The Natural State – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Telluride Film Festival 2026 Overview (Part Two) – Diane Carson reports

September 11, 2026September 17, 2026 Diane Carson documentaries, eleanor coppola, Julie Thayer, MAKING OF MARIE ANTOINETTE, sofia coppola, Telluride Film Festival 2026, The Natural State, U.G. Krishnamurti. Matthew Dougherty

The outstanding films described in the 53rd Telluride Film Festival Overview Part One comprise just a diverse sampling. Here, in Part Two, among other diverse selections meriting praise, again documentaries and fiction films figure in the mix. Most striking, actors’ performances in the narratives deserve particular commendation for their exceptional realization of complex, often fraught and difficult characters. For their part, the nonfiction works bring their topics to vivid life through well-chosen footage, fine editing, and unobtrusive music and sound.

Festivals Reviews

THE NATURAL STATE (Telluride FF 2026) – Review by Diane Carson

September 11, 2026September 12, 2026 Diane Carson documentary, Julie Thayer, Matthew Dougherty, Telluride Film Festival 2026, The Natural State, U.G. Krishnamurti

At the heart of The Natural State, a decidedly unusual documentary, is the emphatically reluctant Indian anti-guru U.G. Krishnamurti. And yet, in a daring endeavor, director Matthew Dougherty relentlessly probes the charismatic appeal of U.G. who repeatedly and adamantly tells his followers that he has no secrets or truths to share with them and that, moreover, he has no interest in changing them. Rejecting that pronouncement, in 1989, abandoning her family, Julie Thayer left New York City for the Swiss Alps, eventually attaching herself and her psychological wellbeing to U.G. Ignoring his periodic commands to go away, Julie filmed hundreds of hours of U.G. while also keeping a diary of her despair alternating with ecstasy. Drawing on Julie’s footage and writings, Dougherty interprets the curious and nonsensical events defining U.G. and his uninvited entourage.