Juno and There Will Be Blood? So 2007. The Telluride Film Festival is starting up some Oscar buzz over a whole new group of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire.
The festival, which just celebrated its 35th anniversary, concluded on Monday, September 1st. Being that the closing of this festival leads into the opening of the much larger Toronto International Film Festival, which begins on Thursday, this little Colorado event has become known as the introduction to the fall movie season.
An article from Variety describes Button and Slumdog as “artistically and technically impeccable” and “madly entertaining,” respectively. With Slumdog being called a “runaway smash” and mere snippets of Button generating such a significant amount of discussion, who knows what will come of these films when they hit theaters. Or, even more importantly, when Oscar season rolls around. The Telluride lineup often includes a number of foreign films and art-house hits, so the big-budget Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt, seems a bit out of place. A 20-minute showing of the fall release kicked off the festival amid a Sheridan Opera House tribute to the film’s director David Fincher. Fincher, whose resume includes the past hits Zodiac, Fight Club and Se7en, is going from serial killers and the aggression-obsessed to Benjamin Button, a man who ages backwards. You can see Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett in this film alongside Pitt on December 25th. Can’t wait till Christmas? Check out the trailer here.
Let’s throw in a little comedy to lighten the mood. Don’t you dream about how your life would change if you won the lottery, hit it big on the slots or even made the big bucks on a game show? Well, that’s what happens to a young Indian boy after playing a Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in Slumdog Millionaire. The Danny Boyle-directed comedy is set for release on the 28th of November, but not before it makes its appearance at the Toronto Film Festival. Unfortunately there is no trailer to quench your thirst before the release just yet, but you can take a look at some still photographs thanks to AcesShowBiz.com here.
