Ten Bets # 7 / New View of The Zone of Interest / Monday-Thursday / A Reminder and Other Thoughts

TEN BETS #7

Well, we're kind of in a bit of a lull as far as useful intelligence regarding Telluride's lineup,  After the flurry of information last week concerning titles announced by both Toronto and Venice things have gone quiet.  TIFF did announce ten films for their "Platform" section all of which were World Premiere designees meaning no Telluride implications.

Here's a review of last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) Anatomy of a Fall

4) The Zone of Interest

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Rustin

7) Wildcat

8) Fingernails

9) Saltburn 

10) The Pigeon Tunnel 

And here's the shuffling of titles for this week's bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Saltburn

7) Rustin

8) Wildcat

9) Fingernails

10) El Conde

Other possibilities: The Pigeon Tunnel, Poor Things, Without Blood, The End, The Bikeriders, The American Buffalo,  Fallen Leaves,  The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session.

 NEW VIEW OF THE ZONE OF INTEREST

A24 has announced that Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest will be released on Dec. 8th (more about A24's other plans in the story below).  Along with that news the distribution company released a new still from the film which I have included here via World of Reel:

The Zone of Interest premiered to great acclaim at Cannes winning the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. Zone was announced as a Canadian Premiere by Toronto which indicates a play at Telluride.

Currently Metacritic has the film rated at 98 and Rotten Tomato Critics have it at 96%. 

Glazer's last film, Under the Skin, played as a part of the TFF #40 program.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

Last Monday I wrote about the emergence of a couple of films that were generating Telluride buzz: Jeff Nichols" The Bikeriders and Angelina Jolie's Without Blood.  I am here to tell you that in the intervening three days that buzz has not dissipated. If anything, for both films, the hype for a TFF #50 bow has increased.  Should either or both land at T-ride in a few weeks they would almost certainly be World Premiering there.

The Bikeriders is being distributed in the U.S. by 20th Century and is set for a Dec. 1st release.  Jolie's Without Blood is distributed by Freemantle.  It has not yet been dated for release.

A REMINDER AND OTHER THOUGHTS

Saw on X or Twitter or, you know, Elon's Sandbox, a reminder about Pedro Almodovar's short film, Strange Way of Life, that played at Cannes will debut on MUBI on Oct. 20th.  That reminded me that I still think that it might make an appearance in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.

Here's the poster:

I also saw a story from Indiewire concerning A24's slate of films which reminded me of a title that I wouldn't normally consider as a Telluride contender.  

I wrote back in February that I thought Angus MacLachlan's A Little Prayer starring David Strathairn might continue the recent trend of a big Sundance title playing at TFF.  That scenario disappeared when it played several other domestic festivals.

But...I'm thinking maybe a different Sundance '23 title might be in the mix.  Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (which is an excellent title) debuted at Sundance on Jan. 22nd.  Since then it has not played any other fests.  Additionally, to my knowledge "Salt" has not been named as a TIFF film.  

With Barry Jenkins and his PASTEL production company credited as producers on the film, would A24 make the play to get the film into TFF #50?

It's a real possibility.

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Checking the Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics / Journalistic Clarity / New Trailer for Poor Things

 My apologoes as MTFB is 24 hours late for its regular Thursday posting.  Here it is!

CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Last Monday I started the annual MTFB tradition of running down the distribution companies that are usually significantly present at Telluride each year.   We began with Netflix which, since its first appearance at T-ride in 2015, has screened more features than any other distributor.

The next biggest over that same time period has been Sony Pictures Classics with 20 films over the seven years I'm counting (leaving out the Covid-displaced fest of 2020).  That works our to just shy of three films per year from SPC.  But SPC has a much longer history with The SHOW dating back many, many years.  It's entirely likely that in the entire 50 year history of The SHOW, SPC has likely placed more features and/or documentaries in the lineup than anyone else. 

With that in mind, here's my assessment of what SPC has that could play and the chances that they will play.

Currently, as far as I can tell, SPC has ten films that haven't set U.S. release dates but seem finished.  None of them seem to be slam dunks.  The best SPC bets appear to be:

Ilker Catak's The Teachers' Lounge which played Berlin and won a couple of awards and scored really well among critics.  Chances: 50%.

Freund's Last Session from director Matt Brown starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role.  It has a Dec. 7th released date listed at IMDb for Russia.  40%.

After those two films, everything I can find for SPC doesn't seem very likely.

A few weeks back I floated the notion that SPC might be able to get A Little Prayer starring David Stratharin into the TFF lineup despite having played Sundance much like they would have done with Anthony Hopkins and The Father in 2020 (if it had happened) and what they did do with Bill Nighy and Living last year.  However, since then the film has also screened at Santa Barbara and Nantucket thus killing my scenario.

There's the animated They Shot the Piano Player which comes from the creative team that had Carlos and Rita at Telluride in 2010.  However, the film played the 2022 Annecy Animation Fest which begs the question "why didn't TFF schedule it last year?"  25%.

Also floating around is Pedro Almodovar's short film (31 min.) Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.  Almodovar means we have to pay attention.  Luke warm critical reaction to the film from Cannes takes some of the shine from it. 25%.

Then there's the John Prine: Hello In There documentary that's listed as being in post since Feb. of 2019... Does it even exist?

In addition to A Little Prayer having played Sundance, other SPC films that did that include: The Persian Version, Shadya and Shortcomings.  Tribeca has The Miracle Club (another SPC film I thought might see the light of day at TFF #50), Carlos and Downtown Owl.

SPC does have a couple of animated films that IMDb lists as "filming" in 2022.  maybe they will be in play.  Sylvain Chomet's The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol.  Chomet has had a presence at TFF in the past with The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville.   The other is A Winter's Journey from Alex Helfrecht.

JOURNALISTIC CLARITY

Well, I rolled the dice this year on my application for press credentials at TFF #50.  I did all the required steps.  Included the required documentation.  I also included a fairly passionate "letter" arguing the merits of MTFB being accredited.  As a part of that I concluded with:

"I would argue that the blog benefits the fest much more than any

issues that may annoy festival organizers.  MTFB is nothing if not a

love letter to TFF.

Ultimately, if MTFB is never to be accredited again, I’d prefer that

you just tell me that now so that I can quit wasting your time with my

application each year."

Well, I got my response on Monday...and mind you, the deadline to apply doesn't land until June 30th.  Here is the reply:

"Hi Michael,

Thank you for applying for media accreditation. Festival organizers have concluded that accreditation is unnecessary for the type of festival coverage produced on your blog. This applies to this year and future festivals. Your Festival-level pass will provide you with all the access you need to cover the event. We have many journalists and bloggers who attend and successfully cover Telluride without accreditation. We look forward to seeing you at the 50th Telluride Film Festival."

So, there you have it.  Never going to happen again.  Worthy of accreditation from 2012-2019.  Forever not from 2020 on.

NEW TRAILER FOR POOR THINGS

Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things is a very likely Venice Fest selection.  The film has also been on my radar for some time as a possible TFF #50 selection.  Lanthimos last film, The Favourite, played very well at The SHOW back in 2018.  The Favourite was distributed by Searchlight and so is Poor Things which also bodes well for a possible TFF screening.  Finally, the film is set for release in the U.S. on Sept. 8th.  That allows for the possibility of screenings at both Venice and Telluride.  It's also just inside the window for Toronto which opens on Sept. 7th though that seems very unlikely.  

I posted the first teaser for the film back on May 15th.  Now, we have a new full trailer that was released by Searchlight yesterday.  Here it is:

The more I see of this the more intrigued I am.  Hope it makes it to TFF #50.

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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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I'm Back / Trailers: Next Goal Wins, Strange Way of Life, Desperate Souls / Photos: Flower Moon, Poor Things, New Boy / News of Drive-Away Dolls

 I'M BACK

Well hello.  I've been away for awhile.  

Actually, the last three weeks I've been away has been the longest that NTFB has been dormant at any one time since I started writing the thing back in August of 2008.  What was up?  The wife and I went on a quick tour of  Europe.  But we're back now...as of Tuesday evening... and I'm here to crank MTFB up as we stare down the barrel of the Cannes Film Fest (starting in 11 days!)  We'll see what the results there, both critically and in terms of award winners, tell us about clues to films we could see in the San Juans on Labor day weekend.

TRAILERS

Over the past three weeks we have seen trailers released for two films that could show up on the TFF #50 playlist and one from TFF #49.  Looking ahead to the potential TFF #50 titles:

NEXT GOAL WINS

 

And STRANGE WAY OF LIFE from Pedro Almodovar (his short film that will be opening the Cannes fest in a few days):

And from TFF #49 the trailer for the documentary Desperate Souls: Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy:

PHOTOS

New stills have been released from three films that I have on my TFF #50 watch/wish list.  Take a look:

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Scorsese)

POOR THINGS (Lanthimos)

THE NEW BOY (Thornton)

NEWS OF DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS

Ethan Coen (of Coen Brothers fame) has been quietly working on his first solo feature film, Drive-Away Dolls and now we know when it will be leased and some other interesting tidbits from a number of outlets.  The film has been set to release on Sept. 22nd which means it's possible for Telluride as well as Venice and Toronto. The 9/22 date means that it will not play NYFF as it doesn't open until Sept. 29th.  The film is distributed by focus Features.

The film stars Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo and Bill Camp.

IMDb Pro describes it as follows:

"Jamie regrets his breakup with his girlfriend while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals."

Articles from Ioncinema and The Film Stage have speculated that TFF is a possible landing spot for the film.  Coen was part of a three-headed tribute along with his brother Joel and music man T. Bone Burnett at the 40th Telluride Film Festival in 2013.  It would be a nice return to TFF for its 50th fest this year.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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