Oscar Race Gets Rolling In The Rockies

Warner Bros debuted Joker over the weekend in Venice and continues to draw strong Best Picture talk out of Italy for that disturbing and dark DC comic origin movie, but got less of that talk in Telluride for the debut of Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn, which the actor directs, writes, produces and stars in to strong effect. It drew a standing ovation for Norton at the Palm here and played to packed houses, but it may be more uphill without the kind of super buzz films need coming out of Telluride in order to gain early momentum in the Oscar race. It has stayed with me, particularly Norton’s and co-star Alec Baldwin’s performances, so let’s see how it progresses. This is just the starting gate for Norton’s ambitious passion project, one well worth seeing. Getting people into theaters will be key for its future – Oscar-wise.