Counting Down to the Palme

Does Terrence Malick win the Palme D'or today???

With just hours left before we find out the jury's decision ab out which films receive what awards at the 64th Cannes Film Festival I can confidently say that there is absolutely no consensus about where this jury, headed by Robert DeNiro, is going to land.  Every one of the films that Cannes regulars seem to think have a chance also has some serious baggage to overcome.  Added to that is the fact that predicting a jury's decision when the members are new each year is a fool's game.  Nevertheless, no one ever said I wasn't a fool, so here's some speculation...

The big prize, of course, is the Plame D'Or.  Films thought o have the best chance are "The Skin I Inhabit" from Pedro Almodovar, "The Tree of Life" from  Terrence Malick, "Melancholia" from Lars Von Trier, "The Artist" from Michel Hazanavicius, "The Kid with a Bike" from The Dardennes Brothers, "Drive" from Nicolas Winding Refn, "La Havre" from Aki Kaurismaki and "We Have to Talk About Kevin" from Lynne Ramsay. 

Late entries for which there has been little time for critical response were "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" from Nuri Bilge Ceylan and "The Source" from Radu Mihaileanu.  I mention these despite not having their critical reaction in total because of late Cannes has made something of a habit of awarding the Plame to a late showing film and because the limited critical reception to both pf these late films has had at least some high praise...

I think it's a fair bet that almost all (if not all) of the major awards will come from the above list.  But as mentioned.  These "heavy hitters' also have some issues.  Different ones for different films...but issues nonetheless.  To wit:

"Skin" and "Drive" have both been well received critically ("Skin" is at #1 on Ioncinema's compiled critical chart: http://www.ioncinema.com/images/cannes2011/day10part2.pdf) but both films are regarded as "genre" pictures and lacking as much "art" as Cannes is used to rewarding.

"The Artist" and "La Havre" are also critically well received but the knock on them "too light."  Crowd pleasers for sure, so the thinking goes in some corners, but not enough heft to merit the top honor.

"Melancholia"  In light of Von Trier's "Nazi week" and his status now as a Cannes "persona non grata," I'd be stunned that this jury decided to award it the Plame.  The jury's makeup doesn't say to me "we will buck the negative reaction to reward the cinematic art of Von Trier."  I don't see them separating the Von Trier's meanderings from the top award.  Additionally, it's not like "Melancholia" was a cinch to win the Palme before Lars put his foot in his mouth.

"The Kid with a Bike" suffers from the fact that The Dardennes have won twice previously.  Would this jury make them the first 3 time Palme winner in the history of the festival for this film? 

"We Have to Talk About Kevin" from Lynne Ramsay.  Early presentation may doom it.  It was the first film to be presented in competition after the opening from Woody Allen.  Also, if Tilda Swinton wins Best Actress (and many think she will) then that lessens the films chance at the Plame.  Cannes does have a history of "spreading the wealth" between many films 

And finally Malick's "The Tree of Life."  A lot of people think its going to win.  A lot of people don't.  Again, I'm not sure that the makeup of this year's jury does Malick any favors.  (the jury this year consists of: DeNiro, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Olivier Assayas, Martina Gusman, Linn Ullmann, Johnnie To, Nansun Shi, and Mahamet-Saleh Haroun).

As I write rumors have begun floating that Tilda Swinton has won Best Actress and that Jean Dujardin has won Best Actor for "The Artist."  We'll know soon.

In addition to the Palme, there's the Grand Prix (sort of like a second place) the jury prize, actor, actress, director and screenplay.  The announcement is scheduled tentatively for about 2 hours from now.

After "The Tree of Life"

Ben and Jen in Oklahoma prepping for Terrence Malick's next film???

After months of stalking this film and every scrap of info about it...and ultimately deciding that we just will not see it at Telluride...on to Malick's next project...or rumors at least...which stunned me as it could be that Malick's somewhere in my home state...stuff I didn't know.

Check out this post from The Playlist:

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-ben-affleck-going-to-star-in.html

and this from the Tulsa World:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=268&articleid=20100811_371_0_BenAff888984

And while we're just spooking around...here's my first guess for a film to show up at TFF #38

"Young Adult" Jason Reitman directing a Diablo Cody script. Sound familiar?

Again check out The Playlist at:

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/josh-brolin-to-join-charlize-theron-in.html

And finally, since we're on a Playlist kick and predicting a year into the future...how about this Todd Phillips biopic about John Belushi...

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/08/todd-phillips-developing-new-biopic-of.html

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.

Toronto Begins Announcing...What Does It Mean?

Sean Penn and Naomi Watts in Doug Liman's "Fair Game" Coming to Telluride???

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival has begun announcing their lineup for this year. TIFF usually has a substantial lineup overlap with Telluride.

You can find Anne Thompson's post regarding the announcement today at this link:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto_announces_2010_titles

So, almost certainly you can peruse this list and see some titles that will almost certainly be at Telluride. Some "suspects" included on the Toronto list that we've been following for a good long time include: Another Year, Biutiful, Miral, Tamara Drewe, Conviction, Brighton Rock, The Town, The King's Speech, and Casino Jack (Bagman). Maybe Blue Valentine...from Sundance...

Some "suspects" that weren't announced for Toronto on the initial list: Fair Game, Tree of Life, True Grit, 127 Hours, Love and Other Drugs, The Way Back and The Descendents.

Variety Begins to Focus

Brad Pitt and co-stars in Terrance Malick's "The Tree of Life"

Variety's Pamela McClintock and Nick Vivarelli posted a large article yesterday that talks about all three September fests (Telluride, Toronto, Venice)...

The link is here:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118022115.html?categoryid=1061&cs=1&query=toronto+telluride+venice

Among the highlights...

Confirmation that David O. Russell's "The Fighter" WILL NOT be at Telluride or anywhere else, for that matter, quoting: "Paramount, for example, has decided not to take David O. Russell's "The Fighter" to Venice, Toronto or Telluride. That's because the film -- toplining Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale -- doesn't open until Dec. 10, and Par feels it would be too hard to keep up the momentum."

Also, some good news and a line about Malick's "The Tree of Life." Again quoting: "If there's a bright spot for Venice, Telluride and Toronto, it's that there should be a glut of premium product to choose from, since a number of films weren't ready in time for the Cannes Film Festival.
One such film that everyone expected to turn up at one of the fall fests was Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. But there are rumblings the film still isn't ready."

An interesting inclusive list: "Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," Julian Schnabel's "Miral," Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech," Ben Affleck's "The Town" and Kelly Reichardt's "Meek's Cutoff" have been tipped for Venice, and could turn up in Toronto and Telluride as well."

An encouraging note about Sean Penn would seem to foreshadow "Tree" and/or Doug Liman"s "Fair Game"...quoting: "For a time, Sean Penn steered clear of Toronto or Telluride, but then had such a good experience with "Into the Wild" that he's far more amenable now to both."

Finally, another hint about Julian Schnabel's post World War II Freida Pinto starrer, "Miral." :

"Telluride is the hip, rich uncle who lives tucked away in a remote corner of the Rockies that's difficult to get to. And because the lineup isn't unveiled until the fest begins, there's less media in attendance. Rather, Telluride is about garnering critical acclaim.
Filmmaker loyalists include Schnabel, whose "Miral" could easily show up at Telluride this year."

All in all, a terrifically intriguing post.

Venice/Toronto Speculation

The Cast of the Coen Brothers version of True Grit

Indie Wire has a post up with 40 films that they say have a shot at either/or Venice and Toronto. You have to also figure a chunk of them end up in Telluride...

Here's the link:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto_venice_wish_list_40_new_films_to_hope_for/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed

On the list that we'd love to see in Colorado in 5 weeks: 127 Hours, Miral, Hereafter, The Tree of Life, True Grit, The Tempest, The Fighter, and The Way Back...

More for Venice...Less for Telluride?

Natalie Portman in Darren Arnofsky's "Black Swan"

The Playlist has a big story today about "probable" Venice Fest films. Check it out at:

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/07/darren-aronofskys-black-swan-looking-to.html

Among films listed in the article that we thought might be on the Telluride short list are:

Black Swan (Aronofsky's follow-up to "The Wrestler")

The Town (Ben Affleck's new film)

The King's Speech (starring Colin Firth)

Others mentioned that we previously reported as likely going to Venice are: Somewhere, The American, and Miral.

And, again, Tree of Life continues to be an on-going mystery...

TFF #37...Tree of Life

Rope of Silicon reports that Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" has received an MPAA rating. (PG-13 for those interested)...the link to that report is here: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/latest-mpaa-ratings-bulletin-no-2128

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that it's done...finally.

Where does it go as far as fall fests???

Telluride's submission deadline for feature films is July 15...

Hummmmmm???

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

Clooney and Venice and TFF #37

George Clooney takes aim at the Venice Film Festival

A couple of reports that Clooney's "The American" is set for Venice which decreases its likelihood of being in Telluride.

Also, quite a bit of pundit back-and-forth on Malick's "The Tree of Life" being at Venice or not. Sasha Stone at Awards Daily is the latest to opine that "Tree" is probably NOT at Venice, but is likely for Toronto, which oddly, makes Telluride continue to be a possibility. http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=23068

One other tidbit, "Betty Anne Waters" has a different title..."Conviction"

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”.