Telluride Day 2 brought out the rain, followed by the sun and the stars.
But Telluride has always been more about movie love than celebrity worship.
Although sometimes its hard to tell.
Credit: Jan Thijs
I admired it more than I loved it.
Then again, Im still thinking about it…so thats something.
She turns on the TV, and the cable news talking heads are on high alert.
They look like giant, 1500-foot-tall obsidian eggs.
Why are they here?
And what do they want?
No one has a clue.
And whoever or whatever is inside of these monolithic spacecrafts isnt in a rush to say.
Global panic breaks out.
Villeneuve, the French-Canadian director of last years crackling drug-war thrillerSicario, is on unfamiliar terrain,terra infirma.
Which turns out to be an advantage since he brings a fresh perspective to his aliens.
They dont look like Spielbergs ETs orAliens facehuggers.
The whole lead-up to the scientists first meeting with the heptapods is breathtaking, strange, and vertigo-inducing.
Partly, at least.
Villeneuve also has some narrative sleight-of-hand tricks up his sleeve that are too audacious to give away.
Her search for answers wont wait any longer.
She has a watchful mysteriousness that you always want to get to the bottom of.
When Una finally meets up with Ray, Mendelsohns face goes white as a sheet.
Unas got him just where she wants him where shes wanted him all these years.
She may not even know.
I suspect Andrews wanted to strip his story of the plays staginess and open it up.
But just because a movie allows you to do that doesnt mean you should.
A little of these time-jumps goes a long way.
LikeRoomlast year,Unaisnt a movie to seek out if youre looking to be comforted.
Its full of harsh emotions and uneasy truths not all of which are worked out in the end.
But its a grown-up film that gives searching audiences something heavy to wrestle with.
It may be the best-acted feel-bad movie of the year.
