Festival Circuit 2023

[DarkImbecile]

The NYFF Spotlight section includes the first few episodes of The Curse, featuring Nathan Fielder, Benny Safdie, and Emma Stone; Foe, a sci-fi drama starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal; the American premieres of new features from Miyazaki, Korine, Linklater, and Wiseman; and shorts from Almodóvar, Cronenberg, and Lanthimos.

[yoloswegmaster]

The designation for the Spotlight films also confirm that the Trân Anh Hùng, Steve McQueen, and Errol Morris titles will be premiering at Telluride first. It's also interesting to note that the Lanthimos short film will screened on 35mm, while most of the screenings for Chris Pine's Poolman at TIFF will also be from a 35mm print.

Toronto will be screening the 4K restoration of Stop Making Sense in IMAX and will feature a Q&A with Talking Heads that is moderated by Spike Lee.

[therewillbeblus]

Glad to see Korine is back, but I hope he's able stretch the possibilities of an infrared aesthetic, especially after his last two features tapped into new potentials for capturing rich colors and transformed that skill into his greatest thematic asset. I did love Duck Duck though, so maybe this will be like that only much more hardcore

[Rayon Vert]

Toronto will be screening the 4K restoration of Stop Making Sense in IMAX and will feature a Q&A with Talking Heads that is moderated by Spike Lee.

New David Byrne trailer for it. It will hit theaters again after the festival screening.

When was the last time the 4 members were in the same room together? He criticizes himself for the break-up.

Edit: Full trailer. I'm definitely going to try to see this in theaters if it comes near me.

[therewillbeblus]

He seems to have been more open about, or willing to address his role and responsibility there lately - at least from interviews I’ve gleaned

[DarkImbecile]

The 50th Telluride Film Festival program

I am here again this year, but the festival is making a point of excluding phones from screenings — presumably to make actors feel more comfortable appearing alongside their projects without being hammered for not honoring the strike, though many projects here have interim agreements or aren’t SAG casts. Anyway, my primary means of posting updates will be staying in my rental unit all day, so I may only be able to post short blurbs at the end of the day.

The tentative schedule of 22 features we’ve pieced together so far includes most of the big Cannes titles (Wenders, Glazer, Kaurismäki, Triet, Rohrwacher) and several of the world premieres, (including Saltburn, Fingernails, Tuesday, All of Us Strangers, and The Pigeon Tunnel) with some smaller oddities and repertory features scattered in as well. There are supposedly some sneak previews of other titles to be announced later happening as well, but fitting those in may prove difficult.

Today’s plan is to start off with a run of documentaries: David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s Kim’s Video, Nick Hooker’s aka Mr. Chow, and then American Symphony, Matthew Heineman’s follow-up to Retrograde, one of my favorite discoveries from last year’s festival. Then we’ll hopefully finish off the first day by making it into the world premiere of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders.

[Yakushima]

The 50th Telluride Film Festival program

I am here again this year, but the festival is making a point of excluding phones from screenings — presumably to make actors feel more comfortable appearing alongside their projects without being hammered for not honoring the strike, though many projects here have interim agreements or aren’t SAG casts. Anyway, my primary means of posting updates will be staying in my rental unit all day, so I may only be able to post short blurbs at the end of the day.

The tentative schedule of 22 features we’ve pieced together so far includes most of the big Cannes titles (Wenders, Glazer, Kaurismäki, Triet, Rohrwacher) and several of the world premieres, (including Saltburn, Fingernails, Tuesday, All of Us Strangers, and The Pigeon Tunnel) with some smaller oddities and repertory features scattered in as well. There are supposedly some sneak previews of other titles to be announced later happening as well, but fitting those in may prove difficult.

Today’s plan is to start off with a run of documentaries: David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s Kim’s Video, Nick Hooker’s aka Mr. Chow, and then American Symphony, Matthew Heineman’s follow-up to Retrograde, one of my favorite discoveries from last year’s festival. Then we’ll hopefully finish off the first day by making it into the world premiere of Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders.

DarkImbecile, I am really looking forward to your updates and reviews! Thank you for doing this!

[DarkImbecile]

At its best, David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s Kim’s Video acknowledges the quixotic absurdity of the filmmakers’ quest to memorialize, find, and try to rescue a collection of 55,000 sometimes obscure or irreplaceable VHS and DVD copies of films that was pieced together over nearly three decades by the New York institution. The absurdity of Redmond’s often bumbling attempts to navigate Sicilian towns, Korean metropolises, and a legal and political morass that’s more important to him than literally anyone else in the film is funniest when it’s self-deprecating and observant.

Too often, though, Redmond’s years-long narrative feels overly manufactured and self-aware, with some dramatics and staged capering that’s more of a distraction from than an addition to the underdeveloped themes of obsessive nostalgia and yearning for a lost time and means of discovering art. The narration is also too intrusive and obvious at times — according to the post-screening Q&A, largely because of the need to justice the fair use of dozens of clips — and it’s not always clear whether Redmon largely elides the implied contributions of other members of the community of New York-based cinephiles to his efforts out of an attempt to center himself in the narrative or, more generously, to protect those same people from being implicated in some of the events of questionable legality.

So breezy and short a feature that it’s hard to be too critical, but in the end Kim’s Video doesn’t seem to fully do an amusing story justice beyond effectively making viewers of a certain age pine for the era of scanning endless shelves of oddities and marginalia in search of a surprising treasure.

[DarkImbecile]

It’s always hard to separate the quality of a film from the context in which you’re seeing it, and having a fantastic experience in a packed house with ideal projection and sound in a festival setting only makes it more difficult. There have been plenty of good films at Telluride over the years that I’ve inflated beyond merely good while caught up in the enthusiasm of the audience or the charisma of the filmmakers discussing their work.

So I’ll try to balance for that and pointedly say that seeing Matthew Heineman’s American Symphony tonight was one of the great moviegoing experiences of my life. My initial impression is that this intimate portrait of musician Jon Batiste in perhaps the most momentous months of his life personally and professionally is a tremendous achievement, a joyous, soulful look at artistry, love, and perseverance that was remarkably moving and insightful while also featuring some of the best cinematography, editing, and sound I’ve seen in a while, documentary or otherwise.

Heineman’s cameras follow Batiste — a New Orleans-born, Juliard-trained musical savant — as he reaches the pinnacle of his artistic career while simultaneously grappling with anxiety attacks, the demands of fame and expectations, and a recurrence of leukemia in his partner, the writer Suleika Jaouad.

As touching and powerful as the film itself is — and it features one of the most exhilarating concert sequences I can remember — our world premiere screening was capped by a lively, heartfelt performance by Batiste immediately after the credits rolled that was directly tied into all the emotional and artistic themes that had unspooled on screen. Nearly everyone around us was stunned and emotional by the time he finished playing, and this after there was more sustained and enthusiastic applause over the credits than I think I’ve seen at Telluride (which isn’t a festival given to Cannes-style prolonged ovations).

I wasn’t even aware that this project existed 36 hours ago, but there’s almost no way it isn’t among the best films at a packed festival, and highly recommended. See it, but take my effusive praise with a few grains of salt given the context so as not to overinflate expectations.

[DarkImbecile]

There was a fair bit of hopeful speculation that the 50th Telluride Film Festival would prominently feature Martin Scorsese in one way or another; that aspiration appears to be dashed, but Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders is as solid of a tribute to Scorsese’s atmospheric evocations of mid-20th century outsiders as one could hope for, needle drops and all.

More subdued and contemplative than one might expect from a violent biker gang drama, Nichols’ ensemble cast is built around a trio of excellent performances from a typically quirky and intense Tom Hardy, a no-nonsense Jodie Comer, and most notably a smolderingly charismatic Austin Butler — one would be hard-pressed not to end up caught in a love triangle with his volatile young biker enforcer.

Nichols is already a director whose work I’ve liked fairly consistently, and this is probably his most mature and controlled feature yet, as well as perhaps his most satisfying script. The violence, drama, and humor are well-balanced, and he leavens the extremely cool iconography of these characters and spaces with a consistent sense of inevitable decline and a fundamental incompatibility with the larger world.

[DarkImbecile]

Caught the festival’s tribute to Wim Wenders this morning, a delightful collection of clips and a conversation between Wenders and Pico Iyer on the director’s infatuation with American culture from music to comic books to Anthony Mann westerns; his aborted studies of medicine, philosophy, and various art forms prior to stumbling into cinephiles; and an impulse toward internationalism driven by an awareness of the unsteady historical and cultural foundation of post-war West Germany.

But the topic to which Wenders devoted the most time was Kōji Yakusho, the star of the director’s latest narrative feature, Perfect Days. And appropriately enough, as Yakusho deservedly earned the Best Actor prize at Cannes for an often nearly silent and wonderfully restrained but powerfully expressive performance as Hirayama, a solitary man who devotes himself to his work cleaning public toilets in Tokyo and the modest pleasures he builds into the routines and patterns of everyday life. Through small gestures and a reflexive kindness, Yakusho builds a lived-in richness and depth for a character for whom the film’s script (by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki) gracefully avoids specifying motivations or history except by the most delicate of implications.

I’m not a Wenders completist, but this is the best narrative feature of his that I’ve seen since his 1980s heyday, a lovely and humane examination of the role of public spaces in everyday life, the joys of a stubbornly analogue life in a digital world, and the value of a life lived deliberately, no matter what the scale. Wenders’ aforementioned passion for mid-century American music plays a key role narratively and emotionally, as do his established interests in photography and architecture.

Easy to recommend, warmly pleasurable to experience, and difficult to shake afterward.

[Michael Kerpan]

I am sure that Perfect Days (which I very much want to see) will get US distribution (and a home video release). But I wonder about Wender's other new film -- about Anselm Kiefer (which I also want very much to see). We finally got around to seeing the Kiefer "warehouse" at Mass MOCA (in far western Massachusetts). Quite amazing. If you are ever anywhere North Adams (and it is not winter), please check this out.

[im_online]

But I wonder about Wender's other new film -- about Anselm Kiefer (which I also want very much to see).

It's a Janus/Sideshow release. The trailer says select theaters on December 8th.

[DarkImbecile]

A series of strikingly bold formal choices, an unyielding control over tone and technique, and a clear moral framework combine to make Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest one of the more provocative and disturbing films I’ve seen in a while. If Glazer’s purposeful remove makes it more of an intellectual object than an emotional one for most of its runtime, the brazen final moments brought home the horror of its setting in genuinely stunning fashion.

Christian Friedel and particularly Sandra Hüller give precise, unsettling performances as the commandant of Auschwitz and his wife, who navigate mundane professional and familial situations literally next door to the worst ongoing crime scene in history, only tangentially affected by the unimaginable suffering just over their garden wall.

The most memorable parts of Mica Levi’s unnerving score are deployed sparingly and for maximum impact, often paired with unexpected but highly effective choices by Glazer like

SpoilerShow

depicting certain rare moments of morally-driven action in crisp negative thermal images, or holding on black, white, or red screens for minutes at a time.

Like most of Glazer’s films, its initial impact is largely intellectual and on reflection continues to unfold and reveal itself, including in its broader allegorical implications.

FYI, I’m still catching up on reviews, and I can tell that this is going to be one of those years where I sound like I’m raving about everything, but the hit rate so far has been legit remarkable (and probably unsustainable), with everything I’ve seen almost halfway through the festival after Kim’s Video falling somewhere between very good and great. Today’s schedule includes the German psychological drama The Teacher’s Lounge, Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, Christos Nikou’s Fingernails, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, and Pablo Larrain’s El Conde.

[yoloswegmaster]

I am sure that Perfect Days (which I very much want to see) will get US distribution (and a home video release). But I wonder about Wender's other new film -- about Anselm Kiefer (which I also want very much to see). We finally got around to seeing the Kiefer "warehouse" at Mass MOCA (in far western Massachusetts). Quite amazing. If you are ever anywhere North Adams (and it is not winter), please check this out.

It's already been acquired by Neon in the U.S., so there is a chance that it plays near you.

[Michael Kerpan]

im_online and yoloswegmaster -- thanks for the Wenders distribution info!

[Finch]

Only seen two reviews by Variety and the Guardian's Xan Brooks for Polanski's The Palace so far but both described it as a disaster.

[beamish14]

Only seen two reviews by Variety and the Guardian's Xan Brooks for Polanski's The Palace so far but both described it as a disaster.

I knew it was a bad sign when it only got a 3-minute standing ovation

[DarkImbecile]

As a former public school teacher who has had my share of fraught exchanges with students, parents, and colleagues, I can say that Ilker Çatak’s tightly wound psychological drama The Teacher’s Lounge effectively dredged up many long-buried anxieties (and more than a little jealousy at the professional and educational resources available in other first-world economies).

Leonie Benesch’s lead performance as a young teacher trying to navigate an ethically and professionally fraught school scandal is rightfully getting a lot of attention, but I was also taken by multiple child performers — it seems clear that Çatak‘s methods for working with his actors engender a sense of comfort that delivers the authenticity the story needs to be effective.

The script very effectively avoids easy resolutions or even clear indications as to whose side to take in an constantly mutating situation with multiple stakeholders and competing values at stake, where — much like a kid might feel trying to solve a Rubik’s cube — what seems like the obvious course of action in one situation complicates another set of relationships. Embracing that complexity and withholding some of the expected emotional and narrative payoffs might leave some feeling unsatisfied, but I very much appreciated Çatak’s willingness to, like a good teacher might, allow his audience to engage their critical thinking skills to reach their own conclusions.

[thirtyframesasecond]

I know Skolimowski cowrote The Palace but broad comedy doesn't really strike you as Polanski's strength. John Cleese playing an octogenarian American billionaire? Well, he's done worse I guess and always tends to need the money. I suspect this will bomb on its own merits anyway but I'm sure there will be some sniping against feminist attacks on the film, for daring to point out RPs deplorable past.

[DarkImbecile]

Hopefully will continue to catch up on reactions today, in addition to aiming to see Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, and Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn.

[Finch]

Brooks liked Polanski's previous film so his review at least felt like he was judging the film on its own merits.

[DarkImbecile]

Continuing the trend of me feeling specifically targeted by the filmmakers at Telluride this year, Christos Nikou’s Fingernails both bears some, uh, very pointed resemblances to some recent developments in my personal life and also features a perfectly calibrated lead performance from the undeniably incredible Jessie Buckley, one of the few actors capable of outshining a very good Riz Ahmed.

A high-concept but low-key sci-fi romance with a sense of humor very much in line with the other Greek director prominently featured at the festival, Nikou’s follow-up to 2020’s Apples builds promisingly on that film’s ability to keep its largely straight-faced humor rolling even through the gradual reveal of its emotional core. Buckley and Ahmed play coworkers at an institute that utilizes a scientific test to identify partners in the biological state of true love, and trains couples to help them pass and have their love certified.

Where that concept goes isn’t always too surprising, but for me anyway touched on some very real thematic issues with both delicacy and sharply observed wit. I can’t make the case that it definitively ranks among the very best handful of films I’ve seen here this year, but it’s close enough to that — and to the nerves it touches for me — to guarantee I won’t be able to stop thinking about it anytime soon.

[DarkImbecile]

Wasn’t able to get into the Kaurismäki yesterday afternoon, but spending the last day of the festival aiming for Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Daina O. Pusić’s Tuesday, and Errol Morris’ The Pigeon Tunnel today, with the possibility of making the closing outdoor screening of Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi‘s Nyad depending on how exhausted we are by that point in the evening.

[Never Cursed]

For those that have been or frequent it, is there anything that London Film Festival does that's different from the other more publicly-accessible fall film fests? I'm moving there in a week and just bought (too many) tickets, and I'm just curious what to expect