September 6, 2005

And so another Telluride is in the books...

There wasn't a lot of surprise in this year's festival. The big buzz films coming out of the weekend were pretty much the ones going in.... Capote, Walk The Line, Brokeback Mountain and Breakfast On Pluto. The future of Bee Season will become clearer as Toronto rolls on. Paradise Now had people enraptured, as did what was perhaps the surprise hit of the festival, Everything Is Illuminated. (It's not my favorite, but it came up often in the "what have you liked" conversations with festivalgoers.)

Perhaps the best loved, if not best attended, surprise of the fest was a one-time showing of the PBS doc directed by Martin Scorsese. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. If one person wondered aloud why the film wasn't getting a theatrical release, a hundred did. Apparently, PBS paid the lion's share of the production costs and demanded to be the premiere outlet for the film. Not many distributors were interested in distributing a film after it's played on TV, followed by a quick DVD release. Oh well... The film will play one more fest, Toronto, before the PBS playdate. I look forward to catching the film on a big screen while up there.

I spent a great deal of time debating the merits and limitations of Brokeback Mountain, even chatting with Planet Out by Monday afternoon for a story on reactions to the film. Being as my review was negative, what seems like a majority (not a vast majority, but a majority) of Telluride audience members liked Brokeback and have had a lot to say.

What seems to be developing is a sense that the story of Brokeback Mountain, of two men who find a love together but are challenged by fears both personal and societal when it comes to fully committing to one another, plays as an icon of the gay experience and not just as your average movie. As a result, my criticisms of storytelling are somehow being converted in many of the conversations to some idea that I am somehow rooting against the figures in the film.

I still think that there could be some backlash against the film since it depicts gay men (presumably, though one of the two men is clearly a happily active bi-sexual and the other seems okay with married life though obsessed with the other man, though not men in general) as unable to move forward, suppressed by society and the threat of anti-gay rage rearing its head. It's hard to imagine Larry Kramer or Andrew Sullivan going for the politics of this film.

On the flip side, I didn't find a gay man at Telluride who saw the film and was not a fan, including some very, very smart, fully out, sharp-tongued guys. Interestingly, a number of these same men who loved Brokeback hated Breakfast on Pluto. The clearest commenting one said that he thought Cillain Murphy's character was too sexually coy. I can't say I know what this means or how it will play out as Pluto his Toronto. But it is an interesting thing to consider.

In so many ways, Brokeback Mountain is not inherently political. It is a very old fashioned romance. And the first 30 minutes or so, in which the film's duo is alone on Brokeback Mountain itself, is compelling enough filmmaking. It's shot and acted beautifully, even if it does get a bit Abercrombie & Fitch for my tastes. My complaints are primarily with the lack of context after the two come off the mountain. And there is a redeeming 15 minutes or so at the film's end. I intend to revisit the film soon, but the saggy middle is likely to remain an issue for me.

That said, they make romantic romps for women over 40... Diane Lane has become the uncrowned queen of the genre. So why not have a similar film, beautifully made, starring straight men (funny how that concession to show biz doesn't seem to have bothered anyone yet), for gay men and for women who can easily identify with relationships with men? If you are a fan of An Affair To Remember, you may well go for this movie, no matter what your sexuality.

Thanks to one reader, I got access to Annie Proulx' short story, on which it turns out, the movie is more than based... it is virtually a word-for-word recreation. You can read it here, but be aware, if you read it, you know eveyrthing about what will be in the movie.

I suspect this conversation will be continuing for some time. Fortunately, there will be more people who have actually experienced the film once the Toronto film Fest starts later this week.

Outside of this, there were some of the wonderful opportunities that always come to Telluride in their own unique way. I had drinks with Team Searchlight and Bee Season directors McGehee & Siegel - great guys both - on the first night in town before any of us bothered to introduce ourselves by our professional roles. The director of the controversial Paradise Now, Hany Abu-Assad, turns out to be as gentle and kind as he is passionate about his film.

Team Capote (Bennett Miller, Dan Futterman and Phillip Seymour Hoffman) were great fun to share a dinner table with as we had a chance to talk Capote, but then to really talk movies and actors, career challenges, cookies, and even parenting. These three guys have a history going back to high school and sitting with them - and Mimi O'Donnell - is like hanging out with a close family that you really like. Add to that, Michael Barker & Tom Bernard had some great tales to tell, making the evening complete. (Neil Jordan was there, but I did little but stutter… even I find myself intimidated and brain damaged sometimes.)

And it was great to have a few very informal minutes with Walk The Line director Jim Mangold, whose obvious enthusiasm for not only the material but for everyone he worked with on the film and for filmmaking itself was a human side that I should of expected, but didn't. And if you read my review of the film on MCN, you'll see that the film just keeps getting better and better for me… which is a rare and wonderful thing.

Every year, Telluride is a bit like attending an out of town wedding. Tom Luddy and Bill Pence are the fathers of the bride (even if Apple and others are footing the bill) and Stella Pence the mother of the bride. You get to spend happy time with people you know and people you don't, forever discussing your common interest. ("The bride, she's beautiful!" "I don't know… I thought she kind of stunk.") But you couldn't ask for better hosts, a more beautiful venue or a more sincere love of their "children."

But like any wedding, you get home exhausted and a little hung over, but oh so happy.

E-ME.