The 45th annual Telluride Film Festival wrapped on Monday, and the scrappy little fest remained true to its “movie lovers first” mantra. Only at Telluride can you grab a coffee between screenings and chat up Ralph Fiennes or Damien Chazelle (we managed to do the latter). The festival matches the vibe of its Colorado host city: quiet, authentic, untouched by time, and far removed from the glam of Cannes, Venice, or even the increasingly corporate-tinged Sundance.
Humble as it may be, this little town without stoplights is where nine of the last 10 Best Picture Oscar winners made priority stops on their way to awards-season accolades. This year looks to follow suit. Venice darlings The Favourite, Roma, and First Man screened at the festival and continued to impress critics, while more muted responses to films from Jason Reitman and Matthew McConaughey may have stranded their hopes of awards glory. The awards season pool is growing, and shrinking, a little each day. Here are our key takeaways from this year’s Telluride Film Festival as we head into Toronto, where things really heat up.
(Photo by © Annapurna)
Last year, Nicole Kidman got her steps well up walking to and from stages to collect statues for playing Celeste in HBO’s Big Little Lies. This year, she might get even more of a workout if her two Telluride entries are any indication. In Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased, Kidman plays a preacher’s wife and mother to Jared (Lucas Hedges), the son she regrettably sends to gay conversion therapy after he comes out. In Destroyer, she plays an antihero archetype we’ve seen time and time again in award-worthy performances; Guy Pearce, Humphrey Bogart, and Joaquin Phoenix have each played drunken and damaged detectives to great critical acclaim, and Kidman’s feminine yet fierce performance as Erin rivals the lot. Karyn Kusama’s modern noir “whodunit” cleverly morphs into a “why’d-you-do-it,” leaving the audience enthralled (and anxious for a rewatch as soon as the credits roll). Of the two, Boy Erased fared better in early reviews from Telluride, sitting at 100% on the Tomatometer, while Destroyer is currently Fresh at 67% with six reviews. In both instances, critics lauded Kidman. Sasha Stone from The Wrap said of Destroyer: “Kidman…absorbed Erin inside her…there doesn’t seem to be a point where the character ends and the actress begins.”
Overwhelmingly positive reviews for Yorgos Lanthimos’s period dramedy The Favourite marked it as one to watch this awards season. The uneasy marriage between Lanthimos’ brand of cringe-worthy comedy and British court intrigue is sharp and entertaining, according to the critics. The Lobster director’s latest is a court-set tale about two women vying for the attention and favor of Queen Anne, the lonely and beleaguered monarch of increasingly ill health. It’s currently Fresh at 100% on the Tomatometer, and with a killer cast that includes Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Olivia Colman, the film looks to have a good chance at some indie box-office success and potential Oscar consideration (especially for Colman). While introducing the film to a crowd at Telluride, Lanthimos summed it up nicely: “This is a period piece about a British Monarch made by a Greek director so – make of it what you will!”
(Photo by © Universal Pictures)
After early screenings at the Venice Film Festival, Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong biopic First Man came under attack from some corners for his decision to omit the iconic flag-planting scene that many would expect to end the movie. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times at Telluride, Chazelle confessed he was surprised by the reaction. “It surprised me because there are so many things that we weren’t able to focus on, not only during the lunar EVA, but in the entirety of Apollo 11,” he said. “Just by the nature of the story we were telling, we just couldn’t go into every detail.” Many who’ve seen the film say the controversy has been overblown. First Man is a character study of the man, Neil Armstrong, more than a detailing of the Apollo Mission to the moon (though, sure, there’s plenty of that). Currently sitting at 88% on the Tomatometer, the movie is getting plenty of love from critics who’re saying Chazelle, along with leads Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, have delivered star-spangled awesomeness.
Here’s the background: Earlier this year, Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux announced that no streaming films would be allowed to compete at the festival. Netflix, the sole and likely target of this rule change, fired back saying it would pull all of their films, including Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Fremaux then said that Netflix films were still welcome, but Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos called it a slight on their films and did not come to the table. Moments after it finally screened at Telluride, anyone who had the privilege to see Roma instantly understood why Netflix bristled at any special obstacles put in front of it. Already being heralded by some critics as a masterpiece, Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical retelling of his adolescence in 1970s Mexico is voyeuristic and intimate. Shot in black and white, with Cuarón pulling double duty as cinematographer, this may be Netflix’s best chance yet to win Oscar gold with a narrative feature (the movie is currently at 96% on the Tomatometer). It’s a shoo-in to represent Mexico for Best Foreign Language film, but you should also start learning how to pronounce lead actress Yalitza Aparicio’s name (Yah-leet-zah Ah-pah-ree-see-oh): you’re going to be hearing it a lot in the next few months.
(Photo by Photo by Mary Cybulski. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film)
Prior to festival season, most awards predictions are little more than guesswork; few films in the conversation have even screened before Telluride or Venice. Post-Telluride, the landscape pulls into focus. Notable titles like First Man, The Favourite, Roma, and Boy Erased have been able to match their pre-festival hype with well-made films and award-worthy performances; others have had less glowing receptions. And then there’s Melissa McCarthy, who’s had a topsy-turvy past few weeks. Following the critically panned and commercially ignored The Happytime Murders, McCarthy came to the mountains with her best work in years, according to critics. The actress is being lavished with her best reviews since Bridesmaids for her turn as writer-turned-forger Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me?. No telling where everything shakes out in the end, but after this weekend, the guesses become ever more educated.
