Latest Toronto Announcements / New Trailers and Teaser: A Hidden Life, Little Women, Ad Astra, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Parasite

Thursday...Two weeks and one day...


LATEST TORONTO ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

2019 Ten Bets #7 (Plus Bonus Bets) / More from Toronto / Lucy in the Sky Has a Date for Lift Off / The People's Telluride: It's Time to Plan Your Participation

Friday...Three Weeks...



2019 TEN BETS #7 (PLUS BONUS BETS)

Time for the weekly update of MTFB's Ten Bets for the 46th Telluride Film Festival (plus some Bonus Bets).

Here were your Ten Bets and Bonuses from last week along with "Other Possibilities":


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


This week, I add some "Bonus Bets":

Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) Family Romance LLC
Bonus 5) Country Music

Other possibilities (in no particular order):

The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run?), Atlantics, Nomadland, Synonyms, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, Wasp Network, The King, A Hidden Life, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.


Now, after this week's digging and sleuthing...your new Ten Bets and 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 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

Gone from the list of "Other Possibilities"- Wasp Network, Atlantics, Synonyms.  Also gone that I had given some serious thought to: The Traitor, Bacurau and Young Ahmed.

Still on the list of Other Possibilities:

Family Romance LLC, Country Music, The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, The King, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.


MORE FROM TORONTO

The Toronto International Film Festival announced a slew more of films for their soiree that traditionally takes off the weekend after Telluride.  They added films for their Discovery, Midnight Madness and Docs sections.  Here's what those new announcements tell us for Labor Day weekend:

It looks as if Laura Greenfield's documentary about former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos is probable for Telluride as TIFF lists it as a Canadian Premiere and I can't find a trace of it having screened anywhere else.

And that seems like the only TFF addition we make from yesterday's TIFF news.  All other films added to the three sections are listed as either World Premieres, North American Premieres, International Premieres-none of which are listed as American films -and the only other Canadian Premiere listed is such because it screened earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Fest.

Among notable docs that are listed as World Premiere's that I thought might have been a Telluride consideration:

Alex Gibney's Citizen K
Bryce Dallas Howard's Dads
Gabe Polsky's Red Penguins
Ellen Page's There's Something in the Water
Mark Cousins' Women Make Film
Fisher Stevens' And We Go Green

Toronto still has more to reveal over the next couple of weeks.

Here's the complete list of films announced yesterday from Variety.


LUCY IN THE SKY HAS A DATE FOR LIFTOFF

Multiple sources revealed that Fox Searchlight's Lucy in the Sky starring Natalie Portman has been dated for release in a limited fashion on Oct. 4th. 

That means that we could still see it added to lineups for NYFF or TIFF.  Even Venice.  And it certainly remains a TFF #46 potential title.

The Noah Hawley film is loosely based on the true story of an astronaut's return from space and her personal difficulties upon that return.

Some news outlets suggest that a fall film presence is still possible and perhaps likely.

Here's coverage from

The Playlist

Indiewire

Entertainment Weekly 

The Wrap



IT'S TIME TO PLAN YOUR PARTICIPATION

Yes indeed.

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".

Each year the level of participation has grown and I'd like to keep that increasing.

Here are the top three People's results from each year we've done it:

2012:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80)
2) Argo  (4.75)
3) The Attack (4.70)

2013:

1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)
2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)
3) Gravity (4.40)

2014:

1) The Imitation Game (4.73)
2) Birdman (4.46)
3) Wild Tales (4.23)

2015:

1) Room (4.47)
2) Spotlight (4.45)
3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.37)
2) La La Land (4.33)
3) Maudie (4.29)

2017:

1) Lady Bird (4.38)
2) The Shape of Water (4.22)
3) Darkest Hour (4.04)


2018:

1) Roma (4.47)
2) First Man (4.34)
3) Shoplifters (4.29)


The all time People's Top Ten going into the 2019 Telluride Film Festival are:

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) Roma (tie-4.47) (18)
7) Room (tie-4.47) (15)
9) Birdman (4.46) (14)
10) Spotlight (4.45) (15)


When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

First Ten Bets for 2019 / The Distributors 2019: Many a Firm Part One / Variety's 31 Flavors of Oscar

Your final Friday of June has arrived...

FIRST TEN BETS FOR 2019

Well, it's here.

My very first "Ten Bets" for TFF #46.

I've been posting my guesses predictions for Telluride in this format since 2011.  Some years I have a better track record than others with the initial stab.  My track record throughout the years on the first Ten Bets looks like this:

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

Last year I landed just below my average accuracy getting five titles correct: The Other Side of the Wind, Peterloo, Cold War, The Old Man and the Gun and The Front Runner.  But I also missed on Beautiful Boy, Sunset, Burning, Capernaum and the stunning miss on Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk.

Other films that I listed on 2018's "just under the Ten Bets" that actually made it to The SHOW included: Boy Erased, The Eyes of Orson Welles, Girl, Shoplifters, and First Man.

Last year's half right/half wrong moved my average over the eight years of Ten Bets to 5.6 correct picks per year.'

And so with that as a backdrop...drumroll please...here's your first Ten Bets for TFF #46


10) The Good Liar
9) Little Women
8) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
7) Jojo Rabbit
6) Family Romance LLC
5) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4) Lucy in the Sky
3) Varda by Agnes
2) Nomadland
1) Parasite

Other films in serious play: The Goldfinch, Untitled Noah Baumbach Project, Untitled Todd Haynes Project, Atlantics, The Climb, The Laundromat, Radioactive, Country Music, The Lighthouse, Harriet, The Truth, Synonyms, Motherless Brooklyn, Ad Astra.


I'll be updating the Ten Bets each Friday for the rest of the summer and, as has become my custom, it will expand as we move through time.  Ultimately the final Ten Bets will come on Wednesday, August 28th with up to 25 films that I will predict or deduce that will make the TFF #46 lineup.


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: MANY A FIRM PART ONE

Casting a glance today at smaller distribution houses and the films that they have that could make the Telluride program:

-COHEN MEDIA GROUP

This company is a consistent T-ride player.  Its history:

2017: The Insult, Face Places
2016: Journey Through French Cinema
2015: Hitchcock/Truffaut, Marguerite, Rams
2014: Magician
2013: No Show
2012: The Attack


So what's in the CMG larder:

Safy Nebbou's Berlin hit Who You Think I Am.  The film focuses on a 50 year old woman (Juliette Binoche) who creates a fake social media profile.

At the moment, it seems to be the only film CMG has but don't discount the possibility that they'll acquire a film this summer that might also make the lineup.


-KINO LORBER

Another group that has been a frequent entrant in Telluride's fest.  Kino Lorber's track record:

2017: Film Worker
2016: Fire at Sea
2015: Ixcanul, Sembene!, Taxi
2014: The Decent One
2013: Burning Bush, La Maison de la Radio, Manuscripts Don't Burn
2010: La Quattro Volte, Poetry
2007: Blind Mountain


After five straight years with at least one film in play at TFF, Kino Lorber was absent last year.  They could return- and have a good chance to do so, this year with a film that scored well at the Berlin International Film Festival. 

Nadav Lapid's Synonyms won the top prize, the Golden Bear, last February.  It has played a bunch of international fests since then.

IMDb describes the film as " A young Israeli man absconds to Paris to escape his nationality, aided by his trusty Franco-Israeli dictionary.


-IFC FILMS

IFC also has, at least for the moment, a single film that seems possible for T-ride and that is Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth.   Described as a film that focuses on the stormy reunion between a daughter and her mother who is an actress involved in a sci-fi film in which she plays a woman who never ages.

After Kore-eda's stellar run in 2018 with Shoplifters which played TFF #45, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes  and was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language film, you have to think that The Truth would be under real consideration for a return to Telluride for the director.


Chances for today's batch of films:

Synonyms 50%
The Truth 50%
Who You Think I Am 40%

I'll have a look at some of the other smaller distribution outfits on Monday.


VARIETY'S 31 FLAVORS OF OSCAR

Variety's Tim Gray posted a lengthy piece on Tuesday called "Oscar: 31 Upcoming Films that Could Enter the Awards Race". 

There are actually more than 31.
 when you look at all the lists and categorizations.

As you might expect, a slew of potential T-ride selections are on his various category lists.

Among the possible T-ride players that Gray includes are (in the order he lists them):

Untitled Jay Roach Fox News Project
Ford v. Ferrari
Harriet
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Little Women
Judy
The Aeronauts
The Laundromat
The Pope
Atlantics
Untitled Sally Potter Project (Molly)
Jojo Rabbit
The Woman in the Window
Joker...yea, I said it.
Motherless Brooklyn
The Good Liar
1917
Against All Enemies
The King
The Last Thing He Wanted
Les Miserables
The Lighthouse
Lucy in the Sky
Untitled Todd Haynes Project
Untitled Noah Baumbach Project


The complete article is linked here.


That's the Friday MTFB.  I'll have more on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Distributors 2019: 20th Century Fox / Lucy in the Sky and This Fall / Nuggets from Venice Speculation

Welcome...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: 20TH CENTURY FOX

Or...you know...Disney.

I'm taking a look at films that were at 20th Century Fox that are now, due to Disney's acquisition...part of Disney.  It has meaning as Disney and Telluride really have no history (at least in the time I've been attending TFF).  20th Century Fox has only a small footprint in as far as Telluride is concerned.

But 20th Century Fox has three solid films that are probably going to be a part of the end of the year awards conversation and they may try to include Telluride in their plans for those films.  They are:

James Gray's Ad Astra (more about it below) dated for release on Sept. 20th
Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window dated Oct. 4th
James Mangold's Ford v. Ferrari dated Nov. 15th

Two of the three directors have played Telluride in the past with Joe Wright their most recently with Darkest Hour.  Mangold their many years back with Walk the Line and even James Gray was in Telluride in 2012 for the tribute to Marion Cotillard.

So, the factors I look at to make a determination about whether a film is a likely T-ride choice are a mixed bag.

Ultimately, call Ad Astra the most likely prospect (again, see below) at 40%.
The others...
The Woman in the Window 30%
Ford v. Ferrari 30%


LUCY IN THE SKY AND THIS FALL

Natalie Portman in Lucy in the Sky (via IMDb)

I've had my eye on this (back when it was Untitled Noah Hawley Project and then when it became Pale Blue Dot) and just in the last day or so noticed a little more heat on Lucy's Telluride chances.  Ben Travers writing for Indiewire reported on Sunday that "Fox Searchlight is targeting the fall festival circuit for the film's debut".

In my Fox Searchlight assessment back on June 13th, I had Lucy in the Sky listed as having a 40% chance of making the Telluride lineup.  I might have to bump that to 45% in light of the Indiewire story and Fox Searchlight's history with Telluride.

The Travers piece in Indiewire is linked here.

Here's the trailer for the film that is as yet undated for release.

NUGGETS FROM VENICE SPECULATION

As we edge closer to announcements of films for both Venice and Toronto the speculation about what films will go where is starting to grow.  Case in point was World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy spec piece about all the fall film fests that he originally posted on June 21st and has continued to update.  That's linked here.

Last week Roger Friedman reported at ShowBiz 411 that Venice was looking strongly looking at programming Roman Polanski's An Officer and a Spy not that I think that suggests a Telluride play for that film. 

What was interesting was the mention of a couple of other films in the article.  Friedman reports that we can all give up on The Irishman for Venice (and by extension Telluride) as Scrosese does not look like he'll be done with the visual effects in time.The other note is that the notion that James Gray's Ad Astra will play Venice is gaining traction.  Should that happen, that may signal an increased likelihood that the space epic starring Brad Pitt might land in the Rockies on Labor Day weekend.

Something to ponder.


Tuesday's MTFB is in the books back on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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The Distributors 2019: Fox Searchlight / Return of The Jesus? / Ad Astra T.V. Spot

Good Thursday everybody!

THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: FOX SEARCHLIGHT

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.

The original Independent interview is linked here.

The Indiewire story is linked here.


AD ASTRA T.V. SPOT


Last week we had the debut of the first trailer for James Gray's Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones.

This week we have an edited down version of it that has appeared as a television commercial.  Here that is from YouTube:

Ad Astra is one of the most highly anticipated titles this fall and is set to open on Sept. 20th.


Thursday is in the books.  More from MTFB tomorrow including my "If I Had To" segment.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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I'm Back / Netflix and Cannes: The Breakup Continues / Malick at Cannes and Then... / Schiller Talks Telluride and More / Lucy in the Sky Teaser / Burn's Country Music / New Pic of Hanks as Rogers

Spring Break has concluded...

I'M BACK

After a ten day hiatus MTFB is back today after having spent Spring Break doing this and that.  Spent some of the break in NYC.  Saw Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels.  It's nearly perfect.  Saw Bryan Cranston in Network...Cranston is phenomenal.  Did some other stuff.

It was good to step away for a few days, but I'm back now as we head our way to the announcement of the films that will play at Cannes which really does begin the Telluride speculation season on some earnest.   Here we go...


NETFLIX AND CANNES: THE BREAKUP CONTINUES

While I was away we found out that Netflix will again have zero films playing at the Cannes Film Fest in May.  The impasse that created that situation last year has not been resolved and as such, Netflix apparently will not be bringing any films to France in any of the programs.

That was reported in a  number pf places this past week including this from Variety.

In addition, as it turns out, the big fish in Netflix's barrel this season, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman reportedly wouldn't be ready anyway.  It seems that there is still far too much effects work to be done.  That according to Zack Sharf writing at Indiewire.

Sharf writes that a Venice premiere at this point seems the safest bet.  That would still seem to leave the door open for a screening at Telluride much in the way Netflix played Cuaron's Roma last year (and Searchlight did Shape of Water the year before).

My take is still some serious wariness.  Scorsese hasn't been at Telluride in decades.  I wouldn't be surprised if it played Venice and Venice alone or skipped fests all together. 

Still, Collider's Adam Chitwood suggests a run for the film through the Venice, Telluride, Toronto (maybe New York) gauntlet.


MALICK AT CANNES AND THEN...

And speaking of Cannes...there's a growing consensus that  Terrence Malick will return to Cannes in May with his latest film Radegund.  It's a film I have been stalking for quite some time mostly because it's Malick doing a film with a reportedly more traditionally narrative structure that tells the true story of an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II.

I'm hoping, that after a spate of films that haven't exactly been embraced (since Tree of Life) that this will be the path back to critical success for the auteur. 

Charles Barfield writing for The Playlist suggests that Cannes will screen the new film. That story is linked here.

Should that come to pass, the questions would be: does it play any other fests and which distributor picks it up?

I'll keep an eye on it.

SCHILLER TALKS TELLURIDE, FILM AND MORE?

Friend of the blog and multi-hyphenate Christopher Schiller was featured this week on The Weekend Take podcast with Shawn Schaffer.  Schiller runs down a number of topics including a love letter to the Telluride Film Festival.

You can find Schiller's guest stint and The Weekend Take podcast at iTunes at this link.



LUCY IN THE SKY TEASER


Here's the teaser from YouTube:

The Hollywood Reporter

First Showing

The Playlist

Indiewire




BURNS' COUNTRY MUSIC

The Asheville, NC  Citizen Times reports that Ken Burns is going to screen some moments of his new documentary on country music in Asheville next week (on April 2 on the UNC-Asheville campus).  It's yet another sign that, although the entire 16 hour doc may not be ready in its entirety, there's plenty of it to show to an audience.

This roll out in various parts in various places continues to make me think that a presentation of some of it over Labor Day weekend in T-ride  is a realistic possibility.

The Citizen Times article is linked here.



NEW PIC OF HANKS AS ROGERS

And to celebrate what would have been Fred Rogers 91st birthday, TriStar released a new photo from the set of A Beautiful Day in the neighborhood starring Tom Hanks as Rogers.

Here's the new photo:

The film is directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and is set for U.S. release on Nov. 22nd.

That's your "Spring Break Is Over Return Issue" of MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday.


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The Cannes Speculation Begins / But Not This One? / And on a Related Note...Venice-Netflix? / Early Oscar Analysis

Welcome back for the weekend...Did you Spring Forward?  I sort of shambled forward...


THE CANNES SPECULATION BEGINS

With the Cannes Film Festival just a couple of months away, it's time to start thinking in a serious fashion what could play as part of their programs with an eye, then. to those films that could bow in France and then have their North American unveiling over Labor Day weekend in the Colorado Rockies.

To that end, you may have notice The Hollywood Reporter's analysis this week of 50 films that their authors say have a shot at making the 2019 Cannes lineup.

Casting an eye over that moderately extensive list of films, these are the titles that jump out at me as worth a glance as we look for films that could make the TFF #45 program (click on the title to go to its IMDb page):

Against All Enemies dir: Benedict Andrews

Ahmed dir: The Dardennes Brothers

The Truth dir: Hirokazu Koreeda

Ema dir. Pablo Larrain

Radegund dir. Terrence Malick (admittedly more a wish than a prophecy)

First Cow dir: Kelly Reichardt

The Laundromat dir. Stephen Soderbergh

 Of course, there are a number of others listed in the THR article that intrigue and could certainly pop up both in France and Telluride.  The complete THR article is linked here.


BUT NOT THIS ONE?

One film listed in the preceding THR linked story is Martin Scorsese's much anticipated Netflix backed gangster drama The Irishman.  Interestingly, within a day of its publication, ShowBiz411 reported that The Irishman will NOT be ready to make an appearance at Cannes.

Roger Friedman headlines his story from Thursday with "Confirmed: No Irishman at Cannes".  In the body of the story Friedman writes "The film is shot...but the special effects will take months."  Friedman also implies that The Irishman might eschew fall fests altogether which would certainly fit Scorsese's recent M.O.

The complete ShowBiz411 post is linked here.


AND ON A RELATED AND GAME CHANGING NOTE...VENICE/NETFLIX?

Eric Kohn wrote a piece this last week at Indiewire which explores where the Cannes/Netflix relationship is and may be headed.  In it he reports that the Venice International Film Festival may be following Cannes path in regards to screening of Netflix films as the battle over how various entities, Festivals and the Oscars particularly, deal with the films that are produced by the streaming giant.

Kohn reports that a recently signed law in Italy that would establish guidelines for theatrical distribution of films there that are similar to the laws in France which have been the central issue in the ongoing Netflix-Cannes confrontation.

Kohn writes, "The Lido may off limits to Netflix in the coming year".  Additionally, he speculates  that that turn of events could conceivably benefit Telluride (and Toronto) writing that it "could be very good" for both fests.

The full paragraph from Kohn is a s follows:

"Netflix doesn’t necessarily need a bump from the festival for its most anticipated films. “Roma” found plenty of acclaim at Venice, Telluride, and Toronto. The Lido may be off-limits to Netflix in the coming year, as Italy’s Minister of Culture Albert Bonisoli signed a law in November requiring theatrical windows in the country similar to the rule in France. But Telluride and Toronto, both of which declined comment for this story, continue to maintain close relationships with Netflix and remain tangible fall launchpads for awards-season hopefuls."

The complete Kohn story is linked here.



EARLY OSCAR ANALYSIS

Also from Indiewire this week is a peak at early Oscar speculation from their resident Oscar guru Anne Thompson.  The article focuses specifically on directors that she perceives might be on the Oscar short list in the months after Telluride comes to a close but still gives us some good fodder for thinking about films that might make their way to the San Juans.

On her list that might be worth our contemplation (and, as above, linked to their IMDb page):

Noah Baumbach' Untitled Project (starring Adam Driver)

Greta Gerwig's Little Women

Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky

Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hirokazu Koreeda's The Truth (mentioned and linked above)

Dee Ree's The Last Thing He Wanted

Jay Roach's Fair and Balanced

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (if it's ready and fall fests are even a part of its release strategy...see above)

Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window

Thompson's complete Indiewire story is linked here.


That's today's MTFB.  More on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Reminders as we head into 2019 / 150 Foreign Films / Golden Globes on Sunday / 52 Directors on 2018 Films

REMINDERS AS WE HEAD INTO 2019

I took a quick step back at the last couple of months and have re-posted 2019 speculative pieces (with an update here and there) about what films might be in consideration to make the lineup at TFF #46:


THE PLAYLIST 100 (from my Dec. 6th post)

The annual review of their 100 most anticipated films for the new year came down for The Playlist earlier this week and, as you might expect, I have culled the list for films that seem like they should be on our radar for TFF #46.

The staff specifically mentions Telluride as a possible destination for only three films:

#39: Pale Blue Dot (now titled: Lucy in the Sky)
#26: The untitled Noah Baumbach project
#11: The Last Thing He Wanted

Among the other 97 films listed, the following are the ones that seem to me to be most likely:

#100: The Glorias: A Life on the Road
#91: Resistance
#79: My Zoe
#66: Mainstream
#64: Against All Enemies
#63: The Woman in the Window
#59: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (not likely as production has been delayed)
#52: Motherless Brooklyn
#40: The Goldfinch
#34: You Are My Friend (Now titled: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
#33: Antlers
#30: Ema
#29: Waiting for the Barbarians
#24: The King
#20: Radegund
#19: Bergman Island
#17: The Truth
#15: The Laundromat
#13: Triple Frontier (off the list, release dated for Mar. 13th)
#7: Little Women
#2: The Irishman

The complete list of 100 films (plus some honorable mentions) from The Playlist is linked here.

WELLS AND RUIMY (from my Nov. 26th post)


I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend (now titled A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood):  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plot sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

NOPE...SET TO DROP AT SUNDANCE: Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot (now titled Lucy in the Sky)  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

AGAIN...NOPE...RELEASE IS IN MARCH NOW....Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well.

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes.

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


150 FOREIGN FILMS

Ioncinema has undertaken the mammoth task of laying out 150 foreign films to anticipate in 2019.  The list is ongoing and not yet complete at their site. 

Among the early films listed are Xavier Dolan's Matthias and Maxime, Michel Hazanavicius' The Lost Prince and Zhang Yimou's One Second which all could make a splash over Labor Day weekend in Telluride.

Here's the first of the links from Ioncinema.



GOLDEN GLOBES ON SUNDAY

I honestly have no real idea how these 90+ HFPA members are going to play this on Sunday.  If I had to guess, I'm thinking A Star Is Born is likely to have a big night.

Here's a reminder of the TFF films/performers who are nominated for Golden Globes:

The Favourite (5):  Best Film-Musical or Comedy, Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Screenplay

Roma (3): Foreign Language, Direction, Screenplay

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2):  Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Grant)

Boy Erased (2): Best Actor-Drama (Hedges), Best Song

First Man (2): Best Supporting Actress (Foy), Best Score

Destroyer (1): Best Actress-Drama (Kidman)

The Old Man and the Gun (1): Best Actor-Musical or Comedy (Redford)

Girl (1): Best Foreign Language Film

Shoplifters (1): Best Foreign Language Film

TFF #45 films earn 18 Globe nominations.  I'll have some sort of breakdown and commentary in Monday's post.

THE PLAYLIST POLLS 52 DIRECTORS ON THE FILMS OF 2018

The Playlist recent posted an article titled "52 Directors Pick Their Favorite Movies of 2018".  The results are not particularly surprising...Roma is named as the favorite from eight directors including Guillermo Del Toro, Pedro Almodovar, Lynne Ramsay, Rebecca Miller and Edgar Wright.

Several of the respondents listed films in alphabetically order.  Some listed favorite performances or moments.  One even included mention of a couple of plays.

Also mentioned by at least one director as their favorite 2019 film from among Telluride offerings: The Favourite, First Man, Cold War, The Other Side of the Wind and TFF #44's First Reformed.

The complete article from The Playlist is here.


That's MTFB for this first Thursday in 2019.  Happy New Year to all!


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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