With Toronto kicking off today, I thought it'd be good to look at the first two major festivals of fall, and see who came out in better shape and worse shape as far as Oscar (and commercial) buzz is concerned.
The Winners
The Descendants—Has to be the big winner. Alexander Payne's film knocked folks out in Telluride and should be a threat all season in multiple categories—Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Artist—Still a major threat, Michel Hazanavicius's film lost none of its early season momentum.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy—I figured the film would be good, but I didn't think much of its Oscar chances due to its genre and the restrained nature of the material. Word from Venice, however, says it's a multiple-nomination threat and that Gary Oldman is the real deal.
The Losers
A Dangerous Method—No film was brought down more than David Cronenberg's latest. No one seemed very enthusiastic about it, and even the performances seemed to disappoint.
Carnage—It probably needed to be a slam dunk in order to garner serious attention, but it wasn't. Not a bad film, most said, but not an Oscar one either.
Albert Nobbs—Same deal as Carnage. Needed raves. Got polite admiration.
The Draws
Shame—It was adored by most who saw it, but it remains a fringe Oscar candidate at best and still hasn't picked up a distributor (that should change in Toronto, I expect).
The Ides of March—Wasn't the home run I and most others thought it would be, but I'm not ruling it out just yet. Let's wait and see how American critics weigh in.
W.E.—Was widely trashed, but should we have expected anything different? Now, at least the curiosity factor is high.
That's a very brief look at where things stand right now. Also, check out my TIFF preview written for PlayerAffinity.com. More festival news coming this weekend...
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