Telluride Awards analysis: Emma Stone will be up for a second Best Actress Oscar for ‘Poor Things’

Then the Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos last brought a film from the Venice Film Festival to the Telluride Film Festival, the Searchlight title, which counted Tony McNamara as a writer and Emma Stone as the biggest name in the cast, was greeted with rave reviews; went on to rack up double-digit Oscar nominations, including picture, directing, and screenwriting credits; and eventually got one statuette, best actress for the lead actress.

Could that be possible exactly History repeats itself five years later The favorite? I think it’s very possible.

Saturday evening, a day after Lanthimos’ latest work was unveiled on the Lido, Poor things, had its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival and played simultaneously at the Werner Herzog Cinema and the Galaxy Theater. And while more than a few people in attendance liked the film – which I will only describe as Frankenstein meets Barbieand which Searchlight will release on December 8 – a bit too weird, and/or risqué and/or long for their taste, the critical reaction to that was extraordinary.

I’m sure that Poor things will also polarize members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is much more in line with the truly extraordinary films Lanthimos made before The favoriteThat the Academy Could Take (2009’s Dog tooth was nominated for best international feature film) or leave (2015’s The lobster and 2017 Killing a sacred deer together received only a single nomination, Best Original Screenplay for the former).

But given the big changes at the Academy over the past few years — including the addition of many people who are younger, live outside the US, and have backgrounds in independent filmmaking — I’m reasonably confident enough members will respond to Poor things to propel it to the top of this season’s nominees. (Remember, this organization that once awarded best photo to Oliver! about 2001: A space odyssey, Anne Hall about Star Wars And Gandhi about AND has bestowed the highest honors on the past ten years Birdman, The shape of water And Everything everywhere at once. If Bob Dylan just say it: times are changing!)

Even members of the Academy who aren’t fond of the film will find it hard not to admire the fearless, inventive, fearless performance of lead actress Stone (a former Best Actress Oscar winner who competes in the film). Nyad‘s Annette Bening top of this year’s list of contenders for that award); the colorful supporting work of both William Dafoe And Mark Ruffalo (both of which have garnered multiple Oscar nominations without winning yet); and the truly awe-inspiring craft and technical work of film, of cinematography (Robby Ryan) to his costume design (Holly Waddington) to the production design (Shona Heather And James Price).

The classic from 1931 Frankenstein received zero Oscar nominations. The classic from 1935 Frankenstein’s bride received one Oscar nomination for sound. The classic from 1974 Young Frankenstein received two Oscar nominations for screenplay and sound. You can take it to the bank with that Poor things, a kind of mix of all those earlier films, will earn even more nominations than they received combined. And that’s just the beginning.