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What the Telluride Film Festival Brought Us in 2015

by ScreenCraft on September 22, 2015

The 42nd annual Telluride Film Festival over the long Labor Day weekend of 2015 was a mecca for cinephiles, dedicated staff, and patrons of the arts. The scale of it is forever limited by being located in a box canyon in a remote corner of southwest Colorado, so it will never reach the frenzied popularity of the Toronto International Film Festival.

However, this majestic and cozy setting encourages affectionately impassioned debate about new films that are hot off of Cannes or have yet to see the light of day. Silents with live accompaniment and classic Hollywood cinema play in chorus with these premieres, infusing the crowd with the excitement of rediscovery.

There is a cemented trust that the best contemporary films of the year are contained in a program that’s kept secret until a day before the festival. It’s a promise that causes the devoted attendees to take the leap year after year.

The fuss over the casual atmosphere is well-deserved. Venues are built up from the town’s schools and recreational spaces to create a cloistered sense of pure cinematic immersion. The fact that filmmakers, patrons, and volunteers all wait in the same lines after the first day to a certain extent, tears down the separation between castes of filmgoers.

Rich and poor stand alongside one another and often amiably converse about the merit of what’s playing. These shared experiences and rapport develop a feeling of community in Telluride’s audience. So often there is a distinct apathy towards others in a theater or on the streets of film festivals.

While for the most part isolated from the business side of the industry, Telluride serves as a critical touchstone for the rest of the year. Most of its premieres go on to the forefront of positive critical consensus and are showered with praise during awards seasons. There are many slots in the brief weekend that belong to films and discussions that are one time deals — you will not see this actor speak twice or this movie will be playing once in a small theater.

The slate is so diverse that there is something for everyone’s tastes and entertainment inclinations. Telluride’s narrative selection is overwhelmingly dramatic but the subjects cover a large breadth of subjects. The best of Cannes is imported with the winners of the Palm d’Or, Un Certain Regard, and Grand Prix usually making a showing. This year the Icelandic Rams and traumatic Son of Saul made the journey and set the bar for outstanding foreign films.

Set in 1944 Auschwitz and shot from a stunning singular perspective, Son of Saul is sure to be found on many top ten lists at the end of the year. Although the tone of Telluride’s films is generally dark- collections of animated, live action and student shorts illuminate the schedule with new and young voices joining the seasoned veterans of the main features.

Black Mass is loaded with a cast of known entities that to an extent weighs the validity of the story down. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, BBC’s Sherlock) as Whitey Bulger’s brother is competent, but the thickness of his accent combined with the familiarity of his British persona, simply takes one out of his scenes. It’s not that it is a poorly written role, only that not being able to suspend one’s knowledge of him becomes an impediment to complete engagement with his scenes.

No such impasse exists with Australian Joel Edgerton (Warrior, The Gift) who plays Whitey’s man on the inside of the police force. His sharp lines punch up the tension of the film and are imbued with almost as much entitlement to do whatever he wants in the world as Bulger continually conveys. Character actor Peter Sarsgaard is also able to completely disappear into his small but memorable role, playing off Depp with ease even as his skittish part calls for him to act manically. He is clear, concise but unpredictable with lines that are almost too straightforward. Concentrating on Bulger’s time as a gangster and informant, the 16 years he spent in hiding are inexplicably excluded from dramatization. This detracts from revealing the full scope of Bulger’s personality under duress. Just visualizing him as a man completely in control of his destiny is misleading and a missed opportunity. Hiding for his life and reduced to being a common man would have added significant depth.

Black Mass deserves more than a fact based summation to bring the story to a close. Although some scenes have glimmers of greatness with well-played side characters being menaced by Depp’s Whitey — it falls short of ranking amongst the best true to life gangster films for what it omits and skirts around.

Spotlight largely deals with research, fact checking and securing resources to thoroughly expose Catholic priests who have sexually abused children for decades with impunity from the law because of their powerful connections. The wordlessness of the reporter’s hard work is absorbing with few scenes for the actors to chew in grand dramatic fashion. The low key approach conveys a nuanced commitment writers Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer’s part to stay away from using overwrought emotion to further exploit the plight of the many forever affected by the crimes. Only Ruffalo and Keaton are given monologues that edge towards the melodramatic but thankfully stay safely within the realm of plausibility as reporters slowly uncovering vast corruption and indifference to victims. The reporters are not seen as heroes either but writers doing their job with due diligence and tact. The rest is rightly left to subtly frame the inter-working of a system built to protect the status and money of those at the top. The portrayal of intellectualism fighting against blind faith is notable for how morality is gradually dusted off. With no grand reveal, it is an unhurried script that wants to get the feel of the investigation right and does so admirably without capitalizing on the victims.

Some of the most indelible films of the festival came from adaptations. Room stemmed from a lauded book of the same name by Emma Donoghue. A harrowing account of a young mother and son held captive, screenings in Telluride received multiple standing ovations. Told from the perspective of a little boy who has only known his mother and a single room, the imaginative musings are wrenching and pure of heart. The simple narrative works and is one of the most articulate renditions of prolonged trauma in recent memory.

While Room stays true to the form of its origin, Andrew Haigh flipped his source material for 45 Years so that the protagonist became the woman of the older couple enduring a marital crisis before celebrating their anniversary. Putting the reins in Rampling’s hands is an absorbing turn that is a spellbinding heartbreak.

The Netflix bound Beasts of No Nation is derived from a work by Uzodinma Iweala. The Cary Fukunaga (True Detective: Season One, Jane Eyre) helmed picture is largely visual but feels built upon a mountain of description. The horrors of war are encapsulated by a carefully coordinated vision for the ugliness of survivalism in the worst of circumstances. Much like the structure of Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Beasts of No Nation floats incident to incident in a dreamlike state. It sheds blood but honors life even as it disposes of it in rapid and brutal manner.

 Director Danny Boyle received a tribute for the body of his work and premiered Steve Jobs to receptive showings. Although not accompanied by the breakout audience approval of Slumdog Millionaire (which got it’s start in Telluride) — Jobs will likely go onto a successful run and may finally garner some hard won accolades for Michael Fassbender. Steve Jobs has an unusual story structure —divided into three segments that are each filmed in different formats. For each iconic product launch by Jobs, we are witness to his iron will and personal failings. This remarkable format of jumping forward several years along with a leap in technology is a potent companion to Jobs’ icy executive precision.

Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane) brought her triumphant Suffragette to Telluride. It took her many years to bring to the screen due to financing and subject matter. Forced into a violent struggle to gain their most basic rights, British suffragettes endure imprisonment and torture at the government’s hands. This is Carey Mulligan’s moment to shine — evoking great strength out of loss. Writer Abi Morgan is in magnificent form following other major works (Shame, The Invisible Woman) that have also premiered in Telluride. She follows a common woman’s plight as she becomes conscious of her subjugation and then is swept up into action. Seeing the fight from the ground up through the eyes of the poorest and most disadvantaged, Morgan is able to movingly show the true stakes at hand.

Although there were a few less conventionally prestigious premieres present this year, the cultivated nature the program continues to give the festival quality over quantity and paparazzi driven fare. The festival makes sure that writers and directors are equally honored alongside the more famous faces. Telluride will continue to press forward with scholarly, creative and provocative pursuits designed to engage its audience on a cerebral level that sets the tone for the rest of the fall festival season.


Lane Scarberry is a photographer and writer who loves to work at film festivals. Favorite films include Dark City, Harold and Maude, The Apartment, Ace in the Hole, and childhood love — The Blues Brothers. She still wants to someday own a Dalmatian plantation a la 101 Dalmatians (only think Golden Retrievers and otters) and a sushi restaurant that holds insane movie marathons.

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