Empire Of Light

Sam Mendes, the man behind Skyfall and 1917, is back with Empire of Light. Starring the ever-dependable Olivia Colman, along with Michael Ward, Toby Jones and Colin Firth, Mendes has described Empire of Light as his most personal film yet. With Mendes collaborating once again with Roger Deakins behind the lens, Empire of Light opened to positive reviews at Telluride with strong attention (unsurprisingly) for Colman’s performance. We cannot wait!

Icarus: The Aftermath

The hotly anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning documentary Icarus, director Bryan Fogel’s Icarus: The Aftermath became the talking point of the festival. Returning to the friendship between Fogel and Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, The Aftermath focuses on the terrifying extent of Russian doping and the limits that Vladimir Putin’s administration can cross to silence its resistors. The personal and the international intertwine in this daring and assured work.

Women Talking

Sarah Polley’s fourth feature received a rapturous reception and has been described as one of the best of the year. Starring an ensemble comprising Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Frances McDormand (who also credits as a producer), and based on the Miriam Toews novel of the same name, Women Talking is set in a present-day Mennonite colony where the women wake up to the violence they have been hiding their whole lives. This one sounds like a sure-shot winner.

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock

Mark Cousins digs into the subversive genius of the ‘Master of Suspense’ in My Name is Alfred Hitchcock. With a conversational voiceover, the documentary provides acute discussion and commentary on Hitchcock’s films, from his early works to the most revered ones like Psycho and Rear Window. Carefully dissecting the master’s work, the documentary promises to be a captivating tribute to a film-maker we cannot get enough of.

The Wonder

Sebastian Lelio adapts Emma Donoghue’s 2016 novel set in rural central Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Famine of the mid-1800s. Florence Pugh plays Lib, an English nurse called to watch over anl 11-year-old girl who has miraculously survived for four months without food. Also starring Toby Jones and Ciaran Hinds, The Wonder, which will be released by Netflix in December, has been described as a fierce study of religious obsession that presides over compassion.

Goodnight Oppy

The Amazon Studios documentary about the decision of NASA to send a robot to Mars for a 90-day mission earned rave reviews at the festival. The robot in question is Opportunity (Oppy), who survived for 15 years, collecting evidence of the presence of water on Mars. Directed by Ryan White, Goodnight Oppy was interestingly only screened at night, so that the festival audience could have the chance to step out of the theatre and gaze at the night sky afterwards!

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

D.H. Lawrence’s 1928 novel continues to inspire newer adaptations. This time it is Emma Corrin, who charmed us as the young Princess Diana in Season 4 of The Crown, who frontlines director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s adaptation, along with Jack O’Connell for company. This version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was lapped up by the Telluride audience, especially for its subtle intensity and for providing much-needed agency to its female protagonist.

Theatre of Thought

Werner Herzog, the German film-maker who just turned 80, is still strong and how! A Telluride regular — he even has one of the venues at the festival named after him — Herzog teams up with scientist Rafael Yuste to take a close look at the mechanism of the human brain. Considering it’s Herzog and given that the Telluride audience has warmed to baffling and bewildering beauty of Theatre of Thought, we are keeping our expectations high.

One Fine Morning

After two English language features, French director Mia Hansen-Løve returns to her roots with One Fine Morning, which gives Lea Seydoux one of the best roles of her career. Seydoux, who has lately been in everything — from Bond girl to body horror muse — deglams to play Sandra, a single mother who earns just enough to pay the bills for herself and her daughter Linn (Camille Leban Martins). One Fine Morning sounds like one of those quiet films that stay in your mind long after the curtains come down.

SR.

This one has got to be the one to watch out for. Director Chris Smith interrogates the pair of Robert Downey Jr., one of the most recognisable faces in the world, with his father Robert Downey Sr. during his battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Downey Sr. — who passed away last year — worked in the army, was a basketball player and a film-maker. The artistic differences between father and son cut deep in this vivid portrait of a turbulent, personal life story.