Telluride – The Hits and Misses

Labor Day has passed, and with it so has another Telluride Film Festival.  While it may not have had a huge splash like Juno or Slumdog Millionaire, and the stars that attended were minimal, it was still a good time.  In the seven years I have attended, I have never had this perfect of weather while in the city.  Typically, winter decides to make its first appearance during the festival with a rainstorm that turns to snow.  Instead, sunny and clear, and I think a lot of festivalgoers took to the trails and enjoyed the sun as well as many said they took it easy this year.

With that, there were still some notable hits and misses that came out of Telluride. ¬†The Festival doesn’t have any competition, but word of mouth spreads, and in some cases, a movie just never gets the chance, so without further adieu:

THE HITS:

The Kings Speech – Probably the most played and talked about movie for the festival. ¬†Colin Firth was awarded the Silver Medallion for his body of work, and Geoffrey Rush amused passholders throughout the entire festival. ¬†The movie was unheard of before the festival and it is now on many people’s radars. ¬†It shows the power of what stars can do for your movie if they show up and do Q&As.

James Franco and 127 Hours – Considered a “surprise” film for the festival, 127 Hours made a memorable show for many as two shows had people pass out during the film’s more terrifying moments (one was due to altitude sickness). ¬†James Franco surprised many by giving his best performance as Aron Rolston, and there was enough demand for his “Courthouse Conversation” that the festival moved it outside to the Elks Park for all to see.

Tabloid – Errol Morris’ documentary on the former Miss Wyoming, Joyce McKinney, surprised many with its successful use of humor as McKinney seemed to have a King Midas touch for making everything seem goofy along her path. ¬†From her bizarre stories about her Mormon lover, exploits with the paparazzi, and cloning her dog Booger, it went from a movie playing in the smaller venues, and upgraded to the larger venues by festival end.

Chang-dong Lee¬†- Poetry may not have been seen by man, but Chang-dong Lee certainly was. ¬†Chang-Dong Lee could be seen all around Telluride, taking in the festival like a pro. ¬†He was seen attending nearly every venue, and even participated in writing on the Masons Hall “Graffiti Wall.” ¬†Always smiling, he may have had the most fun out of anyone in Telluride.

THE MISSES:

Never Let Me Go РMany had high expectations for this film, and while critics ate it up, it made a whimper with audiences as many found it too slow-moving and passive despite raves for its technical efforts and the performance by Carey Mulligan.  The cast was present for the festival, but only Mark Romanek seemed accessible as the cast was only present to introduce the movie, and would leave right after.

Another Year – It had great success in Cannes, but Mike Leigh’s latest seemed to be overshadowed by the likes of Stephen Frears, Peter Weir, Tom Hooper, and¬†Alejandro Gonz√°lez I√±√°rritu who all showed up for the festival. ¬†As a result, the film was put into smaller theaters, and never really had the chance to succeed despite good word of mouth.

IN CONCLUSION:

If the festival or studios learned anything this year, it’s that its important to have someone represent your film at the festival to get people into the theater, even better if the actors/actresses come with it, so long as they can be seen at the Q&As and panels. ¬†The charm of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush won people over this year, and now everything moves on to Toronto. ¬†The Oscar season has officially begun, and the wait for Telluride 38 begins as well.

I hope you all enjoyed my articles this past week. ¬†I’d like to say that I’d do more, but Sasha and Ryan do a pretty amazing job at covering the film world already, so I’ll probably just be around in the comments area.

So until next year!

-Eric Bialas