Monday, March 16, 2015

"Mr. Holmes" is Off the Case/Jake Howell's Cannes Considerations/20 Anticipated Foreign Films/Ethan and Seymour

Good Monday World,


"MR. HOLMES" IS OFF THE CASE



Admittedly, Bill Condon's "Mr. Holmes" starring Sir Ian McKellen and Laura Linney has been a film that I thought had the right pedigree to be considered for the TFF #42 schedule.  It is also a film that I have unashamedly been hoping would make a stop in Telluride over Labor Day weekend.  I had even envisioned an Ian McKellen tribute a possibility.  After all, the film has a stellar set of characteristics to mark it as a Telluride film: Bill Condon's been to T-ride before.  Laura Linney has been to Telluride a lot.  It's produced, in part, by See Saw Films and BBC Films, both of which are often represented by films at Telluride and it's being distributed by Roadside Attractions (and Miramax) which has a serious Telluride profile over the past few years:

2014: "Mommy:, "The Homesman" and " '71"
2013: "All is Lost" and "Gloria"
2012: "Stories We Tell"
2011: "Albert Nobbs"
2010: "Biutiful"

There was a lot of smoke there but those flames were doused this week with the announcement that the film will be released in the U.S. on July 17th.

Here's the story from Awards Circuit:

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/03/12/release-date-set-for-mr-holmes-starring-ian-mckellen-directed-by-bill-condon/

So...no "Mr. Holmes" at Telluride or Toronto or any other fall film fest.  It seems very odd to me especially if you're thinking that Sir Ian might have an Oscar play here.  I'd love to know what the internal process was that led to this decision.

CANNES CONSIDERATIONS



The next few weeks should see an uptick in the speculation about what films will be announced as a part of the Cannes lineup.  I snagged the link to Jake Howell's Cannes speculation this week.  I believe this is the third year consecutively that I have featured Jake's analysis and detective work. Find it here at Movie City News:

http://moviecitynews.com/2015/03/divining-cannes-2015/


Jake's Cannes musings about "Likely Subjects"  that also might foreshadow a Cannes/Telluride connection seem to me to include:

Jacques Audiard's "Dheepan" (which has been called "Erran" until very recently)
Matteo Garrone;s "The Tale of Tales"
Walter Salles "Jia Zhhang-ke by Walter Salles"
Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" (though, I can't believe it would be finished in time for Cannes)
Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees"

Among the other possibilities that Howell entertains are these films that could make the Telluride grade:

Sean Penn's "The Last Face"
Todd Haynes "Carol"

Take a look at the entirety of Jake's post and see what you think.


20 ANTICIPATED FOREIGN FILMS



Also out this week was a post from The Playlist with their 20 most anticipated foreign films for 2015. That seemed like an excellent companion piece to Howell's Cannes spec piece and you can find it here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-20-most-anticipated-foreign-films-of-2015-20150114


Perusing the list I found that the most likely Telluride players didn't appear until very near the top. Making the list and mine are:

at #7: Jacques Audiard's Dheepan (Erran)
#5 Wim Wenders "Every Thing Will Be Fine"
#3 Abdellafit Kechiche's "La Blessure"
#1 Michael Haneke's "Flashmob"



ETHAN AND SEYMOUR



Ethan Hawke's TFF #41 Documentary "Seymour: An Introduction" opened on Friday.  As a part of the rollout, Ethan Hawke spoke with The Dissolve:

http://thedissolve.com/features/interview/954-ethan-hawke-tries-to-figure-it-out/



More on Thursday...


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