The 6 best movies we saw at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival

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Set us as preferred TELLURIDE, Colo.— Complete with a secret screening that had everyone guessing for days, a seismic revelation (which became a bona fide viral moment) and an unusually strong lineup of world premieres and smart replays, the 53rd Telluride Film Festival turned out to be one of the strongest in years.

Leaving aside the many great movies that debuted at Cannes (“Club Kid,” “Minotaur,” “Fjord”) and Sundance (“Once Upon a Time in Harlem,” “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”), we selected our favorites from an eventful Labor Day weekend — laborious but fun.Maybe you’ve heard the premise of “The Debut”: Meek suburban wife auditions for a community theater musical despite having no experience or, quite frankly, apparent talent.

Sounds like Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman,” right? It is — for about five minutes.But Jesse Eisenberg’s delightful comedy takes so many odd, interesting and occasionally surreal turns in its hero’s journey that you’re never quite sure where it’s going next.

Eisenberg is aided by the incomparable Julianne Moore playing the woman who, after falling into the role of Miss Danielle, the show’s tough-talking, toolbelt-wearing building super, finds herself transformed in ways that she could never anticipate.“The part’s amazing,” Paul Giamatti, brilliant as the theater troupe’s director, told me in Telluride.

“She’s giving four performances in one performance.” Always up for an adventure, Moore has never been better or more thrilling.I can’t remember enjoying a movie more at a film festival.

— Glenn Whipp Movies Midway through Jesse Eisenberg’s “The Debut,” there’s a scene that makes the audience go wild.Its actors sat down with us to discuss how they did it.

Andrew Scott was a genial presence around Telluride, bringing hot-priest energy to brunches and getting hugs from Oprah.But when it ca...