Telluride opened without announcing its lineup in advance (as always), and the reviews are already out. TIFF starts Thursday. NYFF follows September 25. Three weeks, more films than anyone can process. Here's what the sources are actually confirming — and what's worth your attention.
1. Telluride's Early Reviews Are Pointing at Two Performances Worth Arguing About
The Debut, Jesse Eisenberg's musical comedy, is drawing early raves for Julianne Moore, whom The Playlist calls "transformative" in a review that uses the word "brilliant" without apparent irony. That's a high bar to set before TIFF even opens.
Meanwhile, Elsinore is generating the kind of superlative-heavy dispatch that either signals a genuine discovery or a festival-altitude contact high: The Playlist's headline calls it "the performance of a lifetime" for Andrew Scott. Both films screened at Telluride — neither has a confirmed U.S. distributor or release date as of this writing.
Also at Telluride: Mike Leigh's Tender Loving Care is getting strong notices with Kate O'Flynn at the center, and Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter is landing as "middling" — which, for a director coming off All of Us Strangers, is the kind of disappointment worth noting.
2. MUBI Has Already Made the Acquisition Move Worth Watching
Sandra Hüller's Rose — Silver Bear winner at Berlin — has a confirmed U.S. release date: December 11, from MUBI. That's a theatrical and streaming play from a platform that has been consistently making the right bets on European prestige titles. The first-look clip is out now. This one has a distributor, a date, and awards-season positioning. It's the most concrete release story coming out of the fall festival churn.
3. TIFF Opens Thursday With a #MeToo Drama — And Nearly 300 Titles Behind It
TIFF kicks off September 10 with the world premiere of Prima Facie, a stage-based #MeToo drama. The full slate runs to nearly 300 titles when shorts are included. Among the films IndieWire flags as worth tracking: Matt Barats' Anchors Aweigh, an indie comedy about a man who buys a boat after a marriage proposal rejection — described as consistent with Barats' "introspective approach to satire" from his microbudget work.
NYFF follows on September 25 with the North American premiere of James Gray's Paper Tiger, which already screened at Cannes. Also in the NYFF Spotlights section: Tom McCarthy's A Statement, Cristian Mungiu's Fjord, and Eisenberg's The Debut.
4. The Distribution Story Nobody's Covering: Ask E. Jean Finally Has a Home
Ask E. Jean — Ivy Meeropol's documentary about E. Jean Carroll — premiered at Telluride a year ago and has been in theatrical limbo since. Major streamers passed. Director Meeropol has publicly attributed this to "The Trump Effect." The film played over 100 theaters and sold out IFC Center in New York for five weeks.
Now five companies — Impact Partners, Theorem Media, Roco Films, Abramorama, and Kinema — have collectively brought it to VOD on Kinema's platform at