Streaming Dreams: Netflix, Amazon Storm Movie Mecca As Two Popes Pops, Marriage Story, Aeronauts Score – Telluride Film Festival
They may not be popular with some sectors of the movie industry, and the big exhibitors want nothing to do with them, but if the reception to their films at this years Telluride Film Festival is any indication Streamers are here to stay. Netflix with this weekends World Premiere of The Two Popes, along with the critically acclaimed Marriage Story straight from its Venice triumph; and Amazon with the World Premiere of Aeronauts, along with The Report (which started life at Sundance) are getting lots of buzz at this cathedral of cinema not used to celebrating movies that play briefly in smaller theatres before hitting TV screens. But celebrate they are and based on reaction as well as the quality of the movies, Netflix especially looks to have a very good Fall after using this ultimate theatrical setting to launch their hopefuls.
Marriage Story which stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in a divorce story from writer/director Noah Baumbach has had lots of buzz coming in from Venice, and it was just as warmly received in its debut here Saturday night winning high praise for Baumbachs very personal screenplay, and its stars and supporting cast including a right -on-target Laura Dern , veteran Alan Alda , and Ray Liotta as the lawyers dragging them through the muck. It didnt disappoint , alternately funny and poignant with razor sharp dialogue , a great score by Randy Newman, and a smart look at divorce that seems entirely fresh . Baumbach has never made a better film that is aptly named because ultimately it really is a marriage story , one that manages to still leave us with hope. It will play the month of November exclusively in theatres before hitting streaming at the beginning of December.
Netflix is also gaining perhaps the most buzz of their Fall movies with Martin Scorseses three hour and twenty minute -or so- gangster epic , The Irishman which opens the New York Film Festival at the end of the month. Scorsese was in town, not for Irishman , but instead the Agnes Varda tribute as well as presenting Driver , also in The Report , with a Silver Medallion. However, the streamer may have an unexpected surprise brewing if Telluride reaction to director Fernando Meirelles splendid The Two Popes is any indication. Buzz on the street was palpable after its first two screenings which I heard whether I sat with moviegoers on the Gondola, and next to at other films. “This is the best film I have seen at the festival” was a common refrain. I heard the same thing from top Academy members here in town including Sid Ganis and Kathleen Kennedy who were singing its praises to me.
With a brilliant screenplay from Anthony McCarten (The Theory Of Everything, Bohemian Rhapsody, Darkest Hour), the film takes its inspiration from the fact that two popes , Benedict who renounced his papacy, the first Pope to do so in 700 years, and current Pope Francis had actually met privately on three different occasions. McCarten then imagines what those conversations were about, thanks to extensive research on both. To see it on Sunday morning was cinematic religion for me and many others, gaining surprising , sometimes even raucous laughter and tears in about equal measure. Its stars Anthony Hopkins as Benedict and Jonathan Pryce as Francis are at the very top of their game here , a match made in heaven as it were. If Irishman and Marriage Story were considered Netflixs best bets to gain another Best Picture nomination this year, you can now add a third.
“Its the second time for me in Telluride. They say that you are invited to Telluride twice in your career, once on the way up and once on the way down, so I am glad to be here, ” laughed McCarten when he was introduced to the crowd before the film started. I can assure you that on the basis of this film at least, he is far from the latter. Pryce got a roaring standing ovation when he came out after it finished. At a small Rustico lunch afterwards he praised his director as well as co-star Hopkins. They have such pitch perfect chemistry I asked how much time they had to rehearse. “Actually I have been preparing for this for 47 years,” he said by way of emphasizing he and Hopkins were on the same wavelength from the beginning. Hopkins, who couldnt be in Telluride , has a scene where he gets to play the piano , something Benedict does well. Pryce said it was all Hopkins, who is very musical and even wrote some of what he was playing. Pryce said this was the first time he got to play a Pope, but he has been a Cardinal at least twice before so he knew how the clothing fit.
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