Four Weeks To Go!

WILL JAVIER BARDEM MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT THE FRIDAY NIGHT FEED ON COLORADO AVENUE???








With less than four weeks until the Patron's Brunch starts the weekend off for me, I thought I'd take a moment to assess where we are in terms of speculation about the films that will be playing at TFF #37. I've tired to divide these into categories that seem to make the most sense (at least to me) with almost a month to go before films begin to unspool...









The following is based on what has been speculated in the media, past trends, the Toronto and Venice listed films, Cannes results and wishful thinking. Take it for what it's worth (which probably isn't all that much).









Films that are I think have the best chance of being at Telluride: "Black Swan," Another Year," "127 Hours," "Miral," "Biutiful," and "Love and Other Drugs"









Sony Classics Films that likely will show: "Inside Job, " "Tamara Drewe," Of Gods and Men," and "Life Above All."









Other Cannes Films that could appear: "Certified Copy," "Poetry," and "On Tour"









Some films that have had very flimsy hints that they could show up in Telluride: "The King's Speech," "The Town, " and "Meek's Cutoff."









You have to figure Werner Herzog will be represented by either "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" or "Happy People: A Year in the Tiaga" or both.









The "It Seems There Is No Way They'll Be In Telluride" List: (for a variety of reasons) "The Tempest," "The Social Network," The Eagle," "The Descendents," and "The Fighter."









Films about which there has been no mention in terms of Telluride, but could sneak in: "Bagman" (formerly "Casino Jack"), "Conviction" (formerly "Betty Ann Waters"), "Never Let Me Go," "Brighton Rock," Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives"(Palme D'Or winner), "Fair Game," "Somewhere," and "Blue Valentine."









Another interesting thought...last year at TFF #36, one of the biggest buzz generators was the Red Riding Trilogy...maybe the best buzz of anything from last year's fest. Could the TFF planners try something like that again? Does anything fit the bill? Yes and Yes. The sprawling "Carlos" (300 plus minutes according to imdb) which showed at Cannes and was very well received would seem to fit if the Telluride programmers wanted to go in that direction again. It certainly worked very well last year.









And finally...don't expect to see:









"True Grit"...the Coen Brothers certainly don't need to show at Telluride.




"Hereafter" neither does Clint Eastwood.




and "The Tree of Life"...enough people have said that Malick isn't ready to make me a believer...but you had to hope.

Uncle Boonmee...Maybe Not

Another pic from "Uncle Boonmee." He can remember his past lives, but he may not know how to get to Telluride!

In Contention.Com reports that Strand Releasing has picked up the distribution for Cannes Palme D'Or winner "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives". That actually may portend a decrease in the chances that it will unspool in Telluride in 8 weeks.

It's not absolute, but the last Strand film I saw listed at a TFF was 2005's Lemming.

And Telluride doesn't always program the Palme winner. Cannes winner from 2008, "The Class" didn't play...sooo...maybe no Boonmee in the San Juans.

In other news...SPC has picked up "Life, Above All" which created a good deal of stir at Cannes. It was generally well received critically (earning a collective "B" average). This probably increases its chance of being a part of TFF #37. SPC also has "Inside Job" and "Of Gods and Men" making them prime suspects for Telluride inclusion.

Lots of quiet surrounding the following: "True Grit," "The Tempest, " "Love and Other Drugs," "Miral," "Biutiful," "The Social Network," "The Descendants," "Eagle of the Ninth," "Conviction," "Brighton Rock," Howl, " and "127 Hours." So keep them hanging around in the "maybe" column.

Also, not much recently about Malick's "Tree of Life." There had been a good deal of back and forth about its readiness prior to a speculated appearance as a part of the Venice Film Fest...included in that has been some spirited disagreement as to whether Venice is the target or not. As we have said here before, Venice inclusion doesn't automatically mean that a film won't play Telluride ("Life During Wartime" and "The Road" did both last year)...it's just that the overlap between these two festivals is very small.

The TFF #37 Guest Director Is....

Author Michael Ondaatje has been selected to Guest Direct the 37th Telluride Film Festival according to Kris Tapley at In Contention.


Ondaatje is best known as the author of "The English Patient" which won the Booker Prize and, of course, became the film of the same name that won 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Ondaatje shared the USC scripter award that year with Director/Screenwriter Anthony Minghella.

Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1943...but moved to England in 1954 and then to Canada in 1962. He's lived there ever since. He was primarily a poet in his early writing career.

Interesting tidbit: He authored a book in 2002 about Walter Murch and editing. Murch was a Telluride tributee in 2006.

It will be interesting to see what the author of "The English Patient" programs as his selections in this year's festival.

You can check out Ondaatje's "Contemporary Writers" page at:
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth205

TFF #37 and Cannes

Word out of Cannes today that Sony Picture Classics has picked up the distribution for Mike Leigh's "Another Year". As I write, it still seems to be the biggest critical darling of Cannes and the days are dwindling for that Festival. The SPC decision increases it's chances to be a Telluride picture. I'm almost to the point of saying "count on it" being at TFF #37.

Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu's "Biutiful" has apparently earned split reactions, and very vehement disagreement between critics. I still think it's got a pretty good shot.

Godard's "Socialism" on the other hand sounds like it has landed with a thud and thus drops in our estimation of it's likelihood of being in Telluride.

"Blue Valentine" is getting good press. The knock on it is that it was a Sundance picture, which used to be a disqualifier for Telluride, til last year, when "An Education" showed up both places...so, maybe.

That's what we have for now...check in later...

Cannes and TFF#37

Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts on the set of Woody Allen's "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" set to appear at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

Here are the films chosen for inclusion in the Cannes Film Festival announced last weekend. You can almost certainly count on seeing 6-12 of these at TFF #37 if past trends hold true. I have included some notes for some of the films that may have the best likelihood of being in Telluride.

IN COMPETITION

Tournee, directed by Mathieu Almaric...25% chance...

Des Hommes des Dieux, directed by Xavier Beauvois

Biutiful, directed by Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu...maybe the most likely due to “Babel’s” success at Telluride

Hors-la-loi, directed by Rachid Bouchareb

Un Homme Qui Crie, directed by Mahamat-Saleh

HarounHousemaid, directed by Im Sangsoo

Copie Conforme, directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Outrage, directed by Takeshi Kitano

Poetry, directed by Lee Chang-dong

Another Year, directed by Mike Leigh...”Happy Go Lucky” 2 years ago

Fair Game, directed by Doug Liman...just got a feeling

You, My Joy, directed by Sergei Lovnitsa...ditto

La Nostra Vita, directed by Daniele Luchetti

Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2, directed by Nikita Mikhalkov

La Princesse de Monptpensier, directed by Bertrand Tavernier...because it's Tavernier

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul...intuition again

OUT OF COMPETITION

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, directed by Woody Allen...because its SPC

Tamara Drewe, directed by Stephen Frears...because its Frears

Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps, directed by Oliver Stone

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

Kaboom, directed by Gregg Araki

L’Autre Monde (Blackhole), directed by Gilles Marchand

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Blue Valentine, directed by Derek Cianfrance...only a guess

O Estranho Caso de Angelica, directed by Manouel de Oliveira

Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats), directed by Xavier Dolan

Los Labios, directed by Ivan Fund and Santiago LozaSimon

Werner a Disparu… directed by Fabrice Gobert

Film Socialisme, directed by Jean-Luc Godard...because its Godard and a doc

Unter Dir Die Stadt (The City Below), directed by Christoph Hochhausler

Rebecca H. (Return to the Dogs), directed by Lodge Kerrigan

Pal Adreinn (Adrienn Pal), directed by Agnes Kocsis

Udaan, directed by Vikramaditya Motwan

Marti Dupa Craciun (Tuesday, After Christmas), directed by Radu Muntean

Chatroom, directed by Hideo Nakata

Aurora, directed by Cristi Puiu...Romainia returns to TFF?

Ha Ha Ha, directed by Hong Sangsoo

Life Above All, directed by Oliver Schmitz

Octubre, directed by Daniel Vega

R U There, directed by David Verbeek

Rizhao Chongqing (Chongqing Blues), directed by Xiaoshuai Wang

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Inside Job, directed by Charles Ferguson

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, directed by Sophie Fiennes

Nostalgia for the Light, directed by Patricio Guzman

Draquila - L’Italia Che Trema, directed by Sabina Guzzanti

Chantrapas, directed by Otar Iosseliani

Abel, directed by Diego Luna

Other notes...reportedly Cannes organizers might still slip in Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” if it’s “finished”...doesn’t seem likely now, which may increase its chances at being at Telluride.
I was a little surprised that I did not see Julian Schnabel’s “Miral” or Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere”.