Another View of Cannes / A New Date Spurs Speculation

 ANOTHER VIEW OF CANNES

Here's another look at films that could play Cannes in May and then Telluride in June.  This rumination comes from Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel.  He's been steadily tracking Cannes title possibilities for months.  

Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov

In the Hand(s) of Dante/No Distribution/Julian Schnabel

The Love That Remains/No Distribution/Hylnur Palmason

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Sony Pictures Classics/Sylvain Chomet

The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt

Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes 

The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick

The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers

Here's Ruimy's extensive list.

A NEW DATE SPURS SPECULATION

Warner Brothers dropped a stunner of a piece pf news yesterday that Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, One Battle After Another has been re-dated from August 8th to September 26th.  The announcement opened a door to speculation about the reasons for the move including the possibility of a fall film festival premiere.

Anderson attended TFF in 2007 for the tribute to Daniel Day-Lewis which included a screening of a few minutes of There Will Be Blood.  His track record with fests shows no favoritism regarding any particular fest.  Here's the track record:

Hard Eight-Sundance

Boogie Nights-Toronto

Magnolia-No fest

Punch Drunk Love-Cannes

There Will Be Blood-Telluride (sort of) then Fantastic Fest

The Master-Venice

Inherent Vice-New York Film Fest

Phantom Thread-Premiered in New York then the Palm Springs Film Fest

Licorice Pizza-Premiered in Los Angeles then the Santa Barbara International Film festival

Gold Derby name checked T-ride specifically as a possible film fest destination for the new film saying:

"It (the new date) also positions Anderson’s highly anticipated movie in the heart of awards season and opens up the possibility of a fall festival launch at either the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, or Toronto International Film Festival."

Both World of Reel and The Film Stage suggest the possibility of an appearance at a "fall film festival".

As you might expect, I'll be keeping up with developments in this matter.  Frankly, I think it's a long shot at best, but...

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Ten Bets #2 for TFF #50 / Checking the Distributors: Amazon Studios / Toronto Announces First Film / Speaking of WOR / A Couple of Trailers for TFF #49 Documentaries

TEN BETS #2 FOR TFF #50

A week ago I debuted the first Ten Bets for the 2023 edition of the Telluride Film Festival.  Here's what that looked like a week ago:

1) The Holdovers/Payne

2) May December/Haynes

3) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

4) Monster/Kore-eda

5) Strangers/Haigh

6) El Conde/Larrain

7) Poor Things/Lanthimos

8) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet

9) The American Buffalo/Burns

10) The End/Oppenheimer

And after a week of additional snooping, here is your latest iteration of MTFB's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Payne

2) May December/Haynes

3) Nyad/Chin/Vasarhelyi

4) Strangers/Haigh

5) Poor Things/Lanthimos

6) Monster/Kore-eda

7) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet

8) El Conde/Larrain

9) Saltburn/Fennell

10) The End/Oppenheimer

Other possibilities: The Zone of Interest/Glazer, Freud's Last Session/Brown, The Teachers' Lounge/Catak, The Royal Hotel/Green, Rustin/Wolfe, The American Buffalo/Burns, Priscilla/Coppola and Shirley/Ridley.

CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: AMAZON STUDIOS

The sifting through the most common recent film distribution companies that have played Telluride and the guessing game about what that might mean for TFF #50 continues today with Amazon Studios.

Here's their track record at TFF over the past few years:

2022: Wildcat, Good Night Oppy

2021: Encounter, A Hero

2020: All In: The Fight for Democracy

2019: The Aeronauts, The Report

2018: Peterloo, Cold War

2017: Wonderstruck

2016: Manchester by the Sea

So, what might we see?

Three possibilities: Emerald Fennell's Saltburn seems the most likely.  A couple of sources have indicated that the film is a hot commodity among the Telluride/Venice/Toronto triumvirate.

Other films are Garth Davis' Foe Michael Showalter's The Idea of You and Maggie Betts' The Burial.

Other Amazon films for 2023 have already been released or screened at Sundance making their play at TFF unlikely.

My assessment of chances for these four films:

Saltburn 40%

The Burial 30%

The Idea of You 20%

Foe 20%

TORONTO ANNOUNCES FIRST FILM

The Toronto International Film Festival announced yesterday that it will World Premiere Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins from distributor/producer Searchlight.  That effectively removes the film from TFF #50 consideration...at least on this blog.  

I had Next Goal Wins at a 25% chance of making the Telluride lineup when I did my review of Searchlight films on June 19th.

Two other Searchlight films had better shots at Telluride on that June 16th post-Strangers and Poor Things.  Both of those films stayed in today's new Ten Bets.

Here is coverage of Toronto's announcement from Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel.

SEPAKING OF WOR

MTFB made an appearance at Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel yesterday as the blog got cited as Ruimy turned his attention to films that might be possibilities for TFF #50.

A Compass

In addition to the films he cites from MTFB's Ten Bets, Ruimy adds this:

"Maybe we’ll also get some of these: Maestro (Cooper), Priscilla (Coppola), The Actor (Johnson), The Bikeriders (Nichols) and Ferrari (Mann). It all depends on their quality, Telluride head Julie Huntsinger is very nitpicky when it comes to curating her lineup."

All of these would be welcome and interesting choices.  Of the five Ruimy lists I think Priscilla is the most likely Telluride play.  As a matter of fact, Ruimy's speculation is enough for me to add Priscilla to the "Other possibilities" listing for today's update of the Ten Bets.

The complete Telluride 2023 story from WOR click here.

A COUPLE OF TRAILERS FOR TFF #49 DOCUMENTARIES

A COMPASSIONATE SPY

MY NAME IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK

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Cannes Opening Imminent - Top Possibilities / WOR and the Best of the '60's -Part Two / Looks At: Poor Things and Cobweb

CANNES OPENING IMMINENT-TOP POSSIBILITIES

Set photo from Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest

The 76th Cannes Film Festival is just hours away from its opening and MTFB continues to monitor the pre-fest buzz for films that could make the trans-Atlantic crossing from France to southwestern Colorado on Labor Day weekend.

As frequent readers know, traditionally many films make the Cannes/Telluride Two-Step each year.  On average (based on the last 12 years) there are 7-8 films that make that double-play.  Last year nine films made the trip including Aftersun, Armageddon Time, Broker, Close, Holy Spider and The Pupils.

As we near the start of this year's fest on The Croisette, Indiewire has published their list of "Most Anticipated" titles.  Looking at that, here's another stab from that list at what might SHOW up at T-ride:

La Chimera/Rohrwacher

Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki

Killer of the Flower Moon/Scorsese

May/December/Haynes

Monster/Kore-eda

Strange Way of Life/Almodovar

The Zone of Interest/Glazer

The complete Indiewire story and list are linked here.

As always, I'll be keeping track of the critical reaction from Cannes as that can sometimes point to the viability of films moving forward. Here are the dates that some of the films of interest will be having their initial public screening:

In Palme competition:

Monster 5/17

The Zone of Interest 5/19

May/December 5/20

Perfect Days 5/25

La Chimera 5/26

The Old Oak 5/26

Others not in Palme Competition:

Occupied City 5/17

Strange Way of Life 5/17

Anselm 5/17

The New Boy 5/19

Killers of the Flower Moon 5/20

Cobweb 5/25

Closing night ceremonies will take place on May 27th.

WOR AND THE BEST OF THE 60'S -PART TWO

Last Thursday I wrote about participating in World of Reel's poll of the greatest films of the 1960's.  Since that post WOR head man Jordan Ruimy has published the individual ballots of all 130+ people who participated.  That let me see how my list of ten great films of the 60's stacked up with everyone else.

 Here's my list of ten and where they landed within the top 40 that Ruimy posted last week:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1)

The Apartment (9)

Cool Hand Luke

Dr. Strangelove (3)

The Graduate (5)

The Hustler 

Lawrence of Arabia (4)

Midnight Cowboy (17)

To Kill a Mockingbird

They Shoot Horses Don't They

As to the films that I listed that did not make the Top 40, here's the number of ballots they had with this note, it took 7 ballots to make the Top 40.:

Cool Hand Luke-5

The Hustler-5

To Kill a Mockingbird- 6

They Shoot Horses Don't They-3

The complete list of individual ballots is here.

LOOKS AT: POOR THINGS, COBWEB AND  ANSLEM

POOR THINGS TEASER

I will admit that I am fascinated by what this Yorgos Lanthimos film might be.  Additionally, I'm a big fan of Emma Stone  The IMDb description:

"The incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe)."

Here's the teaser from YouTube that was released by Searchlight on May 11th:

Here's The Hollywood Reporter on the film.

COBWEB

I have Director Kin Jee-woon's Cobweb as an outside shot to make the lineup for TFF #50.  It play's in an Out-of-Competition slot.

The IMDb Desription:

"an experimental and genre-defying drama shot entirely on sound stages in support of a film-within-a-film narrative."

Here's the trailer with subtitles from YouTube:

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Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves Has a Trailer / Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey Tops WOR Poll / McQueen's Occupied City Is Four Hours Long

KAURISMAKI'S FALLEN LEAVES HAS A TRAILER

Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves has been on the MTFB TFF #50 watch list for some time.  For moths it was rumored to be a choice for Cannes and that proved to be true as it was announced as a part of the Palme d'Or competition lineup back on April 13th.  

The film is set to be screened in Cannes on May 22nd.

Sales agent The Match Factory has released a trailer for the film ahead of its screening at Cannes.  Here it is from YouTube:

Here's the Variety story about the film and its trailer release.

KUBRICK'S 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY TOPS WOR POLL

I wrote on Monday that I had participated in World of Reel's latest "decade" poll.  This one called on a group of critics, bloggers and such to name the best films of the 1960s. Well, the results are in and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey topped the poll with 53 votes.  Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho was #2 which was just outside the ten films I submitted.

Here's the top ten from World of Reel:

1) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) 53 votes

2) Psycho (Hitchcock) 50

3) Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick) 35

4) Lawrence of Arabia (Lean) 34

5) The Graduate (Nichols) 27

6) Bonnie and Clyde (Penn) 27

7) Persona (Bergman) 27

8) Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski) 22 

9) 8 1/2 (Fellini) 21

10) The Apartment (Wilder) 20

And a reminder of my top ten:

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Apartment 

Cool Hand Luke

Dr. Strangelove

The Graduate

The Hustler 

Lawrence of Arabia

Midnight Cowboy 

To Kill a Mockingbird

They Shoot Horses Don't They

WOR's story lists the top forty vote getters and you can see that entire list here.

MC QUEEN'S OCCUPIED CITY IS  FOUR HOURS LONG

The program for Cannes screenings reveals that Steve McQueen's documentary about Amsterdam and the effect World War II had on that city-Occupied City- is listed as being 4 hours and 6 minutes long.  That seems daunting but I can still see it as a TFF #50 selection. 

Here's the IMDb description of the film:

"The past collides with the present in this excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam: a journey from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest and a provocative, life-affirming reflection on memory, time and what's to come."

McQueen has some Telluride history-Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave.  The film is being distributed by A24 which certainly has had a presence at Telluride in recent years. 

Additionally, McQueen's other project-Blitz- which is a feature film focused on the Blitz of London during WW II,  may not be ready in time for TFF.  Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel indicated as much in his Venice post on May 5th. Absent its availability for TFF/Venice/TIFF Occupied City may be a hot commodity for the fall fests.

You can see the Cannes program here.

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750,000 / 50 for Cannes / Meanwhile...Venice

750,000

I kind of teased this a little bit in my last post.  MTFB passed its 750,000 view over the weekend.  Three quarters of a million views!  That makes my head explode just a little bit. 

MTFB's first appeared on August 8th 2008 (8/8/08).  Today marks the 2115th post since I started this thing meaning that each post has averaged 355ish views.  The single most viewed post was Jan. 18, 2018.  That post focused on precursors that were upcoming for the 90th Oscar ceremony and a Variety piece featuring Greta Gerwig and Saorise Ronan talking about Lady Bird.

Here's the very post.

Here's the most viewed post.

50 FOR CANNES

Eric Kohn and the gang at Indiewire has put together a list of 50 films that the billas films they'd "like to see" at Cannes in May.  The heading on the email link for the story from Twitter calls them predictions though.  

As I have said many times, the Cannes/Telluride connection is very real.  Last year the Cannes/Telluride crossover was nine films by my count:

Armageddon Time

Broker

Close

Godland 

Holy Spider

One Fine Morning

Tori and Lokita

Le Pupille

Aftersun

Last year from Indiewire's 50 film wish list I culled 15 "possible" crossover films and from that list, seven actually made the trip: Armageddon Time, Broker, Close, Holy Spider, One Fine Morning, Tori and Lokita and Women Talking.

Bones and All was the only film on last year's Indiewire list that made the Telluride lineup (and from Venice not Cannes) that I didn't have in the 2022 version of this post.

The Indiewire post starts with the caveat that everyone is assuming that Killers of the Flower Moon will screen out of competition at Cannes as well as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.  I'm already frequently on record that I'm making blood sacrifices in my backyard to get Killers to TFF but that I think the chances are slim.  Not impossible...but slim.  Of course Indy 5 releases on June 30th.

They also mention Pedro Almodovar's short film Strange Way of Life which is tipped to be the opening night film.  I actually think there is a reasonable possibility that it does make the TFF #50 lineup.

That said...here are what I think are the best shots at Cannes-then-Telluride films for the 50th edition of The SHOW from the Indieiwire list:

The Book of Solutions/Michel Gondry

Dead Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki

La Chimera/Alice Rohrwacher

Io Capitano/Matteo Garrone

Monster/Hirokazu Kore-eda

The New Boy/Warwick Thornton

May/December/Todd Haynes

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

The Royal Hotel/Kitty Green

Tokyo Toilet/Wim Wenders

The Zone of Interest/Jonathan Glazer

Here's the complete Indiewire story.

MEANWHILE...VENICE

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel posted a Venice spec piece on Saturday and it has some interesting ideas.  Venice and Cannes have nearly the same level of crossover to Telluride with Venice averaging (over the last decade) 7.3 films making the Venice/Telluride double dip.

Last year there were 10 films that accomplished the double play:

Bardo

Bobi Wine

Bones and All

A Compassionate Spy

Desperate Souls: Midnight Cowboy...

Fragments of Paradise

Living

TAR

March on Rome

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

So what does Jordan have that could (or that I want to) make the Venice/Telluride connection?

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

AND/Yorgos Lanthimos

The Killer/David Fincher

Blitz/Steve McQueen

How Do You Live?/Hayao Myazaki

The Holdovers/Alexander Payne

Maestro/Bradley Cooper

Challengers/Luca Guadagnino

Strangers/Andrew Haigh

Ruimy also mentions a couple of other films that could be in the mix for Venice first and then T-ride: Sofia Coppola's Priscilla and Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest.

Here's Jordan's full post.

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A24 Is Loaded / Ruimy Looks at Telluride / ICYMI: The First Ten Bets for TFF #49

 A24 IS LOADED

As I continue to review various distributors that have had a significant presence at past Telluride Film Festivals I marvel at how many possible films A24 has in play.  A24 appeared on the Telluride scene in 2012 with Ginger + Rosa.  Since then A24 has been a consistent player at TFF:

2012-Ginger + Rosa

2013-Under the Skin

2015-Room

2016-Moonlight

2017-First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019-Uncut Gems,Waves, First Cow

2021-C'mon C'mon, Red Rocket

So, as you can see, not every year but most years and the last three times A24 has landed multiple films at T-ride.  Likely they're going to get multiple films in this year too as the A24 larder is brimming with intriguing possible choices.  In alphabetical order with director listed (***indicates a film on my first "Ten Bets" for the fest posted last Monday):

Aftersun/Wells***

Close/Dhont***

Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind/Coen

Red, White and Water/Neigebauer

Showing Up/Reichardt***

Stars at Noon/Denis

Tuesday/Onunis-Pusic

The Whale/Aronofsky

White Noise/Baumbach***

That's nine possibles and doesn't count fairly high profile titles from Joanna Hogg (The Eternal Daughter), Ari Aster (Disappointment Blvd.) or Alex Garland (Civil War).

You can also see that I have four of the nine listed in the first Ten Bets. I'm betting big on A24 for TFF this year. 

RUIMY LOOKS AT TELLURIDE

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has stepped into "figure out Telluride" mode with a post from yesterday.  His first review of what could come very kindly sources MTFB for some of the post.  However, Jordan does mention additional titles that I don't necessarily have in my Top Ten at the moment or in the additional "maybe titles" (see below). 

Ruimy includes the potential for the following to be at TFF #49:

Todd Fields' TAR

Scott Cooper's The Pale Blue Eye

Sebastian Lelio's The Wonder

Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All

Darren Aronofsky's The Whale

Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin

Make no mistake here.  I have almost all of these titles in my "be aware of it" list for a possible play at TFF #49 with the exception of McDonagh's Banshees of Inisherin.  If you're an MTFB reader, do yourself a favor and check out World of Reel from time to time.  Jordan is great at sussing this stuff out.

Here's his post that I'm referencing.

ICYMI: THE FIRST TEN BETS FOR TFF #49

I'm re-posting the first Ten Bets for Telluride as this would, in a normal year, be the date that I would have posted the first stab at trying to guess Telluride.  Here it is again:

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

3) The Son/Zeller

4) Close/Dhont

5) Women Talking/Polley

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) Showing Up/Reichardt

8) White Noise/Baumbach

9) Broker/Kore-eda

10) She Said/M. Schrader

Others: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abdasi, Blonde/Dominik, The Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Next Goal Wins/Waititi, The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, TAR/Fields

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Killers May Be Late / Hints at Some Other TFF #49 Possibles / Telluride Favorite Paul Schrader Wins Career Honor

 KILLERS MAY BE LATE

Martin Scorsese on the set of Killers of the Flower Moon last August (photo from The Tulsa World)

All my hopes that Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon might screen at Telluride may be in trouble as World of Reel reports that the film might get pushed to 2023.  Jordan Ruimy, who runs WOR, has been following up on an April 11th tweet from The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood that suggests that there is some buzz that the film could be delayed.

Screenwriter Eric Roth had said in an interview with Indiewire's Anne Thompson in February that the film would be released in November but...

Another factor that may a cause of delay is the report that Scorsese is shooting a new ending to the film in Oklahoma this month.  The Tulsa World reported that back in late March.

Finally, here's the link to the World of Reel story.

So, my dream of  being at a screening of the film at TFF #49 may not happen at all.  Stay tuned.

HINTS AT SOME OTHER TFF #49 POSSIBLES

Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling is a film that I haven't really had on my radar for TFF but a comment from Ioncinema this past week and after its first trailer dropped at Cinemacon...maybe I should have.  Ioncinema tweeted:

"I'm curious to hear where she is going with this".... I think fans of Carlo Mirabella-Davis's Swallow will lather this up / fully expect this to be at @la_Biennale / Telluride @TIFF_NET - @oliviawilde's Don't Worry Darling"

Warner Bros. releases the trailer on Monday.  Here it is from YouTube:

Variety reported on the film and the trailer release earlier this week.  That is linked here.

The film has announced release date of Sept.. 23rd which puts it into theaters three weeks after a potential screening at The SHOW.

Additionally, we found out this week that Cannes will screen part of Etan Hawke's new documentary about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward-The Last Movie Stars- in its Cannes Classics section.  Could that be repeated at Telluride?  Hawke has had a long association with T-ride and HBO Films is one of the films producing organizations which has also been showing up at The SHOW in recent years so...maybe.  The doc did play as a part of South by southwest which in most cases would make it unlikely for TFF #49 but the fest has seemed to be a little more flexible about scheduling previously screened docs in its past.

Here's reporting from The Hollywood Reporter regarding the Hawke project and other additions to the Cannes Classics lineup.

TELLURIDE FAVORITE PAUL SCHRADER WINS CAREER HONOR

Paul Schrader, who makes frequent stops at Telluride including last year's The Card Counter was announced this week as the winner of Venice's Golden Lion for Career Achievement.  Schrader will be feted as a part of the Venice Film Festival.

Here's the story from Variety.

The honor and presentation raises the question : Will his The Master Gardner be scheduled at Venice as a part of the celebration and does that increase or decrease that chances that Telluride audiences will see it in the TFF #49 lineup?

The Magic 8 Ball says: "Cannot Predict Now".

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Beginning the New Cycle / Petite Maman Has a Trailer for the U.S./ More Killers for Ya / World of Reel Survey: The Best of the '70's

BEGINNING THE NEW CYCLE

Oscars #94 are in the book and so it's time to get serious about potential titles for TFF# 49.  To that end, I'm parsing this week's post from Indiewire that names their 50 hoped for films for the Cannes Film Fest, which as many MTFB readers know, is often the starting line for films that make The SHOW.  So...here are films from the Indiewire list that seem to me to be Telluride potentials:

Armageddon Time/James Gray

Broker/Hirokazu Kore-eda

Close/Lukas Dhont

Crimes of the Future/David Cronenberg

Holy Spider/Ali Abbasi

One Fine Morning/Mia Hansen-Love

RMN/Cristian Mungiu

She Said/Maria Schrader

Showing Up/Kelly Reichardt

The Son/Florian Zeller

Sparta/Ulrich Seidel

Tori and Lokita/The Dardennes Brothers

The Way of the Wind/Terrence Malick

The Whale/Darren Aronofsky

Women Talking/Sarah Polley

The complete list from Indiewire is linked here.

PETITE MAMAN HAS A TRAILER FOR THE U.S.

Celine Sciamma's critically acclaimed Petite Maman, which was a part of the TFF #48 lineup, has a U.S. trailer as of this week.  The film's poster can be seen above and the film drops in the U.S. on April 22nd.

Here's the trailer:

MORE KILLERS FOR YA

Word from The Tulsa World (after a heads up from Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel) that Martin Scorsese will be returning to Oklahoma in May to shoot additional footage for Killers of the Flower Moon.

As close readers of MTFB know, I was a background player for KOTFM in August.  Reading between the lines of the Tulsa World story, it doesn't seem likely that I'll be called back for the new scenes.

Here's the link to the story from The Tulsa World.

Of course it is my great hope that Killers plays Telluride this year.  I will volunteer to be present as a "cast member" for each of its screenings at The SHOW.  A friend of mine who also worked the film gifted me with a cast/crew baseball cap this week.  You might see me sporting it on Labor Day weekend.

WORLD OF REEL SURVEY THE BEST OF THE 70'S

Speaking of Ruimy's World of Reel, he posted a survey of folk about the best films of the 1970's on Mar. 31.  

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather topped the list.

 Somewhat unbelievably, I was included in the survey.  Others that were also counted included:

David Ansen/Newsweek

Peter DeBruge/Variety

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Peter Howell/The Toronto Star

Larry Karaszewski/Screenwriter, The People vs. Larry Flynt

Dave Karger/Turner Classic Movies

Eric Kohn/Indiewire

Todd McCarthy/Deadline

Daniel Waters/Screenwriter, Heathers

The 15 films I submitted (and where they ended up in the overall)

Taxi Driver (3)
The Godfather (1)
The Godfather Part II (4)
Apocalypse Now (6)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (24)
Nashville (7)
Jaws (5)
The Last Picture Show (25)
Deliverance (-)
American Graffiti (34)
Chinatown (2)
Dog Day Afternoon (15)
Network (10)
All the Presidents Men (9)
All That Jazz (28)

Check out Jordan's complete rundown here.

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Oscar Experts Predict: Sasha Stone-Awards Daily / World of Reel's 35 most Anticipated / New Views of Nomadland / Metacritic on This Year's Films

OSCAR EXPERTS PREDICT: SASHA STONE-AWARDS DAILY

As I have been doing periodically, here's a look at where an Oscar expert is currently predicting for Best Picture and the number and categories of nominations that she is predicting for each.  

Today's expert is founder and head of Awards Daily, website that is regarded as one of the most influential Oscar sites on the web.

The films are ordered by number of nominations.  TFF films are in Bold.

Mank (12 noms): Picture, Director (Fincher), Actor (Oldman), Supporting Actress (Seyfried), Supporting Actor (Howard), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Sound, Costumes, Original Score.

News of the World (10 noms): Picture, Director (Greengrass), Actor: (Hanks), Supporting Actress (Zengel), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costumes, Original Score,

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (8): Picture, Actress (Davis), Actor (Boseman), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Sound, Costumes, Original Score.

Nomadland (6 noms): Picture, Director (Zhao), Actress (McDormand), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing

The Father (5 noms): Picture, Director (Zeller), Actor (Hopkins), Supporting Actress (Colman), Adapted Screenplay.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (4 noms): Picture, Supporting Actor (Langella), Film Editing.

Minari (3 noms): Picture, Director (Chung), Supporting Actress (Youn).

One Nigh in Miami (3 noms): Picture, Supporting Actor (Odom), Adapted Screenplay.

Promising Young Woman (3 noms): Picture, Actress (Mulligan), Original Screenplay.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (1 nom): Picture

 

WORLD OF REEL'S 35 MOST ANICIPATED

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel website has posted its list of the 35 most anticipated titles for 2020.  Much like I did The Playlist's list earlier this week I have tried to parse the WOR list for TFF #48 possibilities.  Here's what I found (with the position on Jordan's list):

#27) Stillwater

#26) Bergman Island

#24 Petite Maman

#23) Next Goal Wins

#22) C'mon C'mon

#20) Babylon

#19) The Card Counter

#17) The Last Duel

#16) The Power of the Dog

#15) Armageddon Time

#13) Annette

#6) Blonde

#5) Nightmare Alley

#4) The French Dispatch

#3) The Tragedy of Macbeth

Ruimy's complete list with descriptions is linked here.

NEW VIEWS FOR NOMADLAND

We have a new trailer for Chloe Zhao's marvelous Nomadland (I've actually seen it twice).  Also a new poster for the film as well.

Here's the new poster:

And also, via YouTube, here's the new trailer for the film:

METACRITIC ON THIS YEAR'S FILMS

Here's a scan of Metacritic's current Top 25 films for 2020 thus far with my eye toward where films are that either played TFF #46 or where selected for inclusion in TFF's announced list of films for TFF #47.  By their position on the Metacritic chart:

#18) Beanpole (TFF #46)

#17) The Assistant (TFF #46)

#2) Nomadland (TFF #47)

#1) First Cow (TFF #46)

The complete list is linked here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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TFF Cancellation After Action Report / 600,000 / TFF #46 Films in 2020

TFF CANCELLATION AFTER ACTION REPORT

Well, this is depressing.  I can't say that I was surprised at the announcement but I can say that I thought that if this was the decision that I thought it might come a bit later.  Nevertheless, I was in Oklahoma City with my wife, who was had a doctor's appointment (not Covid-19 related) when I got the news.  Of course, it knocked the breath out of me.

Then my phone blew up.

Lots of reaching out between me and friends and colleagues social media, email amd direct messages.

Full disclosure here:  I have been a bit "at sea" about the Blog's purpose and utility for the last year.

When TFF declined to accredit me as a journalist last year I wrote that I wasn't really sure about what I was going to do with it.  Ultimately I decided to push on and essentially continue to do what I have been doing since 2008 with the notion that I'd re-evaluate this year and after re-applying for this year's fest.

Now, we're here and the fest has again denied my press accreditation request (I still haven't had an answer from them regarding the rationale for the denial for either last year or this).  And now there is no TFF #47 to write about.

Normally, as you know, I'd be spending this next two months expanding the Ten Bets list and looking forward to the clues provided by announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York (all still on the schedule to happen).  Then I'd be reporting on the fest itself followed by the six month runup to the Oscars and how Telluride films fared and affected that race.  Now?

If you saw yesterday's "Special Post" you may have seen the section devoted to Variety's Peter DeBruge's interview with TFF Executive Director Julie Huntsinger then you know that she revealed that there's a possibility that a TFF #47 list of films that would have played is probably going to be released at some point "later this month".  Huntsinger also revealed that the Tribute recipients had been chosen and were planning to physically attend.

Other questions...

*Is there a TFF #47 poster and artist?
*Who was the Guest Director going to be for 2020?
*Will next year's fest be labeled TFF #47 or #48?
*Did Peter DeBruge hint that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch would have been on the Telluride lineup?

Meanwhile, Todd McCarthy writing for deadline yesterday notes that co-director Todd Luddy has said that TFF had about 20 films lined up and that the list of those will be forthcoming soon.  From the McCarthy post:

"Festival co-director Tom Luddy, the only one of Telluride’s founding team still on board, said that the titles of about 20 would-have-been festival entries will be revealed in a few days. This will at least provide some insight into what key tastemakers regard as among the best films of the year, even if critics and the public will, at this point, have nothing to say in the matter."


My probable path for the next few weeks...

Continue the regular Monday/Thursday publishing schedule (there's certainly no reason for an increased publication schedule now) with the concept continuing to be sussing out what the T-ride lineup might have been.  I'll probably also take a stab at guessing who the tributes might have included though there's no indication in the DeBruge article that we'll ever know who they were.

After the TFF #47 lineup that-might-have-been is announced...re-assessment...again.

Here's the link again to the DeBruge/Huntsinger interview.

The Todd McCarthy/Deadline piece is linked here.



600,000

As a weird counterpoint to the above...MTFB blew through its 600,000th view as a result of Monday's post.  Over the 12 years that I've been doing this I have published 1803 (counting today's post) posts in addition to the various History and Oscar pages.  That means that each post has averaged 333.14 views.  Of course, some posts have-been hit more than others.  The current front runner is from Jan. 4, 2018 in the run-up to the Oscar nominations announcement.  It had 2616 views.

It seems odd and counter-intuitive to have a celebratory note in light of Tuesday's announcement but I'd be less than honest if I said that it didn't matter.  As always, I'm stupefied that anyone has found and read the blog over these past few years.  Again I want to thank everyone that takes the time to read my ramblings.  Thanks to those of you that comment and email and message.  Thanks to so many of you that have taken a moment to say hello during the actual fest itself.  Thanks to the real journalists that have been so kind and  welcoming at Telluride.  And the biggest thanks goes to my wife who has out up with this time consuming passion project for more than a decade.  She's got more patience than I do.


TFF #46 FILMS IN 2020

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has put together a compilation of over 100 critics and industry experts to name the best films of 2020 so far (Jordan was kind enough to invite my input but I wasn't able to get a list out together in time).

Some TFF #46 made the list:

#5 The Assistant
#6 First Cow
#12 Beanpole
 

Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods was the top vote getter.

Jordan's entire list of 38 films can be found here.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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A Return for Inarritu? / The Best of the 90's / New Rules for Docs at the Oscars

A RETURN FOR INARRITU?

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a stalwart fan of the Telluride Film Festival.  He's been there a lot beginning in 2006 with Babel (it was my first year at TFF too) and following it with Biutiful in 2010 and Birdman in 2014.  He's also been in town for the fest as a supporter for both Alonzo Cuaron and Guillermo Del Toro and, I believe, has attended once or twice just to attend.

Now comes news that he is working on a restoration of his first feature film, the Oscar nominated Amores Perros from 2000.  Indiewire's Zack Sharf reports that the film maker has plans to screen it at the Morelia Film Fest in Mexico in October and a massive public screening in Mexico City in December.

One has to wonder, and I do, if the possibility exists that the new restoration might be rolled out over Labor Day weekend in Telluride.  Sharf reports that Inarritu has already been working on the project for months and the October target for the Morelia screening suggests that there is at least a theoretical possibility that it could be ready for a Telluride bow.

It would make for an intriguing addition to the TFF #47 slate.

Check out the entire story from Indiewire here.


THE BEST OF THE 90'S

Jordan Ruimy at his website World of Reel completed and posted an enormous poll of industry folks: film makers, critiques, pundits etc.  Somehow, I was invited and was more than happy to respond.  We (some 175 of us or thereabouts) were asked to submit five titles, in no particular order, that we regarded as the best films of the 1990's.  That post went up last Thursday.

My list of five: Goodfellas, L.A. Confidential, Magnolia, Pulp Fiction and Schindler's List.

When all was said and done, all five of the films from my list landed in the Top 20 of Ruimy's over all poll.  Mine, in the order the finished:  Goodfellas at #1.  Pulp Fiction at #2.  Magnolia at #7.  Schindler's List at #13 and L.A. Confidential at #18.

Ruimy's complete list of the Top 40 films of the 1990's is linked here.

The individual rundown of every one who was a respondent and their lists is linked here.

No one matched my choices 5 for 5.  I was 4 of 5 with The A.V. Club's Jesse Hassenger.  Our only disconnect was my inclusion of L.A. Confidential.  Hassenger had Fargo instead...which is a worthy choice.

There nine folks that I was 3 for 5 with including Telluride freinds Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter and Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit.  Also Peter Howell from The Toronto Sun who had always been kind to answer my questions about the Toronto Film Fest.

Other notable participants included: David Ansen/Newsweek, Alex Billington/First Showing, film director Jim Cummings (Thunder Road), David Ehrlich/Indiewire, Gregory Ellwood/The Playlist, David Fear/Rolling Stone, Dave Karger/TCM, Eric Kohn/Indiewire, Eric Lavalee/Ioncinema, film director Rod Lurie (Straw Dogs), Scott Menzel /We Live Entertainment, Steve Pond/The Wrap, Claudia Puig/USA Today, Jeff Sneider/Collider, Glenn Whipp/The Los Angeles Times.

Jordan has also polled us on the best films of the 2000's ane I expect we'll see that poll very soon.


NEW RULES FOR DOCS AT THE OSCARS

Poster for last year's Best Doc Oscar winner: American Factory

Much as they did at the end of April, for feature films, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has re-worked the rules for Oscar eligibility for documentary films to reflect the challenges film makers are experiencing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Basically, AMPAS has made it easier, for this year only, to qualify a documentary for Oscar consideration including screening at specific film fests, though Telluride is not on the list of those fests published by The Hollywood Reporter.

The whole of the THR article about the new rules is linked here.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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