TEN (PLUS) BETS #9
We're in the home stretch now with mere days left before TFF #50 takes off. I'll have the 10th installment of 2023's Ten Bets a week from today and the FINAL BETS for this year will be published on Monday, August 28th. And, of course, I'll post the announced list of films and other information on Wednesday August 30th.
Here's reminder of where we were with last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:
1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) Saltburn
6) Poor Things
7) The Royal Hotel
8) Rustin
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers (previously titled Strangers)
12) The Bikeriders
13) Fallen Leaves
14) Perfect Days
15) The Settlers
Other possibilities: El Conde, The Pigeon Tunnel, Without Blood, The Promised Land, The End, The American Buffalo, The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, Janet Planet, Orlando, My Political Biography, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.
And here is the latest Ten (Plus) Bets:
1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) Saltburn
6) Poor Things
7) The Royal Hotel
8) Rustin
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers
12) The Bikeriders
13) Fallen Leaves
14) Perfect Days
15) El Conde
16) Janet Planet
17) The Promised Land
18) Orlando, My Political Biography
19) The Pigeon Tunnel
20) Without Blood
Other possibilities: Daddio, They Shot the Piano Player, The Settlers, The End, The American Buffalo, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, La Chimera, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Tuesday and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.
CRYPTIC MESSAGE FROM KRIS TAPLEY
Yesterday Kris Tapley posted on X (used to Twitter? Still is Twitter?):
Now, what does that mean?
Could it portend Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon landing at Telluride?
Will Rustin's World Premiere at Telluride draw out the founders of the production company behind the film? That's Higher Ground Productions which was founded by a couple named Obama.
Or is it something else entirely?
Tapley has been around the biz for awhile and a Telluride attendee for a good long time as well. He clearly knows something is in the wind. That doesn't necessarily mean that Telluride would be included in whatever he's teasing but there's a chance.
FANTASTIC FEST ANNOUNCES
Fantastic Fest, the primarily genre film festival based in Austin Texas announced its lineup on Tuesday. The news from FF each year usually doesn't provide a ton of Telluride intelligence but almost always provides a little and this year's announcement met that tradition.
First, Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things was not announced and, unless there is some late surprise addition, that all but assures that the film will play at TFF #50.
Additionally, Michel Gondry's The Book of Solutions which I had semi-considered as a possible choice for Telluride will not be. FF announced it as a North American premiere taking it off the table for TFF.
To look for films from Fantastic Fest's list you want to pay attention to films that are listed as "Texas" premieres. I found 16 of those on Tuesday and ran them down. It appears that Gareth Edwards the Creator might be a T-ride possibility as it is listed as a Texas premiere and has not screened anywhere up to this point.
The film from 20th Century Studios/New Regency/Disney is described at IMDb as:
"...a post-apocalyptic thriller involving a future impacted by a war between humans and AI."
Meanwhile, another film that meets the Texas premiere and hasn't played anywhere else in the U.S. is Wonsuk Lee's Killing romance. It's FF profile describes it:
"A fallen actress falls in love with a man, but when he turns out to be a monster, her next-door überfan helps her escape the only way they know how — by trying to kill him".
Honestly, I have a little difficulty believing that either of these films are necessarily Telluride bound but the premiere status and available data suggest otherwise.
THERE GOES MAESTRO
The New York Film Festival announced yesterday that Bradley Cooper's Maestro will be a North American premiere as its Spotlight Gala. That removes it, at last, off the Telluride possibles list. I was still holding out a slight hope that it might show up at Telluride since it was scheduled to bow in Venice on Saturday, Sept. 2nd. I know that would cut it close but also thought since Cooper has said that he will not go to Venice for that premiere that perhaps it might still be at TFF #50.
But noop.
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE RETURNS
For the 11th non-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 to: mpgort@gmail.com
The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.
I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2
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