Telluride Film Festival Review: ‘Armageddon Time’
Maybe there’s something in the air, but it sure does seem lately like a lot of established directors are taking their stab at “personal” films. In some cases, those personal films have been “Oscar bait,” and Academy voters certainly took the bait when they awarded Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” with 3 Oscars (including Best Director) and Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” with the most recent Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
This year’s Telluride Film Festival seems to be the motherlode when it comes to personal films, as Oscar-winning directors Sam Mendes and Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu will be on hand for “Empire of Light” and “Bardo,” respectively. And still to come at the Toronto International Film Festival, “The Fabelmans,” directed by none other than Steven Spielberg.
After premiering to a seven-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, writer-director James Gray unveiled his personal film, “Armageddon Time,” to North American audiences at the Telluride Film Festival, where it was greeted with polite applause. That reaction seems about right for a coming-of-age film that’s solid, engaging and genuine, if a bit meandering and, at almost 2 hours, somewhat long in the tooth.
Based on Gray’s own upbringing in Queens, New York, circa 1980, “Armageddon Time” tells the story Paul Graff (Banks Repeta), a sixth-grader who dreams of becoming an artist while growing up in a dysfunctional working-class Jewish family. His strict parents are played by Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, and his bullying older brother is played by Ryan Sell. Paul has a strong bond with his ailing grandfather (two-time Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins) and he develops an intimate friendship with his rebellious African-American classmate Johnny (Jaylin Webb).
“Armageddon Time” doesn’t have a dynamic, fully defined plot, but is instead an immersive slice of life drama that grows on you as it progresses. It is an intimate film that features stellar performances from Strong, Hathaway, Hopkins and Webb, but it is Repeta who carries the film, and he does so capably and beautifully, as he is in every scene. And then there’s Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain as U.S. Attorney Marianne Trump, who gives a single scene-stealing lecture at Paul’s private school about how hard they’ll have to work for everything they can get.
After being nominated for the Cannes Palme d’Or five times with “The Yards,” “We Own the Night,” “Two Lovers,” “The Immigrant” and, now, “Armageddon Time,” James Gray has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award, either as a writer or as a director. It remains to be seen if “Armageddon Time” will do the trick, but either way, it is still an effective and accomplished film that is very much worth seeing when Focus Features releases it in theaters on November 11.