Checking the Distributors: Netflix / Best Films of 2024 So Far?

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: NETFLIX

Netflix first showed up in the Telluride lineup in 2015 with Beasts of No nation and Winter on Fire.  Since then the streamer/producer has been a sturdy presence at TFF.  Here's their titles that have made an appearance at T-ride:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire

2016: I Called Him Morgan, The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno

2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

2018: Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, Roma, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2019: Inside Bill's Brain, Marriage Story, Tell Me Who I Am, The Two Popes

2020: No announced films

2021: The Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Procession

2022: Bardo, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sr., The Wonder

2023: El Conde, Nyad, Rustin

The Netflix run has included major Oscar players such as Roma, The Power of the Dog and Marriage Story.

This year the Netflix larder of films that feel TFF-like seems thinner than most recent years.

The most likely title to make it to TFF #51 is Jacques Audiard's Cannes award (the Jury Award and a collective Best Actress award for the four main players) winner Emilia Perez.  Audiard has been represented at Telluride in the past but its been awhile.  SHOW passholders saw A Prophet in 2009 and Rust and Bone in 2012. 

Also in play is Malcolm Washington's filmed adaptation of the August Wilson stage play The Piano Lesson starring Samuel l. Jackson and John David Washington.

And there's a very outside shot that Noah Baumbach's latest might be ready for screening and should that happen it would be something we'd have to take very seriously for TFF #51.  IMDb reports that the film has been in post-production since early May.  Not much is known as the plot has been kept under wraps but the cast is stacked with George Clooney, Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Emily Mortimer (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Greta Gerwig.

Chances:

Emilia Perez 50%

The Piano Lesson 25%

Untitled Baumbach 10%...mostly because it's just not likely to be ready in time.

BEST FILMS OF 2024 SO FAR?

I was invited to participate in World of Reel's poll to determine the best films of the year as we mark the end of the first half of 2024.

Of interest, perhaps to TFF fans is that two of the top ten were TFF #50 films.  Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera landed at #8 and Jeff Nichol's The Bikeriders was at #10 (Bikeriders was on my list of five films that I submitted).

At the top of the list is Denis Villenueve's Dune Part Two.

The entire list from World of Reel is here.

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Nolan Wins DGA / MTFB Oscar Update: Makeup/Hair, Costumes, Visual Effects and Sound / What the Experts Are Saying: Part Three/ Trailers and Clips: La Chimera and Perfect Days / Interviews and Profiles

NOTE: Christopher Nolan won the Directors Guild award for Best Direction of a feature film Saturday night

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: FIRST WINNERS PREDICTIONS FOR MAKEUP/HAIR, COSTUMES, VISUAL EFFECTS AND SOUND

 

In this post I'm continuing my first "educated" set of predictions for who/what will win on Oscar night, March 10th.  The focus for this post is initial projections for which films will win for Makeup/Hair, Costumes, Visual Effects and Sound.  As always TFF films are in Bold.

MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Maestro

2) Poor Things

3) Oppenheimer

4) Golda

5) Society of the Snow

COSTUMES

1) Barbie

2) Poor Things

3) Killers of the Flower Moon

4) Oppenheimer

5) Napoleon

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) The Creator

2) Godzilla Minus One

3) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

4) Napoleon

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

SOUND

1) Oppenheimer

2) The Zone of Interest

3) Maestro

4) The Creator

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Comment: Oppenheimer is massively favored for the Sound Oscar.  each of the other three categories are competitive at some level.  For Makeup/Hair Maestro is in solid shape but Poor Things shouldn't be counted out just yet.  Costume Design is a very competitive race between Barbie and Poor Things and though I have The Creator at the top of the Visual Effects category, at the moment any of the top four seem to have a shot at the trophy on March 10th.

TFF films are currently not predicted to win in any of these four categories.

Thursday, a look at the Shorts categories.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING: PART THREE

I've decided for each post between now and the Oscars to share where some of the top Oscarologists are in terms of predicting the 23 category winners. Today I'm sharing the publicly posted current predictions from Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Anne Thompson of Indiewire (via her posted predictions at Gold Derby).  As with my own predictions above, TFF films are in Bold.

Here's how Sasha has the winners predicted: 

Oppenheimer (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (4): Best Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costumes and Song (I'm Just Ken).

The Holdovers (3): Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.

Films with single Oscar wins:

Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Actress.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

20 Days in Mariupol: Best Documentary.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair.

The Creator: Best Visual Effects.

The Last Repair Shop: Best Documentary Short.

War Is Over: Best Animated Short.

The After: Best Live Action Short.

Stone has three TFF films winning a total of five Oscars.  Stone also has 11 time nominee Poor Things going home empty-handed on Oscar night.

Meanwhile, Indiewire's Anne Thompson has it this way:

Oppenheimer (8): Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (3): Adapted Screenplay, Production Design and Song (What Was I Made For?)

Poor Things (2): Best Actress and Costumes.

Films with single Oscar wins:

The Holdovers: Best Supporting Actress.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best Original Screenplay.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

The Eternal Memory: Best Documentary.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Godzilla Minus One: Best Visual Effects.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair

Letter to a Pig: Best Animated Short.

The ABCs of Book Burning: Best Documentary Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

Thompson has four TFF films picking up a total of five trophies.

TRAILERS AND CLIPS

U.S. Trailer for La Chimaera from NEON and YouTube:

Clip from Wim Wenders' Oscar nominated Perfect Days:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sound Designer Johnny Burn for The Zone of Interest from the Pop Culture Confidential Podcast.

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An Experiment / BIFA Awards Nominations / Writers Guild Moves Awards / Interviews and Profiles: Herzog, Nikou and Hemingson

AN EXPERIMENT

For a long while I have been fascinated by what happens to TFF films after they screen at Telluride.  I've watched, over the last several years, announcements from other fests concerning their lineups and where TFF films landed.  So I decided this year to actually survey what the pedigrees became for films that played The SHOW.

To keep the project from becoming ridiculously large I limited the assessment to two fests that precede Telluride that always screen films that then play at Telluride-Cannes and Venice. I included four major post-Telluride fests-Toronto, New York, London and AFI and then I included what are often referred as Regional fests.  I asked a number of journalist friends which fests fit that description and landed on: Mill Valley, Middleburg, Savannah and The Hamptons.  There is a fifth fest that fits the profile and that's Palm Springs which doesn't happen until Jan. 4-15, 2024.

39 TFF #50 films played at least one other festival in addition to its Telluride screening.

So which films play the most of these 10 festivals (it'll be 11 after Palm Springs)?  Any film that plays as many as possible would have a total of nine as Cannes and Venice screenings are mutually exclusive.  The only film to have made that happen is Wim Winders Perfect Days.

Three films made appearances at eight of these fests:

Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves which only missed Savannah.

Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera which didn't play London.

Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest. It isn't scheduled to play at the AFI Fest which just got under way this past Sunday.

A single film will have made seven stops in addition to TFF and that is Tran Ahn Hung's The Taste of Things.

Six films will score six fest screenings beyond Telluride: Anatomy of a Fall, The Promised Land, All of Us Strangers, Fingernails, The Holdovers and The Teachers' Lounge.

Films with five screenings: The Pigeon Tunnel, Rustin and Totem.

Films that would seem to be likely Oscar possibilities that each have four are Poor Things, The Bikeriders and Nyad.

So, does this little exercise mean anything?  

At a minimum it may give us a bit of insight into the International Feature Oscar race.  Eight films that were submitted for the International Oscar played TFF #50: Fallen Leaves, The Taste of Things, Perfect Days, The Zone of Interest, The Promised Land, The Monk and the Gun, The Teacher's Lounge and Totem.  The only one of those eight that will have screened at less than five of these fests is Bhutan's selection The monk and the Gun.

The other thing I think this may show us is the perhaps hidden strength of Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest and their chances of making the final field of ten films nominated for best Picture.  

I'll check back as we move through awards season to assess if this exercise had anything to reveal.

BIFA AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Overnight the British Independent Film Awards announced its nominees.  Six TFF films earned a total of  21 nominations lead by 14 for Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers.  Here's the breakdown:

All of Us Strangers: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance-Andrew Scott, Supporting Performance-Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, Screenplay, Casting, Cinematography, Editing, Music Supervision, Makeup and Hair, Production Design and Sound.

Bobi Wine: The People's President (from TFF #49): Best Documentary Feature, Best Debut Direction of a Documentary Feature and Documentary Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Independent Film.

Fallen Leaves: Beat International Independent Film.

Occupied City: Best Feature Documentary.

High and Low: John Galliano: Best Editing.

Complete coverage of the nominations is here from The Hollywood Reporter.

WRITERS' GUILD MOVES AWARDS

The writers' strike continues to alter the film landscape with the announcement yesterday from the WGA that they will hand out their awards on April 14th.  The WGA will announce their nominees on Feb. 21st, one day before final Oscar voting begins.  Variety reported that the WGA issued a statement which said, in part:

“This year’s Writers Guild Awards are being held in April to allow for a full awards submissions process to occur after the strike."

So at least one major Guild precursor is set to occur after the Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

One wonders if other Guilds might re-visit their plans with the Actors' strike still on-going.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: HERZOG, NIKOU AND HEMINGSON

Werner Herzog on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend Podcast. (Shout out to MTFB friend Patrick Pringle who alerted me to this)

Director Christos Nikou on Fingernails from Awards Radar.

Screenwriter David Hemingson on The Holdovers from The Playlist.

Latest Toronto Announcements / El Conde Looks Crazy / Waiting on the Fantastic

 LATEST TORONTO ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Toronto International Film Festival dropped two huge lists of films at the end of last week with Centerpiece Films announced Thursday,  Wavelengths, Shorts and Classics and "In Conversation With" participants and films added Friday.  As always, I'm parsing premiere statuses to see what they reveal about films that may be playing Telluride before TIFF.  Here's what I think we found out:

1) A couple of new films look T-ride bound.  Christy Hall's Daddio and from the animated film directing team of Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba They Shot the Piano Player.  I have mentioned They Shot the Piano Player in my June 9th analysis of which films Sony Pictures Classics might have to TFF #50 and rated it with a 25% chance to do so.  Mariscal and Trueba previously had screened Chico and Rita at TFF in 2010.

As for Hall's Daddio...caught me totally by surprise.  The film stars Sean Penn (at TFF in 2007 with Into the Wild) and Dakota Johnson (at TFF in 2021 with The Lost Daughter.

The IMDb summary of the film:

"A woman taking a cab ride from JFK engages in a conversation with the taxi driver about the important relationships in their lives."

As best I can tell Daddio does not yet have U.S. distribution.

2) The Centerpiece announcement also seemed to have confirmed that Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days and The Promised Land will be at Telluride.

3) The Centerpiece announcement sows some confusion about two films that we had thought were certain for Telluride after their inclusion in the New York announcement with no premiere status designation.  About Dry Grasses and The Settlers are both listed as North American premieres by TIFF and if that's accurate it would mean no Telluride for them.

Announced earlier, Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera is in that same boat.

This happens every year.  Sometimes it's miscommunication.  Sometimes it's mislabeling the status.  Where that leaves us is that all three of these films could still be a Telluride play (I particularly think that The Settlers probably IS going to Telluride.  No intell, just a gut feeling).

4) Finally from the Centerpiece announcement, Ilker Catak's The Teacher's Lounge which won a couple of awards at the Berlin Fest and a slew at the German Film Awards is listed as a North American Premiere which, if correct, means no screening at Telluride.  I have been listing it as a TFF  "possibility" through all 8 of this year's "Ten Bets" lists.

5) The Wavelengths announcement appears to confirm a TFF slot for Orlando, My Political Biography.  It also suggests three shorts to Telluride: NYC RGB, Quiet As It's Kept and Bouquets 31-40.

6) The "In Conversation With" section announced that Pedro Almodovar will be participating and screening his short Strange Way of Life as a North American Premiere.  That knocks it off of the Telluride track.  I had thought there was a real possibility that it could screen in T-ride but that appears destined not to be.

EL CONDE LOOKS CRAZY

Pablo Larrain's El Conde (The Count) will likely be playing at some theater in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  The film will World premiere at Venice and it has a screening slot early enough in that fest to make the hop to Telluride.

Well, the film looks bonkers.  Here is the newly released trailer from Netflix via YouTube:

 

And here's the IMDb summary: 

"Centers on Augusto Pinochet (infamous Chilean dictator) who is not dead but an aged vampire. After living 250 years in this world, he has decided to die once and for all."

And finally, a story about the film from Indiewire's Eric Kohn.

WAITING ON THE FANTASTIC

We're kind of expecting that Fantastic Fest, the Austin, Texas based festival that runs at the end of September/Early October will probably announce a big chunk of its lineup sometime this week.  Last year they announced on August 16th.  The year before the initial announcement came August 6th.

FF's lineup can prove instructive each year as a confirmation or elimination for a film's possible inclusion for Telluride.

Last year Fantastic Fest included:

The Banshees of Inisherin

Bones and All

Decision to Leave

Holy Spider

The Menu

Triangle of Sadness

Bones and All and Holy Spider played at TFF #49 and that was confirmed with the FF announcement listing both of those films as Texas Premieres.  Meanwhile with a U.S. Premiere designation Banshees, Decision to Leave, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness were all confirmed as not playing at TFF #49.

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Checking the Distributors: NEON / Saltburn and TFF? / First Ten Bets in One Week

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: NEON

Part Four today of MTFB's rundown of the most frequent distribution companies that have screened films at TFF over the past seven years.  Today's outfit is NEON.

NEON has had one fewer film actually play Telluride than  last Monday's company-A24.  That means that NEON is also very close to averaging two films per festival since 2015.

Here's what we have seen from NEON at TFF in that time frame:

2022: Broker, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Oscar nominated for Best Documentary)

2021: Petite Maman, Spencer (Oscar nominated for Best Actress-Kristen Stewart) , Flee (Oscar nominated for Best Animated Film, Best International Film and Best Documentary), Three Minutes-A Lengthening

2020: Ammonite*** if the fest had happened

2019: Parasite (nominated for six Academy Awards and won four including Best Picture and Director). Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Amazing Grace

2018: Border (Oscar nominated for Best Makeup and Hair), The Biggest Little Farm

2017: None

2016: The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography

As we look to NEON's possible participation in TFF #50 we discover that they have a lot of films that could be in play.  Foremost is probably Cannes Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.  The Palme winner hasn't played in Telluride since 2019's Parasite (also distributed by NEON) but that absence may actually work to increase the odds for a spot at Telluride this year.

That said, the most likely two films from the NEON stable to make the TFF #50 list in my estimation are Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera and Kitty Green's The Royal Hotel.  Each of these films start with a 50/50 chance of making the TFF lineup.

Other NEON films that are possibles and where I'd place their chances of  selection for TFF are:

The End/Oppenheimer 30%

The Actor/Johnson 20%

Longlegs/Perkins 20%

And I'd also say that if Raoul Peck's George Orwell (co-produced by Alex Gibney) documentary is ready that it too is a possibility at 20%.  Its currently listed as "filming".

SALTBURN AND TFF

I thought for a good long while that Emerald Fennell's Saltburn might be a real player for a TFF bid.  The writer/director is coming off an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman (2020) with this much anticipated film.

Well, Jordan Ruimy on Monday reported that Telluride appears to me making a push for the film.  Ruimy wrote:

"Now I’m hearing that TIFF, Telluride and Venice are fighting it out for the world premiere of Fennell’s film. Who will win the “Saltburn” stakes? My money is on Venice. It probably will world premiere on the Lido."

And, of course, a Venice World Premiere doesn't necessarily preclude a following screening at Telluride.

The entire Ruimy article is linked here.

IMDb Pro lists Saltburn's distribution status for the U.S. with Amazon but only labeling it as the distributor for video.

FIRST TEN BETS IN ONE WEEK

One week from today MTFB will put up the first Ten Bets for TFF #50.  Past attempts at the first Ten Bets have shown that and average of five of the ten will actually show up and play at TFF.  Then as the summer continues I will adjust the Ten Bets each week on Thursday to reflect the growing body of evidence pointing to which films we'll be offered over Labor Day weekend.

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Cannes Final Critical Analysis / Neglia's Cannes-Telluride Analysis / Miyazaki-Not This Time?

CANNES FINAL CRITICAL ANALYSIS

After a serious on-again/off-again connectivity issue I finally have the last look at the critical compilation for the films of Cannes #76 from Reini Urabn.  Urban's collection of critical responses is massive.  You can find that here.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Telluride normally programs an average of four films from the top 25 of Urban's compilation.  Additionally, the crossover between the fests overall is 7-8 films each year.

This year seven films that I have had my eye on as potential plays at TFF #50 finished in Reini's top 25:

2) The Zone of Interest (8.03) (2nd only to Killers of the Flower Moon)

5) Perfect Days (7.76)

8) Monster (7.57)

12) Fallen Leaves (7.41)

14) La Chimera (7.35)

17) May/December (7.28)

23) The Book of Solutions (7.14)

Other films that I've had on the TFF #50 watch list that finished below the top 25:

41) Occupied City (6.68)

55) Anselm (6.40)

66) The Old Oak (6.11)

93) Strange Way of Life (5.58)

97) The New boy (5.46)

And films that I haven't had my eye on but that Cannes put on my radar:

4) Anatomy of a Fall (7.79) (Palme d'Or winner)

11) Robot Dreams (7.43)

26) The Goldman Case (7.05)

27) How to Have Sex (7.03) (Un Certain Regard winner)

40) The Settlers 6.72

75) The Delinquents (5.96)

NEGLIA'S CANNES/TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia posted a list of a number of films that played at the 76th Cannes Film Festival over the past two weeks that he feels could be in play to be selected for the TFF #50 lineup.  from Matt's Twitter feed:

From Matt's list I would certainly concur re: La Chimera, May/December, Monster and The Zone of Interest.

I'd tend to agree based on the critical reception that Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and The Goldman case might be in play as well.  The others?  Maybe.

Other Cannes films that I think may be in play either from my pre-Cannes "feel" or because of their reception/buzz at Cannes include: Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days, Anselm, Strange Way of Life, The Book of Solutions, The Delinquents, The Settlers and maybe even the animated Robot Dreams.

As always, here is my plea to Paramount/Apple, Scorsese...who or whatever, to bring Killers of the Flower Moon to Telluride.

MIYAZAKI-NOT THIS TIME?

I had some thought that Hayao Miyazaki's How Do You Live? might make an appearance at Telluride.  He has had a significant presence at TFF over the years with Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and The Wind Rises all having screened at TFF.  However, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reported yesterday that any festival screening of the new film is unlikely writing, in part:

"A few months ago, I was told Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux tried as hard as he could to get Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live”  in competition, but it seems as though Miyazaki just doesn’t want to do film festivals at all. Not even Venice.

Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are perfectly content in having their latest film screen to the Japanese public before the rest of the world, just as they have done with almost every other film of his." 

Though the reporting is not absolute on the issue, Rumiy later in the post writes that skipping Venice is a "high possibility".

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Cannes Winners / Cannes and the Critics / NEON and Perfect Days

CANNES WINNERS

The 76th Cannes Film Festival came to a close with its awards presentation on Saturday night.  Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall took the top prize, the Palme d'Or.  Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest took the Grand Prix, essentially the runner-up prize and Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves landed the Jury Prize, regarded as the third place prize.

Other awards went to:

Director: The Pot  au Feu/Tran Anh Hung

Screenplay: Monster/Sakamoto Fuji

Actress: About Dry Grasses/Merve Dizdar

Actor: Perfect Days/Koji Yakusho

Molly Manning Walker's How to Have Sex won the top award in the Un Certain Regards section.

You could make a relatively good case for most of the prize winners making the jump from Cannes to Telluride.  

All awards can be found here from Variety.

CANNES AND THE CRITICS

Here's where a number of the critics polls from Cannes landed for the Palme d'Or competition films at the end of the two weeks:

Screen Daily:

1) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.2

2) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.0

2) May December/Haynes 3.0

4) Perfect Days/Wneders 2.9

4) La Chimera/Rohrwacher 2.9

Glazer's The Zone of Interest was just outside of the top five.

The International Cinephile Society:

1) The Zone of Interest/Glazer 4.24

2) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.85

3) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.76

4) Last Summer/Breiliat 3.70

5) May December/Haynes 3.50

Ioncinema:

1) The Zone of Interest/Glazer 3.9

2) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.7

3) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.5

3) La Chimera/Rohrwacher 3.5

5) The Old Oak/Loach 3.4

Once again, connection issues have prevented access to Reini Urban's massive Cannes crtics compilation.

NEON AND PERFECT DAYS

Wim Wenders Perfect Days was taken by distributor NEON toward the end of the Cannes fest.  The acquisition probably increases the chance that the film makes an appearance at Telluride in three months.

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Couple of Deals to Note / Cannes and the Critics / Trailers and Clips: May/December, La Chimera, Perfect Days

A COUPLE OF DEALS OF NOTE

Two acquisition deals of note occurred at Cannes since last Monday's post.  

Netflix nabbed North American rights for Todd Haynes' May/December for $11 million.  May/December has long been  on the MTFB radar as a possible TFF #50 selection and while the Netflix action doesn't guarantee a TFF berth it sure doesn't hurt.

The other deal that caught my eye was from NEON which took North American rights for Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall.  Anatomy began the festival as just another Cannes title that I had not focused on regarding its TFF chances but with a very solid critical response (88 on Metacritic, 100% on RT),  Plame d'Or buzz and this acquisition from NEON, which has become a frequent contributor to the TFF lineup (Parasite, Broker, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), I have to think that Anatomy of a Fall has emerged as a serious candidate for TFF inclusion.

Here is reporting from The Hollywood Reporter on the Netflix May/December deal and for the NEON deal for Anatomy of a Fall.

CANNES AND THE CRITICS

As the 76th Cannes Film Festival makes its turn into the final stretch...awards are Saturday night, here's a snapshot of where the critical reaction has been to films that have played thus far in the Palme d'Or competition.

The top five from Screen Daily:

1) Fallen Leaves 3.2

2) Anatomy of a Fall 3.0

2) May/December 3.0

4) The Zone of Interest 2.8

4) The Pot Au Feu 2.8

4) Youth 2.8

4) About Dry Grasses 2.8

The top five from Ioncinema:

1) The Zone of Interest 3.9

2) Fallen Leaves 3.8

3) Anatomy of a Fall 3.5

4) About Dry Grasses 3.4

5) May/December 3.3.

The top five from the International Cinephile Society:

1) The Zone of Interest 4.21

2) Fallen Leaves 3.88

3) Anatomy of a Fall 3.50

4) About Dry Grasses 3.42

5) Youth 3.33

Normally I would be including the massive critical compilation from Reini Urban but that link is currently down.

TRAILERS AND CLIPS

MAY/DECEMBER

LA CHIMERA

From NEON's Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/neonrated/status/1660999454034472962

PERFECT DAYS

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Cannes Opening Imminent - Top Possibilities / WOR and the Best of the '60's -Part Two / Looks At: Poor Things and Cobweb

CANNES OPENING IMMINENT-TOP POSSIBILITIES

Set photo from Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest

The 76th Cannes Film Festival is just hours away from its opening and MTFB continues to monitor the pre-fest buzz for films that could make the trans-Atlantic crossing from France to southwestern Colorado on Labor Day weekend.

As frequent readers know, traditionally many films make the Cannes/Telluride Two-Step each year.  On average (based on the last 12 years) there are 7-8 films that make that double-play.  Last year nine films made the trip including Aftersun, Armageddon Time, Broker, Close, Holy Spider and The Pupils.

As we near the start of this year's fest on The Croisette, Indiewire has published their list of "Most Anticipated" titles.  Looking at that, here's another stab from that list at what might SHOW up at T-ride:

La Chimera/Rohrwacher

Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki

Killer of the Flower Moon/Scorsese

May/December/Haynes

Monster/Kore-eda

Strange Way of Life/Almodovar

The Zone of Interest/Glazer

The complete Indiewire story and list are linked here.

As always, I'll be keeping track of the critical reaction from Cannes as that can sometimes point to the viability of films moving forward. Here are the dates that some of the films of interest will be having their initial public screening:

In Palme competition:

Monster 5/17

The Zone of Interest 5/19

May/December 5/20

Perfect Days 5/25

La Chimera 5/26

The Old Oak 5/26

Others not in Palme Competition:

Occupied City 5/17

Strange Way of Life 5/17

Anselm 5/17

The New Boy 5/19

Killers of the Flower Moon 5/20

Cobweb 5/25

Closing night ceremonies will take place on May 27th.

WOR AND THE BEST OF THE 60'S -PART TWO

Last Thursday I wrote about participating in World of Reel's poll of the greatest films of the 1960's.  Since that post WOR head man Jordan Ruimy has published the individual ballots of all 130+ people who participated.  That let me see how my list of ten great films of the 60's stacked up with everyone else.

 Here's my list of ten and where they landed within the top 40 that Ruimy posted last week:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1)

The Apartment (9)

Cool Hand Luke

Dr. Strangelove (3)

The Graduate (5)

The Hustler 

Lawrence of Arabia (4)

Midnight Cowboy (17)

To Kill a Mockingbird

They Shoot Horses Don't They

As to the films that I listed that did not make the Top 40, here's the number of ballots they had with this note, it took 7 ballots to make the Top 40.:

Cool Hand Luke-5

The Hustler-5

To Kill a Mockingbird- 6

They Shoot Horses Don't They-3

The complete list of individual ballots is here.

LOOKS AT: POOR THINGS, COBWEB AND  ANSLEM

POOR THINGS TEASER

I will admit that I am fascinated by what this Yorgos Lanthimos film might be.  Additionally, I'm a big fan of Emma Stone  The IMDb description:

"The incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe)."

Here's the teaser from YouTube that was released by Searchlight on May 11th:

Here's The Hollywood Reporter on the film.

COBWEB

I have Director Kin Jee-woon's Cobweb as an outside shot to make the lineup for TFF #50.  It play's in an Out-of-Competition slot.

The IMDb Desription:

"an experimental and genre-defying drama shot entirely on sound stages in support of a film-within-a-film narrative."

Here's the trailer with subtitles from YouTube:

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Screen Daily Looks at Cannes Possibilities / Dune: Part Two

SCREEN DAILY LOOKS AT CANNES POSSIBILITIES

We're growing closer to the actual announcement of films that will be a part of this year's Cannes Film Fest's various sections.  Then we can look at them for clues as to possible Telluride choices for TFF #50.  In this interim, now down to 10 days, looking at informed speculation is the best game in town.  Among the best each year at sussing out probable Cannes selections is Screen Daily and that's where we look today to gauge what might happen.

Screen Daily, rather uniquely, divides their picks geographically, so we'll organize that way as well.  Here are what I feel like are the most viable T-ride potentials from the Screen Daily list:

France: 

The Book of Solutions/Gondry

Daaaaaali!/Depieux

North America:

Killers of the Flower Moon/Scorsese

May/December/Haynes

UK:

The Old Oak/Loach

Italy:

La Chimera/Rohrwacher

Io Capitano/Garrone

Other Europe:

Poor Things/Lanthimos

AND/Lanthimos

Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki

The Bastard/Arcel

Asia and Australia:

Monster/Kore-eda

Cobweb/Kang-ho

The New Boy/Thornton

The entire Screen Daily article is linked here.

DUNE: PART TWO

I haven't given any thought to a possibility that Dune Part Two might play TFF #50.  After the first film opted not to play at Telluride my assumption has been that there was no chance that the sequel would play The SHOW.  That despite the fact that director and co-writer Denis Villenueve has had a substantial history with TFF including screenings of  Arrival (2016), Prisoners (2013), Incendies (2010) and August 32nd on earth (1998).

All that said to get almost certain confirmation from a story by Andreas Wiseman for Variety that posted last week.  In it Variety reports that the film will not be ready for a Venice premiere.  Since T-ride and Venice run side-by-side, we know that a TFF #50 screening would also be out of the question.

the article does tease that a later film festival might be in play for the film which has a scheduled release date of Nov. 3rd.  New York maybe?

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