“Neruda”
Is there any other filmmaker currently working as fast as Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain while also maintaining as high a level of quality output? In the span of about seventeen months Larrain has debuted three films: “El Club,” “Jackie” (which will premiere in Venice in just a handful of days), and his Cannes-bowing “Neruda.” About famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and his exile from Chile for his “communist” (read: socialist) leanings, “Neruda” is also an invented metafictional tale about a made-up ambitious detective (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) who is hot on the banished artist’s trail. Our review from Cannes described the film as “brilliant and bizarre” and as big boosters of the filmmaker that’s enough for us. Larrain was in Telluride with “No,” and this year he’ll be receiving his very own honorary tribute. Not bad for a 40 year old director with only seven films under his belt.
“La La Land”
You’ve already heard raves from this one out of the Venice Film Festival, and it appears fledgling director Damien Chazelle has done it again. We already knew he had the filmmaking goods with the blistering music drama, “Whiplash,” but with “La La Land” Chazelle goes full on ambitious musical harkening back to the days of classic Hollywood. Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and an aspiring actress in Los Angeles trying connect in the lonely city of angels, by all accounts, including our own Jessica Kiang’s take, “La La Land” is more than formalist musical triumph, but a vibrant piece of filmmaking that is buoyant, magical and dreamy. We can’t wait.
“Frantz”
French director Francois Ozon is a peculiar filmmaker. The 48 year-old writer-director continues to form a career that breaks through conventionality and tries to find a new kind of cinematic language. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it does (“Under the Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “In the House“) the result feels like the reason why we go to the movies in the first place. Ozon’s fascination with sexuality and surrealism is undeniable and it is always through those themes that he makes his best movies. Shot in stunning black and white by Pascal Marti, “Frantz” takes place in the aftermath of WWI and has to do with a German woman who mourns her fiancé’s death, but notices a mysterious man who lays down flowers on her grave. Not much else is known about Ozon’s mystery of a film, which stars Pierre Niney and Paula Beer, but, as with all of Ozon’s films, the less you know the better.
“Things to Come”
Slowly, but surely director Mia Hansen-Løve is turning into a force to be reckoned with. Her last movie, 2014’s “Eden,” was the best movie yet about EDM culture. Her acute eye for detail was what most impressed critics and audiences. Expectations are sky-high for “Things to Come,”which had a triumphant debut this past spring at the Berlin Film Festival. Starring one of the great actresses of our lifetime, Isabelle huppert, the film has the 63 year-old actress playing philosophy teacher Nathalie who ends up having to cope with the death of her mother, being let go from her job and finding out that her husband, of many years, is cheating on her. It’s enough for any person to lose their sanity, but not Huppert’s Nathalie. The absurdity of her situation is what carries the film as she starts to question the life she has built and what the future holds for her. It’s a mid-life crisis that has Huppert playing with the audiences minds at every turn. If it’s anywhere as brilliant as her performance in Paul Verehoven’s upcoming “Elle” then we’re in for something special.
“Maudie”
Aisling Walsh might not be the most well known director around, but a good bet is you will likely be hearing a little more about her in the weeks to come. “Maudie” was selected not just for Telluride, but also for the Toronto International Film Festival. Aisling’s film stars Ethan Hawke and Sally Hawkins (as Maud Lewis) in a true story about a severely arthritic Nova Scotia housekeeper with a gift for painting. The Marshalltown, Nova Scotia born Lewis was a recognized and inspiring Canadian artist, one of her paintings even made it to the White House, but her story of success was also filled with heartbreak. Hawkins, a highly talented, but underrated actress, has a leading role that could finally do her immense talent justice and give her the Oscar nomination she so rightfully deserves.
“Wakefield”
When will Bryan Cranston finally get that lead role that could land him into Oscar glory? We all know the guy is a talented actor, and that he can be a cinematic lead and carry a movie all on his own. Which is why a film like “Wakefield” has our curiosity peaked. Cranston plays a successful lawyer who decides to walk out of it all and disappear. He is actually in a hiding place in the attic, observing how his family and friends are dealing with the situation. Spending hours every day just observing he starts to ponder about his own life and whether he can ever come back home again. Director Robin Swicord, famous for her screenplay adaptations (“Little Women,” “Matilda” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) has only made one other feature length film, 2007s “The Jane Austen Book Club.”
The Telluride Film Festival runs from September 2-5.