Telluride Film Festival (cont’d)
Danny Boyle showed up for a surprise screening of his latest movie (he co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Beaufoy, based on the book by Aron Ralston). The story synopsis:
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Variety’s Peter DeBruge files this review from Telluride:
Danny Boyle has taken us to the surface of the sun (“Sunshine”) and the end of the world as we know it (“28 Days Later”), testing the limits of human endurance with each radically different project. “127 Hours” takes the adrenaline rush one step further, pitting man against nature in the most elemental of struggles as Boyle compresses the true story of rock-climbing junkie Aron Ralston, who spent five days wrestling with a boulder after a rockslide pinned his arm against a canyon wall, into an intense 93 minutes. Marketed correctly, pic should spell another hit for the high-energy helmer.
Meanwhile John Horn (24 Frames) reviews Incendies:
The Telluride Film Festival movie “Incendies” opens with the last wishes of a single mother who has instructed her twin children to find a father and brother they never have met. The request is unusual, but what the young woman and man discover as they begin their quest is extraordinary.
Even though Canadian writer-director Denis Villeneuve’s film is mostly set in the modern day and adapted from a recent play by Wajdi Mouawad, it owes its narrative DNA to Sophocles: The film’s title, translated from French, means “Scorched,” and the movie’s psychic and physical fires burn hot and deadly.
“It’s a very modern way to tell Greek tragedy,” Villeneuve says. “A very ancient and mythological story with modern warfare.”
The film got a standing ovation in Venice. Sounds great.
For Deadline Hollywood, Pete Hammond reports on Fox Searchlight and Sony Classics presence at the fest, and a reaction to Black Swan:
After its sizzling debut in Venice earlier in the week, Fox Searchlight’s Black Swan continued steamrolling through this early awards season with its “unofficial” North American premiere Sunday afternoon billed by the Telluride Film Festival as a “sneak preview.” At the start of the psychological terror film set in a contemporary ballet company, a festival rep told the audience they were the lucky ones as hundreds still lined up outside were turned away (fortunately there are at least two other screenings coming up). But you could feel the anticipation with curious film fans storming the 600 + seat Palm Theatre, Telluride’s largest venue. Director Darren Aronofsky, making his first-ever visit to the fest, began his introduction by saying he had spent the earlier part of his day walking up to the waterfall “but it was a terrible hike.” He mentioned he and star Natalie Portman (not here) had talked about doing this project for almost a decade.
So was the wait worth it? This crowd seemed to think so although, unlike Venice, it didn’t get a standing ovation (they may have been too stunned to stand). Buzz afterward was strong for Aronofsky’s macabre vision of an artistically possessed ballerina pushing herself beyond the limits, and particularly for Portman’s dazzling tour de force that makes her an instant leading contender in every Best Actress race. During final credits, one shaken woman was overheard saying she was going outside to “smoke about 5 cigarettes”.
From Cinematical, some reactions courtesy of Eugene Novikov:
My favorite film of the festival so far is Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, which we’ll review in a few days. It’s a wonderful version of Kazuo Ishiguro’s masterpiece, and it does what all adaptations should do: it focuses on the story, strips it down, and zeroes in on its themes. It brings plenty of its own to the table, too, most notably Mark Romanek’s tender, lyrical direction, and a pair of heartbreaking, achingly beautiful performances from Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield. They’re two of the best actors of their generation; I could watch them all day.
I also dug Darren Aronofsky’s eagerly awaited Black Swan, which Eric Snider will be reviewing. I won’t say much about it, except that: (a) Darren Aronofsky introduced the film by saying “I apologize for what’s about to happen; I didn’t know what I was doing”; (b) it’s very similar to The Wrestler in several ways; and © a lot of people who go see it on the strength of The Wrestler will be seriously freaked out. It is a pitch-black horror film about the price of being an artist. And yes, there is another gorgeous Clint Mansell musical score.
The festival’s best-received film, going by line chatter and gondola conversations, is Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe, and no surprise: it’s a witty, literate delight, and a great lighthearted break from the physical and psychological torture that seems to feature prominently in every other high-profile movie here.
This just in: Major buzz re The King’s Speech:
One film strongly Oscar-buzzed at that party, on the gondolas and just about everywhere you go in Telluride this weekend is The King’s Speech, The Weinstein Company’s historical drama about King George VI’s stuttering problems and his relationship with the Australian speech therapist who gave him strength and ultimately a lifelong friendship. It was unveiled to one of this fest’s rare standing ovations for the first time anywhere here this weekend. Colin Firth is George and Geoffrey Rush is Bertie , the therapist in director Tom Hooper’s outstanding film that can count on major awards love after it opens this Thanksgiving holiday, at least if the praise Telluriders are giving it is any indication.
And a nice summary of events at Telluride from IndieWireM=.
Some day you should give yourself a treat and attend the Telluride Film Festival. A truly wonderful experience.
UPDATE: Freelance writer Julia Kelly has a blog called “…on popcorn and movies” and she has this post re this year’s Telluride Film Festival. Her fave: The King’s Speech.