12 Years a Slave – first reviews

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12 years a slave,12 years a slave reviewsThe first reviews from Telluride are in, and they’re pretty great.

In the meantime, the film has been added to the New York Film Festival lineup, and will be screened there on October 8.

12 Years a Slave opens on October 18.

Variety:

The first thing fans of McQueen’s “Hunger” and “Shame” will notice here is the degree to which the helmer’s austere formal technique has evolved — to the extent that one would almost swear he’d snuck off and made three or four films in the interim. Composition, sound design and story all cut together beautifully, and yet, there’s no question that “12 Years a Slave” remains an art film, especially as the provocative director forces audiences to confront concepts and scenes that could conceivably transform their worldview. (…)
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12 Years a Slave screening at Telluride Film Festival tonight

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Last minute announcement from the Telluride Film Festival:

12 Years a Slave will be screened tonight (Friday), with Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o in attendance.

• Sneak Preview: 12 Years a Slave

In 1840s New York State, Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an impeccable middle-class attorney with a happy family and superb skills as a violinist, is an African American free from birth who has never spent a moment of his life confronting the horrors of black experience down South. Pursuing a business opportunity in Washington, DC, he is kidnapped and enslaved, and descends into a harrowing nightmare of moral corruption and irrational violence. Director Steve McQueen (HUNGER, SHAME) and screenwriter John Ridley shape Northrup’s memoir into a vivid, compelling historical fresco, with superb performances from Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, in his third collaboration with McQueen, Lupita Nyong’o, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti and Brad Pitt. (USA, 2013, 133m) In person: Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o

Friday, August 29, 2013 TBAs

• 4pm Masons GLORIA (33)

• 6pm Herzog Sneak: PRISONERS

• 6:30pm Masons BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

• 7:30pm Galaxy Sneak: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

• 9pm Nugget PARTICLE FEVER (I)

• 10pm Pierre STARRED UP (32)

• 10:30pm Galaxy LUNCHBOX (25)

Garret guest stars on Burn Notice tonight

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Just a reminder that Garret makes an appearance in tonight’s episode of Burn Notice, “Tipping Point,” which airs at 9/8c on USA. You can almost see new footage with Simon in the second promo.

Burn Notice 7×11 Tipping Point
As Michael becomes ever more conflicted with his mission, he travels to Mexico with Sonya in order to help James with an important job.

12 Years a Slave TIFF screening dates

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TWELVE YEARS A SLAVEThe screening schedule for the 2013 Toronto Film Festival was announced earlier today.

Twelve Years a Slave will be shown on Friday, September 6, at 6 pm, Saturday, September 7, at 11:30 am, and Saturday, September 14, at 9 pm. The film has an 18A rating, so anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

For venues and tickets, visit TIFF.net.

First with Hunger and then with Shame, Steve McQueen established himself as a director of the highest order, and a filmmaker in keen pursuit of truth. Drawing on a shocking real-life story, 12 Years a Slave illuminates, like no other film before it, what it must have been like to live as an American slave.

In Saratoga Springs, New York, 1841, Solomon Northup is a free man making his living as a musician. After accepting a job offer from two men to play for a circus, he soon finds himself kidnapped, transported to the South and sold into slavery. Forced to take a new name, he is thrown together with other enslaved African Americans, each suffering the horrors of gruelling labour, daily humiliations, and families torn apart. But for Northup, there is the added nightmare of remembering the freedom and identity he so recently enjoyed.