Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with our very own celluloid spy "Dharma the Cat" who has a summary of the first two days of Telluride, a fest that I regret not attending every single year. It's supposed to be the coolest of the cool, everybody on the same level. If you want to see a movie you get in line, doesn't matter if you're a journalist, filmmaker, exec... So, you'll be in line with a-list stars and directors and Ebert. Maybe next year. Anyway, we have a look below at the tribute to Mickey Rooney (sweet!), Mamet's EDMUND, Schreiber's EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, Andy Garcia's THE LOST CITY and a review of Philip Seymour Hoffman in CAPOTE! Enjoy!
Telluride Report, 2005 Friday, September 2, Day One:
Hi everybody: This is our 16th year in a row going to the Telluride Film Festival, and every year, again, I get reminded how magical this place is. Not just the place, Telluride, Colorado (although it's one of the most beautiful places on the planet), but the Festival itself; how well run it is, how kind the Festival staff and volunteers are, and how professional the presentation itself is. This is a wonderful place to come every year and just relax, and, oh yeah, see some movies.
And see them properly; On the big screen, projected perfectly, with an appreciative audience. By the way, a new rule this year: Absolutely NO cell phones, PDAs, Blackberrys, and so forth, are allowed "on" anywhere in the theatres (not just in the theatre proper, but in the bathrooms, the lobby, ANYWHERE). You want to use your phone? Go outside. I sure wish theatres in the real world would consider this policy.
Light rain today, but by the time the Festival started, just some clouds.
1. "Mickey Rooney tribute" First about an hour of clips, then Mickey Rooney gets introduced to a lengthy, standing ovation. After Bill Pence presented the Medallion, Rooney spoke for a bit, then an interview by Roger Ebert. Not much controversial or "new" here; Rooney was pretty PC (all of this movies were fun to make, all of the actors and directors were wonderful, and so forth). The guy is 85 and has been in Show Biz since he was 17 months old! And he was clearly moved by the evening. Still, I guess I expected more; maybe some funny or interesting stories. I think he's been doing this sort of thing (you know, Judy Garland was wonderful and just "tired" at times) for a long time and at least to me, he was a fairly tame interview.
2. "Edmond" Screenplay by David Mamet, from his play. Stars William H Macy (who was at the screening) and the usual Mamet players (like Rebecca Pidgeon and Joe Mantegna, among others). Here's the thing: It's an incredibly depressing and upsetting film. I would likely not see it again. But the acting is superb (from everybody, but especially Macy) and, reluctantly, I would recommend seeing the film. I suspect this works better as a play (which I have not seen) and the Mamet dialog gets a bit tiring. But my eyes never left the screen, I wasn't bored at all, and as awful as events in the film unfold, somehow it works.
Telluride Report, 2005 Saturday, September 3, Day Two:
Saw a great film, a surprising film, and I film I sure wanted to like, but didn't.
But first, the most important info.... the weather: Rain off and on most of today. But since we all tend to be indoors watching movies, this isn't that big of a problem. And of course the city of Telluride is even more beautiful in the rain anyway....
1. "The Lost City" Written and Directed (and starring) Andy Garcia, from Guillermo Cabera Infante's novel, "Three Trapped Tigers". All the action takes place in the late 1950s during the Cuban Revolution. I wanted to like this, I really did. And it's a lovely looking film. Garcia stated before the film started that the original script was over 300 pages long; they cut it to 120 pages in order to get the film made. But the movie now seems fragmented to me and too too long. There are at least 3 "endings" before the movie actually ends. A disappointment.
2. "Capote" Directed by Bennett Miller and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote (and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Capote's friend since childhood). Hoffman and Keener are actors who can pretty much do anything, I'm convinced. Hoffman....channels....Truman Capote. It's an astonishing, wonderful performance, and a great great movie. The time period is when Capote wrote "In Cold Blood", and within 10 minutes of the movie starting, you're watching Capote, not Hoffman, work on his book. The audience was dead quiet for all 2 hours; always a good sign.
3. "Everything is Illuminated" Directed by Liev Schreiber from Jonathan Safran Foer's novel and starring Elijah Wood. I really didn't know what to expect with this; it played right after "Capote" at the Chuck Jones Cinema so we decided to stay and see it. The write up for the movie mentions a young Jewish man who travels to the Ukraine to discover how his grandfather survived the Nazis. That doesn't sound like too much fun, and yet... it is. It's funny and fascinating and touching and terrific.
More tomorrow!
