Sunday, September 05, 1999
Telluride films focus on life, human content
Most entries non-commercial
BY MARGARET A. McGURK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TELLURIDE, Colorado — High in the San Juan range of the Rocky Mountains, a couple of thousand film fans are scurrying up and down the streets of the quaint village of Telluride to dozens of screenings, keeping an eye open for celebrities.
French film legend Catherine Deneuve was the most glamorous visitor; cinema fanatics were also eager to spot composer Philip Glass, and directors David Lynch, Ken Burns and Werner Herzog.
While locals grumbled at the nearly daily downpours that have dogged the usually dry summer here, visitors mostly shrugged off the rain, draped themselves in ponchos and plowed on to the next venue.
The festival's slate of films was typically eclectic and mostly non-commercial; less than half are new movies aimed for theatrical release.
Thematically, this year's Telluride could be described as the anti-irony festival. The program is laden with old and new works from around the world explicitly chosen for straightforward human content and expressive power, rather than hipness quotient.
Much of the program reflects guest director Peter Sellars' comment that, “These are movies that are actually more interested in life than in the language of movies.”
Nothing illustrates the theme better than the choice of The Straight Story as the featured opening night film. The movie is a warm-hearted account of the true story of an elderly man, played by Richard Farnsworth (Misery), who rode his lawn mower nearly 300 miles to reconcile with his ailing brother.
The director is David Lynch, famous for such dark, ironic, ambiguous fare as Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet and Lost Highway. Mr. Lynch, also the subject of a retrospective salute at the festival, stunned film fans when he took on a movie that represents such a radical departure from his distinctive, signature style.
Other highlights of the festival program include:
• Orfeu, a new Brazilian version of the same play that inspired Black Orpheus in 1959, from director Carlos Diegues.
• A four-hour remastered version of Greed, the silent masterpiece by Erich von Stroheim that was released in 1924 only after massive cuts by studio executives. Because much of Mr. Stroheim's original footage is still missing, recently discovered still photos have been incorporated to help recapture the filmmakers' original vision.
• Dracula: The Music and Film, a remastered version of the 1931 film directed by Tod Browning (Freaks) and starring Bela Lugosi. The original film contains dialogue but no music; it will be re-released in some theaters this year with a new score written by Mr. Glass, who came to Telluride to perform the score live with the Kronos Quartet.
Mr. Glass is the subject of another festival salute, as is Ms. Deneuve.
The festival program reflects the strong international interest of Mr. Sellars, with titles from Congo, Argentina, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Iran and the Philippines. Mr. Sellars, who made his fame as a director of theater and opera by overturning traditions, said he is fascinated by the ingenuity and originality of filmmakers outside North America, who often operate under oppressive cultural conditions.
He predicted that since film has become thoroughly engrained in the world's artistic vocabulary, the art form is poised to evolve beyond familiar styles.
“I think the era of genre film we are in will be just a blip in film history,” he said.
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