Wes Anderson’s ”The French Dispatch” already world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this past July, but hadn’t screened in the United States until today. It was met with mostly positive reviews at Cannes, but it definitely felt, to my eyes, at least, like a step back for Anderson. But, like all of his films, I have this nagging feeling it’ll play much better on subsequent viewings.
Regardless, despite the mixed-to-positive reviews at Cannes, I didn’t expect “The French Dispatch” to be greeted with an even worse reception at the, usually very friendly, Telluride Film Festival. However, here we are and Dispatch’s Oscar chances completely dwindled away this past afternoon.
Nate Jones tweeted:
“Watched French Dispatch a second time to see if Telluride vibed with it more than Cannes did. Verdict: they liked it slightly better --- weirdly it makes more sense here --- but still fairly tepid after the first segment.”
David Canfield tweeted:
“FRENCH DISPATCH: Wes Anderson’s short-story bundle features the usual stuff to like—it’s weird, playful, and gorgeous to look at—but is w/out the soul and hard to find your way into. Jeffrey Wright transcends, though—he’s wonderful & infuses his segment w/ real heart.”
I can only find a single positive tweet from Telluride, RogerEbert.com’s Monica Castillo calling it a “delight.”
Maybe the reception at the New York Film Festival in a couple of weeks will be a little better, who knows, but they say that if the usually very easy-to-delight Scott Mantz hates your movie, then watch out:
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.