If Telluride does anything, it changes the experience of movie watching. The real gold of the program is not sneak peaks at the big Oscar contenders starting the fall festival run, but films pulled from the vault of history. On a sunny Sunday morning in the mountains, I walked into a theater of movie-lovers where a live orchestra tuned their instruments. We clapped as the orchestra was introduced, the lights went down, the screen lit up and they began to play.

People on Sunday, for Germany in 1929, was like Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese, and Lucas in their early 20’s getting together and saying, “Let’s have some fun making a movie.” (People is a silent film created by Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer and Fred Zinneman, among others.) A meandering film about twenty-somethings–an actor, a dancer, a model, a mechanic–breaking from their mundane day jobs for some fun on a Sunday. It’s a celebration of leisure and the little moments that make life worth living (like an 88 year old version of Aaron Katz’ Quiet City Kevin reviewed in FilmCouch #35). I also have to share People contains the most seductive first kiss I’ve ever seen on film. No joke. …Read more