Cannes Adds Titles

 CANNES ADDS TITLES

We got the announcement Monday that the Cannes Film Festival had, as expected, added some new films to a variety of sections.  In all 13 new films were added including three to the Palme D'or competition lineup.  Of those three, two have some serious chance at a Telluride play, I believe.

Here's the complete list of added films per Variety:

Un Certain Regard

“When the Light Breaks,” Rúnar Rúnarsson

“Niki,” Céline Sallette

“Flow,” Gints Zilbalodis

Cannes Premiere

“Vivre, Mourir, Renaitre,” Gaël Morel

“Maria,” Jessica Palud

Special Screenings

“Spectateurs,” Arnaud Desplechin

“Nasty,” Tudor Giurgiu

“Lula,” Oliver Stone

“An Unfinished Film,” Lou Ye

Out of Competition

“Le Comte de Monte-Cristo,” Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte

Competition

“The Most Precious of Cargoes,” Michel Hazanavicius

“Trois kilomètres jusqu’à la fin du monde,” Emanuel Parvu

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof

TFF #51 best chances are for Michel Hazanavicius' The Most Precious of Cargoes"  and Mohammed Rasoulof's The Seed of the Scared Fig.

Hazanavicius was in Telluride in 2011 with his Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist. Though he hasn't been back sense, the subject matter of thus new film sounds promising vis-a-vis a possible TFF placement.  Here's a description from Variety:

[It is] "An auteur-driven allegorical feature, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel of the same name, set during World War II against the backdrop of the Holocaust." 

Rasoulof would have last been represented at Telluride in 2020 with There Is No Evil had the fest not been bagged due to Covid-19.  He was also selected for A Man of Integrity in 2017 and Manuscripts Don't Burn in 2013.

Here's the full Variety post from Monday.

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A Tease for Redoubtable / Larrain's Next Project / Oscar Takes a Week Off

It's the first Thursday in April and welcome my friends...

A TEASE FOR REDOUBTABLE

There seems to be a lot of buzz prior to a possible Cannes announcement for Michel Hazanavicius' Redoubtable.  The film tells the true story of the love affair of a young Jean-Luc Godard.  The film stars Louis Garrel as Godard and Berenice Bejo (as you might expect in a Hazanavicius film) as well.

Here' the teaser with English subtitles from YouTube:

Additionally, here is The Playlist post that covered the release of the trailer as well as additional coverage from The Film Stage.   StudioCanal is distributing the film in France and as yet it has no U.S. distribution.

LARRAIN'S NEXT PROJECT

Pablo Larrain (via Variety)

Pablo Larrain has had a good Telluride run over the past few years with the selections of No for the lineup in 2012 and Neruda last year.  Larrain also produced the Sebastian Lelio film Gloria which screened in Telluride's 2013 edition.   He also produced Lelio's A Fantastic Woman which played to acclaim at Berlin earlier this year winning the prize for Best Screenplay and is a hot prospect, in my estimation, to make the TFF #44 lineup.

As a consequence, if you're a Telluride watcher, you should probably pay attention to any news about him.  So when I saw this week that he has signed onto his next directing gig, I took notice.  

Larrain is set to direct The True American.  It's a true story based on events that transpired immediately after 9/11.  The film has had Tom Hardy attached and was, at one time, a project that Kathryn Bigelow was to direct.

The film is being produced by Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures.

Can you say "TFF #45"?

Here are the details from Variety, as well as Indiewire and from ComingSoon.net.

OSCAR TAKES A WEEK OFF

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced that Oscar will show up a week later in 2018 than it did this year.  The Oscars will be presented on Mar. 4, 2018.  Nominations will be announced Tuesday, Jan. 23rd.

The Academy also announced Oscar dates for 2019, 2020 and 2021 with the ceremony reverting back to the last weekend in February for each of those years.

The date change for 2018 is being done so as not to conflict with the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Here's links to coverage of The Oscar announcement from Awards Daily and from Indiewire.

There's your Thursday post from MTFB.  Come back Monday for more.

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

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COMMENT to the BLOG

Downsizing and Suburbicon at CinemaCon / Cannes #70 Poster Features Claudia / Will Hazanavicius Return? / And from the Hopes and Dreams Dept.

Good Thursday to you.  Here's some film stuff that may or may not have anything to do with TFF #44:


DOWNSIZING AND SUBURBICON AT CINEMACON:  REACTIONS AND RELEASE DATES

George Clooney and Matt Damon at CinemaCon this week (via The Hollywood Reporter)

Both Alexander Payne's Downsizing and George Clooney's Suburbicon have been well received after the Paramount presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week.

Check here for the reactions coming out of Vegas for these two films which both feature Matt Damon and which could both find the Telluride program in September.

Suburbicon will be released Nov. 3rd.  Downsizing will be released Dec. 22nd.

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter


Here are reactions to the footage of both films that was screened at CinemaCon:

The Hollywood Reporter

The Playlist

The Wrap

Indiewire

CANNES #70 POSTER FEATURES CLAUDIA CARDINALE

There it is.  The official poster for the 2017 edition of the Cannes Film Festival.  The poster features Cannes favorite Claudia Cardinale.  Telluride fans may remember that Cardinale was a tribute recipient in T-ride in 2010.

Here's coverage of the poster selection and reveal from The Film Stage.

Cardinale in Telluride in 2010 (via Getty Images)

WILL HAZANAVICIUS RETURN?

Louis Garrel as Jean-Luc Godard in Redoubtable

His last film, The Search, played Cannes and was drubbed critically and resulted in a rather quiet disappearance and certainly no berth at Telluride but his latest, Redoubtable, which focuses on a real life love story from the life of film pioneer Jean Luc-Goddard has been getting significant pre-Cannes buzz.

Just this last couple of days, we began seeing stories focusing on the film, including some pics (see above).  That indicates to me that Redoubtable is a likely Cannes selection.  We'll find out, in all likelihood, on April 13th when the bulk of the Cannes lineup is announced.


Check out the french teaser  and other details here from Indiwire and here from The Playlist.


AND FROM THE HOPES AND DREAMS DEPT.

PTA via The Film Stage

Here's the latest...Paul Thomas Anderson's new film set in the world of high fashion and starring Daniel Day Lewis has been dated for release on Dec. 25th.  The Film Stage reports that its working title is Phantom Thread.

Insert obligatory note here about its unlikelihood for Telluride (for a number of reasons) as well as the expected wish that it would magically screen there.

Here's the story from The Film Stage.


That's a wrap for this Thursday.  Have a good weekend and come back for more on Monday.


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

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Cannes Countdown Continues/Trailers; "Winter Sleep" and "Coming Home"/Playlist First Look at "The Search"

Welcome to Thursday...


COUNTDOWN TO CANNES CONTINUES

The 67th Cannes Film Festival is now less than a week away and the anticipation is building.  As I have for the past couple of years, I'll be following the critical reaction to the films that play which particular focus on the films in the Palme d'Or competition as well as the Un Certain Regard Program and the Director's Fortnight category from which most Cannes/Telluride crossover films emerge.

As we get closer I am continuing to link to the summaries of Palme competitors by Jake Howell and being featured in Movie City News.  Howell has added three more films since my last post: David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars", Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Winter Sleep" and Naomi Kawase's "Still the Water".  Check the capsules at MCN here:

Cronenberg:

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-david-cronenberg/

Ceylan:

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-nuri-bilge-ceylan/

Kawase:

http://moviecitynews.com/2014/05/countdown-to-cannes-naomi-kawase/


TRAILERS; "WINTER SLEEP" AND "COMING HOME"

Photo via The Playlist

Foreign language trailers have emerged for two of the Cannes Palme competitors.  "Winter Sleep" and a second trailer for Zhang Yimou's "Coming Home".  You can  find the "Winter Sleep" trailer and story here from Thompson on Hollywood:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/winter-sleep-trailer-nuri-bilge-ceylan


and the new trailer for "Coming Home" with a story from The Playlist here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-new-trailer-for-zhang-yimous-cannes-film-festival-drama-coming-home-starring-gong-li-20140506


PLAYLIST FIRST LOOK AT "THE SEARCH"

Photo via The Playlist

The Playlist also posted a series of first images from Michel Hazanavicius' Palme player "The Search".  Those images and that story are here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/first-look-the-artist-director-michel-hazanavicius-cannes-contender-the-search-starring-berenice-bejo-20140418

More on Monday...

AND THE DAY AFTER

Here is last night's complete list of Oscar winners via Entertainmentwise.com (and where I was wrong in parenthesis):

Best Picture: The Artist

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist (I had Clooney)

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady (Davis for me)

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Cinematography: Hugo ( I had Tree of Life)

Art Direction: Hugo

Costume Design: The Artist

Makeup: The Iron Lady

Foreign Language Film: A Separation, Iran.

Film Editing: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ( I had The Artist)

Sound Editing: Hugo

Sound Mixing: Hugo

Documentary Feature: Undefeated ( I had Paradise Lost 3)

Animated Feature Film: Rango

Visual Effects: Hugo

Original Score: The Artist

Original Song: Man or Muppet from The Muppets

Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants

Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Live Action Short Film: The Shore ( Pentecost was my pick here)

Documentary (short subject): Saving Face

Animated Short Film: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore

For my night I was 18 of 24...one better than last year.

Suroises:  Streep's win over Davis, Tattoo in Editing, Hugo over Apes for Viz FX ( I actually picked that).

Telluride finished the night with 5 wins for The Artist (including the Big Dogs of Picture, Director and Actor) and one apiece for The Descendants and A Separation for a total of 7 for its 38th edition.

I'll try to have some Academy and "insider" reaction by tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Critics Take Note

Good Morning on this December Monday.

CRITICS AND THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ON SUNDAY

 A slew of critic's groups and the American Film Institute announced their choices yesterday and I have the full coverage here for you from the Boston Society of Film Critics, The Los Angeles Film Critic's Association, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the The New York Film Critic's Online as well as the announcement from the AFI of their Top Ten pictures of the year. 

The conventional wisdom among serious Oscar watchers is that the critic's groups have very little predictive power (and, of course, they're not designed to predict Oscar success) but that they can sometimes elevate a film with some well timed PR and they can also help nuke a film's chances.

With that as a caveat, I'll try to parse the results below...

FROM THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE:

AFI’s Ten Films of the year are: BRIDESMAIDS, THE DESCENDANTS, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE HELP, HUGO, J. EDGAR, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, MONEY BALL, THE TREE OF LIFE and WAR HORSE.

We have also given special awards to THE ARTIST and the entire “Harry Potter” film series.



FROM THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS:

Best Picture - The Artist
Best Actor - Brad Pitt for Moneyball
Best Actress - Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for Drive
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids
Best Director - Martin Scorsese for Hugo
Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life
Best Documentary - Project Nim
Best Foreign-Language Film - Incendies (TFF #37-2010)
Best Animated Film - Rango
Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) - Christian Marclay for The Clock
Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) - Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Ensemble Cast - Carnage
Best Use of Music in a Film - Tie: Drive and The Artist




FROM THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE:

Film - The Artist
Actor - Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)
Actress - Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Director - Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks (Drive)
Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Breakthrough Performer - Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, Texas Killing Fields)
Debut Director - Joe Cornish (Attack the Block)
Ensemble Cast - Bridesmaids
Screenplay - The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash) 

Documentary - Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Foreign Language - A Separation
Animated - The Adventures of Tintin
Cinematography - The Tree of Life (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Use of Music - The Artist (Ludovic Bource)


1 The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
2 The Descendants (Fox Searchlight)
3 Drive (FilmDistrict)
4 The Help (DreamWorks Pictures)
5 Hugo (Paramount)
6 Melancholia (Magnolia Pictures)
7 Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics)
8 Take Shelter (Sony Pictures Classics)
9 The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight)
10 War Horse (DreamWorks Pictures)

SAN FRANCISCO FILM CRITICS CIRCLE:

Best Picture
“The Tree of Life”
Best Director
Terrence Malick for “The Tree of Life”
Best Original Screenplay
J.C. Chandor for “Margin Call”
Best Adapted Screenplay
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Best Actor
Gary Oldman for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Best Actress
Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Best Supporting Actor
Albert Brooks for “Drive”
Best Supporting Actress
Vanessa Redgrave for “Coriolanus”
Best Animated Feature
“Rango”
Best Foreign Language Film
“Certified Copy”
Best Documentary
“Tabloid”
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for “The Tree of Life”

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION:

Best Picture: The Descendants

Best Director: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best actor: Michael Fassbender, for his work in "A Dangerous Method," "Jane Eyre," "Shame" and "X-Men: First Class."

Runner-Up: Michael Shannon, "Take Shelter."
Best Actress: Yun Jung-hee, in the South Korean film "Poetry."
Runner-up: Kirsten Dunst, "Melancholia."
Best Documentary/Nonfiction film: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog.

Runner-Up: "The Arbor" by Clio Barnard.

Best screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation.”

Runner-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, “The Descendants.”

Best supporting actress: Jessica Chastain, who was recognized for her work in six films -- "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," "Texas Killing Fields" and "The Tree of Life."

Runner-up: Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs."
Best supporting actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
Runner-up: Patton Oswalt, "Young Adult."
Best cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life."
Runner-up: Cao Yu, "City of Life and Death."
Best music/score: The Chemical Brothers, "Hanna."
Runner-up: Cliff Martinez, "Drive."
Best production design: Dante Ferretti, "Hugo."
Runner-up: Maria Djurkovic, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."
Best Independent, Experimental: "Spark of Being." Directed by Bill Morrison.

Comment:

"The Artist" has a big day.  You have to think that at this point the "critical" view would indicate "The Artist", "Hugo" and "The Descendants" are the films to beat (The LA critics win today was probably welcome news to "The Descendants" team).  I still think "War Horse" has a thing or two to say.  I also continue to believe "The Tree of Life" and Terrence Malick have a good shot to be among the Oscar nominees.  I continue to believe that we will NOT see both "The Help" and "Midnight in Paris" with Best Pic nominations (and right now I believe Midnight is on the outside looking in).

Other races...Best Actor...everyone but George Clooney and Jean Dujardin gets a little boost today.  Fassbender (#Occupy!), Oldman, Shannon and Pitt.

Best Actress:  Williams and Streep in good shape. Nice bump for Tilda Swinton.   Kind of in trouble: Glenn Close.

Supporting Actor: Good day for both Albert Brooks and Christopher Plummer.  This is already a two horse race...with maybe Max Von Sydow as a spoiler.

Supporting Actress: Chastain continues to get that "for multiple roles" thing which is all well and good, but she cancels herself out come Oscar time.  Otherwise, nice bump for McTeer (#Occupy!) and I may have to take Melissa McCarthy's chances seriously...

Director:  Malick, Scorsese and Hazanzvicius.

Other this and that: AFI...surprised at the inclusion of "Bridesmaids" and "J. Edgar".

"Rango"  the animated film to beat (but absolutely no talk of a straight up Best Picture nomination for it)

"A Separation" continues to pile up critical acclaim including a "Best Original Script" nod from the LAFCA (#Occupy!)

Critic's Choice nominations are out tomorrow, The Screen Actor's Guild announces on Wednesday and the Golden Globes will announce nominees on Thursday...Look for those here with special posts and analysis Thursday night.

#OccupyOscar/Descendants on the Brink/Shame Continues its Assault/Into Werner's Abyss/The Artist Making Noise/And Finally...

Hello all on a Monday morning in November.  Hope your weekend was good.

#OCCUPYOSCAR

Borrowing from the "We are the 99" movement and the notion of advocating for the underdog, MTFB/FAC has undertaken a twitter project to advocate for under-the-radar and/or unlikely (but I think deserving) Oscar candidates.  You know, peeps like Ezra Miller in "We Need to Talk About Kevin" or Asghar Farhadi's screenplay for "A Separation".  And, of course, all the "Shame" players.  Their chances of getting an Oscar nod are really small but their work was really good.  So look for the hash tag #occupyoscar on Twitter and retweet it or replay or, you know, do that "twitter" thing.

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

DESCENDANTS ON THE BRINK

By the end of this week Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" will be in theaters.  In the 2 1/2 months since I saw it in Telluride at the Patron's Preview (complete with a passing word of congratulations to George Clooney and Mr. Payne), its stature and buzz have not only continued undiminished, but continued to grow.  

It's well reviewed (see my actually published big time review in The Playlist here: 
(http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/alexander_payne_george_clooney_riff_on_family_love_loss_death_and_the_choic) and at or near the top of every Oscarologists list in a bunch of categories: Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay.

Keeping you current, here is an interview with Payne from this week in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/movies/alexander-paynes-new-film-the-descendants.html?_r=2&ref=movies

Payne also talked to The Hollywood Reporter.  You can read that here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-clooney-descendants-alexander-payne-260685

Descendants IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1033575/

SHAME  (AND FOX SEARCHLIGHT) CONTINUES ITS ASSAULT

FS continues to pound the pavement for Steve McQueen's "Shame" and that's all to the good as far as I'm concerned.  This week brings more from McQueen, star Michael Fassbender and co-star Carey Mulligan.  Nominate them all, I say!

HitFix talks to Carey Mulligan here:

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/in-contention/posts/interview-carey-mulligan-redefines-the-ing-nue-with-shame-and-drive

Movie City News interviews McQueen and Fassbender here:

http://moviecitynews.com/2011/11/dp30-sneakpeek-mcqueen-on-shame-incest/

Hollywood News also has a brief story here:

http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2011/11/11/oscars-on-shame-and-its-nc-17-rating-awards-alley/

Shame's IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723811/

INTO WERNER'S ABYSS

Werner Herzog's "Into the Abyss" created quite a bit of buzz on the streets of Telluride in September and continues to make waves as it headed towards its limited release this past weekend.

Here are four posts/stories about the new documentary from Herzog.

The Wrap: http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/abyss-werner-herzog-plumbs-death-life-and-squirrels-32708

The Playlist: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/werner-herzog-says-into-the-abyss-is-not-an-issue-film

Movie City News: http://moviecitynews.com/2011/11/dp30-into-the-abyss-documentarian-werner-herzog/

And Roger Ebert's review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111109/REVIEWS/111109971

Abyss's IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1972663/

THE ARTIST IS MAKING NOISE

The charming and magical "The Artist" from Michel Hazanavicius also continues to gain steam as we move out of fall.  It looks to be a multiple Oscar nominee, at least at this point.

Kenneth Turan at the LA Times appears smitten.  Look at his story here: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-en-artist-essay-20111110,0,7702292.story

Meanwhile, Hollywood News talks to Hazanavicius here: http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2011/11/11/oscars-michel-hazanavicius-talks-frank-capra-the-coens-brothers-and-the-artist-awards-alley/

The Artist's IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/

AND FINALLY...

Speaking of Oscar (as I have above) here are some of this week's Oscarologists and their musings on where we are in the middle of November.

Scott Feinberg's "Feinberg and Friends" at The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/j-edgar-tintin-martin-scorsese-hugo-feinberg-258869

Movie City News 17 Weeks to Oscar: http://moviecitynews.com/2011/11/17-weeks-to-oscar-safeunsafe/

And The Hollywood Reporters' "Actresses Roundtable" featuring Telluride favorites Glenn Close and Carey Mulligan: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/charlize-theron-michelle-williams-the-help-oscars-roundtable-258936

OH...

And one last thing, the blog went over 25,000 views this past week.  Small "yeah"!