Labor Day Brings Telluride
It's Labor Day Weekend and that means film aficionados are flocking to Telluride for the 34th Annual film Festival. In years past, I would have been made the challenging ride north on Friday. I always spent the first 24 hours with an altitude headache. Fortunately the smell of the pine forests, the crisp mountain air and the gaggle of excited filmgoers made it worth the effort. Telluride is a little odd in that they don't announce the films until the festival begins so there is no frantic ticket buying ahead of time. One purchases a pass and simply choose films after reading the 34th Annual Telluride Film Festival Guide. It's a stark contrast to Sundance.
Each year, there are three tributes to remarkable filmmakers. The tributes this year include actor Daniel Day Lewis, composer, arranger, pianist Michel Legrand and director Shyam Benegal. I always loved the panel discussions with tributees.
There are several films I love to see. Very high on the list would be Jon Krakauer's tale of a trip into the Alaskan Wilderness that was adapted to become Sean Penn's INTO THE WILD. After seeing Noah Baumbach's THE SQUID AND THE WHALE at Sundance, I think it would be neat to see MARGOT AT THE WEDDING at Telluride. Margot is played by the luminous Nicole Kidman. To be honest, I never much likd Nicole Kidman films. I don't know when she that shift occurred but now I really like her work. There are documentaries by Werner Herzog and Barbet Schroeder that I would love to see. Guess I'll to what everyone else does, wait for them to come out in the theaters. Dang it.
