For Your Anticipation: I'm Not Lying Comrade

Amongst the films I will most likely not get a chance to see this weekend is Peter Weir's The Way Back, as it is only opening in about 650 theaters. At one point it was an absolute certainty that if this film was released in 2010, it would be nominated for Best Picture. Somehow, the buzz never really got off the ground after the film was pushed to wide release in January, and the qualifying run in 2010 didn't help very much. Still, the film hasn't gotten too many indisputably negative reviews, so it should do well enough for itself in whatever time it has. January is a prime spot for films to find success where they wouldn't in any other month of the year.

Theatrical Trailer: The Way Back

Somehow this second trailer, almost identical to the first except for a few additions, has put me in a position to support this film that the first just didn't. So far as I know, The Way Back has a one week qualifying run for the Oscar race, therefore making it a contender. I'm not sure how far it will go, but Kris Tapley of In Contention sure thinks it has potential. So I'm willing to go out on a limb and trust that Peter Weir has come forward with a good film. Take a look at the trailer below, and comment on your thoughts.

"The Way Back" Poster

Well this certainly looks more optimistic than I expected The Way Back to be. Not sure whether to take that as good or bad.

Theatrical Trailer: The Way Back

Earlier this week, the internet caught word on the possibility of Peter Weir's The Way Back being given a one-week qualifying run for this year's Oscar race. Given this trailer, I'm not totally sure if it will earn much from it. Frankly it seems a little too one-sided and simple to fully invest in. Some of the visuals give an idea that it might be something special, but I need to see a little more than this to give it a shot. Take a look for yourself, and let me know what you think!

"The Way Back" Is.... Well, It's Back!

Remember the pang of sadness that struck Telluride a month ago when news broke out that Newmarket Films had acquired Peter Weir's epic, The Way Back, for a January release? Well general audiences probably won't get to see it until then, but it looks like Weir and the gang have been able to push through a one-week limited release qualifying run for the film. That means that if everything goes smoothly, it may very well make the cut for the Best Picture race. I'm not going to say anything for sure until I absolutely know it for sure, but this is a very exciting possibility that I'd like to see happen. What do you think of this news? Did the reviews out of Telluride strike you as meriting a chance at the top prize?

High on "Telluride": The Way Back

As we begin to close out this game changing weekend, we take a look at one of the films that, due to just bad luck, didn't make the cut for the awards season. It's got nothing to do with the film's quality. An Oscar campaign requires a lot of money and attention, and Newmarket Films just wasn't willing to make that leap of faith. Nonetheless, we'll still be seeing The Way Back in theaters this January, and judging by these reviews (what few there are), it should be a cut above the rest of the films out there.

Kris Tapley (In Contention): "Peter Weir has made a career out of visual feasts with thematic resilience. Some might consider him the David Lean of our time, and with good reason. But the key difference is that Weir has slowly developed an art house niche out of epic scale filmmaking. This kind of thing obviously doesn’t lend itself to studio interest, especially in a day and age when those at the top are frequently number crunchers and business types lacking the cinema knowledge (and appreciation) base of their predecessors. As such, a film like The Way Back waited forever for a company to bite, and now that I’ve seen it, I’m convinced it’s an embarrassment and a blight on many records that the film and Weir have been left out in the cold, because this is quietly profound, epic, bold filmmaking at its very best."

Eugene Novikov (Cinematical): "The first half of The Way Back is Peter Weir at his hypnotic best. Always adept at breathing life into landscapes – see the frightening outback vistas of Gallipoli, the mythic Central American jungle of The Mosquito Coast, and even the idyllic false suburbia of The Truman Show – Weir all but personifies Siberia and (later) the Mongolian desert. They seem threateningly to keep pace with our human protagonists. The snow-covered trees and scorching sand dunes become the terrain of an alien planet. The mines of the gulag are a steam-spitting horrorshow scarier than anything in The Lord of the Rings. The film is extraordinary at seeing these places as its characters would; even the sweeping bird's-eye views seem like an expression of their fear."

Since it seems that not many people saw the film to review it, Newmarket probably won't feel the urge to bump the release date up a few weeks. Consider this film out of contention.