Telluride Day 1 Aug 31,2018

Today is the start of the festival!  They did something new: at “our” venue—right by where we’re staying—- in the afternoon they screened a very long new documentary film: “Watergate—-Or How We Learned to Stop an Out of Control President.”  It was 260 minutes long!! But amazingly we were all captivated.  It wove together excerpts from the hearings, interviews at the time, current interviews such as with Woodward & Bernstein and some re-exactions of some key conversations from the Watwergate tapes.  The parallels with Washington’s corruption today were powerful and chilling.  This film will be on the History channel in November, so watching it in several smaller pieces will be easier for most viewers.  After our screening, there was a panel with the filmmaker, a congresswoman from that era, and Lesley Stahl, who you’ll recognize in the photo (if I can add it ok).

The second film we saw today was “Trial by Fire,” based on a real case.  Chilling.  Cameron Todd Willingham was on death row in Texas for the arson murder of his 3 children. From all evidence, he actually was innocent.  Laura Dern played a woman who took on his cause to appeal the conviction.  Chilling, but well done.

So we started the film festival with 2 real American tales.

Telluride 2018–Coming Attractions!

Greetings from beautiful Telluride!  I am with the same 3 friends as the last couple years: Michelle, Julie & Pat.  I think this is my 15th year here!  We arrived yesterday (and were very disappointed with the condo we reserved this time, but c’est la vie).  Now we’re settled and anxious for the films to start tomorrow.  We got our program today and are excited about films and who will be here (although I see very few of the actors with this kind of pass we got---unlike the past, sigh).
A sampling:

*Emma Stone is being honored this year.  We saw her here the last 2 years with “La La Land” and “Battle of the Sexes.”   This year her new film is “the Favourite”—a period piece about Queen Anne & her lady consort (Stone).

*Melissa McCarthy in her dramatic debut: “Can You Forgive me?”

*Damien Chazelle (wrote La La Land) with his new “First Man” starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong.

*Hugh Jackman and Jason Reitman —“The Front Runner” about the derailed presidential campaign of Gary Hart in 1988, also with Vera Farmiga & J.K. Simmons

*Nicole Kidman has TWO films here: ‘The Destroyer” as an LA police detective
And “Boy Erased” about parents putting their boy through “Christian conversion therapy”, starring Russell Crowe & Lucas Hedges (from Manchester by the Sea)

*Ralph Fiennes directed & starring in “The White Crow” about Rudolf Nureyev’s defection
*Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek & Casey Affleck in “The Old Man & the Gun” based on a true story about Forrest Tucker—-who broke out of jail at age 70 to be a bank robber!

Tomorrow the festival starts with “Watergate—or How We Learned to Stop an Out-of-Control President.”  Hmmm....  Hope people take notes.  :-)
So—-this looks like an excellent lineup.

Jane

In Ashland again! Sept 30, 2017

My college drama friend,  Debbie, made a trip from Boston to Calif and said " Let's take a road trip" so of course we picked Ashland! 👏

We'll see 4 shows over the weekend:
UniSon
Off the Rails
Hannah and the Dread Gazebo
Beauty and the Beast.

I had seen two of them in July but am happy to see them again.

We drove up yesterday & return to San Jose on Monday. Staying at the Stratford Inn & got a suite so we each have our own space. Nice. This town sure is quieter in September than it was in July!  😊

( I also saw American in Paris last Wednesday in SF so this is a 5 show week!  )

Jane

My rankings Telluride 2017

I'm on the flight home & have time to reflect on the festival overall. Sometimes friends ask me what I'd recommend, and that's really hard to do, because not everyone has the same taste in films.  I'll try to tell why I rate a movie a certain way, so that might make it easier for someone to decide if they'd like it too.

My Very favorite:

Darkest Hour.       absolutely everything about this one is great!  Academy Award time
Wonderstruck        A joy; transports you; wonder full!
Wormwood           A great mystery to untangle; will be on Netflix

Super Liked:

Shape of Water.      Wild ride; imaginative
Lady Bird.   .          Like Juno;  fun!
Film Stars... Liverpool       Super acting; based on real story
Loving Vincent.       Visually stunning; interesting story
Battle of Sexes.       Great Fun!


Recommend:
Hostiles            Christian Bales
Lean on Pete.   Very touching; excellent young actor
Cotton Club.     Great cast!  Great dancing!  Gregory Hines!

Do not recommend:

First reformed
Other side of hope

( sorry I'm not underlining  titles-- hard to do on IPad.

Monday --last day of festival

We managed to get in 3 more films today for a total of 14

The most magical and lovely film of all began the day: Wonderstruck, based on the book.  This is a must see, and if you know any children  you must take them to see it.  It's about a deaf girl who goes on a journey by herself in 1920s NYC. It's also the story of a boy in the 1970s who is parent less and also goes on a journey of his own. I don't want to give away the story but please know it's a charming and endearing story.  A joy to watch. Can't wait to see it again.

The second film today was bizzare in a wonderful way-- the shape of water starring Sallie Hawkins, (who I adore) , Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon.  It's a fantasy, so you have to be in the right frame of mind, but if you're open to it, it's an unusual love story. Octavia Spenser plays a delightful supporting role.

The last show today we should have skipped--the other side of hope. The story line was a good idea-- about a Syrian refugee-- but it just isn't a good film.

I'll write up my ratings in another post when I have a chance. But overall it was an excellent group of movies!

Gotta sign off now.
Jane

Sunday

 I am always shocked when Sunday  arrives. Can't believe we only have one more day after today.

 What a great beginning to today!  This was a tribute to Christian Bale, and first we got to meet him being interviewed by Leonard Maltin. Did you know he's British?!   Who has ever heard him speak in his normal accent? He's always played Americans!

 They first showed clips from about 10 of his movies which was really fun to watch. Then we saw his new film called Hostiles.  It takes place in 1892 and Bale plays a military man charged with escorting Native Americans back to their homeland. Of course the trip across the country was fraught with serious challenges.  Excellent acting. A western.

Lean On Pete
This is a story about a young teenager who is parent less  and latches on to a man ( Steve Buscemi) who owns racehorses. The boy gets very attached to one horse: Pete.    It's a Tender story, sometimes sad.

Loving Vincent is a magical film that blends animation & live action -- all painted in The Van Gough style by a team of 125 painters. Amazing!  Anyone who's an art fan or studying art would appreciate the craftsmanship here. The filmmakers gave a talk about how they made it happen.

Battle of the Sexes tells the tale of Billie Jean King ( Emma Stone) going against Boby Riggs ( Steve Carrell) and the feminist battle of the day. Surprisingly both actors pulled off their roles & we forgot
Who they were.  This was a good history lesson for younger folks who didn't live through it.

Wonderful day!

(Please forgive typos. I write these posts in a huge hurry!  )

Day 2 Saturday September 2

 We managed to see 4 more films today. A Fantastic Woman was set in Chile. It explore the relationship of a transgender woman and a much older man. It was quite poignant and tastefully done.

Second up was Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.  It told the story of a young British actor who met the very famous Gloria Graham a film star from the 40s. The two of them had a long-term affair which of course was complicated.  Annette Benning starred and did a fantastic job. We think she is sure to get an Academy award nomination. I recommend this film

 Angelina Jolie --who we saw from a distance -- brought a film to do with the abuses of Khmer rouge regime.   We knew it was going to be very violent so we sat that one out and took a little break.

 We regret that we didn't skip the next film however. It was called First Reformed. I thought because Ethan Hawke was in it, it would be pretty good. But it was very strange. Hawke was there to introduce it. Do not recommend.

 We really looked forward to the late night movie which took us till after midnight. But it was well worth it. It's called Darkest Hour and starred Gary Oldman as Winston Churchhill at the time he took over as prime minister.  The acting was of highest quality and we are pretty sure the film and the star will get a big nomination-- if not the Academy award. Wow!!  Director & stars were here to introduce it. Wow!

There has been some rain but nothing to get in our way. I'm feeling fine  about my decision to get this kind of film pass. While I do feel I'm missing out on some of the other festival experiences, there are advantages to this kind of pass. So I don't regret this decision. 😊

All for now,
Jane