Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
I'm posting my latest take on the Best Original Screenplay race today. My last Original Screenplay predictions were posted on Oct. 3rd. Each film is followed by its position from the last prediction posting in parentheses. TFF #46 films are Bold.
1) Marriage Story (1)
2) Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (2) 3) Parasite (3)
4) The Farewell (4)
5) Bombshell (-)
Other possibles: Dolemite Is My Name, Knives Out, 1917
Notes: Bombshell explodes into the race (along with its possible shot at a Best Picture nomination). Dolemite is also gaining some momentum. The top two seem to be probable locks at this point and Parasite is edging closer to that status.
OSCAR HISTORY AND TFF: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Here's the complete history of nominees and winners for the Best Original Screenplay category and the Telluride Film Festival:
1974- The Conversation
1983- El Norte
1987- Au Revoirs Les Enfants
1992- The Crying Game
1993- The Piano-WINNER, Three Colors: Blue
1994- Bullets Over Broadway
1996- Secrets and Lies
1997- The Sweet Hereafter
2001- Amelie
2002- Talk to Her
2003- Lost in Translation, The Barbarian Invasions
2006- Babel
2007- Juno
2008- Happy-Go-Lucky
2010- The King's Speech-WINNER, Another Year
2011-The Artist
2012- Amour
2013- Nebraska
2014- Birdman-WINNER, Foxcatcher
2015- Spotlight-WINNER
2016- Manchester by the Sea-WINNER, La La Land
2017- The Shape of Water, Lady Bird
2018- Roma, The Favourite
Overall 29 nominations and five wins.
NEW WAVES TRAILER
A24 dropped a new trailer for Trey Edward Shults' Waves starring Sterling K. Brown, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Taylor Russell and Lucas Hedges. Here that is from YouTube:
Waves will open on Nov. 15th.
FOCUS ON PARASITE
I have linked a number of stories/posts here about Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite which is currently being billed as the best reviewed film of the year. The film was certainly well regarded by Telluride attendees as it finished at the top of The Professionals and the Composite ratings. The People's Telluride had it a #2 behind The Two Popes.
DEADLINE TALKS TO DIRECTOR AND WRITER OF THE TWO POPES
As a part of their contender series Deadline.com was in London and spoke with The Two Popes director Fernando Meirelles and writer Anthony McCarten. Among the topics: the genesis if the film that focuses on Popes Francis and Benedict played by Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins respectively.
I'm posting my latest take on the Best Picture race today. My last Best Picture predictions were posted on Oct. 7th. Each film is followed by its position from the last prediction posting in parentheses. TFF #46 films are Bold.
1) Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (1)
2) The Irishman (3) 3) Marriage Story (2) 4) Parasite (5)
5) Jojo Rabbit (4) 6) The Two Popes (9)
7) 1917 (7)
8) Bombshell (-)
9) The Farewell (10)
10) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (6)
Other Possibles: Joker, Ford v. Ferrari, Dolemite Is My Name, Just Mercy
Notes: Substantial positive moves for The Two Popes and Bombshell. Meanwhile Ford v. Ferrari and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood both have lost some steam.
AWARDS SEASON STARTS TO GET REAL...
GOTHAM AWARD NOMINATIONS
The first of the end of season feature films awards organizations was out this week with their nominations for the best films of the year. The Gotham Awards focus on small to modest budgeted independent American films and as such do not nominate a film like Ford v. Ferrari. Nevertheless, their list gives us the first taste of some of the films and performances that will likely be a part of the larger awards conversation as the next few months unfold.
Last year's nominees included The Rider, The Favourite and First Reformed for Best Feature; Ethan Hawke and Richard E. Grant for Best Actor and Yalitza Aparicio for Breakthrough Actress.
This year's newly announced nominees include a number of films/performances from TFF #46 films:
Best Feature includes: Marriage Story, Uncut Gems and Waves.
Best Actor: Adam Driver/Marriage Story, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems
Best Screenplay: Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story
Breakthrough Actor: Julia Fox/Uncut Gems, Taylor Russell/Waves
Other Best Feature nominees includes The Farewell and Hustlers.
Coverage of the Gotham Award nominees is linked here from:
CLIO SHORT LIST FOR TRAILERS AND TEASERS ANNOUNCED
The shortlist for the Clio Awards for trailers, teasers and integrated campaigns was released last week and included several nominees from TFF #45 and #46 films.
Among the teasers on the short list were "La Casa" from Roma
Among trailers short listed were trailers for First Man, Roma, Border and Parasite.
Roma was also short listed for Best Integrated Campaign.
Also announced this past week were the nominees for this year's International Documentary Awards. A couple of TFF docs from the past two years made it into the various lists of finalists.
TFF #45 film The Biggest Little Farm was nominated for Best Feature and Best Music Score. Meanwhile TFF #46 doc The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash was nominated for Best Music Documentary. Also nominated in that category was two-time nearly a TFF film and finally a part of this year's lineup, Amazing Grace.
We have a brand new trailer for Tom Harper's The Aeronauts from Amazon Studios. That dropped over the weekend. Here's the new glimpse of the film via YouTube:
The Aeronauts will be in select theaters on Dec. 6th and on Amazon Prime on Dec. 20th.
BLEEKER STREET NABS THE ASSISTANT
Kitty Green's The Assistant, which played at this year's fest, has been acquired for U.S. distribution by Bleeker Street.
That news coming officially from the company and The Hollywood Reporter. I'd been tipped off to the acquisition a couple of weeks ago by a friend of them blog and had been keeping it under warps until the deal became official.
The THR story says the film will be released domestically on Jan. 31st, 2020.
Monday is done day...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
This is the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974.
So today we move to 2005-2009. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
Walk the Line- Actress-Reese Witherspoon-WON, Actor-Joaquin Phoenix, Film Editing, Costume, Sound
Paradise Now- Foreign Language
2006 (14/2)
Babel- Score-WON, Picture, Director-Alejandro Inarritu, Supporting Actress- Rinko Kikuchi, Supporting Actress-Adriana Barraza, Original Screenplay, Film Editing
The Last King of Scotland-Actor-Forest Whitaker-WON
The Lives of Others-Foreign Language-WON
Little Children- Actress-Kate Winslet, Supporting Actor-Jackie Earle Haley, Adapted Screenplay
Volver- Actress-Penelope Cruz
Venus- Actor-Peter O'Toole
2007 (14/2 or ***22/4)
Juno- Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jason Reitman, Actress-Ellen Page
The Counterfeiters- Foreign Language-WON
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Director-Julian Schnabel, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography
Into the Wild- Supporting Actor-Hal Holbrook, Film Editing
I'm Not There- Supporting Actress-Cate Blanchett
Persepolis- Animated
Encounters at the End of the World- Documentary
***and if you count it***
There Will Be Blood- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON, Cinematography-WON, Picture, Director-Paul Thomas Anderson, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Art Direction, Sound Editing
2008 (13/8 or ***26/11)
Slumdog Millionaire- Picture-WON, Director-Danny Boyle-WON, Adapted Screenplay-WON, Film Editing-WON, Cinematography-WON, Score-WON, Song-WON, Sound Mixing-WON, Sound Editing, Song
Waltz with Bashir-Foreign Language
Revanche- Foreign Language
Happy-Go-Lucky-Original Screenplay
***and if you count it***
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Art Direction-WON, Visual Effects-WON, Makeup-WON, Picture, Actor-Brad Pitt, Supporting Actress-Taraji P. Henson, Director-David Fincher, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costume, Score, Sound Mixing
2009 (16)
Up in the Air- Picture, Actor-George Clooney, Supporting Actress-Vera Farmiga, Supporting Actress-Anna Kendrick, Director-Jason Reitman, Adapted Screenplay
An Education- Picture, Actress-Carey Mulligan, Adapted Screenplay
The Last Station- Actress- Helen Mirren, Supporting Actor-Christopher Plummer
The White Ribbon- Foreign Language, Cinematography
A Prophet-Foreign Language
Bright Star-Costume
Coco Before Chanel-Costume
NEW TRAILER FOR THE AERONAUTS
Tom Harper's The Aeronauts has a new trailer for its U.K. audiences. The film is set to open there on Nov. 6th, a full month before its opening in the United States.
The Aeronauts stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones. Here's the trailer from YouTube:
THE BEST OF THE FESTS...
The Film Stage, much like a number of other outlets, has put together a list of films they regard as the best that emerged over the runs of the Telluride, Venice and Toronto festivals.
In their estimation that list included the following films from TFF #46:
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Waves.
The article also includes letter grades for a number of other films that played across the three fests including:
In addition to that article, Indiewire posted its own unique look at other aspects of the films that have been part of the film fest triumvirate with this article that focuses on their take of the best craft work in those films. Among the films and tech work cited are these from TFF #46:
Regular readers of this space know that The Composite Telluride is the melding of the ratings of The People and The Professionals. My thought when I began putting composites together was that it might give an even more complete overview of the reactions, in a general sense, of the attendees to each year's festival
Each table shows the films, in order of best composite, that were shared by both The People and The Pros with their composite rating in parentheses and their two respective ranked positions in brackets.
Though I didn't originally do a composite Telluride in 2012, I have gone back and created that over the weekend.
2012
1) Argo (9.25) [2/2]
2) Stories We Tell (9.10) [3/1]
3) The Attack (8.70) [5/3]
4) Central Park Five (8.450 [1/13]
5) The Sapphires (8.36) [4/8]
6) Frances Ha (8.27) [5/9]
7) Amour (7.67) [10/6]
8) Rust and Bone (7.65) [7/16]
9) Baraka (7.50) [10/10]
10) The Iceman 7.41 [8/17]
11) No (6.61) [12/21]
12) The Gatekeepers (6.58) [14/18]
13) Hyde Park on Hudson (6.33) [14/20]
14) At Any Price (5.83) [9/24]
15) Everyday (4.88) [15/25]
2013
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) [1/2]
2) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) [4/1]
3) Gravity (8.75) [3/3]
4) Nebraska (8.38) [5/6]
5) All is Lost (8.26) [6/7]
6) Inside Llewyn Davis (8.25) [7/5]
7) Blue is the Warmest Color (8.15) [2/11]
8) The Past (7.71) [9/10]
9) The Lunchbox (7.55) [13/4]
10) The Wind Rises (7.1) [18/8]
11) Labor Day (7.0) [10/14]
11) (tie) Prisoners (7.0) [12/13]
13) Tracks (6.84) [16/12]
14) Palo Alto (6.4) [16/17]
15) The Invisible Woman (6.19) [20/18]
16) The Unknown Known (5.73) [15/20]
17) Under the Skin (5.1) [18/21]
2014
1) Birdman (9.18) [2/1]
2) Foxcatcher (8.83) [4/2]
3) The Imitation Game (8.79) [1/7]
4) Wild Tales (8.43) [3/4]
5) '71 (8.15) [6/3]
6) Mommy (7.42) [8/8]
7) Red Army (7.30) [7/11]
8) Two Days, One Night (7.21) [13/9]
9) Mr. Turner (7.10) [14/6]
10) Wild (6.71) [8/13]
11) Rosewater (6.52) [12/14]
12) The Homesman (6.38) [16/11]
13) Madame Bovary (6.18) [15/12]
2015
1) Spotlight (8.86) [2/3]
2) Son of Saul (8.74) [5/1]
3) Beasts of No Nation (8.62) [3/5]
4) Steve Jobs (8.17) [10/4]
5) Carol (8.13) [8/6]
6) Black Mass (7.98) [7/9]
7) Room (7.97) [1/11]
8) 45 Years (7.84) [11/7]
9) Anomalisa (7.78) [14/2]
10) Suffragette (7.07) [12/12]
11) He Named Me Malala (6.22) [13/13]
2016
1) Moonlight (9.19) [1/1]
2) La La Land (8.91) [2/2]
3) Manchester by the Sea (8.13) [5/4]
4) Arrival (8.01) [6/7]
5) Maudie (7.89) [3/9]
6) Sully (7.68) [10/6]
7) Toni Erdmann (7.65) [9/8]
8) Things to Come (7.25) [19/3]
9) Una (6.85) [15/10]
10) California Typewriter (6.78)[13/11]
10) Into the Inferno (6.78) [21/5]
12) Wakefield (6.26) [12/14]
13) Bleed for This (6.12) [14/13]
14) Norman (5.97) [16/15]
2017
1) The Shape of Water (8.72) [2/1]
2) Lady Bird (8.58) [1/5]
3) Faces Places (7.96) [5/2]
4) Darkest Hour (7.90) [3/8]
5) Hostiles (7.78) [4/9]
6) The Rider (7.63) [10/2]
7) Battle of the Sexes (7.62) [6/7]
8) First Reformed (7.32) [13/6]
9) Lean on Pete (7.16) [7/12]
10) First They Killed My Father (7.05) [15/10]
11) Loving Vincent (7.00) [12/11]
12) Wonderstruck (6.6) [10/13]
13) Downsizing (6.17) [16/14)]
14) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (6.16) [8/15]
2018
1) Roma (9.20) [1/1]
2) First Man (8.51) [2/2]
3) Free Solo (8.33) [5/3]
4) Cold War (8.16) [6/3]
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (7.91) [8/5]
6) The Favourite (7.66) [9/6]
7) Boy Erased (7.43) [4/10]
8) White Boy Rick (6.94) [7/11]
9) The Front Runner (6.74) [10/13]
10) Destroyer (6.69) [12/9]
11) Border (6.57) [16/8]
12) The Old Man and the Gun (6.56) [14/10]
All Time Top Ten Composite scores through 2018:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
7) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
8) La La Land (8.91) 2016 (Won Best Director)
9) Spotlight (8.86) 2015 (Won Best Picture)
10) Foxcatcher (8.83) 2014
AND NOW...YOUR 2019 COMPOSITE TELLURIDE RATINGS...
1) Parasite (9.11) [2/1]
2) The Two Popes (8.93) [1/2]
3) Marriage Story (8.54) [4/3]
4) Ford v. Ferrari (8.46) [3/7]
5) A Hidden Life (8.01) [5/5]
6) Waves (7.90) [12/4]
7) Pain and Glory (7.63) [5/9]
8) The Report (7.53) [9/8]
9) Motherless Brooklyn (7.22) [10/11]
10) Uncut Gems (7.00) [14/10]
11) Judy (6.93) [7/13]
12) The Aeronauts (6.75) [8/14]
13) The Climb (6.57) [15/12]
Both Parasite and The Two Popes will join the All Time Composite Top Ten displacing Spotlight and Foxcatcher.
The biggest disconnect between The Peeps and The Pros this year came with the evaluation of Waves where The Pros substantially regarded it more highly (The Pros gave it their fourth highest average rating while The People had it at #12). Two other films that were somewhat of a disconnect were The Aeronauts and Judy which The People regarded more highly than The Professionals.
Finally, here's the updated Composite All Time Top Ten:
1) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 Tie (Won Best Picture)
1) Argo (9.25) 2012 Tie (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)
4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
6) Parasite (9.11) 2019
7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
8) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
9) The Two Popes (8.93) 2019
10) La La Land (8.91) 2016 (Won Best Director)
TFF OSCAR HISTORY PART FOUR
Here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the last half of the 90's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1995 (1)
Shanghai Triad- Cinematography
1996 (11/2)
Sling Blade- Adapted Screenplay-WON, Actor-Billy Bob Thornton
Secrets and Lies- Picture, Actress-Brenda Blethyn, Supporting Actress- Jean Marie Baptiste, Director-Mike Leigh, Original Screenplay
Breaking the Waves- Actress-Emily Watson
Koyla- Foreign Language-WON
Fly Away Home- Cinematography
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life- Documentary
1997 (4/1)
Affliction- Supporting Actor-James Coburn-WON, Actor-Nick Nolte
The Sweet Hereafter- Director- Atom Egoyan, Original Screenplay
1998 (3)
Central Station- Actress- Fernanda Montenegro, Foreign Language
Tango-Foreign Language
1999 (1)
The Straight Story- Actor-Richard Farnsworth
FORD V. FERRARI NEW TRAILER
Over the weekend 20th Century Fox/Disney released a new trailer for James Mangold's Ford v. Ferrari. Here that is from YouTube:
And a new poster as well:
TORONTO AWARDS JOJO
The Grolsch Audience Award for favorite film at the Toronto International Film Festival went to Taika Waititi's JoJo Rabbit won the prize. TFF #46 films came close to the win with Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story named as first runner-up and Bong Joon-ho's Parasite named as second runner-up.
Last year Green Book won the TIFF audience award and then went on to win Best Picture on Oscar night.
Welcome to Monday and the return here at MTFB to the traditional twice a week publishing schedule.
THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE
Here it is. One week after the last day of the 46th Telluride Film Festival I have for you The Professionals Telluride. This year's ratings averages for many of the films that played last week.
This year's professionals include a total of 18 pros who attended the festival and represent broad spectrum of views regarding the film industry. It includes critics, bloggers and others who are part of the biz.
Here's the list of this year's pros:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Marshall Flores/Awards Daily
Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit
Gary Kramer/Salon
Scott Menzel/We Live Entertainment
Kenny Miles/We Live Entertainment
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Eugene Novikov/Rotten Tomatoes
John Rhodes/Screencraft
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Chris Willman/Variety
Anonymous
Huge thanks to these very busy pros who graciously took the time to supply me with their ratings of the films that they saw last week at TFF #46.
Here's the rundown of the Professionals ratings for each year since I started polling the Pros in 2012.
2018:
1) Roma (4.73)
2) First Man (4.17)
3) Cold War (4.14-tie)
3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)
6) The Favourite (3.90)
7) Watergate (3.60)
8) Border (3.50)
9) Destroyer (3.25)
10) Boy Erased (3.20)
11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)
12) White Boy Rick (3.06)
13) The Front Runner (3.05)
2017:
1) The Shape of Water (4.5)
2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)
2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)
2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)
5) Lady Bird (4.20)
6) First Reformed (4.0)
7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)
8) Darkest Hour (3.85)
9) Hostiles (3.79)
10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)
11) Loving Vincent (3.63)
12) Lean on Pete (3.50)
13) Wonderstruck (3.25)
14) Downsizing (3.10)
15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)
2015:
1) Son of Saul (4.44)
2) Anomalisa (4.42)
3) Spotlight (4.41)
4) Steve Jobs (4.31)
5) Beasts of No Nation (4.27)
6) Carol (4.11)
7) 45 Years (4.06)
8) Taxi (4.00)
9) Black Mass (3.85)
10) Time to Choose (3.57)
11) Room (3.50)
12) Suffragette (3.49)
13) He Named Me Malala (2.83)
2014:
1)Birdman (4.72)
2)Foxcatcher (4.63)
3)’71 (4.25)
4)Wild Tales (4.20)
5)Leviathan (4.17)
6)Mr. Turner (4.10)
7)The Imitation Game (4.06)
8)Mommy (3.92)
9)Two Days, One Night (3.90)
10)The Homesman (3.80)
11)Red Army (3.67)
12)Madame Bovary (3.30)
13)Wild (3.21)
14) Rosewater (3.06)
2013:
1) 12 Years a Slave (4.7)
2) Blue is the Warmest Color (4.4)
3) Gravity (4.35)
4) Tim's Vermeer (4.3)
5) Nebraska (4.3)
6) All is Lost (4.2)
7) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.1)
8) Starred Up (4.0)
9) The Past (3.9)
10) Labor Day (3.6)
11) Bethlehem (3.6)
12) Prisoners (3.5)
13) The Lunchbox (3.5)
14) Salinger (3.3)
15) The Unknown Known (3.3)
16) Palo Alto (3.2)
17) Tracks (3.2)
18) Under the Skin (3.1)
18) (tie) The Wind Rises (3.1)
20) The Invisible Woman (3.0)
2012:
1) Central Park Five-4.7
2) Argo-4.5
3) Stories We Tell- 4.3
4) The Sapphires 4.25
5) (Tie) Frances Ha and The Attack- 4.2
7) Rust and Bone- 4.0
8) The Iceman- 3.8
9) At Any Price- 3.7
10) (Tie) Amour and Baraka- 3.5
12) No- 3.4
14) (Tie) Hyde Park on Hudson and The Gatekeepers 3.0
15) Everyday- 2.8
And the all time TFF Top Ten prior to the films of TFF #46 according to the industry pros since starting this in 2012:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Roma (4.73) (18)
3) Birdman (4.72) (14)
4) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
4) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
6) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
7) La La Land (4.58) (16)
8) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
8) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
15 films earned enough responses from the Pros to make it onto the list for this year.
And now...drumroll please...This year's Professionals Telluride (with averaged rating in parenthesis):
1) Parasite (4.75)
2) The Two Popes (4.42)
3) Marriage Story (4.40)
4) Waves (4.29)
5) A Hidden Life (4.20)
6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (4.17)
7) Ford v. Ferrari (4.11)
8) The Report (3.87)
9) Pain and Glory (3.83)
10) Uncut Gems (3.78)
11) Motherless Brooklyn (3.58)
12) The Climb (3.50)
13) Judy (3.13)
14) The Aeronauts (3.08)
15) The Assistant (2.75)
Parasite's 4.75 moves it to the #2 spot on the Top Ten films to play Telluride among the Pros since I started collecting these responses in 2o12. The new All Time Top Ten:
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19)
3) Roma (4.73) (18)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
8) La La Land (4.58) (16)
9) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
9) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)
And finally...because MTFB is about to change its focus to the Oscar prospects for this year's crop of films from TFF... Here's where Oscar nominees for Best Picture from TFF have landed each year according to The Professionals:
2012: Argo-4.50 (Winner) #2, Amour-3.50 #10
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.70 #1 (Winner), Gravity-4.35 #3, Nebraska-4.30 #5
2014: Birdman-4.72 (Winner) #1, The Imitation Game-4.06 #7
2015: Spotlight-4.41 (Winner) #3, Room-3.50 #11
2016: Moonlight-4.82 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.48 #2, Manchester by the Sea-3.95 #4, Arrival-3.88 #7
2017: The Shape of Water-4.50 #1 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.20 #5, Darkest Hour-3.85 #8
2018: Roma-4.74 #1, The Favourite-3.90 #6
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE IS COMING ON THURSDAY...YOUR RATING DEADLINE IS TOMORROW EVENING.
OSCAR AND TFF: A HISTORY PROJECT PART TWO
Picking up where I left off last week...here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the latter half of the 80's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1985 (2)
Colonel Redl- Foreign Language
The Journey of Natty Gann- Costumes
1986 (3)
Blue Velvet- Director-David Lynch
The Decline of the American Empire- Foreign Language
My Secret Little Village- Foreign Language
1987 (4/1)
Babette's Feast-Foreign Language- WON (first win for Best Foreign Film from TFF)
Au Revoir Les Enfants- Foreign Language, Original Screenplay
The Whales of August- Supporting Actress-Ann Sothern
1988 (2)
Salaam Bombay- Foreign Language
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown- Foreign Language
1989 (6/2)
My Left Foot- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON (first Best Actor win from TFF) , Supporting Actress- Brenda Fricker-WON (first win for Best Supporting Actress from TFF) , Picture, Director-Jim Sheridan, Adapted Screenplay
Cinema Paradiso-Foreign Language-WON
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren- Documentary (First TFF with multiple Oscar wins)
On Thursday, I'll have the TFF Oscar history from 1990-1994.
TRAILERS AND SUCH FROM TFF #46 FILMS
Since last Thursday's post we have seen the emergence of a trailer as well as a behind-the-scene featurette and a clip from TFF #46 films. Here they are:
TRAILER FOR WAVES
FEATURETTE FOR JUDY
CLIP FROM BILLIE
The word is that we can also expect a new trailer for Ford v. Ferrari very soon.
RE-THINKING THIS PROJECT
Now that TFF #46 is in the rear view...
This year's experience at TFF was different for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the decision by the Festival to deny my annual request to be accredited as a journalist. I had been granted that status for eight years running and it became particularly useful in 2017 and 2018 as my pass status changed from the Patron Pass that had been a gift from former students who also hosted us in Telluride.
As you all know, that Patron Pass was a Golden Ticket. When that situation changed in 2017 (and, in fairness, I had known that would be the case for a number of years) the journalist credential became very important. It doesn't afford quite the same ease of access as a Patron Pass but it gets close.
I don't know why the request was denied but I have a couple of pretty good guesses. At the top of the list are posts that may not have been well received by the fest folks. And, of course, I have no doubt that the fest does not care for the central organizing principle of the blog...sussing out the possible films that will make the lineup before they're announced each year.
The festival explained in the email that denied the press credential that I was welcome to apply for the journalist accreditation again next year, but there is no guarantee that I get approved. And I fully understand and acknowledge that the fest has every right to accredit who gets the credential and who doesn't. I get that.
Further, I get how whiny this sounds. Privileged and whiny. For the vast majority of folks who attend with the Festival, Acme or Cinephile passes or who stand by in the individual ticket sales lines...this must seem, and understandably so, like just so much unearned grumpiness.
Yea...I get that too.
And yet, the whining continues...
I did eight films this year. My average has been 11.
Other considerations...
As all of you know...Festival level passes are pricey (and required for anyone requesting journalist status) and lodging in Telluride is, let's say... a challenge both in terms of cost and availability. Many of you know that my real gig is teaching at a public high school in Oklahoma...so you probably have a reasonable notion of my annual income.
Then there's the time and miles. It's a lot.
I will say that it is heartening to speak to readers on line and around town. I honestly don't know how many people read the thing but it seems like a bunch. I also am pleased at the number of times one of the journalists (you know, the accredited ones) that come into town to cover the fest pass along the value that they place on the blog via email, Twitter or in person at the fest. I have often wondered at what level, if any, the blog gets read by Guests of the fest. I know that it happens at least a little bit because of a couple of past experiences.
As I've said on a number of occasions, when I first started this thing, I really didn't know if anyone would ever read it and, even if they did, whether anyone would take it seriously.
I just know that I felt untethered and lost last week and I'm not sure what I do to change that between now and next Labor Day or, more accurately, between now and when passes go on sale.
I have heard and seen in print this effort described as a "passion project" and it has been but the passion took a hit this year and I'm not sure where that lands me over the next few months.
Bottom line...maybe nothing changes...maybe it all changes. At this point it's all up in the air (Jason Reitman/George Clooney TFF #36 reference).
Thanks for letting me ramble.
That's today's MTFB. More to come on Thursday including THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE. Your deadline to rate TFF #46 films is tomorrow evening!
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
The time has come...to all of you with an interest, for you followers of this space to express your collective evaluation of the films that made an appearance at the Telluride Film Festival. As most of you know, I'd like you to rate the films you saw this past weekend on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being "Not So Good" and 5 being "Glorious!"
As a matter of fact, I have several that came in overnight. The ratings are afoot!
You can deliver your ratings using any of the contact methods listed below.
The cutoff date for submission for The People's Telluride is one week from today...so get those ratings in by Tuesday, Sept. 10th.
HOME AGAIN
As has become my custom, I jetted out of Telluride right after stopping by TFF's Labor Day picnic. The drive back home runs right at 10 hours with stops along the way for this and that. We also add the hour back that we gained with the move from Central to Mountain time...so it was a long day and a late night. I'm a little fried this early morning.
This year's fest was a little different for me. Mt pass situation was different due to the change in media status. I knew that would mean I'd get to fewer films and that was the case. Most years I average 10-11 films, this year I got in eight (in the order I saw them):
The Aeronauts
The Climb
Uncut Gems
The Report
Waves
Motherless Brooklyn
Marriage Story
Parasite
Regrets that I didn't catch Ford v. Ferrari, The Two Popes or A Hidden Life but I'll get them in.
By the end of the weekend, it seemed to me that two films were dominating the buzz and it will interesting to see if The People's Telluride bears out what I was hearing.
Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to say a word or two to me in lines throughout the weekend. It's always gratifying to hear that this thing is valued by TFF attendees.
THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE
Coming soon. The Pros have already started sending me their ratings so be looking for their collective response soon. Additionally, as I've been doing for some time now, the third part of the TFF ratings triad will come with The Composite Telluride when I combine the ratings for both groups.
That'll do for this early Tuesday...more on Thursday!
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Got into Uncut Gems, The Report and Waves on Saturday...
My favorite film of the day turned out to be Uncut Gems...which shocks me a bit as I have never been a big Adam Sandler fan. But credit due....Sandler is great in the Safdie Brothers film.
The Report worked well enough for me. It's a sturdy and competently made reveal of how willing the U.S. was to torture in the wake of 9-11.
Waves is an earnest but overly long exploration of the potential destruction of a family.
DAY THREE ON THE WAY...
I know we're going to try to do Motherless Brooklyn on Sunday morning...and then Marriage Story on Sunday night. Between the two...I don't know.
SUNDAY TBAs
Sunday TBAs - September 1, 2019
Galaxy
• 10:15 PM: THE CLIMB, program number 27, Cinephile
Sheridan Opera House
• 10:00 PM: 63 UP, A, Cinephile
Nugget
• 4:15 PM: LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE with Q&A, E, Cinephile
• 9:45 PM: FIRST COW, 20, Cinephile
Masons
• 9:15 PM: STUDENT PRINTS with Q&A, 41, Cinephile
Pierre
• 9:30 PM: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, 12, Cinephile
Noon Seminar, Elks Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
What are the challenges of cinematic adaptation?
With Dan Friedkin, Philip Kaufman, Edward Norton, Barnabás Tóth
AND A NOTE...
Thanks to so many of you who have been kind enough to say a word or two to me in lines the last couple of days. Also a special shout out to staff folk who follow this space. You guys and gals are fantastic! And via my brother...Hey Mercury!
Here it is...the final list of 25 films/programs that I expect to play the 46th Telluride Film Festival. The actual announcement should come sometime tomorrow morning and, of course, I'll have it here for you before I take off for the San Juans myself. I expect to be in T-ride around 10 MDT tomorrow night. In alphabetical order...Here we go...
1) The Aeronauts
2) Beanpole
3) The Climb
4) Country Music
5) Family Romance LLC
6) First Cow
7) Ford v Ferrari
8) A Hidden Life
9) Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
10) Judy
11) The Kingmaker
12) Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
13) Lyrebird
14) Marriage Story
15) Motherless Brooklyn
16) Pain and Glory
17) Parasite
18) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
19) The Report
20) The Truth
21) The Two Popes
22 ) Uncut Gems
23) Varda by Agnes
24) Verdict
25) Waves
Other Possibles: The Assistant, The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, Dark Waters, Little Women, The Good Liar, Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917, Bombshell, Wasp Network, Chicuarotes, No One Left Behind, Gemini Man, Mr. Jones, Antlers.
TRIBUTE CLUES
I got a number of anonymous tips over the past few days which told me that the pre-fest screenings in Elks Park have been revealed in Telluride. As many of you know, those films usually offer clues about who is probably being tributed at The SHOW. The two key films are Bridget Jones' Diary and Star Wars:The Last Jedi. The informative flyer also confirms that there will be some screening of Ken Burns' Country Music documentary will take place this weekend as well.
The free screenings suggest that two of your tributes this year will go to Renee Zellweger- who's Judy is sure to be screening and also Adam Driver who has both Marriage Story and The Report set to be part of The SHOW.
As to the third probable tribute...I have heard on background conflicting suggestions about that and consequently don't have a good enough handle on it to make any bold prediction.
LATE BREAKING... It appears the third tribute is for Philip Kaufman according to the Telluride Daily Planet:
Also note the "Special Screening" on Saturday night.
SOOOO....WHAT DO I WANT TO SEE?
The Aeronauts
Ford v. Ferrari
The Climb
Parasite
The Report
Motherless Brooklyn
Marriage Story
A Hidden Life
Waves
The Two Popes
Full lineup revealed tomorrow morning and I'll have it here.
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE
For the eighth 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 with any of the following contact methods:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
First of all, take all of this with a grain of salt as the announcements from Toronto on Tuesday seemed to be off a bit in terms of premiere designations. Most of the confusion fell on Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life that was reported at least by one outlet as a North American premiere but which TIFF's own website now labels as a Canadian premiere thereby affirming its likelihood for Telluride.
However, both The Truth and Beanpole, which I had concluded were probably playing Telluride because of the New York film fest labeling both films New York premieres rather than U.S. premieres, were announced by TIFF as North American preems which would indicate no Telluride play.
After some back and forth behind the scenes, I think that there is still a chance that one or both of those films might still make a Telluride appearance.
Films that were otherwise confirmed for Telluride by their designations as Canadian premieres by TIFF included:
The Aeronauts
The Climb
Verdict
and after some hubbub...A Hidden Life
International premiere status points to the possibility of:
Dan Freidkin's Lyrebird...a post WWII story of an investigation into art theft and more.
Trey Edward Shults' Waves...about the vagaries of young love starring Lucas Hedges.
Appearing to drop out of the Telluride possibles list: Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky (slated as a World Premiere for TIFF), and Benedict Andrews' Seberg (billed as a North American premiere). Also, Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You, Haifaa Al-Mansour's The Perfect Candidate and Ladj Ly's Les Miserables.
Toronto has one more set of films to announce and will do so next Tuesday.
NEW TRAILERS AND TEASERS
A HIDDEN LIFE
A trailer for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (which I think IS going to Telluride) was revealed Tuesday from the Fox Searchlight folks. Here it is from YouTube:
The trailer's great and I have hopes that Malick is back in Tree of Life/Thin Red Line territory.
LITTLE WOMEN
Here's the first trailer for Greta Gerwig's Little Women...which with the absence of its inclusion by Toronto in their Tuesday announcement, means it's still a minuscule Telluride possibility...and remember, I still have it in my fevered brain as a potential surprise sneak peek...
Here is that trailer, also from YouTube:
Yes please...
AD ASTRA
Unlikely but not eliminated...
PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Back to a film I'm almost dead certain will play in a couple of weeks...Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Thanks be to YouTube:
PARASITE
Also a lock for Labor Day...
CURRENT TEN BETS AND BONUS BETS
With a new Ten Bets coming tomorrow!
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) A Hidden Life
Bonus 5) The Report
Bonus 6) Beanpole
Bonus 7) The Kingmaker
DON'T FORGET TO PLAN TO RATE!
For the eighth 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 with any of the following contact methods:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
