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As we in Vancouver prepare for the kick-off to the 30th annual Vancouver International Film Festival on September 28th, and as we await the commencement of the Toronto International Film Festival later in the week — considered by many to be the most prestigious North American film festival, and the Festival that officially kicks off Hollywood’s Oscar awards season — the 38th annual Telluride Film Festival wraps today, thus providing us with an opportunity to provide you with some insight into films you might look forward to, the Oscar bait you’ll come to read much about.
By far, our favourite Telluride correspondent proved to be Awards Daily’s Sasha Stone. Here’s her daily coverage of the Telluride Film Festival …
- Telluride, Day One: Sasha Stone traveled to Telluride for the first time, this year, and in the company of noted curmudgeon / Oscar Poker podcast co-host Jeffrey Wells, of Hollywood Elsewhere (VanRamblings’ favourite daily film read). Replete with gorgeous photography, Stone’s coverage this first day tends more to the travelogue than it does to the Telluride festival itself. But still … what gorgeous writing (and photos)!
- Telluride, Day Two: More great photos, more great writing, and more great idiosyncratic insight into Sasha’s experience of Telluride.
- Telluride, Day Three: Sasha wraps up Telluride, focusing on Glenn Close, and some of her pals who were also in attendance to cover the Festival. Of course, there are more great photos to simply get lost in.
- Telluride, Day Two: More great photos, more great writing, and more great idiosyncratic insight into Sasha’s experience of Telluride.
But what of the many films which made their début at 2011 Telluride?
- The Descendants: Far and away the biggest hit at this year’s Telluride film festival, The Descendants was not only a critics’ consensus favourite, but deemed a surefire Oscar nominee. Here’s what the critics had to say: Sasha Stone writes “truthful, mature, transcendent, a major Oscar contender;” while veteran critic Todd McCarthy, now of The Hollywood Reporter, calls The Descendants, “A splendid comedy-drama about a father coping with his comatose wife and difficult daughters. Represents high points for both George Clooney and director Alexander Payne.” The LA Times says The Descendants makes waves; Peter Debruge of the industry trade mag, Variety, is near rapturous; The Playlist’s Michael Patterson in his at length review calls the film, “subtle, effective, quirky & wise.” Meanwhile, Hitfix simply concludes: “superb“.
As to the remaining films playing at Telluride, here are the films which made an impression, and the films sure to be around come Oscar time …
- Albert Nobbs: IndieWire’s Anne Thompson gathers up three capsule reviews of Glenn Close’s much-heralded new film, for which Close is a certain Best Actress Oscar nominee. Overall, critics were a tad underwhelmed. Still, IndieWire’s Michael Patterson praises Close for her exquisite performance, while Todd McCarthy says the film cries out for “a deeper exploration of this pinched, unrealized human being.” Variety suggests that the film is a rather dour affair, that “the Nobbs we meet onscreen is not so much a character as a construct.” Albert Nobbs is certain to be around come Oscar time, which places the film in the must-see category. The NYTimes’ calls the film lovely and surprising.
- Shame: Here’s what Sasha Stone has to say about Shame. Todd McCarthy writes, “Director Steve McQueen’s second feature film will stir audiences and critics with Michael Fassbender’s scorching portrayal of a sex addict.” Oliver Lyttleton, of IndieWire, notes “Fassbender couldn’t be any more different in Shame — where he plays opposite Carey Mulligan — than he is in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, which also explores sex and the psyche, albeit from a much more reserved, period viewpoint.” Variety’s Justin Chang calls Shame a mesmerizing companion piece to McQueen’s 2008 début, Hunger, in a film that “fixes its gaze on the uses and abuses of the human body, as Michael Fassbender again strips himself down, in every way an actor can, for McQueen’s rigorous but humane interrogation.” Reports have emerged that Shame will be released NC-17 stateside, which may limit its audience, but not necessarily its pull in the Oscar sweepstakes.
- A Dangerous Method: In the first of a series of mixed reviews, Variety’s Justin Chang calls A Dangerous Method “an elegant, coolly restrained account of the friendship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.” Sasha Stone focuses on Keira Knightley’s searing performance. Todd McCarthy is impressed overall. Amy Taubin says Cronenberg’s latest is a major film, while The Telegraph’s David Gritten is not so sure, into which unsure camp you could also place In Contention’s Guy Lodge and Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeff Wells, who likes the film, but with provisos.
- Shame: Here’s what Sasha Stone has to say about Shame. Todd McCarthy writes, “Director Steve McQueen’s second feature film will stir audiences and critics with Michael Fassbender’s scorching portrayal of a sex addict.” Oliver Lyttleton, of IndieWire, notes “Fassbender couldn’t be any more different in Shame — where he plays opposite Carey Mulligan — than he is in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, which also explores sex and the psyche, albeit from a much more reserved, period viewpoint.” Variety’s Justin Chang calls Shame a mesmerizing companion piece to McQueen’s 2008 début, Hunger, in a film that “fixes its gaze on the uses and abuses of the human body, as Michael Fassbender again strips himself down, in every way an actor can, for McQueen’s rigorous but humane interrogation.” Reports have emerged that Shame will be released NC-17 stateside, which may limit its audience, but not necessarily its pull in the Oscar sweepstakes.
There are many more films which played Telluride. Here’s a quick hit on some of those that impressed, and some that didn’t: Kris Tapley, of In Contention, loved Werner Herzog’s latest, Into The Abyss. Jeffrey Wells is equally rapturous about Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, as is Kris Tapley, who calls the film a masterful piece of work.
Both Anne Thompson and Jeff Wells thought that the Jennifer Garner produced Butter was, at best, slight. Hitfix’s Gregory Ellwood calls Butter sweet and stinging. As Thompson writes, though, “Butter churns a mixed response.” Simon Howell, of Sight and Sound, calls Aki Kaurismäki’s Cannes Jury Prize-winning Le Havre “comfort watching for nostalgists, a deliberately frictionless romp that’s so agreeable it sometimes risks being barely there at all,” while essentially dismissing Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. On a more positive note, Sasha Stone finds Jon Shenk’s The Island President to be quite wonderful, although she despairs for our future.
At this writing, there are no reviews from the major critics attending Telluride, and only one review on the web, for Agnieszka Holland’s In Darkness, which was recently announced as Poland’s 2012 Oscar candidate. As most critics tend to leave Festivals early, films screening on the last day tend to go unreviewed. There is a nice Telluride wrap piece piece, though, by John Horn, in the Los Angeles Times’ Envelope section, focusing on the Telluride-débuting fictional features, The Descendants and The Forgiveness of Blood, and the documentaries, The Island President and Bitter Seeds.
To conclude today’s posting on the Telluride Film Festival, Marlow Stern — assistant culture editor of Newsweek and The Daily Beast — steals a little of VanRamblings thunder in his Oscars, Start Your Engines! short form essay.
