Goodbye George and Martin / Downsizing Will Open Venice and ??? / Twitter Revelations

Welcome back from the weekend...it was a rough ending...

GOODBYE GEORGE AND MARTIN

George Romero

Martin Landau

It was bad enough that I was going to need to write a bit about the passing of George Romero when I got that news yesterday but then later last night, to add insult to injury, I got the news that Oscar winning actor Martin Landau had died as well.

Damn.

Romero...though it is often said after someone dies that they changed the game, there are a lot of times when that's hyperbole.  Not here.  George Romero changed the game.  For all practical purposes he created a film genre and did it for next to nothing and in a ridiculously small amount of time.  Night of the Living Dead was a revelation and a revolution.  It's difficult to overstate its impact on films that would follow.

Landau...I can remember seeing him in Mission Impossible on T.V. when I was a kid (I was maybe 8 or 9)  and even then recognizing how good he was.  I also remember being awed by hos Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood and how pleased I was that he won his Oscar for that performance.

Sad to hear that they are both gone.


DOWNSIZING WILL OPEN VENICE AND ???

Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig from Downsizing

We found out on Friday that Alexander Payne's Downsizing will open the Venice Film Festival on Aug. 30th.  That news put to rest concerns that the film wouldn't be ready in time for a Telluride play.
And though it doesn't guarantee a TFF #44 berth, a lot of people smarter than I am think that it's high;y likely now.

That scenario makes a ton of sense to me as I have been thinking that Payne would bring the film to Telluride if at all possible.

It seems likely that Downsizing will probably follow the same trail that La La Land, 12 Years a Slave and Gravity established with a Venice play followed by a TFF set of screenings.

Take a look at the coverage from:

Variety

Deadline

The Playlist

Indiewire

Hollywood Elsewhere



TWITTER REVELATIONS

Julianne Moore from Wonderstruck

Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere posted a piece yesterday in which he writes that there will be no Sundance/Telluride crossover for Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name.

Wells has been a big fan of the film since its debut in Park City and expressed his unhappiness that it won't be included on the TFF #44 bill of fare.

So, we can take it off the table.

But also...if you read the piece, you will also have noticed that Wells confirms that Todd Haynes Wonderstruck will be playing and that cinematographer Ed Lachman will be getting a tribute as a part of that.

I tumbled to that as a result of a tweet from friend Jason Osiason.

That also led to a Twitter exchange that included Variety's Kristopher Tapley in which he says that Ruben Ostlund's The Square is off the table for The SHOW.

I'll have more from Mr. Osiason tomorrow.

Sooo...learned quite bit over the weekend...Wonderstruck and Downsizing...probably a yes.  The Square and Call Me By Your Name...nope.


That'll do for a Monday.  More to come...


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Future Telluride?: Barry Jenkins' Next Project Announced / The Square Drops a Trailer / Whither Toronto?

As promised yesterday, today's post is a bit late in the posting but here it is...


FUTURE TELLURIDE?: BARRY JENKINS' NEXT PROJECT ANNOUNCED

It's no secret that a lot of Telluride regulars feel a little proprietary with regard to Barry Jenkins meteoric success last year.  Jenkins, as most if not all readers of this space know, kind of "grew up" as a film maker at T-ride over the past 15 years and that process culminated last year with the fest selecting and screening Moonlight which then went on to collect three Oscars last February including the memorable win for Best Picture in the Oscar snafu for the ages.

Naturally, I think, those of us who love the fest and obsess over it are more than a little interested in what direction Jenkins goes next.

It had been announced that he was set to work on an adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning The Underground Railroad but that all changed yesterday with announcement that Jenkins is set to begin filming an adaptation of James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk.

Multiple sources were reporting yesterday that filming on the project is set to begin in October.  The film will be the first of his deal that he signed in May with Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures. Brad Pitt's Plan B will also be producing as was true for Moonlight.

Variety was the first to report the story yesterday.


Other outlets reported the story as the day progressed including:

The Hollywood Reporter

Shadow and Act

and Indiewire.

I think it's a fair bet to suggest that we need to keep an eye on this film's development with a notion that it could be on the SHOW list for TFF #45.


THE SQUARE DROPS A TRAILER

Ruben Ostlund's Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Square has a trailer.  The tease was released yesterday in preparation for the film's Swedish release next month.  It's scheduled release in the U.S. is Oct. 27th.

The Square is being domestically distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

Its success at Cannes suggests that we should consider it as a real possibility for TFF #44.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

The Square, should it play TFF #44 would be the first Plame winner to make the Telluride lineup since 2013's Blue is the Warmest Color.

WITHER TORONTO?

I've spent a lot of time over the years writing about the Toronto International Film Festival because of its inter-relationship with Telluride.  To say that the dynamic between the two fests (and Venice as well) has evolved since I started the blog back inn  2008 would be an understatement.

Now, as we approach another dance of fest acquisition, announcement and analysis comes this meditation from Deadline's Michael Cieply.  Cieply suggests that this year's TIFF iteration may be a crucial determiner as to what TIFF looks like going forward.  Of particular note is TIFF's decision this year to reduce the number of films playing there by about 20%.

Will that become the standard for TIFF going forward or will other changes be coming in the near future? 

And ultimately, what do the answers to the questions mean for our San Juan SHOW paradise as we move into the future?  

Read Cieply's article here.

That's your Tuesday MTFB post.  More to come on Thursday.

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The Distributors: Magnolia Pictures / Bening Named Venice Jury Prez / TFF History Continued-TFF #22

Welcome back to MTFB...It's Thursday.

THE DISTRIBUTORS: MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Magnolia's record at TFFs is spotty but they could be playing this year.

Magnolia's TFF past:

2006-Severance
2007- Terror's Advocate, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Redacted
2012-The Hunt, A Royal Affair
2015-Viva

Magnolia played the Cannes Palme d'Or competition with Arnuad Desplechin's Ismael's Ghost and Ruben Ostlund's Palme winning The Square.

Ismael's Ghosts had a mixed response at Cannes but its undeniable star power (Cotillard, Gainsbourg and Almaric) may mean we can't rule it out.  Mark it with a 25% chance.

Ostlund's Palme winner has a much better shot due to its win and good critical response.  Added to the factoring is that a Palme winner hasn't played Telluride since 2013's Blue is the Warmest Color.  Perhaps the fest is due for another Palme winner.  Chances- 50%.



BENING NAMED VENICE JURY PRESIDENT

The Venice Film Festival announced yesterday that actress Annette Bening will serve as the president of their competition jury.  Details are here from The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

That means you can also discount any chance that she would be in Telluride with either The Seagull or Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.  That's not to say that either film won't play TFF just that if they do, Bening won't make the trip to the San Juans with the film which, for my money, probably means that neither film makes the trip .


TFF HISTORY CONTINUED: TFF #22

The continued backward march through TFF fest history continues today with a review of the 22nd SHOW, Sept. 1-4, 1995

Guest Director: Phillip Lopate

Tributes: John Schlesinger, Zhang Yimou, The Surrealists

Special Medallion: Andrew Sarris

SHOWS:

The Arsonists
Augustin
Careful
Carrington
China; The Wild East
Cold Comfort Farm
Desolation Angels
Floating Clouds
Fresh Bait
From the Journals of Jean Seberg
The Hard Way
History is Made at Night
Institute Benjamenta
The Journey of August King
The Man with the Movie Camera
Man's Castle
On the Beat
Persuasion
Pie in the Sky
The River
The Saragosa Manuscript
Shanghai Triad
Survivors of the Holocaust
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
The Tit and the Moon
To Die For
Total Eclipse
Visions of Heaven and Hell
The Wanderers
Warrior Lanling
The Water Carrier
Welfare
The White Balloon


Guests:

Ken Burns
Josh Charles
Danny Elfman
Thierry Fremaux
Christopher Hampton
Anne Heche
Werner Herzog
Angneiska Holland
James Ivory
Chuck Jones
Philip Kaufman
Christine Lahti
Guy Maddin
Roger Michell
Thandie Newton
Mark Rappaport
Peter Reigert
Gus Van Sant
Sam Waterston
Treat Williams
Frederick Wiseman


That's a wrap for Thursday.  An updated Ten Bets list is on its way to you tomorrow.

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Telluride and The New York Times 25 Best Films of the 21st Century / Oscar's Foreign Language Race and Labor Day

Welcome back from the weekend...

TELLURIDE AND THE NEW YORK TIMES 25 BEST FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The New York Times got social media going over the last few days as they posted a list of what A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis have determined are the 25 best films that have been released since the calendar rolled over to the new century.  

It will likely not surprise you that a good number of those films had ties to TFF.  For example, their too choice is Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece There Will Be Blood as the top film.  As many TFFers will recall, TWBB scenes were screened in 2007 as a part of the tribute that year to Daniel Day Lewis.

Other films that make the NYT list with Telluride histories include:

#2 Spirited Away played Telluride in 2002.

#6 Yi Yi 2000

#11 Inside Llewyn Davis 2013

#14 L'enfant 2005

#17 Three Times 2005

#20 Moonlight 2016

#22 I'm Not There 2007

So better than a third of the list (8/25) made a stop in the San Juans in their journey to the NYT list (if you include TWBB, which I do).

The complete NYT list of 25 with commentary from Scott and Dargis is linked here.

OSCARS FOREIGN LANGUAGE RACE, FESTS AND LABOR DAY

Shane Slater at Awards Circuit posted an interesting article over the weekend with some thoughts about the major fests that have already come and gone and the impact that they might have on the foreign language Oscar race.

As a result, we can look at some of those as potential titles for TFF.  

Slater mentions films from Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Cannes.

From those films he mentions these probably have the best T-ride shot:

The Other Side of Hope 

Spoor

Loveless

120 BPM

The Square

Happy End

Check out the entire post from Awards Circuit here.

That's Monday...

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Cannes Concludes and Awards Are Announced / The Telluride Analysis / Oscar Players in the Cannes Afterglow / Non-Cannes Trailers

Good Memorial Day Monday to all...


CANNES CONCLUDES AND AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCED

The 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to its conclusion last night with the awarding of prizes in the main competition category.

The winners:

Palme d'Or: The Square (Ruben Ostlund)

Grand Prix: 120 BPM. (Robin Campillo)

Jury Prize: Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)

Director:  Sofia Coppola-The Beguiled

Actress: Diane Kruger-In the Fade 

Actor-Joaquin Phoenix- You Were Never Really Here

Special 70th Anniversary Honors- Nicole Kidman

Screenplay- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)

In the Un Certain Regard section past Telluride tribute recipient Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity took the top prize and Taylor Sheridan's Wind River won the award for Best Direction. April's Daughter was the winner of the Jury Prize.

Of note among the winners was Coppola's historic win for direction as well as the rare double win for actor and screenplay for Ramsay's film.  A bit of a surprise was the lack of any mention for a Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which Indiewire had listed as having the third best odds for the Palme.

THE TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

So here's my best quick Telluride assessment of the winners' chances in as far as T-ride is concerned:

The Square- Magnolia is the distributor which was last at Telluride with Viva in 2015.  Magnolia hasn't had a deep relationship with the fest.  That combined with The fact that Ostlund hasn't played there either makes me think that 2017 may well be the fourth consecutive TFF at which the Palme d'Or winner does not play.  Cannes at TFF- 25%

120 BPM- A solid critical darling of Cannes #70 and with U.S. distribution from The Orchard, which scored well at Telluride last year with Pablo Larrain's Neruda have it in good position as a T-tide possible.  Probably gets the biggest boost of any Cannes film  that I haven't already had my eye on. Chances- 55%.

Loveless- Zvyagnistev's Leviathan played in the San Juans three years ago and so Loveless was already a hot prospect to get to The SHOW this Labor Day.  Its Jury Award probably boosts to shot. That and the fact that it's distributor is frequent Telluride player Sony Pictures  Classics suggests a high likelihood of a return for Mr. Z.  Chances- 70%.

The Beguiled- 0% chance as it opens at the end of June.

In the Fade- Could this crack the T-ride lineup?  Fatih Akin's lack of Telluride history, the film's lack of U.S. distribution and a middling critical response makes me think that the film's chances are small.  Chances- 20%.

You Were Never Really Here-  A double award win, Lynne Ramsay and coming from a Amazon Studios, this film, which I already thought had a reasonable shot at Telluride, moves even closer, I think.  Chances- 70%.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer- After a couple of great years at Telluride, I have no doubt that A24 will be back with something this year.  I'm just not sure that it will be this Lanthimos film.  It could happen but my guess is that other A24 films may have a better shot (Woodshock, Good Time and especially The Florida Project).  Still, a T-ride play could happen.  Chances- 35%.

A couple of other notes...I imagine that Rasoulof's Man of Integrity has an even chance of playing and despite its awards shut out, I still believe that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck is a likely Show for The SHOW.

Finally, don't be surprised if Chloe Zhao's The Rider makes the T-ride lineup.

 Additionally, Faces/Places from Agnes Varda and JR looks like a very good bet.

Complete coverage and analysis of Cannes award winners can be found at the following links:

The New York Times

Deadline.com

Entertainment Weekly

Indiewire

OSCAR PLAYERS IN THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The general consensus coming from France as the Cannes Fest concluded was that the Croisette was low on Oscar potential with most observers suggesting that the only real player in terms of Best Picture might be Wonderstruck.

Though there may well some other players as well, especially in the foreign language category...I'm looking at you Loveless...take a look at where some of the sages of Oscar come down as Cannes was coming to an end:

Guy Lodge for Variety

Pete Hammond for Deadline

Anne Thompson from Indiewire

NON-CANNES TRAILERS FOR FILMS WE COULD SEE 

And as Cannes was winding down, there was the release of trailers for two films that did not play in France but that could find their way onto the lineup over Labor Day weekend.

We found out this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the Liam Neeson starrer The Silent Man and that the story of the real Watergate Deep Throat had a trailer.  Here it is from YouTube:

Along with the trailer, here are some posts that accompanied its release and the SPC pickup news:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

The Playlist

Additionally, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Room's Jacob Tremblay, released its first look video this week.  From Lionsgate, the film is slated to open in mid-November.  Both factors suggest the possibility of serious festival and awards play.

Here's that video, also from YouTube:

Deadline provides some of the details for the film.

That will do it for this Monday in May...more to come on Thursday...

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Cannes Is in Full Swing: The Critics Are Speaking / Inarritu Makes a Splash with V.R. at Cannes / Haneke's Happy End: More Clips

Good Monday to all,,,

CANNES IS IN FULL SWING: THE CRITICS ARE SPEAKING

The 70th Cannes Film Fest has roared into life and we begin the process of parsing critical responses as a method of gauging the possible Telluride fortunes of the films that make up the variety of programs.  Of course, it' still early.  As I type this on Monday morning, less than half of the Palme competition films have played.  With that noted, here's what the critical consensus is to this point (and only mentioning films that have publicly screened)

First, looking at Reini Urban's massive and constantly updated compilation of critical response among Palme d'Or competition films at the top is Robin Campillo's 120 Battements par Minute with a 7.10 composite rating on a 10 point scale.

Urban' current top three:

1) 120 Battements par Minute (7.10)
2) Okja (6.41)
3) The Square (6.38)

Among all films in all categories with sufficient critical response to give  a reasonable indication of how it's playing the top film so far has been Agnes Varda's Villages, Visages with a 7.57 score.

The complete Urban list is here.

The Todas Criticas compilation has 120 BPM on top of the Palme films with a 6.63 rating.  Todd Haynes Wonderstruck is right behind at 6.6.

Todas Criticas is here.

Loveless leads the Screen Daily critical collective with a 3.2 composite (out of 4).  Screen Daily's grid is here.

Ioncinema's group of critics have Loveless and 120 BPM locked together with a 3.5 average rating (out of 5).  The Ioncinema chart is here.


INARRITU MAKES A SPLASH WITH VIRTUAL REALITY AT CANNES

We've be following the reports from France concerning Alejandro Inarritu's V.R. installation Carne y Arena.  Reportedly lasting about six minutes and focused on immersing the "viewer" in the world of the current refugee crisis.  Reports also indicate that it can experienced by one person at a time and is established in a warehouse.

The experience is said to be headed for Los Angeles this summer.

In as far as Telluride is concerned, I'm still dubious about our chances but...

Details about the V.R. experience can be found here from Indiewire as well as here from The Hollywood Reporter.


HANEKE'S HAPPY END: MORE CLIPS

I had a link in my last post to a single clip from Michael Haneke's Happy End.  That has expended to three clips that are now accessible from this story at The Film Stage.

Haneke's first film since Amour is set to bow at Cannes in Palme competition today.  As a matter of fact, depending on when you're reading this, it may have already have happened.


That's it for now.  More on Thursday...


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The Playlist's 20 Most Anticipated Cannes Titles / Wild Trailer for Wondershock: Could It Play The SHOW? / Images from Wonderstruck and Meyerowitz

Good Thursday to you and yours.


THE PLAYLIST'S 20 MOST ANTICIPATED CANNES TITLES

The 70th Cannes Film Festival opens one week from yesterday.  Now that the lineups are known the attention turns (in certain circles) to what films are the most anticipated as  likely to be the critical darlings and challengers for the Palme d'Or and other awards.  The Playlist has a first pass at 20 films that they collectively are excited about.

Among their list of 20 are a half dozen that are on my TFF #44 watch list:

Loveless (A. Zvyagintsev)
Wonderstruck (T. Haynes)
The Meyerowitz Stories (N. Baumbach)
You Were Never Really Here (L. Ramsay)
Happy End (M. Haneke)
The Square (R. Ostlund)

Check out the other 14 films plus a lengthy list of runners-up:

The complete list of 20 films is here.



WILD TRAILER FOR WONDERSHOCK: COULD IT PLAY THE SHOW?

Distributor A24 might be the hottest game in the biz after the Oscar run for Moonlight last year as well as the success of Room the year before so anything they have in the hopper that looks like it might be anywhere close to a Telluride play has to be taken with some seriousness.  So when they dropped a trailer for Woodshock this week along with news that it would open on Sept.15....made me wonder...

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Details are here from Awards Daily

and from FirstShowing.net


IMAGES FROM WONDERSTRUCK AND MEYEROWITZ


The Film Stage has treated us to new stills from Todd Haynes Wonderstruck and NOah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz stories.  Both films have potential to make the 2017 Telluride lineup after playing in the Cannes lineup.

Here's a new still from each:

Julianne Moore in Wonderstruck

Noah Baumbach directs Dustin Hoffman's cap in this still from The Meyerowitz Stories

More images can be found here from The Film Stage.



That's your Thursday edition of MTFB.  More on Monday...


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