Here are reviews of the films that I saw at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day:

     "Life During Wartime" is Todd Solondz's droll and observant companion piece of sorts to "Happiness".  This brilliant film concerns several characters including a single mother named Trish (Alison Janney) who rekindles her love life.  Her first husband has recently been released from prison.  Joy (Shirley Henderson) is haunted by the ghost of a former lover (Paul Reubens) who killed himself.  Both films have deadpan dialogue and begin with an awkward date scene in which queasy truths are reached.  Solondz's precise mise-en-scene is a most peculiar thing and one of a kind, as his style balances deep emotions with a detached irony. (4 stars)

     Introducing "The White Ribbon" at Telluride, director Michael Haneke wished the audience an uncomfortable screening.  The film is set in a town in pre-World War I Germany as a series of bizarre events and vandalisms grip the community.  The movie does have a way of beating you over the head with its plot elements and ideas, but all that is justified with ravishing black-and-white cinematography and a fascinating scene where a child and his nanny have a conversation about death. (3 stars)

     "Vincere" is a superb melodrama about how Mussollini had a son with his mistress and later denied it.  The mother was placed in an insane asylum away from her child.  The movie has a heartbreaking whallop and rampant emotions.  Bold montages reflect director Marco Bellochio's deft filmmaking. (3-1/2 stars)

     Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" is a rich character portrait set in a fictional prison in France.  Absorbing and astonishingly well-made, the airtight script follows a prisoner who unwillingly gets involved with lowlifes who threaten to kill him if he doesn't kill another prisoner.  Another inmate with books tells him that the idea is to leave prison a little smarter.  (4 stars)

     "Fish Tank" is an interesting slice of life centering around a teenage girl who is fond of hip hop dance and is enamored with her mother's boyfriend. (3 stars)

     "The Road" is a grungy post-apocalyptic story of survival set in a dystopian future where a father (Viggo Mortensen) struggles to keep his son and himself alive on their quest to the sea.  The fine performances (including a cameo from Robert Duvall) distinguish the film apart from its murky look which doesn't allow much light or beauty to peek through.  (3 stars)

     "An Education" is a sophisticated coming-of-age film and a sweet confection filled with strong performances (most notably the lead, an energetic newcomer named Carey Mulligan).  Mulligan plays a schoolgirl headed for a prestigious university who gets schooled in another way (in life) when she meets an older man (Peter Sarsgaard).  They meet quirky on a rainy day when he offers her a ride after seeing her cello, tells her he's a music lover, and would hate to see the instrument ruined.  He introduces her to nightclubs, travel, recitals, art, and romance.  What ensues is complications between school and her idea of a new life without dull, boring essays on Latin.  The movie is sure-footed and a satisfying delight.  (4 stars)

     "Bright Star" is a lush, romantic period piece about the poet John Keats and a young lady named Fanny who loves his work.  Elegantly scored and with a scenery-chewing performance by Paul Schneider as a patron of Keats, the film is a return to top form by director Jane Campion.  (3-1/2 stars)

     Nicolas Cage deserves an Oscar nomination for his over-the-top and incredulously joyful performance as a drug-addled cop in Werner Herzog's pungently artful "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans".  The film opens with a shot of a snake swimming through murky water in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.  The film boasts scenes of such ingenious and quirky invention that they have to be seen to be believed.  Shakedowns, a big bust, some iguanas, and much corruption infuse the film with fascination and humor.  (4 stars)

     Herzog was also at Telluride with a most peculiar film called "My Son My Son, What Have Ye Done?" about a man who has killed two people with a sword as part of an obsession with a play.  An inquiring detective (Willem Dafoe) and two flamingoes make their way through the proceedings.  Fine performances from the cast enliven the quirky plot.  (3-1/2 stars)

      Two short films were also shown including one by Herzog set in Africa based on La Boheme about unrequited love.  "Plastic Bag" by Ramin Bahrani is so perfectly timed and such a charming curiousity. It is about the travels of a plastic bag from the grocery store to a lady's home to the landfill and finally into the sea.  The droll narration from Werner Herzog punctuates the amazing adventure and gives the inanimate object a personality.  You just had to be there. 

Tags: Telluride Film Festival

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