2023 Telluride Film Fest Films	Film Review
All of Us Strangers	A
All That Jazz (1979)	A
Baltimore	B
Daddio	B
Fingernails	A
Janet Planet	A+
NYAD	A
Poor Things	A+
Rustin	B
Saltburn	A
Tehachapi	B
The Falling Star	B
The Holdovers	A
The Royal Hotel	C
The Zone of Interest	A
Tuesday	C
Wildcat	B

2023’s Oscar race is on. It’s that time again to start talking about who’s work should be recognized. And we all know that the Oscar race starts in our sleepy little mountain town, Telluride.

This year was a special year — the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival! Whoop! Whooop! So we were gifted with a whole extra day to sit in theaters and watch movies. I saw 17 films in 5 days. 3.4 films per day. Not bad. I’ve seen as many as 5-6 films/day in previous years… As this was my 22nd Telluride Film Fest, suffice to say, I do take more naps these days.

Let’s get to it! My best prediction for Best Picture: Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s whimsical and smart with incredible set and costume design. The first 30 minutes will have you guessing if you like it or hate it… just stick with it. This brings me to an important demand…errrr, request: Remember: I watched ALL OF THE FILMS REVIEWED HERE IN A THEATER. And if you watch them at home… well, you’re not giving them a fair shot. Because even if you swear up and down that you can watch a film at home without interruption… you can not. These films take 2-3-5-10 years to craft, so the least we can do is give them 2 hours of our undivided attention. Many of the breadcrumb clues a filmmaker gives us about the larger story are simply lost on a small screen. Furthermore, when you *hate* a film… you’ll never really know the film stunk… or if you weren’t present enough to “get it” so you’ll be forced to question your own evaluation of it. See? That’s why you gotta get to a theater. Ok. I’ll hop off my soapbox now.

All of Us Strangers

Spooky strange story about what’s real and what we want to be real. Starring Andrew Scott (cute priest alert for Fleabag fans) and super cute Paul Mescal (starred in TFF22’s Aftersun) who seem to be all alone in the world. Love the layers of symbolism in this film. It’s almost a poem rather than a narrative story. You’ll need to suspend your disbelief to get into the story behind the story. There’s so much realness in this ghost story. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Release date: December 22, 2023 (theaters)

All of Us Strangers Trailer here

All That Jazz

This was the film selected by Ethan Hawke (guest director, who is invited to program the festival with films that shape them) and it was a good one! One of Dan Hanley’s favorites. And anybody who knows me knows I love to watch Dan Hanley watching one of his favorite films. Now. That’s entertainment. Have you ever seen it? It’s fun!

All That Jazz Trailer here

Baltimore

Baltimore (not the Wire Baltimore… apparently — there’s a whole other Baltimore in County Cork, Ireland!? Who knew!?) is about a wealthy young woman, Rose Dugdale played by Imogen Poots who plans an art heist to raise funds for the IRA. Suspenseful heist film. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. No trailer at the time of publication. No trailer yet.

Daddio

This film wasn’t my super favorite… mostly because it felt like it should have been a play. What was my favorite is that a writer/director, Christy Hall got her film made — and into the Telluride Film Festival! AWESOME! This story didn’t require the glitz of the big screen (but… as I wrote in my first paragraph… this doesn’t mean that you can skip the theater!). Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn talk for a couple hours about their lives and create a bond in a taxi. No trailer yet.

Fingernails

Whoa. Strap in. Watch this film if you’re brave. Feel free to close your eyes and put fingers in your ears (I did). It’s true, there’s some really disturbing images in this film. DISTURBING. However, the disturbing images are there for a good reason. Because people want to know — is our love real? We want certainty and we’ll do anything to be sure. If you loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and can suspend your disbelief about what lengths people will go to be in love… you’ll love Fingernails.

Now playing on Apple TV+. Fingernails trailer here.

Janet Planet

Ok – THIS IS THE MOVIE that you get to see because you go to a film festival. This is a tiny little movie. A tiny little amazing story that I have no idea how they will market this film so you know it’s for you. It’s a story about a mom and a daughter living in rural western massachusetts in the 1970’s. It’s not your typical coming of age story about a 10 year old girl who discovers her budding sexuality — nope, this kid is a kid. And she wanders through the movie as a kid, exactly like I did. She loves her mom so completely, the exact way we did before we discovered anything or anybody besides our mom. It’s a perfect movie. No trailer yet.

NYAD

Oooh, I love a girl-power film! NYAD was just released on Netflix about Diane Nyad who swam from Cuba to Florida when she was 60+ years old. Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi + Jimmy Chin who are longtime Telluride friends — through the climbing community & MountainFilm, also directed Free Solo, which won the Oscar for best documentary in 2018.

NYAD trailer here.

Poor Things

Love the wonder-twins director/writer combo Yorgos Lantimos and Tony McNamera. Their dreamteam work in The Favourite (premiered at Telluride 2018) and the super fantastic amazing best TV show in the last 3 years, The Great is only picking up steam. I predict Poor Things will win Best Picture this year. It’s whimsical and its message sneaks up on you. Mark Ruffalo’s character is a moron. It’s so fun! Girl power.

Poor Things trailer here.

Rustin

George C. Wolfe was in Telluride to introduce Rustin, starring Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin. He has been largely forgotten in our textbooks and this film wants to resurrect his position in history. Architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Rustin challenged authority and never apologized for who he was. The acting is great in this film! The only criticism is that it’s a bit of an afterschool special — no big plot twists here or creative storytelling.

Rustin trailer here.

Saltburn

In the social media age of spying on each other’s big lives, Saltburn captures how we lust for what our friends have. It’s kinda a Talented Mr. Ripley meets Single White Female story. My one beef: I wish the protagonist was a woman… because I loved loved loved Promising Young Woman which, like Saltburn was also written/directed by Emerald Fennell. She writes women so well! This movie would have been even more fun with a woman psychopath.

Saltburn trailer here.

Tehachapi

French photographer and street artist JR, who directed Oscar nominated FACES PLACES, was in Telluride to promote Tehachapi (see his “pop up” below). Tehachapi aspires to bring attention to the men forgotten and lost in the US prison system. I saw this film in Telluride Town Park all snuggled up with good friends under a shared blanket and a dark sky full of stars. It was not lost on me my privilege that I somehow was born lucky with parents who loved and wanted me. I was given choices and options that the men in Tehachapi were never given the same. No trailer yet.

The Falling Star

I love a good French slapstick comedy! The Falling Star is like a French clown / mime / Buster Keaton flick. Tons of zany setups including a good/evil twin setup. This film is a good palette cleanser. It’s quite a jape! No trailer but here’s a blurb.

The Holdovers

Whoa. This film has a BIG ad budget. I’ve seen an ad for this film about 100x in the last 2 weeks! Yay art film budgets! I love Alexander Payne! That said, he hasn’t had a great film at the Telluride Film Festival in 10 years. I loved Nebraska in 2013 and watch it every few years (that’s Bruce Dern + me below!)… And yes, I realize that Downsizing was only 6 years ago… as I said “great film”. They can’t all be great. The Holdovers is no Election, but the main character (Angus Tully) played by Dominic Sessa, was attending Deerfield as a student when Payne plucked him out of obscurity to play the lead! Move over Reese! This high schooler is about to be a superstar!

The Holdovers trailer here.

The Royal Hotel

The Royal Hotel has the not-so-thinly-disguised threat of rape from the first party scene 10 minutes. The whole movie is a power keg building and building and building to a BIG EXPLOSION. Kinda like sex. Oh, I see what she did there. It’s scary and uncomfortable. But the payoff is weak (that’s what she said).

The Royal Hotel trailer here.

The Zone of Interest

I am pretty excited about this film because I absolutely love the actress, Sandra Hüller (also starred in Toni Erdmann / TFF 2016, and one of the very foreign films that I own). All of the story in The Zone of Interest takes place in a residence directly next door to an extermination camp, Auschwitz. Imagining going about your everyday tasks while people were being systematically murdered 50′ from your front door. To me, this story is about our personal power to deny what’s happening around us every day. We know people are being systematically murdered (in Gaza, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and we go about our lives. We are safe in our beds at night while many others struggle for their survival. I think this film has a good chance to be recognized as a best picture/foreign category (UK/Poland).

The Zone of Interest trailer here.

Tuesday

3 things about Tuesday:

1. If you’ve been dreaming of a film with a 45′ tall CGI talking parrot, you’re going to love Tuesday!
2. Tuesday stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has been moving out of the ‘slapstick Elaine Benes/Selina Meyer’ lane and into the ‘smart dramedy Nicole Holofcener’ lane. Seriously, JLD, you can do anything! You are amazing. And we will see you win an Oscar one day. But not for this film… because even you… could NOT save this film.
3. My friend Tom tapped out of this film about 30 minutes in. As he grabbed his backpack, his body language said “nope. nerp. no way. I can not watch another frame of this movie”.

Tuesday trailer here. Just kidding. There’s no trailer yet.

Wildcat

My friend Tom made the joke that every year at the Telluride Film Festival, there’s at least one Wildcat and one Promised Land. This year, there was one of each. Last year’s Wildcat was one of my favorite films of the year! Playing now on Amazon Prime. However… if you insist on watching the 2023 Wildcat, that’s your prerogative. This Wildcat just wasn’t my jam. I didn’t read Flannery O’Connor’s short stories, so I felt lost and disengaged. If you loved them, you may enjoy this film more than I did. Laura Linney’s prosthetic teeth 10 minutes into the film *really* threw me. I couldn’t recover.

Wildcat trailer here. Ok, technically, this is a complete different Wildcat trailer… but enjoy!

2023 Telluride Film Festival Gallery