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Filed under: Telluride, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie

One of my favorite things to do at Telluride is talk to people in line and on the gondola about what they've seen, what they've loved, and what they've hated. The folks who come to Telluride tend to be smart folks who love film, and I always have some fascinating conversations here.

I'm hearing strong positive buzz so far for I've Loved You So Long, Hunger, Flame & Citron, The Good, the Bad and the Weird, and Happy-Go-Lucky, all of which will play Toronto. Folks here are enamored of Sally Hawkins, who plays the lead in Happy-Go-Lucky; sadly, she broke her collarbone while shooting a stunt for her latest film, and isn't here in Telluride, but she will be at Toronto.

Hearing mixed response to American Violet (I haven't seen that one, but you can read Gene's review) and Adam Resurrected; the latter is the newest from film master Paul Schrader, and his films tend to be very heavy. I saw the film yesterday, but haven't yet written up my review for it; I need a bit more time to process what I saw. I will say this much, though: Jeff Goldblum's performance in the film is one of his strongest ever. I loved him in Fay Grim, but this is a very dark, very serious role, and he is great.

Saturday's big sneak screening was Danny Boyle's newest film, Slumdog Millionaire, which is going to be one of the biggest-buzzed films coming out of Telluride and heading to Toronto. Look for the energy around this film and positive response here to help it really pop at TIFF. My review of that film is coming shortly, but for now I'll just say that it's Boyle's best film to date by far. I had a conversation last night over drinks with a screenwriter friend who noted that Slumdog is very Dickensonian in its narrative, and we both agreed that filming over in India this time seems to have opened Boyle up in unexpected ways; this is his least solipsistic film, very accessible and with great mainstream potential -- audience response at last night's sneak, the first time the film has been seen publicly, was overwhelmingly positive.

Two more days of Telluride, look for more reviews to come ...

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