News from the Clearinghouse

ThePlaylist
Watch: New Trailer For Sylvain Chomet's 'The Illusionist' http://dlvr.it/82Tg7

ThePlaylist
Watch: New Trailer For Peter Weir's 'The Way Back' With Colin Farrell, Ed Harris & Jim Sturgess http://dlvr.it/82S0b

TFF #37 and Our Crystal Ball

We started this year's countdown and prognostications for TFF #37 back during the week of Mar. 16-23. At that time we listed a couple of dozen possibilities and really focused on 16 of those. Of those initial lists 5 ended up at Telluride: "127 Hours'" "Biutiful'" "Black Swan," "Never Let Me Go," and "Another Year". Some of them got bumped to 2011..."The Descendants," "The Tree of Life," "The Eagle (of the Ninth)." Some were released during the summer: "Chloe," and "Love Ranch." But we're feeling pretty good that we had 5 of Telluride's 24 features on our very first list of possibles.

Prior to Cannes in May, we further underlined "Biutiful" and"Another Year" and we added "Tamara Drewe" and "The Princess of Montpensier." Of course we also highlighted: "On Tour," "Fair Game," "You, My Joy," "Uncle Boonmee," "Blue Valentine," Godard's "Socialism," "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," and Aurora." And we overlooked "Poetry," Of Gods and Men" and "Inside Job."

Post Cannes we got "Poetry" and "Of Gods and Men" into the conversation. And despite its non-inclusion at Cannes, we continued to speculate the Julian Schnabel"s "Miral" would be part of the Telluride lineup.

Late July we got "The Way Back" and "The King's Speech on our first speculative list and we began making the transition from speculation to reportage as we tracked down tidbits from various media...including the first hints beyond our own speculation that we might see "Never Let Me Go."

And by the time we got to the middle of August, with Jay A. Fernandez's Hollywood Reporter story, we were getting a really good bead on the TFF #37 playlist.

All in all we feel pretty smug about the quality of our guesswork and information gathering for this year. Of course, we didn't get it all exactly right...we missed some that we might have gotten and included things that never showed....Really, I'd like to know the behind the scenes story on Schnabel's "Miral" because I was 100% convinced we would see it.

Now, as we have for the past couple of years, we will morph this into a clearinghouse for Oscar info and speculation centered on the films that played at Telluride. We'll be up with our first real look at that sometime in the next ten days or so as the dust settles following Toronto's fest. But just as a quick overview...Telluride may have its largest Oscar presence ever this year..."The King's Speech," "Black Swan," "127 Hours," "Inside Job," and others could swell Telluride connected film Oscar nominations past a cumulative total of 30...which would be impressive indeed.

Thanks to those who actually read the blog in the run-up to T-ride this year. If the counts can be believed, the numbers were surprisingly large this year and it looks as if THIS BLOG IS NOW THE MOST REFERENCED BLOG CONCERNING THE TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL...which blows my mind. And that scares me a little.

Hope you continue to drop in over the next few months and then after the Oscars...next spring...we'll start it all up again (actually we've already begun speculation for TFF #38..."The Tree of Life" and Jason Reitman's Diablo Cody penned, "Young Adult").

A Good Day

Danny Boyle, Aron Ralston and James Franco of "127 Hours"

Three films today and all of them good but not great.

Started the day with "Poetry" from Korean film director Lee Chang Dong. "Poetry" won the Best Screenplay award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It features Jeong-hee Yoon as a grandmother dealing with a troubled grandson who also has decided to write poetry. She's quite good. But the film clocks in at nearly 2 and 1/2 hours and felt like it could use some judicious editing. 2 and 1/2 stars.

Then: Peter Weir's "The Way Back" featuring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris and Colin Farrell as three very different captives in a WWII era Soviet gulag who escape and walk their way to freedom. Based on a true story, the film does credit to the real people who made the 4,000 mile walk from Siberia to India. Sturgess is solid as the focal point of the film but Ed Harris (as you might expect) is outstanding. Matching Harris note for note is Farrell in a very nearly great performance. Couple this with his small supporting role in last year's "Crazy Heart" and you're beginning to see an actor maturing into something special. 3 stars!

And the capper on the day: Danny Boyle's "127 Hours." How do you follow a film that took the world by storm and won 8 Oscars (as Slumdog did)??? You film the true story of hiker Aron Ralston who, in order to save his life, amputated his own arm so that he could escape from a canyon in Utah in which he was trapped. James Franco plays Ralston and is onscreen 99% of the time. He's fantastic. The Oscar buzz for him started today here in Colorado. "127 Hours" is graphic and harrowing and the best thing I've seen here in Telluride so far this year. 3 stars!!!But....

Tomorrow has 5 films scheduled that I'm planning to get to including Innaritu"s "Biutiful" with Javier Bardem (and Bardem is supposed to be great), Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" which has just taken the Venice Film Fest by storm and may get some Oscar notice for Natalie Portman and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech" which seems to be the film getting the best buzz here this year.

Then there's Monday which will start with Mike Leigh's "Another Year" and will also almost certainly include the sneak of Julian Schnabel's "Miral." And the Apparition people are still very tight lipped about anything concerning"Tree of Life." But I will say I haven't personally seen Mr. Pitt and haven't actually met someone who has seen him with their own eyeballs.

New Film for TFF #37?

The Cast of Peter Weir's "The Way Back"

An Australian film company tweets cryptically this morning that a "major" Australian director will unveil a new film next week at the Festival. Deductively we're going to guess that it's Peter Weir's "The Way Back" featuring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris.

Weir has a relatively short resume...but it's long on quality..."The Truman Show," "Master and Commander," and "Dead Poet's Society" among others.

The prospect of "The Way Back" playing TFF #37 would make what we already think is likely to be a great festival even better. Hope he and the film are there.

Link to "The Way Back" on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023114/