‘The Rescue’: A Sturdy Doc From The ‘Free Solo’ Team Suffers A Little In Comparison [Telluride Review]

To open: Ada (Milana Aguzarova), a young woman living in North Ossetia, is planted against the cement wall by the freeway. As the tumult of cars rushes by, a young man — the seemingly lovesick Tamik (Arsen Khetagurov) — calls for her.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings handily crossed the $250M mark globally this weekend, seeing a very good 34% drop at the international box office and maintaining No. 1s in such key markets as Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the UK.

“Bodies are heavier after death, my pop told me.” So says a child at the beginning of Mama I’m Home, setting the scene for Vladimir Bitokov’s compelling second feature which premiered in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival.

Ben Croll To say that Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or win in July inspired waves of excitement across swaths of the French industry would be something of an understatement.Indeed, to those working in genre, the fact that the “Titane” filmmaker became only the second woman director to claim one of the film world’s most august accolades follows well behind an accomplishment that they would argue puts in her even more rarified company: That she claimed such a feat from within an industry still

The attires worn by the young men that conform the USSR’s National Security Service (NKVD) in the extraordinary Russian thriller “Captain Volkonogov Escaped,” from directors Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, don’t abide by historical accuracy. And that’s a positive.

If an alien came to Earth and wanted to know what the deal is with all these big, wet things crisscrossing the land, then Jennifer Peedom’s new documentary “River” would surely be of assistance. Its seventy-four minutes float by with the hazy ambiance that compels critics to dust off the time-honored descriptor of “tone poem,” the camera content to gaze at the magnificence of the natural world.

Alexandre Moratto’s “7 Prisoners” opens on a happy family dinner in rural Brazil. Mateus (Christian Malheiros) is leaving home for a work opportunity in São Paulo.

An executioner has 24 hours to atone for his sins in Captain Volkonogov Escaped, an inventive and disturbing Venice Film Festival competition entry from Russian writer-directors Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. This married couple finished their screenplay in lockdown, and the result is both nightmarish and dreamlike.

TELLURIDE – If you’re a cat lover, as I admittedly am, it almost goes without saying that a feline-themed film should pique your interest. And when it comes to a prestige biopic about influential artist Louis Wain, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, and Toby Jones? Well, in theory, those elements should combine into a delectable portion of cinephile catnip.

Directors mining their lives for a story is nothing new, but it’s always exciting to see that premise connect with viewers beyond its maker. Such were the audience reactions to Kenneth Branagh’s stirring revisit to the Belfast of his childhood: there were sobs, gasps, and so much laughter.

In the form-expanding documentaries of Robert Greene, the artifice of performance clears a path with higher emotional truth waiting at its summit. Still, the distance between the two has varied.

Swaddled in the vastness of the mountainous American West, two young women command the terrain and their own destinies in Emelie Mahdavian’s picturesque documentary “Bitterbrush.” The sturdy duo at the helm, Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline, are, despite their youthful age, veteran hired farmhands heading on a four-month commitment in a remote area to herd cattle.

TELLURIDE – Since it first debuted in 1897, Edmond Rostand’s original play “Cyrano de Bergerac” has been staged all over the world, adapted into numerous films, and seen its ingenious narrative used in almost every form of modern media. For a new version to triumph, it needs to equal or, hopefully, transcend what came before.

This week many people will head to the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York, to attend matches of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

As its short declarative title implies, Janet Tobias and John Hoffman’s documentary “Fauci” is single-minded in its pursuit of exploring and humanizing the now (in)famous director of the National Institutes of Health.

Explorer, inventor, activist, and oceanographic popularizer, Jacques-Yves Cousteau introduced millions to the glories of the ocean through his popular movies.

After the secondhand altitude sickness, the most intense vicarious response inspired by the rock-climbing documentary “Free Solo” is pity — in part for its subject Alex Honnold, a daredevil single-mindedly driven to defy death, but more so for his girlfriend. Amidst all the terrifying, enthralling footage of Honnold scaling sheer cliffs, the standout scene finds him and now-wife Sanni McCandless having a frank discussion about the strain his passion has put on their relationship.

A thematically robust and surprisingly introspective look at one of America’s most cherished (and oft-forgotten) institutions, “The Automat” is much like the products of its eponymous subject: easily accessible, thoughtfully produced, and quickly consumed.