Telluride, Colo. -- Discussion after late-night movies happens on the gondola ride from the Chuck Jones Theater in the mountains to the town of Telluride, in the valley between them. It's pitch black inside the car; outside are only stars and the golden lights below; inside are eight (usually random) cinephiles thrown together in a dark moving box for 15 minutes.

Tonight the discussion was about Fur, the Diane Arbus biopic starring Nicole Kidman in another daring career choice. As one of the voices in the darkness said on the gondola ride, Kidman has "guts." This is not your conventional biopic (thank Jesus). Its world premiere ended a short while ago, and it redeemed the genre for me. It's not a great film, but it is a good one, and certainly better than the rash of music biopics that stumbled into our field of vision in the past couple years. Fur is by the director of Secretary, Steven Shainberg, who was in the audience. Both his films exist beyond weirdness.

I don't believe in spoiling the particulars of movies, so let's say this: Fur is not a movie about performances or imitations, so don't expect to be blown away by Kidman's acting, which is appropriately subdued and reactionary. Fur is a movie to devour with your eyes and ears. The production value is top-knotch. It's painterly, as well as photography-ly. Carter Burwell, as always, comes through with a beautiful score. This is a movie that slowly reveals itself to you -- watching it has the same effect as putting your eyes close to an impressionist painting and slowly backing up. What I appreciated most about Fur is that it claims in its subtitle to be an "imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus." Shainberg himself said before the film that the story was teased out of the essence of Arbus rather than actual events and people. That's the way to do a biopic, I say. A slavish commitment to history and the subject's personality results in formula, not invention. Fur is, thankfully, a complete and engaging invention. It's in limited release Nov. 10.


here's the link http://aslittleaspossible.blogspot.com/200...ide-06-fur.html

Thank you for sharing this. It really builds the anticipation for this movie. Sounds so intriguing. I cannot wait to see it.

Thanks, Sylvia! The more I hear about FUR, the more I want to see it! November seems SO far off! jim

Here's another one.

by - jungewum2 (Fri Sep 1 2006 21:53:42)
This is a brilliant film. It's not your standard love story. It interweaves the story of a woman's journey of self discovery with the life of the late Diane Arbus. Personally, having seen this film at various stages of the editing process, I must say that this film deserves credit for being original in its adaptation of the Patricia Bosworth novel. I'm predicting acting Oscar nominations for Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. The rest of the casts gave excellent performances as well. FUR is a remarkable and original film that will leave you breathless and inspired.

thankyou sylvia!!!

Thanks . I would hope we keep reading and hearing about Fur this way and even in better ways .

Thank you Sylvia


Looking forward to Rome reviews!!

Thanks Sylvia! Just can't wait to see that movie!!!!!!! I'm so excited about it!!!!!!

Thanks so much fr the reviw. It sounds great!

Fur is tops on my list to see! Thank you Sylvia for sharing this!

So he was saying it was good, but not great? So does it mean that this reviewer didn't think Fur was Oscar/Golden Globe worthy?

Hopefully more reviews will pour in that are even more positive than this one!

Kensy

It is a very good review, praised the movie all round, that's good enough in award circles, good to great movies get awarded, good movies get awarded more so than great movies but like you I hope, we read and hear more like this and even better . Talk about a movie for 15mins? then it has got to be something to talk about .

I'd say this is a B/B+ .

My favourite parts of this write-up.

Nothing wrong with being a good movie.

^^ Me, too .

HAHA! Thanks Skanky! I am learning SO much EVERY DAY from NKU about Nicole's career and the film industry!!! If you read my posts from a couple weeks ago, I had to ask what a film festival was!!!

I know NOTHING about Hollywood, the film industry, and Nicole's career, which is clearly evident in all of posts in "Nicole's Inbox!"

I love how we can learn SO much from each other here!!!

Now, If you were to ask me something about the country music industry or Keith Urban's career, I would be ALL OVER IT!!!

Kensy

Excited for the film. Nicole can't always make GREAT movies, so I'm glad that this one is GOOD.

i find she's very good in being subtle. i always have to watch her movies again and again and there are bits of small surprises in terms of her acting. that is worthy of praise because being showy is relatively easier. thanks for the review!

Thanx Sylvia I can't w8 2 c da film I'm glad we're gettin such good reviews so far

~Viviana~

Thanks so much for this, Sylvia. Glad to see this getting continually good reviews. I just hope this keeps getting reviews like this or even better and we get a better explanation of Nicole's performance then we did here. And I'm sure we will as more flow in.

Now it's been hours since it's screened and only a couple reviews from David Thompson and this person? There MUST be more somewhere. Let's search, people!!!

Here's another positive short review...I think we'll get fuller ones once the weekend passes .

http://reporter.blogs.com/risky/2006/09/fur_debuts_at_t.html

It was a smart move for Picturehouse's Bob Berney to unveil Steve Shainberg's Fur at Telluride. This delicate piece would have been lost at Toronto or Venice. It will have its official premiere in Rome, which was willing to pay the freight of bringing the gang, including Nicole Kidman, over. Venice wasn't.

I was expecting a weird movie about a woman photographing freaks and instead saw an exquisitely crafted love story. It played well for the Telluride crowd this morning, which tends toward the older art-house side. Instead of making a conventional Diane Arbus biopic, New Yorker Shainberg, who grew up with her photos in his house because his novelist uncle was friends with Arbus, has crafted an imaginative portrait of the period in her life when Arbus, 35, took a dive off the deep end. She stopped assisting her husband in his portrait studio and started taking her own photographs. How did that transformation happen?

Shainberg and his screenwriter-collaborator Erin Cressida Wilson took off from Patricia Bosworth's biography and threw Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman in tightly cinched 50s dresses) down the rabbit hole and into a wonderland peopled by freaks like Robert Downey, Jr., a man completely covered with hair. (He's a fictional construct based on a real person who Arbus never met.) It works. It's no surprise that the team that created the sadomasochistic romance in Secretary would dig into Arbus's strange universe with zest and glee. But many will want the movie to delve less into this woman's escape from bourgeois convention and more into exploring her iconic photography. "That would have been boring," Shainberg insisted at the Q & A this morning. "You already know about that."

That is really a great review for Fur! Thanks, Wiggleurnose! Wish I could find some more reviews but so far no luck. But I do agree that there probably will be more reviews later after everyone has seen Fur and probably after the cinephiles are back at their offices where they have easier access to computers.

Thanks so much Wiggle! That was fast, .

An exquisitely crafted love story, huh? This sounds so amazingly interesting.

Thanks .

Another taster review...

After tonight's opening night feed on Colorado Ave., an overflow crowd packed the fest's largest venue, The Palm, for the first-ever screening of Steven Shainberg's new film "Fur", which carries the subtitle, An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. I certainly went in expecting something different...and left having witnessed something altogether unexpected. For now, I'll call the film a strange and creepy love story, with whiffs of "Alice In Wonderland" and "Beauty and the Beast"...As I mentioned to Shainberg after leaving the screening tonight, I'll have a number of questions for him when we sit down to talk about the movie in the morning. But for now, I don't even know what those questions will be...

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002380.html

Thanks for posting. It sounds even more interesting now.

I am loving these feedbacks we are getting. I love that it seems to be shaking people up, getting the unexpected!

Thanks

The Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast analogy sounds familiar so it could be from the same reviewer. There's no clear mention who the reviewer is but I followed the links at it looks like Anne Thompson from the Hollywood Reporter. A positive review from HR would be a good start for FUR

The review/reviewer quoted is from IndieWire, this is his page with the review on it (a good review from IndieWire is also a bonus since it caters primarily for Indies):

http://blogs.indiewire.com/eug/archives/011179.html

Shainberg did say it was a fairytale .

So far so good. I love the reviews. Hope to read more of this. Thanks Wiggleurnose and Sylvia.

I love this bit too.

~~~Tonight the discussion was about Fur, the Diane Arbus biopic starring Nicole Kidman in another daring career choice. As one of the voices in the darkness said on the gondola ride, Kidman has "guts." ~~~

I like this. Nicole does have great amounts of courage.

Can't wait to see the film. ebony

LOL, I like just realized that review that Wiggle posted is from The Hollywood Reporter's blog! Which means that Anne Thompson wrote it(since she always is the writer in that blog) which means that the official review from The Hollywood Reporter is positve. Which is a verrrrry good thing.

another daring choice, an unconventional "biopic" just piques my curiosity. i'm tired of biopics that are dull, take too many dramatic liberties, and are the same cookie cutter flick . can't wait until the movie screens in rome!
loops

This isn't a review but I thought you guys would like to know that the fact that this is getting good ink is showing up at some major awards sites, like The Envelope:


The Envelope

this sounds really good. I'm looking forward to read more such reviews. it increases the excitement, although it will take quite a while until I get to see it...

The reviews so far make it all even more intriguing. My gosh, I am about to explode with curiosity :). Thanks to all who posted reviews!
xxx

I've been asking lots of people in line what they've seen that they liked. Steven Shainberg's Fur, starring Nicole Kidman, is getting a mixed response. The Hollywood Reporter's Anne Thompson liked it. Generally, people I've chatted up either seem to love it or *do not like* it, so now I want to see it for myself.
http://www.cinematical.com/2006/09/03/tell...spatch-day-two/

Sigh.

Thanks skanky.

I am really excited to see this film, I think the subject of it is very interesting, and I am really thrilled to see Nicole's interpretation of Ms. Arbus. Is it November yet? LOL

hehe, what else is new . Love it or *do not like* it .

true.

Now someone find another postive review to get my mood up please.

Listen to Steven Shainberg speak about Fur and biopics here:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/eug/

Thanks Skanky Is it November yet

fascinating...

I am reading with much interest!

Thank YOu!

Susi

In my opinion, I think this is a GOOD thing! I think celebrities, and entertainers would rather have full-on, passionate fans, rather than those people who are "half there" or "in the middle"

I know Keith Urban has mentioned this before.

"Fur" seems to be in a way, slightly like "Moulin Rouge!" You either love it or strongly dislike it.

"MR" is my all-time favorite movie (I saw it for the first time 1 month ago) and the rest of my family absolutely dislikes it.

When I get older, I hope to see "Fur" and have the same feeling and emotions as "Moulin Rouge!" as far as TOTALLY LOVING IT!!!

Kensy

Thanks for sharing all the articles. I think the very fact no one uses '*do not like*' when speaking about it says volumes. It's so easy to pan a flick that disappoints. There are a lot of wonderful films out there that are liked but not loved by the critics. I'm now imaging this film as one that requires more than one viewing to capture all the nuances. The rich tapestry it creates may just get better each time. I'm intrigued the more I read and see!

Thanx Wiggle, NicoleFan17 and Skanky
The more I read about da film the more impatient I get I'm dyin 2 c dis film

~Viviana~

I'm just surprised we don't have word on what Variety thought of this yet. We got some idea of what the other important mention, The Hollywood Reporter, review is going to be. Usually Variety is all over stuff like this.

The Anne Thompson review is not THE Hollywood Reporter review, most major critics are at the Venice festival then off they go to Toronto, I think we should start expecting key reviews after Rome. None of the films at Telluride have any major critics writing about them.

Thanks for all the write ups.

I get the feeling there won't be much middle ground on this movie. You will either like it or not like it at all. But it also seems to be a movie that will keep people talking about it it no matter which side your opinion falls & I think that is a good thing.