It has come to my attention, via the Rope of Silicon post and SpoutBlog commenter Gould, that there is bad buzz in Telluride surrounding David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I’m in Telluride, and I hadn’t heard this bad buzz––the handful of people I’ve spoken to who saw the show reel either last night or this morning had generally positive things to day, aside from some general skepticism as to what the film’s reported two and a half hour final cut will look and feel and play like.

As I responded to Gould’s comment on this post:

…it’s hard to tell from this reel whether or not the film is going to hold together. I don’t get the sense that he’s going for whimsy or magical realism, but it does seem like a real departure for Fincher. Hopefully the fanboys looking for another Fight Club won’t burn Fincher at the stake for branching out a bit.

Telluride is not like, say, Comic-Con; the crowd doesn’t boo or scream, and most attendees are less likely to walk out of a screening with a firmly settled opinion than they are to spend the rest of the weekend talking it out. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m right and the naysayers are wrong, but I do hope this movie doesn’t get a leg cut off before the picture’s locked thanks to the entire internet jumping to conclusions.

Tonight’s Silver Medallion Tribute to David Fincher at the Telluride Film Festival closed with a screening of 20 minutes of Fincher’s much-anticipated new film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt as a baby born old who reverse-ages over eight decades. Fincher called the footage “a series of scenelets,” meaning that, unlike the single reel of There Will Be Blood shown at last year’s tribute to Daniel Day-Lewis, this reel was cut together to give us a teasing glimpse of the wider narrative and scope of the film.

First impression: it’s impressive. It’s absolutely gorgeous, for starters. Coming as it did after a show reel featuring excerpts from Fincher’s music videos and adverts (both cut into a montage set to “How Soon is Now?” by The Smiths, weirdly and unadvisedly divorcing both pop and product promos from what they were made to promote) and each of his features aside from Alien³, it’s clear that Fincher has moved beyond the cool blacks and blues with florescent highlights that have thus far defined his visual style. It’s a period epic, so the broader visual palette makes sense, but it came as a relief that, within all this beauty, the effects used to transform Pitt first into an 80-year-old man and then backwards into a child felt of a piece and not overwhelmingly effect-y.

Also exciting: though the reel gives every hint that Button is a proper epic tearjerker about love and pain and time and blah blah blah, it’s also infused with the dry, quippy sense of humor that cuts through the darkest swatches of Fincher’s filmography. This is, after all, the man who says he wanted to make Fight Club because he thought the book was “hilarious [and] ridiculous. But I’m an asshole.”

A detailed run-down of the clip follows after the jump. Not having seen the full film, I can’t say for sure whether or not there are spoilers, so I suppose if you want to know absolutely nothing, don’t click.

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There seems to be some consensus around and abouts on the Interwebz that this year’s Telluride Film Festival line-up is a non-starter. Its collection of foreign films, documentaries and classic films - along with a smattering of the more usual fare - seems to fly in the face of the perception of the festival as a launching pad for the next great independent-minded-but-mainstream-accessible crossover hit. Considering last year’s festival included first looks at Juno, There Will Be Blood, The Savages and others that went on to some mainstream success, such reaction is to be expected.

But the - let’s generously say “oddly”  - formed 2008 list doesn’t mean a crossover success is completely outside the realm of possibility. Let’s look at five movies that could wind up getting some decent buzz coming out of Telluride and heading into the remainder of festivals and awares season.

Happy-Go-Lucky: Anything from director Mike Leigh is sure to come with some expectations around it and this is likely to be no exception. While the odds are good this will be somewhat lighter in tone than some of Leigh’s previous films I wouldn’t bet on it being any less a sharp character study. And never underestimate the power of a powerfully perky female lead, which could help Happy-Go-Lucky become a feel-good hit in the non-entertainment areas of the country that are looking for an endearing story featuring a strong love story.

Adam Resurrected: The perception - at least among the staffers at here at Spout HQ - is that a good deal of Jeff Goldblum’s appeal comes from his unpredictability. So with a career that’s had him saving the world, dodging dinosaurs and turning into a fly his latest turn is as a Jewish entertainer in Nazi Germany who survives because of his ability to entertain the children being held at the concentration camps. Combine that with the fact that he and co-star Willem Dafoe are directed by Paul Schrader and you have a film that could make a decent splash with audiences and awards voters.

I’ve Loved You So Long: Kristen Scott-Thomas stars in a story about the members of an estranged family who find themselves coming together after one of them spends 15 years in prison. The emotional arc the story is sure to take Scott-Thomas on is one that is, at least on paper, seemingly tailor-made to please critics (there’s a lot of “Best Actress Oscar” talk from those who’ve seen it). While not a crowd-pleaser it could turn out to be something along the lines of There Will Be Blood should enough critics get behind it and turn the story of someone who might not be completely likable into a must-see movie.

Youssou Ndour - I Bring What I Love: Known primarily in the U.S., I’m guessing, for his work with Peter Gabriel in the late 80’s, Youssou Ndour’s story is certainly a compelling one. There’s usually one documentary that breaks out from the pack and earns a place in the queues of people who don’t normally watch them and since the subject matter here is a tad more accessible than that of some other docs, this could be that one.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: No, it’s not actually screening at Telluride, but a sneak peak of it is being included in the presentation of Zodiac: The Director’s Cut that’s happening. If the footage that’s shown of the movie, which stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse, is any good at all, Telluride could become the launching pad for a lot of buzz going into the remainder of the year.

The Playlist point to this “teaser” trailer for David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which spins on the wildly exciting premise that the wisdom and life experience of an old man could travel in the body of a young(ish) Brad Pitt. The trailer is long, slow, and almost dialogue free. We can only hope the movie follows suit.

• Weird. Leo DiCaprio will produce a live-action, “two-part epic” based on the classic manga/anime Akira. The story will be adapted to take place in New Manhattan, “a city rebuilt by Japanese money.” The HR story actually doesn’t specify whether or not Leo will star in the thing, but if so, I imagine they’ll also “adapt” this skull-head getup so that Warner Brothers can actually see what they’re paying for.
• Gore Verbinski is going to make a cartoon, and this one is not going to star Johnny Depp.
• Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman will adapt Black Hole, a graphic novel about promiscuous teens passing around a mystery STD (hot), for David Fincher to direct.
• Isn’t it a little weird that Variety editor Tim Gray doesn’t actually make a Best Picture prediction in the Best Picture prediction video above? Does this give credence to the “Juno is the new Crash” nightmare scenario that’s been floating around? Or is he just contractually not allowed to disappoint his advertisers?

• The Underwire points to Barackula, “a short political horror rock musical about young Barack Obama having to stave off a secret society of vampires at Harvard when he was inducted into presidency at the Harvard Law Review in 1990.” The ten minute film is not online yet, but we’ll be first in line for its debut.
• Speaking musicals that plumb unlikely sources for kitsch, Chuck Palahniuk, David Fincher and Trent Reznor are apparently trying to put together a Broadway show based on Fight Club, to coincide with the film’s ten year anniversary in 2009. American Idol castoffs should start working out now, I guess…
• Whoops! According to Andy Baio via Steve Bryant, the slow closing of the theatrical to DVD window, of which one benefit is supposedly the reduction of piracy, is actually making piracy worse.
• Pitchfork’s offers a short review of Kurt Cobain: About A Son, sparked by news that the doc is soon coming to DVD. “So basically what I’m saying is if you want your childhood dreams shattered, go see About a Son. (Kidding.) But really, it’s an essential movie for Nirvana fans.”
• The apartment that Heath Ledger died in is already on the market––and rent has been jacked up about 15%.
• EVERY SENTENCE of Ed Gonzales’ review of The Hottie and the Nottie is too good, I can’t isolate just one. Well, maybe this one: “Fuck this movie.” THAT’s a pullquote!
• This is probably the most horrifying celebrity glamour shot that I’ve ever seen. But this, this and this are all kind of amazing.

• I have a friend who constantly needles me for my inappropriate crush on Michael Cera. He says the problem is not that the star of Superbad and Juno is almost a decade younger than me–the problem, is that apparently every late-20-something girl in New York has a crush on Michael Cera, and they all seem to get a kick out of talking about how inappropriate it is, and frankly, when it comes to inappropriate crushes, he expects me to have slightly more idiosyncratic tastes.  I thought he was full of it, on all of the above…until I saw this.
• I saw Ray Tintori’s short Death to the Tinman at three festivals in 2007, and it seemed to be a huge hit with audiences at each one. At Vulture, Bilge Ebiri embeds Tintori’s previous short, the apocalyptic Jettison Your Loved Ones.
• Is David Fincher’s next film Curiously related to Mork & Mindy? Kevin Kelly at i09 investigates.
• More lists: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days makes the top of David Hudson’s Best of 2007 list. The GreenCine Daily master blogger also gives shout-outs to Silver Jew, The Pervert’s Guide to the Cinema, and Hannah Takes the Stairs. And AJ Schnack names his 10 favorite non-fiction films of the year (plus 10 runners-up).

• It’s official: The Writers Guild will strike, as soon as Monday morning. It still seems like the impact will be focused on TV, at least for the time being. Les Moonves insists that CBS doesn’t need writers to make it through the season (although he didn’t comment on how the strike will effect late night shows like David Letterman’s). SAG is pledging solidarity, but has advised its members that if they’re under contract, they must go to work. The Teamsters say they won’t cross picket lines, to which ABC responded: “If you make a decision not to cross a picket line by another union such as the WGA, know that you are refusing to perform your duties on a day that you have a call and that the Studio has the right to replace you.” More on this clusterfuck as it unfolds.
• Natalie Portman has signed a two-picture deal for her production company with Jeff Skoll’s Participant Productions. She’s separately setting up her feature directorial debut, an adaptation of Amos Oz’s memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness. The script will be written by Naomi Foner, who is the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
• David Fincher will direct an adaptation of the graphic novel The Killer for Paramount.
• Variety confirms a rumor that was in the NY Post a couple of days ago: THINKFilm has shelved a planned theatrical microrelease for Bordertown, and will only distribute the film on DVD. It’s the reteaming of Jennifer Lopez with her Selena director, Gregory Nava, and it was allegedly booed at the Berlin Film Festival.

The music video is primarily a medium of close-ups and wide tableau, with very little in between. In its traditional, performative form, framing is designed to either be tight enough to confirm lipsynch accuracy, or far away enough to properly present multiple bodies in slickly choreographed motion.

I am convinced that no director of music videos has worked the close/wide divide better than David Fincher. To be fair, I haven’t seen Zodiac, but I could take or leave his previous five feature films. In my mind, Fincher reached his creative and technical peak between 1989-1990, when he was directing music videos for Paula Abdul, George Michael, Billy Idol and, most impressively, Madonna. Is any image filmed in 1990 more iconic than this frame, from Fincher’s video for Madonna’s “Vogue”?

Fincher’s best video works actually function in part as tribute to the very concept of the close-up glamour shot, and he reached his absolute peak using Madonna as a more-than-willing sponge for the visual detritus of the studio era. Three of his Madonna videos (”Vogue”, “Express Yourself” and “Oh Father”, all of which made the Top 15 of Slant Magazine’s Top 100 Greatest Music Videos list) are so good that even now, 18 years on, watching them occasionally sparks a tear in my eye. A fourth Madonna/Fincher collaboration, “Bad Girl”, is incredibly silly, but still compulsively watchable. Even in Fincher’s lesser works, it’s the close-ups that punch me in the gut. In terms of his Madonna videos, Fincher’s close-ups are the most intimate images of the star that we’ve ever known.

Notes on Fincher’s signature close-ups after the jump.
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