“Piece by Piece”
Are you ready to get happy? A 13-time Grammy Award winner, two-time Oscar nominee (robbed in 2014), and current Louis Vuitton Creative Director Pharrell Williams gets the docu treatment in a life story reenacted in Lego animation. And judging by the trailer, it looks like director Morgan Neville will push the creative boundaries of what the Lego animation team has done so far. And hey, you’re guaranteed to hear “Happy” on the big screen again! Plus, new Pharrell music! Likely a crowd-pleaser for the Telluride faithful in a festival often filled with super-serious docs and dramas. Now, can we just forget Justin Timberlake is one of the talking heads? Can we cut him out? – GE
“Emilia Perez”
After a slightly polarizing debut, “Emilia Perez” won over the 2024 Cannes Film Festival jury, where it won the jury prize and Best Actress honor, which was handed out to four of its stars. Those actors, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña, have a lot on their plate as they sing and dance through Jacques Audiard’s movie melodrama musical about a lawyer who becomes entangled with a Mexican cartel boss who hires her to assist them in transitioning to a woman. Acquired by Netflix following Cannes, the film appears to be the streamer’s major Oscars player for 2025 and will be hoping to generate favorable buzz among the many AMPAS members in attendance. And if Netflix can get “Maestro” to a Best Picture nomination, they have more than a good shot at pushing “Emila Perez,” which should have significant international support, through as well. ‘Perez’ will also screen at TIFF and the New York Film Festival before dropping on Netflix on Nov. 13. – GE
“The Friend”
Perhaps the most under-the-radar fall festival acquisition title this year,
“The Friend” is the latest effort by the directing duo Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Best known for their 2001 breakout thriller “The Deep End,” the pair have now adapted Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 novel about a woman who is slightly coerced into adopting her recently deceased friend’s Great Dane. Naomi Watts portrays the woman trying to sneak around her landlord’s anti-dog policy, while Bill Murray, Constance Wu, Ann Dowd, Carla Gugino, Sarah Pidgeon, and Owen Teague round out the cast. Based on the percolating buzz and the New York Film Festival selection, this title may be one to watch. – GE
Also To See:
You can find some of these in our Venice Film Festival preview, which has a lot of crossover, but additional films or TV series to watch include Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie, Alfonso Cuaron’s “Disclaimer” starring Cate Blanchett, “The Outrun” with Saoirse Ronan, Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” and many more.
Follow along with all our coverage of the 2024 Telluride Film Festival.