Opening day at the 43rd Annual Telluride Film Festival was one for the guys , at least in terms of awards buzz for the Best Actor Oscar race. Sully had its first screening Friday night and immediately drew lots of talk for star Tom Hanks who was so unfairly passed over in recent years for superb, if subtle , performances in Captain Phillips and Bridge Of Spies. His latest turn as heroic airline pilot Sully Sullenberger drew very good early reviews and a new chance to go for a third Oscar. Casey Affleck , the subject of a tribute here, has been drawing lots of awards heat for his sensational turn in Manchester By The Sea ever since
Sundance and that is only intensifying in Telluride after Friday night’s first screening and tribute program. Having its World Premiere here in Colorado Bleed For
Warner Bros.
This , the great boxing biopic of Vinny Pazienza from Open Road not only won praise after its debut but seems certain to put its star Miles Teller in the heat of the Best Actor conversation for what is his best film work to date. It’s an irresistible role and he’s a knockout in it, as is Aaron Eckhart as his trainer Kevin Rooney in the Ben Younger-directed film. Eckhart, who is also in Sully, could be in line for a Supporting Actor nomination. La La Land , just as it did in Venice, has wowed Telluride too after its first three screenings today in its North America debut. The intensifying Oscar talk about this film can only help Ryan Gosling land a well-deserved Best Actor nod. In this role of an aspiring jazz pianist he really proves he can do it all from learning to play jazz piano for the film, singing , dancing , comic and dramatic scenes. It is his best screen work in my view. In a decade of coming to Telluride La La Land is the first film I had already previously seen that I went to see again. The audience at this afternoon’s first screening ate it up. Afterwards Jennifer Garner, in town to support her new film Wakefield, was visibly moved by Damien Chazelle’s innovative musical telling me it hit all the right beats. She was clearly blown away by it. By the way her Wakefield co-star Bryan Cranston might be included in the awards conversation too if his film gets picked up for distribution here
Open Road Films
where it is having its World Premiere , to be followed closely by Toronto. The film, written and directed by Robin Swicord , is the most mentioned acquisition title
Summit Entertainment
when I ask distributors which movie they want to see. Cranston landed his first Oscar nomination for Trumbo last year. Another movie that had its World Premiere here last night was A24 and Plan B’s moving story of black life in contemporary America, Moonlight, from writer/director Barry Jenkins. Initial reviews are raves and I would say the mostly male cast will definitely be heard from this season including the three enormously impressive young actors who share the key role of Chiron at different ages: Alex R. Hibbert, Trevante Rhodes , and Ashton Sanders. Emmy nominee Mahershala Ali (House Of Cards) is also very fine as the young Chiron’s mentor. The film is broken into three chapters of his life and deals not only with how it is to be black in America for a young man, but also what the meaning of masculinity really is. A24’s David Fenkel told me it is their first in house production , attracted not only by the script but also the prospect of working with Jenkins. It got a very strong reaction from the opening night crowd. Though the day
By David Bornfriend/Courtesy of A24
was dominated by strong male performances , both Emma Stone , who introduced La La Land with Chazelle, and Naomie Harris as a crack-addicted mother in Moonlight clearly planted their flag in the Oscar race as well on Telluride’s first day.
