16) Pain and Glory
17) Parasite
18) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
19) The Report
20) The Truth
21) The Two Popes
22 ) Uncut Gems
23) Varda by Agnes
24) Verdict
25) Waves
Other Possibles: The Assistant, The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, Dark Waters, Little Women, The Good Liar, Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917, Bombshell, Wasp Network, Chicuarotes, No One Left Behind, Gemini Man, Mr. Jones, Antlers.
TRIBUTE CLUES
I got a number of anonymous tips over the past few days which told me that the pre-fest screenings in Elks Park have been revealed in Telluride. As many of you know, those films usually offer clues about who is probably being tributed at The SHOW. The two key films are Bridget Jones' Diary and Star Wars:The Last Jedi. The informative flyer also confirms that there will be some screening of Ken Burns' Country Music documentary will take place this weekend as well.
The free screenings suggest that two of your tributes this year will go to Renee Zellweger- who's Judy is sure to be screening and also Adam Driver who has both Marriage Story and The Report set to be part of The SHOW.
As to the third probable tribute...I have heard on background conflicting suggestions about that and consequently don't have a good enough handle on it to make any bold prediction.
LATE BREAKING... It appears the third tribute is for Philip Kaufman according to the Telluride Daily Planet:
Also note the "Special Screening" on Saturday night.
SOOOO....WHAT DO I WANT TO SEE?
The Aeronauts
Ford v. Ferrari
The Climb
Parasite
The Report
Motherless Brooklyn
Marriage Story
A Hidden Life
Waves
The Two Popes
Full lineup revealed tomorrow morning and I'll have it here.
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE
For the eighth consecutive 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 with any of the following contact methods:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
First of all, take all of this with a grain of salt as the announcements from Toronto on Tuesday seemed to be off a bit in terms of premiere designations. Most of the confusion fell on Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life that was reported at least by one outlet as a North American premiere but which TIFF's own website now labels as a Canadian premiere thereby affirming its likelihood for Telluride.
However, both The Truth and Beanpole, which I had concluded were probably playing Telluride because of the New York film fest labeling both films New York premieres rather than U.S. premieres, were announced by TIFF as North American preems which would indicate no Telluride play.
After some back and forth behind the scenes, I think that there is still a chance that one or both of those films might still make a Telluride appearance.
Films that were otherwise confirmed for Telluride by their designations as Canadian premieres by TIFF included:
The Aeronauts
The Climb
Verdict
and after some hubbub...A Hidden Life
International premiere status points to the possibility of:
Dan Freidkin's Lyrebird...a post WWII story of an investigation into art theft and more.
Trey Edward Shults' Waves...about the vagaries of young love starring Lucas Hedges.
Appearing to drop out of the Telluride possibles list: Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky (slated as a World Premiere for TIFF), and Benedict Andrews' Seberg (billed as a North American premiere). Also, Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You, Haifaa Al-Mansour's The Perfect Candidate and Ladj Ly's Les Miserables.
Toronto has one more set of films to announce and will do so next Tuesday.
NEW TRAILERS AND TEASERS
A HIDDEN LIFE
A trailer for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (which I think IS going to Telluride) was revealed Tuesday from the Fox Searchlight folks. Here it is from YouTube:
The trailer's great and I have hopes that Malick is back in Tree of Life/Thin Red Line territory.
LITTLE WOMEN
Here's the first trailer for Greta Gerwig's Little Women...which with the absence of its inclusion by Toronto in their Tuesday announcement, means it's still a minuscule Telluride possibility...and remember, I still have it in my fevered brain as a potential surprise sneak peek...
Here is that trailer, also from YouTube:
Yes please...
AD ASTRA
Unlikely but not eliminated...
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Back to a film I'm almost dead certain will play in a couple of weeks...Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Thanks be to YouTube:
PARASITE
Also a lock for Labor Day...
CURRENT TEN BETS AND BONUS BETS
With a new Ten Bets coming tomorrow!
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) A Hidden Life
Bonus 5) The Report
Bonus 6) Beanpole
Bonus 7) The Kingmaker
DON'T FORGET TO PLAN TO RATE!
For the eighth consecutive 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 with any of the following contact methods:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
New York announced its Main Slate lineup on Tuesday and I had the ramifications up on Twitter fairly quickly and a Late Breaking post here on the blog by late Tuesday afternoon. By way of reminder, here's what I had Tuesday afternoon from NYFF:
New York Film Fest announcement seems to confirm or point to these films as Telluride players:
Marriage Story
Motherless Brooklyn
Beanpole
First Cow
Pain and Glory
Parasite
Portrait of a Woman on Fire
Varda by Agnes
And it seems the only NYFF World Premiere is The Irishman.
Full disclosure...my tweet on Tuesday regarding Telluride films suggested or confirmed included The Whistlers. On Twitter it was pointed out to me by @BobertHarris that The Whistlers will U.S. Premiere will be at Fantastic Fest. That would explain the lack of premiere designation in the NYFF announcement. My apologies.
The above list reflects that realization.
The biggest info regarding films that now appear likely for Telluride were the inclusion of Varda by Agnes, First Cow and Beanpole.
Films that had been seriously on my TFF #46 radar that now seem certain to not be at Telluride are: Atlantics, Synonyms, Bacurau, The Traitor, Wasp Network and Young Ahmed. So...three up and six down.
Meanwhile, Toronto announced its ten film platform lineup with nine of the ten films listed as World Premieres thus ruling them all out. Martin Eden, the only film listed as an International Premiere underlines the NYFF announcement which had ruled it out for Telluride.
Honestly, the only Platform film that TIFF announced that I had thought might show at The SHOW was Sarah Gavron's Rocks.
So, that's what we learned on Tuesday from other fest announcements.
WORLD OF REEL AND HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE ADD TO THE STACK
Between Jordan Ruimy's latest Telluride spec post (yesterday) and Jeff Welles posting about it yesterday as well, it looks like we can probably add Terrence Malick's latest film, A Hidden Life to our list of Telluride probables. Wells says that he "was in fact told that it will screen at Telluride". That's a big get as far as I'm concerned.
Additionally, both Ruimy and Wells suggest that Scott Burns The Report is a real possibility. I'm thinking it's likely.
I can reveal that The Report was the film I was referencing in my post last Tuesday under the heading "Trafficking in Rumor".
Honestly, between the New York, Toronto announcements and Wells and Ruimy...the last couple of days have been a gold mine of useful information. Seems like the next thing we should hear is the actual schedule from Venice which I expect any day now.
In addition to the detective work the last couple of days it has been a hell of a good time having responses from people guessing what the "Trafficking in Rumor" film might be.
Several readers dropped me a note in a variety of ways...Twitter, email note to Facebook with questions and guesses. Far and away the leading guess was Little Women.
Noop.
The clues that actually pointed to The Report were that it's "curiously related" to a film that we're "very sure" is playing the fest...which is, ironically Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story...as Adam Driver stars in both films. The other clue was that I had mentioned the film earlier...see the note above about my Sundance suggestion back on Jan. 31st.
Again, the buzz is that Little Women is not likely to play any fest prior to its Dec. 25th premiere date. That said, if you'd like to re-visit my fantasy scenario for the Greta Gerwig film, that was in my post from last Monday.
Here's the current Ten Bets with Bonus Bets:
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
"Bonus Bets":
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) Family Romance LLC
Bonus 5) Country Music
Got a new Ten Bets plus Bonus Bets coming tomorrow!
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Best Actress Oscar winner Emma Stone (La La Land TFF #43)
Picking up where I left off Tuesday, I'm continuing an eight part series of articles tracing the connection between films that have played Telluride's Film Fest and the eight "major" Oscar categories.
Tuesday I looked at T-ride and the Best Director nominees from the past 14 years. Today it's Best Actress. Here are the actresses that played films at TFF since 2005 who were Oscar nominated as leading actresses. Additionally, if that actress won it is indicated with ***.
2005: Reese Witherspoon/Walk the Line***
2006: Kate Winslet/Little Children, Penelope Cruz/Volver
2007: Ellen Page/Juno, Laura Linney/The Savages
2008: No nominees
2009: Carey Mulligan/An Education, Helen Mirren/The Last Station
2010: Natalie Portman/Black Swan***
2011: Glenn Close/Albert Nobbs
2012: Emanuelle Riva/Amour
2013: Sandra Bullock/Gravity
2014: Marion Cotillard/Two Days One Night, Reese Witherspoon/Wild
2015: Brie Larson/Room***, Charlotte Rampling/45 Years, Cate Blanchett/Carol
2016: Emma Stone/La La Land***
2017: Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water, Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird
2018: Olivia Colman/The Favourite***, Melissa McCarthy/Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Yalitza Aparicio/Roma
Notes: For Best Actress 22 nominations over these 14 years (to the best of my ability, I believe Jane Alexander was the first Best Actress nominee from a TFF film. That came in 1983 for Testament). Over the 14 years, five women of Telluride have won the trophy.
It does feel like the festival has gained some traction as a Best Actress launchpad over the last five fests (2014-18) with half the nominees and three of the five wins coming during that span.
2015 and 2018 were the strongest Best Actress years with three nominees coming from TFF films in both of those years.
Next Tuesday: time to look at Best Actor.
A DATE FOR A HIDDEN LIFE
Although I have continued to soft pedal its chances to play at Telluride, a recently announced released date for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life continues to make it a possibility.
Multiple sources including Deadline and World of Reel reported last weekend that the Malick film will be released in the U.S. on Dec. 13th. smack in the middle of awards season. That's consistent with what had been reported earlier that Fox Searchlight would be proceeding with a strong awards push for the film.
The Dec. 13th date would allow Malick to play Telluride, Toronto, New York, London and/or AFI. It's Cannes premiere means that no Venice play is in its future.
A Hidden Life tells the true story of an Austrian conscientious objector during WWII.
BACURAU IS ACQUIRED
Specialty distributor Kino Lorber added Cannes award winner Bacurau from Brazilian film makers Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles to their stable of films.
I took a brief look at Kino Lorber's Telluride chances in my post on June 28th and concluded that, at that time, KL had another Cannes film, Synonyms, that had a 50/50 chance of making the TFF #45 lineup.
Bacurau's acquisition by Kino Lorber definitely raises its profile for Telluride with the asterisk that Variety reports that the film is currently set for 2020...which isn't a complete disqualifier.
Give Bacurau a 30% chance of making this year's program.
Yesterday we began our look at film distributors as a way of setting the table for the expectations of films that could end up selected for a spot in the TFF #46 lineup this year by looking at Sony Pictures Classics. As I mentioned yesterday, over the last decade and a half, SPC has had the most consistent relationship with TFF but the distribution group that may have had the most successful run at TFF over that time span has been Fox Searchlight.
The specialty film arm of 20th Century Fox has had an incredible run over the past several years:
2018: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Ne?, The Old Man and the Gun (3)
2017: The Shape of Water (Best Picture Oscar), Battle of the Sexes (2)
2016: No Show
2015: He Named Me Malala (1)
2014: Birdman (Best Picture), Wild (2)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture) (1)
2012: No Show
2011: Shame, The Descendants (2)
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan (3)
2009: No Show
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture) (1)
2007: Juno, The Savages (2)
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake (2)
2005: Bee Season (1)
2004: Kinsey (1)
That's right. Four Best Picture winners from Fox Searchlight since 2008's win for Slumdog Millionaire; the others being 12 Years a Slave (2013), Birdman (2015) and The Shape of Water (2017).
Over the year's included above Fox Searchlight films that played T-ride have earned a total of 80 Oscar nominations. I addition to the above listed Best Picture winners, Fox Searchlight has also screened five other films that were nominated for Best Picture at Telluride: The Favourite, The Descendants, 127 Hours, Black Swan and Juno.
Last year, here's how I assessed the Searchlight slates chances of playing TFF:
The Old Man and the Gun 50%
The Favourite 45%
Wendy 30%
Can You Ever Forgive Me? 25%
Ultimately, Benh Zeitlin's Wendy was not released.
Finally, as you can see from above, FS doesn't always play TFF. 2009, 2012 and 2016 were all years in which FS did not have a film screen at The SHOW. Over the 15 years covered here, FS has screened 21 films for an average of 1.4 films per year.
All of that acts as your background to contemplate the possibilities for Fox Searchlight films that might make an appearance over Labor Day weekend. These are the seven films that I'm aware of from them that could be in the conversation for a TFF berth:
Malick's A Hidden Life
Cooper's Antlers
Zhao's Nomadland
Hawley's Lucy in the Sky
Zeitlin's Wendy (again)
Faxon and Rash's Downhill
Waititi's Jojo Rabbot
Any and all of them are possible for TFF, although none seem to be a dead certainty at this point. Malick's probably the most "prestige" film among the group but its Cannes reception was modest...decent critical response but no love from the Cannes Palme jury. Additionally, the fact that a Malick-directed film has never played T-ride.
On the other hand, Bill Pohlad is listed as one of several Executive Producers for the film and Pohlad has a history with TFF. He was a producer or executive producer on 12 Years a Slave, Wild, Into the Wild, Fur and Brokeback Mountain all of which played Telluride so that adds some weight to the notion that A Hidden Life might be included in the 2019 edition of The SHOW.
Pohlad has a strong history with Malick as well. In addition to his credit on A Hidden Life, Pohlad is also listed among the producers or acknowledged with thanks for The Tree of Life, Voyage of Time, Knight of Cups and To the Wonder.
Scott Cooper has certainly had a good Telluride resume over his brief career with both Black Mass and Hostiles making appearances. That kind of frequency of invitation would normally make me think that his latest film is very likely to make the grade. But since neither of those films made many waves financially, critically or in the awards season I wonder if Antlers gets the invite.
Honestly, the best shot might be Chloe Zhao's Nomadland starring two time Oscar winner Frances McDormand. Zhao's last film, The Rider, played TFF in 2017 and received terrific critical response. The film follows the life of a woman who is struggling to make it through America's Great Recession. To me, it sets up as the kind of film that Telluride programmers would be very, very fond of.
Downhill is the remake of Reuben Ostlund's Force Majuere.
Personally, I'd love to see either Lucy in the Sky and/or Jojo Rabbit make it to Telluride.
Lucy in the Sky features Natalie Portman as a female astronaut who has emotional issues upon her return to earth. Jojo Rabbit seems wild with writer, director, actor Taika Waititi creating an "anti-hate satire" with Waititi playing Adolf Hitler. Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson also star.
And as to the Zeitlin...still may not be ready and, honestly, I wasn't all that enamored of his Beasts of the Southern Wild.
My estimate of chances:
Nomadland 50%
Lucy in the Sky 40%
A Hidden life 40%
Antlers 35%
Jojo Rabbit 35%
Wendy 25%
Downhill 20%
I'm guessing Fox Searchlight lands two films at Telluride this year.
RETURN OF THE JESUS?
John Turturro as Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski (via Indiewire)
John Turturro has made a lot of films playing a lot of characters. He's done that several times for the Coen Brothers and perhaps none more memorably than Jesus Quintana, the "pederast" in The Big Lebowski.
Turturro has long wanted to return to that character and, in fact, has in a film he developed, wrote, directed (with the blessing of but no participation from the Coens) and will star in. The film is titled Going Places.
Turturro was recently interviewed by The Independent in England mostly owing to his role in Sebastian Lelio English language remake of his own film-Gloria. However, in the course of that interview, Turturro spends some time talking about Jesus and Going Places.
Indiewire's Zack Sharf picked up there and expanded on the Going Places story in a piece posted on Monday which includes the assertion that Going Places still has no announced release plans "but at this point a fall film festival debut seems likely."
So, despite the lack of a release date and no announced distributor, I'm putting the film on my TFF #46 watch list...and my wish list as well.
