Telluride Reviews! SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD! GOMORRAH!

Beaks here... I've been hearing that this year's Telluride Film Festival was a huge disappointment, but that's generally coming from folks who expected it to be a cavalcade of early fall prestige pics from the dependents (i.e. Sony Pictures Classics, Focus Features, Paramount Vantage and Fox Searchlight). Looking over the lineup, it seems to me that Telluride simply went back to basics, screening a slate of truly independent movies that actually need critical support. Good for them. I guess the lack of big-ticket movies is to blame for a paucity of reports from Telluride around these parts, but one of our readers has passed along a brief recap of three "high profile" titles: Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Kim Ji-Woon's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD and Matteo Garrone's Cannes hit, GOMORRAH. Let's see what they thought.

Greetings from Montrose Colorado , a small town 70 miles down the road from Telluride. I see that no one has written about the Telluride Film Fest that just concluded so I thought I’d add my two cents. Telluride is a beautiful little old mining town tucked away in the San Juan Mountains . This was the 35th year of the film fest. Prizes aren’t given out and buying isn’t the focus, so the whole event is a chilled out affair. I wasn’t present for all 4 days of films, but in my short time there I managed to see Matteo Garrone’s GOMORRAH , Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, and Kim Ji-Woon’s THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD. I’ll start with the best, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Danny showed up to premiere his new film a week ahead of its official premiere in Toronto . The film was added to the schedule so late that it wasn’t in any of the official releases. This didn’t prevent it from becoming the most talked about movie of the weekend. Based on the novel Q&A, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE uses a device, questions asked on India ’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire, to tell the back-story of two brothers and their rise from the slums of India . Varity called it a “blast.” I wouldn’t go that far. It is at times hilarious and bitter sweet, but just as often the movie presents India as a wasteland of warring religions, desperate people, and parentless children. The heart of the movie is younger brother Jamal, played by Dev Patel, and his never ending love for Latika. It is this love that guides Jamal through his dark journey of adolescents and eventually to the popular game show. How SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE will play outside of the festival circuit will be interesting. The response in Telluride was phenomenal. Boyle was on hand at each screening to introduce the film. If you are going to Toronto put SLUMDOG on your must see list. If ever a movie was tailor made for the Ain’t It Cool audience then THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD is surely it. There is a final chase through the Manchurian desert that was so jaw droppingly cool I nearly stood up halfway through it to bow to director Kim Ji-Woon. There have been a dearth of over shot, homage inspired, actions film of late; I’m talking about you Shoot ‘Em Up, which have failed to transcend the genre. This film does. Every time the movie threatens to go overboard, the story pulls up, deepening the mixture of western, eastern, and modern influence. What was most cool about the movie was the obvious influence The Road Warrior had on it. Neil Marshall would have shut his production of Doomsday down had he seen what Kim Ji-Woon was doing in Korea . I can’t wait for the rest of you geeks to see THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE WEIRD. The first film I saw was GOMORRAH , a tale of mafia violence in Naples . I was surprised to learn that this movie won the Grand Prix at Cannes because I was terribly underwhelmed by the picture. It was like a retread of City of God set in Italy . I kept waiting for the pieces to connect, or even more importantly, for me to connect to the characters on screen. The whole affair had a feeling of “been there, seen that” to it. I wasn’t alone, as the majority of the audience silently exited the theater. Over the last three days I have thought a lot about GOMORRAH , its message and themes. I wish I could recommend it. If I had never seen City of God or Traffic my feeling might be different, but I still think Matteo failed to hook his audience with compelling drama. That’s all from Colorado . Maybe I’ll see a fellow AINT IT COOL reader at the Fest next year. You can call me B.K.

Thanks, B.K.! Hit us up next year!