YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING (Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim) — World Premiere

In a first for me at Telluride, the title of a TBA film was kept under lock and key until everyone was in the theater and all of our phones were sealed in technology pouches. Speculation in town ran rampant with wishcasting for what could require such ultra-secrecy, but the mystery made it the hottest ticket in town.

Before walking into the Herzog tonight, I could not imagine wanting to hear another second about Elizabeth Holmes, but as an incredulous audience surrogate to her life in the weeks before entering prison Nathan Fielder proved me dead wrong for 174 consecutive minutes. Scene after scene, twist after twist, his electrifying new documentary made with Lance Oppenheim knocked the wind out of me like nothing else.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM. (David Greaves and William Greaves)

A bunch of senior citizens wander into an afternoon party. The place fills up, they sip punch, get reacquainted. The conversation zigs and zags. Every so often someone shouts out a topic and an old friend will opine to the crowd. Oh, and it’s 1972, Duke Ellington’s place, and they’re the surviving luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. What a miracle that William Greaves filmed this and that his son assembled it into a compelling document to be appreciated for generations to come.

FJORD (Cristian Mungiu) — North American Premiere

It takes a lot to incite my sympathy toward the choice of a strict religious upbringing. Cristian Mungiu’s highly schematic dramatization of a real life case in Norway pits the absurd absolute certainty of the liberal state against the unknowability of the inner workings of an immigrant family. With another in an ongoing run of unglamorous performances from Sebastian Stan reunited with ever-stellar Renate Reinsve and a cinematic flairs both natural and magic in the scenic seaside village, he almost moves the needle.

An assuredly executed conversation piece, perfect for dissecting in festival queues.