Cannes Has Begun / Four Films on the Edge: Blue Moon, Anemone, Bucking Fastard and Welcome to Lynchland

CANNES HAS BEGUN

The 78th Cannes Film Festival opened last Tuesday and will run though May 24th.  TFF watchers know that it's likely that anywhere from 6-10 films screening there the next few days will probably end up in Telluride over Labor Day.  That's been the trend for some time.  One of the things I'll be doing over the next few posts is checking to see how critics respond.  Several film outlets will be posting composite critical responses and I traditionally keep track some of those and report them but the Big Daddy of all Cannes compilations comes from cannes-ratings.org.  

So this week I took a moment to try to calibrate what that compilation has told us over the years.  What I did was to look for the lowest rated film that played at Cannes that also played Telluride.  My thought was that perhaps by doing that we might establish some critical baseline for where the cutoff is below which it's unlikely a film will be selected for Telluride inclusion.

Thus here are the lowest rated films from Cannes for each year (going back to 2011) that made it to TFF.  Cannes-ratings uses a 1-10 scale.

2024-Santosh-5.97

2023-Strange way of Life-5.58

2022-Tori and Lokita-6.11

2021-Unclenching the Fist-6.08

2019-Family Romance LLC-5.68

2018-The Eyes of Orson Welles-6.11

2017-An Inconvenient Sequel-5.75

2016-Neruda-6.58

2015-Rams-5.10

2014-Wild Tales-5.41

2013-Jororowsky's Dune-5.55

2012-Paradise:Love-5.03

2011-Bonsai-5.00

As you can see, the outliers are Neruda at the top and Bonsai and Paradise: Love at the bottom.  The average rating to claim the last Cannes to T-ride spot is at 5.69.  So, if you want to check what the critical reception at Cannes, that might be a spot to think that anything below that has a lesser chance to get to Telluride.

One other point, since it's still so early in the Cannes fest most of the films only have a very few reviews as yet. As Cannes rolls on those films will gather more and more critical responses and you can get a better idea for where a film may end up.  For example, the film at the top of the list right now is Love Me Tender with a 9.12 cumulative rating but it's only been reviewed by four critics...so grain of salt.

Monday's MTFB will have my first real look.

FOUR FILMS ON THE EDGE:

Four films on the periphery of my analysis of what goes to Telluride had moments this week that, at the very least, didn't hurt their chances of playing Telluride.

Richard Linklater's Blue Moon- The film's release dates were announced this week.  It will have a limited release on Oct. 17th followed by a wider release on Oct. 24th.  Linklater has never been to TFF as far as I can discern which works against the notion that it will play Telluride.  However, it does have some things working in its favor.  These release dates for one.  Also, a good critical response from Berlin where it also picked up for Andrew Scott for Best Supporting Performance. It's from Sony Pictures Classics and it stars Ethan Hawke who is often a TFF attendee.

Ronan Day-Lewis's Anemone- Like Blue Moon, Anemone's release dates were also announced this week and leave open the possibility for T-ride.  Anemone will open limited on Oct. 3rd and wide on Oct. 10th.  The film stars past TFF tribute recipient Daniel Day-Lewis who also co-wrote the screenplay.  Day-Lewis first attended TFF in 1989 with My Left Foot and returned for his tribute in 2007 with some scenes from There Will Be Blood.  He won Best Actor Oscars for both of those performances.  Another factor working in favor of a TFF play is that the distributor is Focus Features which has been a reliable Telluride player for years.

Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard-  Herzog has possibly been the most screened director at Telluride over the years and The Playlist reports:

"Production took place in Ireland (hence the “Irish landscape”) and Slovenia, having wrapped filming last month, as the film is now heading to the Cannes Film Market with the aim of sharing footage with potential buyers."

So it may be ready for a San Juan screening.

Stephane Ghez's Welcome to Lynchland-Played Yesterday at the Cannes Fest with David Lynch's son, Riley introducing it.  The documentary about Lynch's career and films feels like it could be right down TFF's alley given Lynch's stature and his early participation with TFF.

More on Monday.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Predicting Oscar Winners: Cinematography and More / Future TFF Selection? / Interviews and Profiles: Conclave

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: PREDICTING OSCAR WINNERS: CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MORE

As the Emilia Perez series of provocations and scandals seems to be winding down in intensity, we're starting to see some actual effects regarding what could happen on Oscar night.  Here are the first predictions for winners in Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Score and Song.  As usual, TFF films are in Bold.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) The Brutalist

2) Dune: Part Two

3) Nosferatu

4) Maria

5) Emilia Perez

BEST EDITING

1) Conclave

2) Anora

3) The Brutalist

4) Emilia Perez

5) Wicked

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Wicked

2) The Brutalist

3) Dune: Part Two

4) Conclave

5) Nosferatu

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) The Brutalist

2) Conclave

3) The Wild Robot

4) Emilia Perez

5) Wicked

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) El Mal/Emilia Perez

2) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight

3) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez

4) Like A Bird/Sing Sing

5) Never Too Late/Never Too Late

Comments:  Tightest category among these five is Editing where Conclave is barely in front of Anora and The Brutalist is close too.  If Conclave wins this and Adapted Screenplay...well...could be a good night in the end for Conclave.

The Emilia Perez blowback does not seem to have been particularly bad in Best Song.  We'll see if that's still true two weeks from now when we re-visit these five categories.  Diane Warren's shot to finally win an Oscar for songwriting has a real possibility of happening.

Speaking of low blowback for Emilia Perez in Best Song, you have to wonder if Zoe Saldana might still have a chance for Best Supporting Actress.  We'll look at that category again next week.

FUTURE TFF SELECTION?

Of note yesterday was news from both Deadline and The Film Stage that TFF regular and member of TFF's Council of Advisors Werner Herzog will be soon filming a new feature film.  That by itself would be enough to merit it going on a future TFF watch list.  But the reporting revealed that the film will star Rooney Mara and Kate Mara.

Rooney is past TFF tribute recipient.  She was honored in 2015.  Todd Haynes Carol screened at TFF as a part of that tribute.  I have been told that Rooney loves the fest and has returned since the 2015 honor.

She attended in 2016 with Una and again in  2022 with Women Talking.

The new film is reportedly titled Bucking Fastard and is described by The Film Stage as: 

"...based on the true story of inseparable twin sisters Joan and Jean, drawing from the lives of Freda and Greta Chaplin, who became sexually infatuated with their next-door neighbor and eventually received a restraining order. The title of the film, which begins production this spring in Ireland and Slovenia, is based on a simultaneous verbal slip the twins made in court."

The Film Stage article (Linked above) also digs into Herzog's most recent book, Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir, and provides considerable detail about the two sisters.

INETRVIEWS AND PROFILES

Conclave producers Ross and Howell for the film from Variety.

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Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / Trailers: Werner Herzog-Radical Dreamer / Interviews and Profiles: Payne, Haigh and More

OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here's MTFB's first Oscar Update for the Supporting Acting categories since the original set of predictions On Sept. 25th.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Da'Vine Joy Randoplh/The Holdovers (1)

2) Emily Blunt/Oppenheimer (2)

3) Jodie Foster/Nyad (3)

4) Danielle Brooks/The Color Purple (5)

5) Julianne Moore/May December (4)

Alternates: America Ferrera/Barbie, Rosamund Pike/Saltburn, Viola Davis/Air and Taraji P. Henson/The Color Purple

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Robert Downey, Jr./Oppenheimer (1)

2) Ryan Gosling/Barbie (3)

3) Robert DeNiro/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) Mark Ruffalo/Poor Things (2)

5) Willem Dafoe/Poor Things (5)

Alternates: Charles Melton/May December, Dominic Sessa/The Holdovers, Sterling K. Brown/American Fiction.

 

I'll update the screenplay categories next week.

TRAILERS: WERNER HERZOG-RADICAL DREAMER

From Shout Studios we have the U.S. trailer for TFF #49 entrant Werner Herzog-Radical Dreamer.  The documentary is set for release on Dec. 5th.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:  

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: PAYNE, HAIGH AND MORE

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi on the set of Free Solo

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from The Los Angeles Times.

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from Uproxx.

Andrew Haigh on All of Us Strangers from Indiewire.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin on Nyad from Indiewire.

Ilker Catak on The Teachers' Lounge from Awards Radar.

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The Composite Telluride- TFF #49/ Indiewire's Best of the Fest / Variety's Best of the Fests / Metacritic and TFF #49 Films / Trailer for Theater of Thought

THE COMPOSITE TELLURIDE- TFF #49

Here's my annual final step of computation that has become an MTFB tradition.  It's The Composite Telluride ratings in which I add the average from The People and The Professionals to provide one more glimpse of how The SHOW's films were perceived.   

To begin, here's the history of The Composite Telluride with the film's combined rating in parentheses and its position on each of the two lists in brackets.

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]

2019

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]

2021:

1) The Power of the Dog (8.95) [2/1]

2) Belfast (8.42) [3/4]

3) The Rescue (8.13) [6/2]

4) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (8.01) [1/10]

5) King Richard (7.98) [7/5]

6) Spencer (7.77) [4/12]

7) Red Rocket (7.63) [5/15]

8) C'mon C'mon (7.58) [9/6)

9) Cyrano (7.08) [11/8]

10) The Lost Daughter (6.92) [10/14]

11) The French Dispatch (5.55) [12/17]

12) Encounter (5.14) [13/18]

The current all time top ten composite scores:

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 (Won Best Picture)

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)

Soooo...Here are your results of The Composite Telluride for 2022. Ten films made both The Peoples Telluride list and The Professionals Telluride list.  The respective rankings for each film are included to the right in [brackets] with the Pro's rating on the left and the People's on the right:

1) TAR 8.13 [1-2]

2) Women Talking 8.09 [2-1]

3) The Wonder 7.52 [5-4]

4) One Fine Morning 7.50 [6-4]

5) Armageddon Time 7.35 [3-9]

6) Aftersun 7.26 [7-8]

7) Bones and All 7.25 [8-6]

8) Empire of Light 7.11 [4-12]

9) Lady Chatterley's Lover 6.77 [9-13]

10) Living 6.75 [10-7]

Big disconnects between the Pros and the People were  Armageddon Time and Empire of Light which were significantly favored by the Pros over where the People rated them and Lady Chatterley's Lover and Living which had an substantial lead in the People's poll compared to where the Pros had them.

If you're talking the Best Picture Oscar, ending up in the top spot for The Composite Telluride is a good place to be.  Since I started it, The Composite Telluride has pointed to the Best Picture winners in seven out of nine years missing for 2019 because Green Book won and last year in which CODA won.

That said, I find it unlikely that TAR wins Best Picture this year.  To my mind, the TFF #49 film with the most potential for winning BP is Sarah Polley's Women Talking and even that seems, at this point, a long shot.  I'll have my first stab at making Oscar predictions for Picture, Directing and Acting categories up on MTFB in Monday's post.

After TFF #49 The Composite All Time Top Ten did not change and remains as follows:

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 (Won Best Picture)

7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012

8) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013

9) The Power of the Dog (8.95) 2021 (Nominated Best Picture)

10) The Two Popes (8.93) 2019

INDIEWIRE'S BEST OF THE FESTS

The crew at Indiewire put together a list of what they evaluate as the best films to have played the triumvirate of film fests just concluded (Telluride, Venice and Toronto).  It was posted last Monday.  TFF #49 films that made the list of 15 included

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Bones and All

Women Talking

Good Night Oppy

Sr.

TAR

The complete list from Indiewire is linked here.

VARIETY'S BEST OF THE FESTS

Variety also posted a list of the 17 films that their staff have chosen as the best of the three fests.  The list includes three films that played at Telluride: TAR, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and Women Talking.

The complete post is linked here.

METACRITIC AND TFF #49 FILMS

Similar to the above post from Indiewire, Metacritic posted an article on Sunday that included their collective critical rating for many films that have played Telluride, Venice and/or Toronto.  I took the liberty of adding to their list three films that played in Cannes in May that were also programmed by Telluride a few weeks back.  

Here's where the TFF #49 films landed according to Metacrtic:

TAR-92

Aftersun-91

Icarus: The Aftermath-89

All the Beauty and the Bloodhsed-88

Close-83

Women Talking-80

Squaring the Circle-77

Bones and All-76

A Compassionate Spy-75

Armageddon Time-74

The Wonder-72

Lady Chatterley's Lover 67

Theater of Thought-64

Good Night Oppy-63

Empire of Light-59

Bardo-51

TAR leads all films listed with its 92.  See the rest of what Metacritic has included from the other two fests that did not play at TFF #49 including The Fabelmans, The Son, The Whale and Blonde linked here.

THEATER OF THOUGHT TRAILER

We found out earlier this week that a trailer has been released for Werner Herzog's latest documentary.  The film is described at IMDB as follows:

"Werner Herzog sets his sights on yet another mysterious landscape - the human brain - for clues as to why a hunk of tissue can produce profound thoughts and feelings while considering the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of fast-advancing neural technology."

Here's the trailer form YouTube:

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The Usual Suspects / Babylon Still Up in the Air / Armageddon Arrives in October / She Said Trailer Coming

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Each summer around this time I take some time to check out what Telluride's "Usual Suspects" have in the pipeline that could end up on the list films named to the TFF lineup.  The process is not always predictive but there have been many times when it has.

The striking thing this year is that there seem to be fewer "Usual Suspects" projects that could be in the pipeline.  That said...

Werner Herzog-The Fire Within which world premiered at the Sheffield Doc Fest last month.  The film focuses on Katia and Maurice Krafft who were featured in Herzog's 2016 Into the Inferno.  The couple were also the subject of a documentary that premiered at Sundance earlier this year: Fire of Love.

Ken Burns- The U.S. and the Holocaust.  The three part series is set to begin screening on PBS stations on Sept. 18th which suggests to me that a Telluride showing of some and perhaps all of the episodes are screened at TFF #49.

Paul Schrader-The Master Gardener.  Schrader has been represented at Telluride many times over the years: The Card Counter, First Reformed, Adam Resurrected.  I'd normally think that Master Gardener would be a Telluride lock BUT- Schrader has been announced as the recipient of this year's Venice Film Fest's Golden Lion award for Lifetime achievement.  How Venice schedules that presentation and where in their schedule they program The Master Gardener likely will determine whether Schrader's film plays Telluride.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-Bardo.  There was some back and forth occurring last week as to whether the film would be playing any fall fests.  At the end of the week the notion seemed to land on "probably".  My guess is a Venice early slot followed by a jump across the Atlantic to T-ride.  Inarritu has presented Babel, Biutiful and Birdman at Telluride. He's also been in town for Cuaron's Roma and Del Toro's The Shape of Water. I am expecting, if Bardo is ready for it to be at TFF #49.

Jean Pierre and Luc Dardennes- Tori and Lokita- The film premiered at Cannes, which, if anything, bolsters the probability that it makes its way to The SHOW.  The Dardennes have made a number of appearances at TFF:  The Child, The Kid with a Bike and Two Days One Night-their last TFF film in 2014.

Sebastian Lelio-The Wonder.  Lelio has made a splash at Telluride in recent years: Gloria in 2013 and A Fantastic Woman in 2017.  The wonder is also a Netflix title, which doesn't hurt.  

Bill Pohlad-Dreamin' Wild.  Pohlad has been a supporter of Telluride as well as a producer of films that play there for a good long while: A Hidden Life, Wild, 12 Years a Slave, Into the Wild, Fur, Brokaback Mountain.  Pohlad has a couple of directing credits including Love & Mercy which did not play Telluride but did screen at the Toronto Fest.  The film is also in the Focus Features bin.  

Producers that could be represented at TFF #49 that are "Usual" as well.

Martin Scorsese-The Eternal Daughter.  Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon will not be ready for fall fests and likely wouldn't play them even if it was. However, Scorsese is often represented at Telluride in his capacity as a producer: The Card Counter, Uncut Gems, Bleed for This.  Eternal Daughter is also being distributed by A24.

Barry Jenkins-Aftersun.  Aftersun played well at Cannes winning the French Touch Prize of the Critics' Week Jury and was produced, in part, by Barry Jenkins PASTEL.  It's also distributed by A24 which doesn't hurt either.  I'm bullish on its chances to screen at TFF.

Alfonso Cuaron-Raymond and Ray.  Cuaron producing a Rodrigo Garcia directed film here (Garcia was at Telluride in 2011 with the Glenn Close starrer Albert Nobbs.  The film's distributor is AppleTV+ which was at Telluride last year with The Velvet Underground.

And a special note here.  Sort of a "Usual Suspect" Daina Oniunas-Pusic who had shorts at TFF in 2015-The Beast and 2016-Rhonna and Donna and is now directing Tuesday starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  And it's from A24. (shout out to Jason Osiason who tipped me to this).

 BABYLON STILL UP IN THE AIR

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel is keeping tight tabs on the status of Damien Chazelle's Babylon.  The latest word there is that its festival fate is still up in the air and it appears to be a tussle between Chazelle and Paramount.  Ruimy writes in his July 8th post:

"At the time of this article, Paramount and Chazelle are still in disagreement over whether they should bring “Babylon” to the fall festivals."

Ruimy also reveals a ton of details about the film including its current runtime of nearly three hours and that there is buzz that the film could be rated NC-17.  The link to Jordan's story is here BUT HERE IS YOUR SPOILER ALERT!  The post is rather detailed.

ARMAGEDDON ARRIVES IN OCTOBER

The Playlist reports that Focus Features has dated  James Gray's Armageddon Time for limited release on Oct. 18th.  That dating allows for it to be a part of Telluride, Toronto and/or New York.  The film premiered at the Cannes Fest back in May.

I have felt an upturn in its chances to be a Telluride selection in the last 2-3 weeks.

The film's IMDb description is as follows:

"A deeply personal coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream."

Armageddon Time stars Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong and Anthony Hopkins.  

The story from The Playlist is here.

SHE SAID TRAILER COMING

Again, looking at World of Reel reporting that Maria Schrader's She Said will likely have a trailer drop in the next couple of weeks.  The film features Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan starring as the true life reporters who were instrumental in revealing Harvey Weinstein's abuse.

She Said is set for a Nov. 18th release.

WOR suggests that "The Oscar campaign for Maria Schrader’s “She Said” will kickstart with the trailer being released either next week or the week after that. Then, possibly a Telluride world premiere."

The complete WOR post is linked here.

The single fly in the ointment in the film's TFF-ishness is that it's from Universal which has a sketchy TFF track record having, by my count, screened only three films there over the past 15 years:

2008-Flash of Genius

2015-Steve Jobs

2018- First Man

Still I have had it in the Ten Bets or on the list of additional possibilities since the first Bets almost three weeks ago.

Stay tuned as I will share the trailer as soon as it becomes available.

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Oscar Update: Best Picture / New Looks at Ammonite / Fireball Trailer and Poster / The Way I See It

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Picture updated since I last posted this category on  Sept. 17th.  A film's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (3)

2) Nomadland (1)

3) Mank (2)

4) News of the World (6)

5) The Father (11)

6) One Night in Miami (13)

7) Da 5 Bloods (5)

8) Judas and the Black Messiah (-)

9) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (14)

10) Minari (15)

Others: On the Rocks, Ammonite, Tenet

NEW LOOKS AT AMMONITE

Francis Lee's Ammonite (a TFF #47 pick) has both a new trailer and a new poster as the film heads toward its announced release date of Nov. 13th.  Here, from YouTube, is the latest trailer:

And here's a look at the latest poster for the film as well:

FIREBALL TRAILER AND POSTER

Here's a first trailer for Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer's Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds:

And a poster too:

THE WAY I SEE IT

With its screening this past weekend on MSNBC, there was a good deal of news that was put forth about the documentary The Way I See It which focuses on the career of photographer Pete Souza who photographed both the Reagan and Obama White Houses.

The documentary originally screened last month in theaters.

Check out the following articles:

The Hollywood Reporter

Time.com

Variety

 

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Two Weeks... / Telluride at Home / First Looks: Fireball and Mainstream / The Usual Suspects-Covid Edition

TWO WEEKS...

Are you like me?

We're two weeks from what would have been the last day of TFF #47.

It's not that I haven't internalized that the fest isn't going to happen this year.  I had been contemplating the possibility for quite a while before the announcement dropped on July 14th.  However, as the dates approach that would have been the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival (and my 15th time to attend) I, like I suspect many of you, have a serious pang of longing and regret that our normally glorious weekend of film and fun will come and go more or less as just another weekend in Covid-19 America.

It will be weird and dis-orienting two weeks from today, when I would be winding the weekend down.  My habit over the past few years has been to get up on Labor Day to grab an early screening of something that has become buzzy over the weekend (the last two years that my films on Monday morning have been Cold War and Parasite...not bad, eh?) and then booking to Town Park to grab lunch and ice cream, say goodbye to whomever I could find there that needed saying goodbye to...that's how I met Barry Jenkins four years ago.  And then climb in the mini-van and head south and east.

This year, I'll already be "south and east" when I wake up on Labor Day.  Sooooo....


TELLURIDE AT HOME

I've decided that I'm programming a weekend at home of Telluride films from that past 14 editions that either I have seen or missed when they were in T-ride and that I still haven't visited.  The wife and I started compiling a list yesterday.  We'll whittle it down until we get to 10 or so films.  Then, in the tradition of Telluride, I'll announce my list for "Telluride at Home" on Thursday, Sept. 3rd.  The day before my festival starts.

What about you?  If you were to program a Telluride Fest from the years you've been attending, what would you include?  What would re-visit?  What films did you miss that you still haven't seen but wished you had?  Make a list of ten.

Drop me a line with your list if you feel like it.  I might well publish those here.


FIRST LOOKS: FIREBALL AND MAINSTREAM


As a result of their selections for TIFF and Venice, we have our first glimpses of would-be TFF #$7 films.  Werner Herzog's Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds and Gia Coppola's Mainstream.

From the Toronto PR for Fireball, it's Clive Oppenhiemer and Herzog as they search the world for meteors and stories of meteors.

From Venice, we got a still from her new film, Mainstream via Twitter.  It looks intriguing:

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: COVID-19 EDITION

Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent in Roger Michell's The Duke 

Looking over the 29 feature film titles that were announced as what would have been selections had TFF #47 taken place, I can't help but notice that a number of folks who have had a presence at TFF in past Telluride Film Festivals were returning.  Some, like Chloe Zhao were returning after a maiden voyage with the fest.  Zhao's The Rider screened at Telluride in 2017.  The lineup also included Werner Herzog who is a mainstay of many, many TFF lineups.

Here's a quick rundown of folks that are or may soon be on my list of TFF"s "Usual Suspects" that are included in the TFF #47 lineup:

*Liz Garbus/All In: The Fight for Democracy  (Love, Marilyn TFF #39)
*Andrey Tarkovsky/Andrey Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (Tarkovsky's works have often been featured at TFF)
*Frank Marshall/The Bees Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Marshall is on TFF's Board of Advisors)
*Roger Michell/The Duke (Michell's TFF credits include: Venus, Hyde Park on Hudson and Enduring Love)
*Gia Coppola/Mainstream (Coppola's first and only feature thus far, Palo Alto, was at TFF #40)
*Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (Zhao's The Rider was at TFF #44)
*Gianfranco Rosi/Notturno (Rosi was last at Telluride in 2016 with Fire at Sea)
*Mohammad Rasoulof/There Is No Evil (TFF tribute recipient in 2013, last film at TFF was 2017's A Man of Integrity)
*Lisa Immordino Vreeland/Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (multiple TFF appearances: Love, Cecil, Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel)

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A Week Later... / Nomadland to "Play Telluride" (and Other Places) / Herzog's Fireball Has a Home

A WEEK LATER...

So a week ago I posted a segment suggesting the possibility that the 2020 Oscar season might already be locked in.  My notion was that some possible players will ultimately end up missing the eligibility window as studios/distributors will opt to hold their release until later in 2021.

Then the past week happened and films began to disappear from the announced release schedule.  It was a little surreal.  Tenet...who knows?  Mulan...same.  Even The French Dispatch-which we suspect will be announced as a TFF #47 selection- has gone from an Oct. 16th release date to indeterminant.

I'm beginning to think my idle speculation about what the 2020 Oscar race ends up looking like might actually be what happens.

Here's how I laid out the Oscar race a week ago using the predictions from Clayton Davis' Awards Circuit and ignoring films that I thought might get scheduled outside the window of Oscar eligibility with probable TFF #47 films in Bold:

1) Nomadland
2) Mank
3) Ammonite
4) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (set to drop on Netflix on Oct. 16th)
5) Soul
6) The French Dispatch
7) Hillbilly Elegy
8) The White Tiger
9) Stillwater (???)
10) The Father
11) Da 5 Bloods
12) Minari
13) Greyhound
14) Palm Springs
15) Untitled Fred Hampton Project
16) The Glorias
17) I'm Thinking of Ending Things
18) Those Who Wish Me Dead
19) Respect
20) Onward


It seems to me that the slew of announcements from Warners, Paramount and Disney made the above scenario more likely.

Now, I will note here that I have seen some scuttlebutt on social media arguing that the Academy should, at this point, do a combined 2020-2021 Oscar season.  Though that's possible, I don't see that as very likely.  My guess...and it is just a guess, is that the Academy will stick to its guns having already extended Oscar season to two months and providing studios with the ability for a film to have Oscar eligibility even with its premiere occurring non-theatrically.

I have linked a number of re-scheduling stories from this past week below:

ShowBiz411

Hollywood Elsewhere

The Film Stage


NOMADLAND TO "PLAY TELLURIDE" AFTER ALL (AND OTHER PLACES)

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland will play Telluride...after a fashion.  Indiewire reports that there will be a special drive-in presentation of the film under the banner of "Telluride from Los Angeles".

Thom Geier at The Wrap reports that the drive-in experience will happen on the evening of Sept. 11th-the same night it co-world premieres at both Venice and Toronto and that director Chloe Zhao and star Frances McDormand are scheduled to appear.

Other Nomadland news was revealed, however, as Indiewire's Zach Sharf reports that the film has been selected as the New York Film Fest's centerpiece and that it will also screen as apart of the official program for both Toronto and Venice.

The occurrence of a film playing all four fests is unusual but I suspect that we'll see more of that than this year because of the disruption created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nomadland as yet, no announced release date.

The Wrap's story can be found here.

The Indiewire story can be found here.




HERZOG'S FIREBALL HAS A HOME

Apple TV+ has acquired the Werner Herzog documentary Fireball according to Deadline.com.  That acquisition means the film is still a possibility to be named as one of the 20 or so films that are expected to be announced as "TFF #47" choices any day.

And speaking of TFF #47 choices, I'm expecting that list any day now.  With Venice announcing their lineup tomorrow and Toronto likely to name some of their lineup later this week, I wouldn't be stunned should we get that information before close of day on Friday.

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Dispatches from Cannes / Interviews: Herzog, Dern and Chester

Good Monday friends of film...

DISPATCHES FROM CANNES

The 72nd Cannes Film Festival has essentially reached its halfway mark with the Palme d’Or and other awards set to be handed out this weekend.


In its first week the critics have given big boosts to Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite and Xavier Dolan's Matthias and Maxime among others.  Early critical reaction has also very favorable for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.


Here’s the link to the largest online compilation of the critical response to the films from Cannes thus far.



MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS

Lots of interviews from people that either have films out or coming out that played TFF #45 or are involved with the current edition of Cannes:


WERNER HERZOG/FAMILY ROMANCE LLC

Scott Roxborough for The Hollywood Reporter talks to Werner Herzog whose film Family Romance LLC is playing as a part of the Cannes Fest as a special screening.


The interview is here.


LAURA DERN/TRIAL BY FIRE

Katie Kilkenny does an interview for The Hollywood Reporter with Oscar nominee Laura Dern talking about her new film that played at TFF #45.  That's ed Zwick's Trial by Fire which also stars Jack O'Connell.

The interview with Dern is Linked here.



JOHN CHESTER/BIG LITTLE FARM

Joshua Encinias writing for The Film Stage talks with John Chester for of Big Little Farm.  The documentary played at TFF #45 and made a big impression on everyone who I talked to who had seen it.

That interview is here.


More to come on Thursday.

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So Many Trailers and Teasers: Judy / Frankie / Family Romance LLC / Diego Maradona / New Images from A Hidden Life

Welcome back from the weekend and Mother's Day...hope all the mothers had a swell day.

SO MANY TRAILERS AND TEASERS

With the 72nd Cannes Film Fest opening tomorrow a number of films that will be screening dropped video over the weekend some of which are potential Telluride entrants.  Also appearing was a trailer for the non-Cannes film Judy starring Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland.  So today's post is largely devoted to connecting TFF fans with some of those trailers all of which are linked here via YouTube.

JUDY

Judy is set to be released Sept 27th from Roadside Attractions which was last at Telluride in 2017 with the Oscar winning (Best Actor and Original Screenplay) Manchester by the Sea.

Along with the trailer, linked here's a story about its release from: Indiewire.

FRANKIE

Ira Sachs' family drama is set to play Cannes a week from today as a part of the Palme d'Or competitive slate.  The film stars Isabelle Huppert, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei.  Huppert was a TFF tribute recipient in 1986.

The film currently has no U.S. distributor or release date.

Here's the trailer:

And an accompanying story from The Playlist.

FAMILY ROMANCE LLC

Family Romance from Werner Herzog is also playing Cannes out of competition and is scheduled to screen Saturday night.  The film is set in Japan and IMDb says it is about " A man is hired to impersonate the father of a  young girl".

Here's the trailer:

And an story about the trailer and film from The Hollywood News.

DIEGO MARADONA

And finally a trailer for the documentary Diego Maradona about the life of the world renowned soccer player from director Asif Kapadia.  The film comes from HBO and is set for release in the U.S. on Sept. 24th putting it in a sweet spot to screen at either Telluride, Toronto or both.

Here is its trailer:

And a story about the trailer and the doc from our friend Alex Billington and FirstShowing.net.

Diego Maradona screens at Cannes on the 19th.

NEW IMAGES FROM A HIDDEN LIFE

While we don't have a trailer release for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, we do have a peek at new stills from the film that is scheduled to screen at Cannes in Palme competition on the 19th.

Here's a look a some of those images from The Film Stage:

See more of the pics from The Film Stage here.

A Hidden Life tells the true story of an Austrian World War II conscientious objector who refused to serve for the Nazis.  The film is seeking U.S. distribution and a subsequent domestic release date.

And for those that are interested...here's the link to the official schedule for Cannes.

There's your Monday MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday and coming next Monday a first look at the critical reaction to the first week of Cannes' films.

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