Day 2: Wrap up

Overheard about Margot and the Wedding: "It's so dysfunctional. " "Very well-acted." "We're not members of the Nicole club, but she was great." Also pretty good is Jack Black. I bet he'll get some awards traction.

I think Kidman is a great actor, but she's making too many movies. I think her performance in Margot would be all the more special if she allowed some breathing room between projects. She is not necessarily a chameleonic actor, so being too prolific is working against her. As for the movie, the more it settles in my brain, the more I see it as just a medley of button-pushing. Every scene is devoted to one character pushing another character's buttons through an intermediary. I guess that's life, but it gets repetitive.

People are still buzzing with admiration for Blanchett's performance in I'm Not There. Otherwise seen:

L'Amerique Lunaire. A 1962 short by Francois Reichenbach with a beautiful, jazzy score by TFF tributee Michel Legrand. It's about Native Americans, and the "men who cannot live without machines." It was introduced as a prototype of Koyaanisqatsi. It's a beautiful and rarely scene meditation on how everything passes away except our beautiful land.

Brick Lane. Heavy-handed and forgettable drama about a Bangladeshi woman in London who yearns for love and for her homeland.

Jellyfish. Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, this is an Israeli everyone-is-connected dramedy, similar in conceit (but inferior in execution) to the Czech film Up and Down, which played Telluride three years ago.

Day 1: Nicole and Margot

TELLURIDE, Colo. -- A security sweep of the theater last night forced us concessions people outdoors and into the arms of Todd Haynes, Laura Linney and their small entourage of buddies. They were milling around to see Margot at the Wedding, which was soon introduced by director Noah Baumbach (looking like Adrien Brody mixed with Al Pacino) and his girlfriend and star Jennifer Jason Leigh. "Jennifer doesn't like speaking in front of people," Baumbach said on the stage as Leigh stared shyly by his side (in tall black boots pulled over light blue jeans). Baumbach didn't say anything of substance -- only that this was his first time at Telluride. This was the first public screening of Margot, and the theater was packed to capacity (with volunteers squatting on steps and in aisles).

I hate to fling superlatives around, but Margot features Nicole Kidman's most challenging role to date. The movie has the same "family chamber drama" tone as The Squid and the Whale, but this s even more excruciating to watch at points. Kidman plays a monster -- but not a villain -- and her Margot (a writer who crashes her sister's wedding and causes havoc) is one of the most interesting characters I've ever encountered on film. I'm still trying to figure out if her performance is a sensation or a near-miss. I'm leaning more toward the former. But like any Telluride movie, it needs to be seen again. More later.