TELLURIDE BY THE SEA: Titles Announced!

I was worried I'd have to wait another three excruciating hours just to find out what's playing, but was happy to find out at 9 a.m. this morning. So what exactly is so exciting right now? The titles for the Portsmouth, NH mini-festival, Telluride by the Sea, have been announced and narrowed down from the list we were handed yesterday. Which title am I most disappointed about? Steve McQueen's "Shame" is not on the list to appear this year. It's such a shame, no pun intended, as it's the one I've been most eager to see from the festival. On the other hand, I'm not surprised that it isn't here. It doesn't quite fit the mold that the Portsmouth Music Hall has built over the past few years.

So what am I going to be able to see come September 23-25? For one thing "Albert Nobbs", directed by Rodrigo Garcia of last year's "Mother and Child". It's a typical choice, with period influence as well as an Oscar-bait performance from Glenn Close. Can't say I'm surprised, and can't say I'm too interested either. Last year, the weekend kicked off with "Tamara Drewe", and I steered clear of that one. Depending on how critics react to the film this weekend, I might skip out on "Albert Nobbs" as well.

Saturday holds better interest, starting with the Cannes favorite "Le Havre", which I've heard several layers of praise towards. I keep a typically level head amongst it all, as I just don't see anything extraordinary about it yet. The evening brings two films I've been very much anticipating, and despite its less-than-enthusiastic reviews at Venice today, I am still somewhat interested to see "A Dangerous Method". Each year, there's usually at least one notable Oscar player at these festivals, with "The King's Speech" last year and "An Education" the year prior. Cronenberg's may be the one this year.

It's the film that follows, however, that I've been most excited about throughout the year. With "We Need to Talk About Kevin" only a month away now, at least for me, it seems appropriate to escalate my readings of the novel in the coming weeks. I am, without a doubt, happiest to see this film on the list. And then Sunday comes, and it concludes things with the other two obligatory foreign films of the weekend. One is from Poland, the other from Belgium. I have stalled interest in both.

First there's Poland's entry in the Foreign Language Film race, "In Darkness", which has the baity premise of Jews hiding out in WWII Poland, surviving dire conditions in the sewers of Lvov. You can see why I'm cautious, because this sounds like something that can easily go wrong, and probably will. Time will tell if it's just another "been there, done that" sort of story. The weekend concludes with "The Kid with a Bike", which premiered along with "Le Havre" at Cannes, and managed to gain the Grand Jury Prize. However, I'm honestly not that interested. By that time, I'll have seen most of what I came to see, but it depends on if I'm in a hurry to return to college. Anyway, here's the list of films in order of my anticipation.

6. "Albert Nobbs"

5. "In Darkness"

4. "The Kid with a Bike"

3. "A Dangerous Method"

2. "Le Havre"

1. "We Need to Talk About Kevin"