In Contention

Tag: Telluride Film Festival

  • Michael K. Williams coming out in 2009?

    Michael K. Williams in The RoadSomething struck me while watching Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” earlier this morning.  Actor Michael K. Williams is having a coming out moment this year with powerful supporting performances both here and in John Hillcoat’s “The Road.”

    Fans of HBO’s “The Wire” are no stranger to Williams, who dazzled viewers for five seasons as stick-up man Omar Little, offering an on-the-money characterization that probably should have seen its day in the Emmy sun.  Characterized by a pronounced facial scar (a reminder of a bar fight many years ago), Williams has always been something of a go-to guy for intimidating gangster types.

    In “The Road,” he brings a quiet humanity to the role of The Thief, stealing for survival, rendered sympathetic by the circumstances that forced his hand.

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  • ‘Up in the Air’ sings in the Colorado mountains

    I wouldn’t dare review Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” via iPhone from an in-transit gondola, but I’m compelled to write something immediately.

    The film is a triumph. It drips with Reitman’s passion, his love for his wife and child, his assessment of his own journey into adulthood. He just finished telling the audience at the Chuck Jones Theater that it’s probably the most personal film he’ll ever make. One can certainly understand the sentiment.

    I’ll get into this more later, but I consider it a four-star knockout that couldn’t have hit the country and, to speak personally, me, at a more perfect time.

  • TELLURIDE: ‘The Last Station’ premieres to the world

    (from left) Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren in The Last StationMichael Hoffman’s “The Last Station,” adapted from Jay Parini’s novel about the last days of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy, has been on my radar for quite some time.  There seemed to be an air of awards potential around Christopher Plummer, who stars as a dwindling Tolstoy, and Helen Mirren, as his fiery wife, Countess Sofya.

    The film had its world premiere tonight here in Telluride in front of a packed audience.  The line was out the door and around the block, partly because it’s opening night, partly because of the fact that Helen Mirren is on-hand (though, as it turns out, not until later tonight).  But those hoping to hear a nice chat with the actress after the film weren’t disappointed for long:  Hoffman had Vladimir Tolstoy in tow, overseer of the Tolstoy estate, and a number of other Tolstoy family members as well.

    But first, the film.  It’s a delightful effort with bright comedic spots throughout, but it’s also thematically resilient in its depiction of a relationship, 48 years on, nearly torn apart by diverging philosophies on religion, property, etc.  It’s a touching exploration of love in its many forms.  “Yes, love is hard,” Hoffman said after the screening.  “You want to do what you need to do, they want to do what they need to do, but I don’t know what else to do.”

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  • TELLURIDE: ‘An Education,’ ‘Bright Star,’ ‘London River’

    London RiverThis year’s Telluride fest is slowly gearing up.  There are a handful of press screenings this afternoon and the opener, Marco Bellochio’s “Vincere,” is set to play at 5:00pm.  I’ll probably miss that in order to take in “The Last Station,” which if it picks up a buyer, could make good on awards potential for Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy.

    Before things get going, though, I though it best to clear the slate with a few reactions to films playing here which I’ve already seen.  More to come later this evening, I’m sure.

    “An Education” (****)

    Few films are likely to have the refined air of artistry that Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” offers.  Based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, the story is, in a nutshell, that of a young girl eager to grow up but unprepared for the disappointments of adulthood.  But the film is, of course, so much more than that.

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  • Prepping for Telluride

    36h annual Telluride Film FestivalTomorrow morning I’m on a plane at 10:30 to the mountains of Colorado and the 36th annual Telluride Film Festival.

    This will be my first trek to the fest, which has always been, by many accounts, the most coveted detour of the fall festival season.  They keep it small.  The vibe is meant to be intimate, definitely an antidote to Cannes or Toronto, where the media frenzy stretches on for a week and a half.  Here we get four days in the refreshing thin air, and there are a number of films I’m looking forward to.

    The line-up used to be a tightly guarded secret.  It was a leap of faith.  You land, get the schedule, and then you know.  But news travels fast in a town like this, so more and more, the secrecy of Telluride’s schedule has leaked out over the years.  This year is no different on that front.

    “Up in the Air” from director Jason Reitman is way at the top of my list.  Something about the project is tugging at me, and that USA Today interview with the director yesterday did a lot to fan the flames.  Reitman had great success with “Juno” when he took it to Telluride in 2007, so he’ll be looking to duplicate that again as Paramount primes its Oscar pony.

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  • Alexander Payne tapped as Telluride’s guest director

    Alexander PayneFrom Screen International:

    Festival co-directors Tom Luddy, Julie Huntsinger and Gary Meyer have invited Payne to select a series of films to show at the prestigious Colorado-based festival. The festival chooses a guest director each year, with past participants including Salman Rushdie, Peter Sellars, Don DeLillo and Slavoj Zizek.

    As with the rest of the programme, Telluride will keep Payne’s selections top secret until the festival kicks off on September 4.

    “I have had the pleasure of knowing Alexander for many years – from the time he was a Stanford student who came to see rare films at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and throughout his career,” Luddy said. “I have long admired his work and his obvious love of the art of film. Our partnership with him on this year’s Festival has been seamless.”

    “Alexander has succeeded in programming a group of films with both rarity and variety,” added Meyer. “We have a sophisticated audience at Telluride and he has met the challenge and exceeded our highest expectations.”

    We anticipate covering the Telluride fest here at In Contention for the first time this year.  More as it comes.  The season’s right around the corner…can you believe it?

  • OFF THE CARPET: Holding back

    Meryl Streep in SoubtEvery Oscar season is about managing expectations. Studios, of course, want to keep the murmurs to a minimum whether they have the goods or not because the peril of peaking too early is just as bad as the sting of negative word-of-mouth. Similarly, being “the one to beat” sets a film up to rise to an unfair occasion rather than coming to the table fresh.

    Holding back is a tradition and is even one of two philosophies on the awards season sell. There are those who’ll tell you that, if you have a great movie, you should show it and show it proudly. The other side of the equation believes in the manipulation of when and where opinion will trickle out. It seems every year a train wreck of sorts occurs, and this year, that train wreck was obviously “Frost/Nixon.”

    After landing in London to some mediocre reviews (no one at this site, by the way, ever said the film was bombing with critics across the board), should Universal Pictures have been particularly surprised? Ron Howard, America’s white-bread filmmaking standard exhibiting to the chilly British disposition? It wasn’t going to be a rapturous reception, and with the film having been completed for months on end, holding back until the London festival to give anyone a sanctioned peek raised eyebrows long ago.

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