Telluride Dispatch #3: Four takeaways from the four days in the Rockies…

Every good thing has to come to an end eventually. The 41^st edition of Telluride Film Festival breezed through its final day yesterday, on Labor Day Monday. The Telluride program, as I have mentioned in one of my previous dispatches, is a challenge to tackle. The number of TBAs on the festival booklet increases every day, and Monday consists almost entirely of TBAs, which are only announced the night before. That said, it’s impossible to think ahead and plan healthily. You need to go with your gut and your own priorities.

Dancing Arabs

Having tackled most of the “biggies” during the first two days of the festival, I decided to dedicate Monday mostly to smaller films (except for Tommy Lee Jones’ Hilary Swank-starrer The Homesman), which included Eran Riklis’ sweetly moving and understatedly heartbreaking coming of age tale Dancing Arabs and Damian Szifrón’s shockingly hilarious Wild Tales. I somehow also managed to attend the annual Labor Day picnic and closed the festival at the tiny Backlot screening room, with Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht’s tender documentary How to Smell a Rose, portraying the legendary documentary filmmaker Ricky Leacock. How to Smell a Rose was preceded by Christian Bruno’s Ed and Pauline, a documentary short on Pauline Kael and Ed Landsberg’s Berkeley repertory cinema. The on-screen celebration of love of film and storytelling made it a perfect end to my Telluride screenings, which reached to 14 features and 6 shorts on its final day.

At the intimate dinner Monday night, generously hosted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center, everyone was eager to find out each other’s favorite (and least favorite) films and to exchange thoughts on the four remarkable days we just left behind. I thought about my own takeaways based on observations (and some in-queue eavesdropping) and without further ado, here they are:

Wild Tales

1. Make way for the sleeper hit of Telluride: Wild Tales.

You may or may not have heard of Damian Szifrón’s Cannes-hailer Wild Tales yet (brought to Telluride by Sony Pictures Classics), but trust me, you will soon. A collection of six short stories on revenge and at times Curb Your Enthusiasm/Larry David-esque trivial disagreements blown out of proportion, the Argentinian film Wild Tales simply became a sleeper hit everyone had to see. Thompson on Hollywood’s Anne Thompson said she recommended the movie to festival-goers every chance she got. Well, that clearly worked, and snowballed with people loving what they saw. So much that the overwhelming interest in Wild Tales caused a slight shift in Monday's TBA schedule, kicking Birdman out of The Palm Theater's evening screening slot for an added screening of Damian Szifrón's film. Wild Tales is outrageously and sometimes uncomfortably funny. All six of the stories are cleverly-plotted, cleanly told and instantly engrossing. Perhaps it’s not the best film of the festival, yet it was probably among the most entertaining couple of hours I had at Telluride. With Wild Tales, Sony Classics could easily have a crowd-pleasing foreign language awards contender in its hands.

The Imitation Game - Birdman

2. Awards season, whether we like it or not, is underway.

One doesn’t go to festivals to discover the next Oscar winner. And true, the festival directors –during Friday’s press conference- noted that they ignore the “Oscar Launch-pad” label completely, but the fact remains that the whispers of “Oscar” can be heard from day-one and become more and more audible at Telluride with each passing day. 12 Years A Slave, Argo, The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire…many of the eventual Best Picture winners of recent years have all screened at Telluride for the first time before getting cut open and grotesquely disemboweled in an exhaustive six-month long process called the awards race machine. This year, three potential contenders got screened at Telluride for the first time (note that Birdman opened Venice Film Festival first, and titles such as The Homesman, Mr. Turner and Foxcatcher are all Cannes premieres): Jon Stewart’s Rosewater, Jean-Marc Valleé’s Wild and Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game. As far as a Best Picture-nod goes (or "The Picture that works for The Academy Best", more accurately put), the first two seem to be longer shots currently. The reception of Rosewater was lukewarm at best; and Wild, while being generally liked, was getting more of the attention for Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon) and Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern) races. Hence, the clear lead of the first-timers was The Imitation Game. A strong, appealing, based-on-a-true-story biopic, the WW2 backdrop, a crisp look and engaging pace, The Imitation Game isn't only a solid and polished film, but it's also made of the stuff -like A Beautiful Mind and The King's Speech- The Academy demographic tends to go for. Furthermore, the word on the street and in the gondolas was overwhelmingly pro-The Imitation Game as a festival-goer favorite (even though it's not a unanimous critical hit). To me, the awards narrative that came out of Telluride is currently pointing toward a Birdman (Fox Searchlight) vs. The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Co) dynamic, the former being a critical hit (though not unanimous, as some negative word started dropping slowly but surely). Birdman is not a traditional Academy film. It doesn't revolve around an array of likable characters with societal or historical importance. It's also not a screener-friendly film. So it will be interesting to watch these films settle further in the race, especially once the Toronto and New York Film Festival hits start revealing themselves. That said, there are still a lot of titles remain to be seen and this is solely based on early instincts and observations. Things will surely change, many times, in the upcoming months.

3. While there wasn’t an abundance of female-driven stories or women directors, a number of remarkable female characters stood out.

I do not let it affect my excitement or anticipation, but whenever the line up of a festival I'm following is announced, I can't help but browse the names and descriptions to see which of the films are made by women or have stories that portray women as their own characters, and not just as someone's love interest or mother. This year, I was sorry to see only two of Telluride's previously-announced 25 new features were directed by women: Sophie Barthes' Madame Bovary and Vanessa Lapa's The Decent One. And I am not sure if we saw an abundance of female-led stories either, however Telluride still introduced us to some females that are noteworthy and inspirational. In Tommy Lee Jones' sweeping Western The Homesman -which is adapted from Glendon Swarthout's novel-, Hilary Swank (who was honored at this year's festival with a special tribute), plays a pioneer woman who agrees to travel with three domestically abused and mentally unstable women from Nebraska to Iowa. Swank's self-sufficient and financially independent character Mary Bee Cuddy lives alone, and fearlessly ignores the challenges her gender throws at her in her time. Even when she seeks a man to marry, she makes the move and the proposal, driven only by logic, displaying a kind of strength and resilience decades ahead of her time.

Similarly ahead of her time is Joan Clarke of The Imitation Game, played by a soaring Keira Knightley. A supporting character to the film she may be, but she is critical to the plot and plays a brilliant code-breaker in a male dominated world, not afraid to challenge her male counterparts and societal norms that technically doesn't allow her to pursue her chosen field. A woman defined by her profession as opposed to looks or love interests? Imagine that! I am not sure if either of these films technically pass the Bechdel Test -which requires two women to talk to each other about something other than a man- (I need to re-watch them to know for sure), but if they don't, this only shows the test's limitations and that one should always take the outcome with a grain of salt.

I have talked about Wild's Reese Witherspoon (playing Sheryl Strayed) and Madame Bovary's Mia Wasikowska (playing the titular character) in my previous dispatches already, but they very much belong to the group of women that seek an alternative to their otherwise trapped lives.

4. Four Days are just not enough.

I hope I am not being greedy or out of line here, but…what a difference, a day makes! True, I have been doing this for two years only and the festival has been running for forty one, but having been introduced to Telluride for the first time last year, with an added day to celebrate its 40^th anniversary, I was simply spoiled with a more leisurely pace. Movies –new and old-, daily panels moderated by Annette Insdorf, outdoor screenings and company of journalists, critics and fellow-bloggers all add up to the Telluride experience, and the added day made sampling of all aspects of the festival possible. Now that I’m introduced to the “real”, more hurried festival (which is still laid back and pressure-free, in fairness), I find myself craving that additional day. And based on the conversations I had in queues with patrons and festival attendees, it doesn’t sound like I am alone in my craving. A fifth day could have meant catching up with the panels I was sorry to miss, and seeing a few more of the word of mouth hits, such as The Salt of the Earth, which portrays the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado (co-directed by Wim Wenders and the photographer’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado), Gabe Polsky’s Red Army and Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes. I will just hope we don’t have to wait until the festival’s 50^th anniversary to win another bonus day.

Telluride Dispatch 2: Birdman, Mommy, and other weekend screenings/events...

The 41st Telluride Film Festival has wrapped up the weekend screenings and festivities, and there seems to be one movie in everyone's collective consciousness; Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.) Following its Venice premiere earlier this week, Birdman screened for a lucky crowd in the packed Werner Herzog theater Saturday night. In addition to journalists and critics, festival goers and patrons, there were many recognizable industry names as well as stars in attendance. I spotted the Life Itself director Steve James, Rosewater star Gael Garcia Bernal, and Wild's Laura Dern among others. It is a strange privilege and responsibility to be among the first to view a movie. When all eyes are on Twitter for the word to drop after a premiere, anything one decides to say inevitably becomes part of an early narrative. And that narrative right now points that Birdman is a masterpiece (just search "Birdman" and "Masterpiece" on Twitter to see what I mean.) And I am fully with that consensus.

Iñárritu's work, like the jazz drums that accompany the film in almost its entirety, is rapturous, unruly and profoundly human. Remember Michael Keaton, who was once the star of a superhero franchise called Batman before he somewhat faded from the majors ranks? Here, he portrays a washed-up actor who was once a Hollywood star in a superhero franchise called Birdman, and leads a terrific ensemble of actors including Emma Stone, Amy Ryan, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis and Lindsay Duncan (none of whom were in attendance at the screening yesterday night). Keaton (along with the rest of the cast) delivers a wondrous performance, earning every bit of his highly anticipated and desired comeback. His character, Riggan Thomson, desperately struggles to find relevance in the art world once again, and produces/directs and stars in a Broadway play in his conquest of a comeback. The film is set during the show's preview period through its opening night and is shot in a seemingly single take, drawing comparisons to Hitchcock's The Rope at once. (In Contention's Kris Tapley noted on Twitter that he counted 12 or 13 shots, one of which was about 40 minutes long.) During the post-screening Q&A, Iñárritu said: "I sent my actors a photograph of Philippe Petit crossing the wire between the Twin Towers and told them 'This is the movie we're making.'"

One might wonder whether the "single take" ambition is more a gimmick than a necessity. Well, may I dare suggest the uninterrupted slice of life that Iñárritu puts on screen with Birdman is precisely why the film is packed with an almost explosive level of urgency. So much is at stake with Riggan's life. And so much is at stake with a long single take, which has to continue, uninterrupted, like life itself. Thus, Iñárritu's vision is not just a senseless ambition. It is a fully realized execution (with Emmanuel Lubezki's masterful cinematography) that enables Birdman to fly contemporary cinema to new heights. This is too great a movie to measure solely by its awards prospects, yet it's safe to say that Michael Keaton will be the actor to beat this year, and the film itself will score multiple nominations in several of the major categories.

Following the Birdman screening Saturday night, Fox Searchlight put on a big, invite-only party at The Sheridan and in attendance were several of Searchlight's talent including Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Wild director Jean-Marc Vallée and of course, Iñárritu. With some luck, I managed to briefly chat with Witherspoon and Vallée along with my friend, the inimitable Sasha Stone of Awards Daily. Witherspoon noted (as she's often asked) she would like to perhaps try a long hike one day, having gotten inspiration from her character Cheryl Strayed (who was also at the party.) Vallée said one of the aspects of the story that drew him to the project was the relationship between the mother and daughter. "At one point, Cheryl says 'My mother is the love of my life,'' he reminded us. "I mean, who says that? I thought that was really beautiful and I wanted to tell this story" he added. As the night went on, Fox's party became the social hub in town when crowds from the annual Sony Classics dinner migrated over to the Sheridan. Xavier Dolan, Channing Tatum, Annapurna's Megan Ellison, Gael Garcia Bernal mingled with invitees in a laid back environment that is the signature Telluride vibe.


Of course, Birdman is not the only movie I caught during a very busy weekend. The precocious French-Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan's Mommy, which tells the story of a single mother raising a problematic teen in agony until a new neighbor moves in, was a highlight with top-notch performances (especially from Laurence Anyways' Suzanne Clément) and, as expected, a superb soundtrack. It seems like Dolan is continuously experimenting with something new. With Mommy, he parallels his story's mood to the aspect ratio on screen (big portion of the film is set in a square 1:1 aspect ratio.) Once you see the film, it will be obvious why he chooses to switch back and forth (I don't want to give away spoilers). To be perfectly honest, it took some getting used to for me, but somehow, Dolan pulls it off and makes his stylistic choice work to the film's advantage.

Among the other films I caught over the weekend (which includes Jon Stewart's well-intended but problematic Rosewater and Nick Broomfield's eye-opening Tales of the Grim Sleeper), Sophie Barthes' Madame Bovary and Andrea Di Stefano's Escobar: Paradise Lost are especially noteworthy. Despite a widely negative reaction from critics, I found Barthes' adaptation of Flaubert's classic to be an immensely satisfying one (this is actually the first time a woman has adapted this story for screen), with a persuasive performance from Mia Wasikowska that bursts with a fiendish aura as well as lush cinematography with a painterly eye.

Escobar: Paradise Lost, which is one of this year's sneak previews (also in the Toronto line up, but in its second week, thus not breaking any "rules"), is a competently pulled off, intense crime drama set in Colombia in the early 90s. Telling the story of a fictional young Canadian who marries into Pablo Escobar's family, the film maintains an impressive pace throughout and dials the tension considerably in its final 20 minutes. The boyish Josh Hutcherson is an interesting, if not entirely convincing, casting choice here. But he gives it his all and holds his own alongside a stellar Benicio Del Toro in the role of the drug lord Escobar.

I will probably manage to fit in one more screening before I call it a weekend today (eyeing Xavier Beauvois' The Price of Fame), and spend the day tomorrow catching up with highlights I didn't get around to watching. And who knows, maybe I'll score one final #OnlyInTelluride moment, that could top my Werner Herzog encounter today, which involved watching him order a custom hot dog from the town's signature stand.

Telluride Dispatch 1: Wild, The Imitation Game, Foxcatcher, and others...

The 41st edition of the exquisitely programmed and atmospherically laid-back Telluride Film Festival is in full swing, and has already wrapped up its first day. This year, the festival goes back to its usual four-day duration -- after an added day of screenings last year in celebration of its 40th anniversary. 

I arrived my second year in Telluride Thursday afternoon and spent most of my time enjoying the breathtaking scenery while marinating in anticipation of a great festival ahead, until an impromptu gathering at the New Sheridan Bar -put together by Film Society's Eugene Hernandez- brought together many of the attending press, publicists as well as film industry moguls. One can even say that was the unofficial kick-off to the festival, especially when Sony Pictures Classics' Tom Bernard, in what he described as his newly-instated tradition, bought everyone a round of shots. He raised his glass "To Telluride". We concurred. 

One striking fact is that excitement seems to get to everybody when it comes to this particular festival; from almost-newbies like me to attendees of many, many years. Several "what are you most excited to see?" questions were flying around at The Sheridan Thursday night. And the wonderful thing was that answers were wildly varied...from Venice-hailer Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu), to Ethan Hawke's Seymour: An Introduction, Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan, Bennet Miller's Foxcatcher and the DCP restoration of Apocalypse Now.

This year's program is challenging; both in its richness and contrastingly short span. (In fact, In Contention's Kris Tapley -who's a Telluride regular- says this might just be the best line up he's seen in years.) Tough decisions need to be made. One can't possibly see all the "biggies", revivals, sidebars and anniversary screenings (such as this morning's sold-out Apocalypse Now at the Werner Herzog.) But this isn't necessarily bad news, as the festival programmers Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger precisely want it this way, as they also voiced during Friday afternoon's press conference, pushing for the festival's perhaps "smaller" and quieter fare. "The program is why you're here, we hope," said Huntsinger, also stressing that they ignore the "Oscar Narrative" completely, and instead focus on putting together a program that brings the best to the attendees year after year. "We sincerely want to show you the best and whatever happens after is a consequence of that," noted Huntsinger. "We narrow it down to 25 new movies and a lot of times, that means having to say no." And in conjunction to this comment, the programmers mentioned some of the under-known fare of this year's must-sees: "Check out Dancing Arabs (Eran Riklis), 50 Year Argument (Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi), Madame Bovary (Sophie Barthes), The Decent One (Vanessa Lapa), for instance," advised the programmers. 

There is of course a pink elephant in the room this year: the Telluride vs. Toronto smack-down that has been amplified once Toronto, after an ongoing frustration with Telluride for "stealing their thunder", announced a few months back that if studios want a prime spot during the festival's first four days, they need to make their movies "true premieres" (unlike last year's 12 Years A Slave, for instance,which sneaked in Telluride ahead of its scheduled Toronto premiere only a week or so later.) "We wish them the best," simply said the programmers. "We hope they have a great festival. We here love filmmakers. We have The Weinstein Co, Fox Searchlight, Roadside, Wild Bunch, Sony Pictures Classics here. And we are glad you guys are here and we hope to see you next year."

Once the press conference wrapped up, I rushed to the gondola to Mountain Village, in order to get there on time for a special patron & press screening of Jean-Marc Vallée's Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Based on the book by and true life story of Cheryl Strayed (who was in attendance at the screening, along with the director Vallée (of Dallas Buyers Club) and the film's stars Witherspoon and Dern), Wild chronicles a young woman's conquest of a 1000+ mile solo hike in the wilderness in order to recover from past mistakes and get in touch with her true self. The concept might sound a tad cheesy at first, but this film is not to be confused by Eat Pray Love- which was basically a glorified vacation/self-help book/flick. Wild is a surprisingly quiet film (more in the tradition of John Curran's meditative Tracks), featuring compelling work from both Dern and Witherspoon (there is already early buzz building for the duo's likely Oscar nominations.) Throughout Wild, Cheryl Strayed walks in a woman's shoes through life and wilderness, both literally and metaphorically. Thus, Wild first and foremost reads as a story of female resilience and unsurprisingly, the film works its best magic when staying close to this narrative. Yet, there is something that holds back Wild from being a truly transporting experience. The film's shaky structurally, and I found the editing -while poignantly done at times conveying Cheryl's inner thoughts and struggles through flashbacks- somewhat distracting. And I am not convinced if Laura Dern's character was a fully realized one, even through she delivers great work with the material handed to her.

The festival's first true sensation was undoubtedly Morten Tyldum's Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley-starrer The Imitation Game. In attendance at the screening were Harvey Weinstein (looking particularly proud and pleased post-screening, following the rapturous response), Annapurna's Megan Ellison, and The Imitation Game team consisting of its producers, director Morten Tyldum and debuting screenwriter Graham Moore. Telling the true story of Alan Turing, the brilliant, gay mathematician who led a team of scientists in decoding the infamous Nazi Enigma machine during World War II, The Imitation Game plays as a true powerhouse, with a towering performance from Benedict Cumberbatch displaying a grand range of his acting skills in nailing his character. At once a significant period drama, The Imitation Game chronicles Turing's story with the combination of a polished, Hollywood-ized touch and a sincere focus on character. Turing's struggles and eventual suicide caused by the British government's criminal insistence to "cure his homosexuality" in the later chapters of the film, are told profoundly, sans melodramatic excess, with the accompaniment of Alexandre Desplat's beautiful score. One can get her hands slapped quickly for over-using the "O" word around here, but it won't come as a surprise to anyone if Academy falls for this title that basically includes some of Oscars' favorite topics and elements (World War II, biopic of a genius, true story...), as well as the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley (who probably delivers one of her career's best works as a genius young woman who's a part of the Enigma team that decodes the machine.) 

Friday also played host to Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater and the Cannes-hailer Foxcatcher, directed by Capote's Bennett Miller. I caught the latter (saving the former for early Saturday am), which was introduced by director Miller and two of his leading actors Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. A remarkably slow burning crime drama (another true story) with a firmly-controlled undercurrent of tension throughout, Foxcatcher, more than anything, is a showcase of the work of its three leads (Carell, Tatum and Mark Ruffalo). All three actors nail characters new to their respective careers (especially Carell's physical and artistic transformation is unrecognizable) under the direction of Miller, who once again proves himself to be an actor's director. The film is intentionally cold, and the story (of the late 80s Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz who was sponsored by the heir of the Du Pont family) is increasingly nerve-racking and cumulatively on-edge. Foxcatcher is undoubtedly one of those films that will reveal itself further in a repeat viewing.

Going into its second day, Telluride Film Festival has now announced two solid sneaks: Andrea Di Stefano's Escobar: Paradise Lost and Errol Morris' The Clarity of Peace. But today's most-anticipated screening is Iñárritu's black comedy Birdman, hoping to take Telluride by as big a storm as it did Venice earlier this week.

Telluride Film Festival brings early reviews of 'Argo,' 'Hyde Park on Hudson'

Known as the festival for film lovers, the small Telluride Film
Festival, which took place over Labor Day weekend, included screenings
of Argo and Hyde Park of Hudson, two high-profile movies set to release later this year. Hyde Park is clearly Oscar bait, while Argo has been flying under the radar. Expectations appear to have helped Argo (they were low to begin with) and hurt Hyde Park on Hudson. Here are some of the critical responses coming out of the festival.

Argo: On its way up. Sure, Ben Affleck won a screenwriting Oscar for Good Will Hunting, but he's done mostly mainstream commercial work as an
actor since then. But he also won
praise as a director with 2010's The Town and has an acting role in
Terrence Malick's To the Wonder. His
third directing effort, Argo,
a fact-based thriller about the Iran hostage crisis, should do well at
the box office when it opens wide on October 12. However, it's now also
being talked about as a serious Oscar contender.  A surprise pick at
Telluride, Anne Thompson of Indiewire declares that "multiple Oscar nominations are in order as this movie surges to the top of the current Oscar contenders list." THR lauds the "crackerjack political thriller," and praises the "confidence and finesse" of Affleck's directing.

Holding position: Hyde Park on Hudson. A personal story of a historical figure, FDR, Hyde Park on Hudson appears to be taking a note from The King's Speech,
2010's success story. However, early notices indicate it doesn't rise
to
the heights of the Oscar winner. Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere
was rather dismissive of the "well-finessed historical parlor piece." Eric Kohn of Indiewire manages expectations,
deciding that the historical pic has "enough momentum to keep its lead
actors (including Laura Linney as the president's temporary love
interest) in the awards race." From a commerical perspective, THR pegs it
as a "refined treat that nonetheless will appeal to a wide audience." 
Maybe the Focus release, which opens on December 7, will be more like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a box-office hit that will likely be recognized at the Oscars, but not overwhelmingly. Surely Hyde Park on Hudson
will gather more nominations than that movie, but the FDR-centered love
story may be too reminiscent of its more successful predecessor, The King's Speech, to come close to the 2010 film's success.

 

 

 

 

Telluride Film Festival hints at this year's Oscar contenders

By Sarah Sluis

The Telluride Film Festival is known as a festival for people who love movies. Not many sales come out of the Labor Day weekend event, but in recent years audience reactions to movies at the festival have predicted which films end up crowned at the Oscars. Both Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech first screened there, and they both ended up with the Best Picture Academy Award. This year a number of highly anticipated end-of-year films screened at Telluride. I've picked out ones that may end up making waves--or just a splash--come awards season.

The Descendants: Starring George Clooney as a father who reconnects with his children after their mother falls into a coma after a jet skiing accident, this Hawaii-set tale is the first effort from director Alexander Payne since Sideways. Payne hasn't gotten his full critical due yet, so I think this movie could receive a lot of play come awards time. IndieWire thinks so too, predicting that the movie is "sure to gain major momentum when it screens for hundreds of journalists and movie fans at the Toronto film fest this coming weekend."

The Artist: I think the future of this movie is a tossup purely because it is silent. Many people feel that no audiences will see a silent movie, making the movie too obscure to receive attention come awards season. Another camp--and this may include awards seasons experts Weinstein Co., which picked up the movie for distribution--knows the historical film hits a sweet spot. Movies about the industry, like Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard and A Star is Born, have done very well come awards season, and voters may be suckers for a film that salutes their business.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: This movie, which is on my to-see list, is the first English-language film of Tomas Alfredson, who directed the haunting Let the Right One In. Hollywood Reporter came out mostly in favor of the movie ((based on a well-known John le Carr novel), with critic Deborah Young noting "it is one of the few films so visually absorbing, felicitous shot after shot, that its emotional coldness is noticed only at the end, when all the plot twists are unraveled in a solid piece of thinking-man's entertainment for upmarket thriller audiences." Alfredson's Let the Right One In could also be described as emotionally cold, when in fact its coldness stokes the film's emotional impact. I hope Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy falls into the same category. Regardless, Alfredson is on a two-hit streak and will be a director with many projects to choose from in the future.

Shame: The second feature from Steve McQueen, who directed Hunger a couple of years ago, Shame tells the story of a sex addict (Michael Fassbender) and his sister (Carey Mulligan) in New York City. IndieWire praised it as a "a powerful, beautifully acted sophomore film," but also had some reservations, namely its "conventionally moralistic" ending. This movie hasn't even been picked up for distribution yet, though that is expected to happen at the Toronto Festival, so there is a chance it will show up in next year's awards season.

The Telluride response confirms that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Descendants are candidates for one of the (up to) ten Best Picture spots. I think Shame and The Artist will be tougher sells, but both are in the game. Other findings of the festival? Midwestern butter-carving comedy Butter will not be a Juno, and A Dangerous Method could also end up seeing action come awards time, particularly for performances. Reactions of critics at Toronto will help solidify the direction many of these movies are going. It's only September, many opinions abound, and the Oscar race is just beginning.