New York Film Festival #46 Sept. 26-oct. 12, 2008

[Chris Knipp]

INDEX OF LINKS TO REVIEWS

24 City (Jia) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20764#post20764)
Afterschool (Campos) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20748#post20748)
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20813#post20813)
Bullet in the Head (Rosales) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20769#post20769)
Changling (Eastwood) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20808#post20808)
Che (Soderbergh) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20796#post20796)
Chouga (Omirbaev) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20750#post20750)
Christmas Tale, A (Desplechin) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20847#post20847)
Class, The (Cantet) (http://www.cinescene.com/knipp/class.htm)
Four Nights with Anna (Skowlomowski) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20752#post20752)
Gororrah (Garrone) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20746#post20746)
Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20780#post20780)
Headless Woma, The (Martel) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20716#post20716)
Hunger (McQueen) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20763#post20763)
I'm Gonna Explode (Naranj0) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20784#post20784)
It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks (Leconte) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20838#post20838)
Let It Rain (Jaoui) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20755#post20755)
Lola Montes (Orphuls) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20723#post20723)
Night and Day (Hong) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20821#post20821)
Northern Land, The (Botelho) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20800#post20800)
Serbis (Mondoza) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20760#post20760)
Summer Hours (Assayas) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20803#post20803)
Tokoy Sonta (Kurosawa) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20841#post20841)
Tony Manero (Larrain) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20717#post20717)
Tulpan (Dvortsevoy) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20757#post20757)
Waltz with Bashir (Folman) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20811#post20811)
Wendy and Lucy (Reichardt) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20711#post20711)
Windmill Movie, The (Olch) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20714#post20714)
Wrestler, The (Aronofsky) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20805#post20805)

THE COMPLETE SLATE FOR THE NYFF 2008.

The FSLC festival page is here. (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.html)

In future reviews and information on the NYFF 2009 will appear in the Filmleaf Festival Coverage section starting here. (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2339)

August 12, 2008
The Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) announced the festival slate today. Here it is, with their press release blurbs to describe the films. The NYFF is highly selective, so this is it, 27 films and one retrospective film. I expect to review them all for you. There will be some sidebar series too.

The Class / Entre les murs
Laurent Cantet, France, 2008; 128m
A tough, lively and altogether revelatory look inside a high school classroom, enacted by real teachers and students.

CENTERPIECE
Changeling
Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008; 140m
Angelina Jolie is a single mother whose troubles are just beginning when her son goes
missing in Clint Eastwood’s majestic fact-based period drama.

CLOSING NIGHT (AVERY FISHER HALL)
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2008; 109m
Mickey Rourke gives the performance of a lifetime in Darren Aronofsky’s raw and raucous new movie.

24 City / Er shi si cheng ji
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m
The rise and fall of a Chinese factory town is chronicled in this film, straddling the border between fiction and documentary.

Afterschool
Antonio Campos, USA, 2008; 122m
When two students at a posh prep school accidentally overdose, a student filmmaker struggles to create an appropriate tribute for them.

Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 2008; 93m
The final, definitive version of Wong Kar Wai’s modernist take on the classic Chinese martial arts tale.

Bullet in the Head / Trio en la cabeza
Jaime Rosales, Spain/France, 2008; 85m
A powerful, engrossing meditation on politics and the contemporary cult of surveillance.

Che
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m
Steven Soderbergh’s two-part Spanish-language epic about Che Guevara’s revolutionary military campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia features a brilliant lead performance by Benicio del Toro.

Chouga / Shuga
Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan, 2007; 91m
A Kazakh, minimalist adaptation of Anna Karenina.

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2008; 150m
Arnaud Desplechin’s grand banquet of a movie brims with life, as Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos and the other members of a marvelous ensemble cast come home for Christmas.

Four Nights with Anna / Cztery noce z Anna
Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008; 87m
This visually mesmerizing tale of a shy man and his obsession with the woman across the way marks the triumphant return of Polish maestro Jerzy Skolimowski.

Gomorrah / Gomorra
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2008; 137m
A blistering version of Roberto Saviano’s modern true crime classic about the modern-day Neapolitan mafia.

Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, UK, 2008; 118m
An affectionate portrait of an unattached, 30-something London schoolteacher coming toterms with the fact that she’s no longer young.

The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2008; 87m
Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s powerful third feature takes us into an altered perceptual state with a woman who hits something with her car.

Hunger
Steve McQueen, UK, 2008; 96m
British visual artist Steve McQueen’s feature film debut is an uncompromising look at the hunger strike led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands in 1974.

I’m Going to Explode / Voy a explotar
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2008; 103m
Two Mexican teenagers go into hiding to see the reactions their disappearance will get from relatives and friends.

Let It Rain / Parlez-moi de la pluie
Agnès Jaoui, France, 2008; 110m
A portrait of a rising feminist politician may be the ticket to fame and jobs for two aspiring filmmakers.

RETROSPECTIVE
Lola Montès
Max Ophuls, France/West Germany, 1955; 115m
The life of the legendary courtesan and circus performer—lover of kings, knaves and Franz Liszt—is presented in its definitive, restored version.

Night and Day / Bam guan nat
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008; 144m
When his life in Seoul becomes too complicated, an artist hightails it to Paris—but things don’t get any easier.

The Northern Land / A Corte do Norte
João Botelho, Portugal, 2008; 101m
A woman searches for the truth about her life in the stories of ancestors and the distant manor house they inhabited.

Serbis
Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France, 2008; 90m
A family tries to quell the tensions tearing it apart while it struggles to keep the family business—a porn movie theater—afloat.

Summer Hours / L’heure d’eté
Olivier Assayas, France, 2008; 103m
Juliette Binoche is one of three siblings brought face-to-face with time and mortality by the sudden death of her mother in this moving new film from Olivier Assayas.

Tokyo SonataKiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands, 2008; 85m
A Japanese family struggles to re-define itself after the father loses his corporate job.

Tony Manero
Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil, 2008; 98m
In the dark days of the Pinochet dictatorship, a John Travolta wannabe blazes a murderous trail through the back alleys of Chile.

Tulpan
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland, 2008; 100m
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Tulpan charts an aspiring herdsman’s efforts to win the attention of his intended.

Waltz with Bashir / Vals in BashirAri Folman, Israel/Germany/France, 2008; 90m
Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman’s haunting autobiographical memory piece about his experiences as a soldier during the 1982 war in Lebanon are given a hyper-real spin by state-of-the-art animation.

Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008; 80m
In Kelly Reichardt’s follow-up to her acclaimed Old Joy, Wendy (Michelle Williams) searches for her dog Lucy. The troubled spirit of modern America is beautifully evoked along the way.

The Windmill Movie
Alexander Olch, USA, 2008; 80m
Filmmaker Alexander Olch, using material left by the late filmmaker Richard Rogers for a never completed film autobiography, attempts to make sense of the life of his former teacher and friend.

[Chris Knipp]

NYFF Sidebar Material:

Views from the Avant Guard

Guy Debord, In girum imus nocte et consummimur igne

In the Real of Oshima

Listed so far:

The Ceremony
The Man Who Left His Will on Film, AKA The Battle of Tokyo or He Died After the War

[Chris Knipp]

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced "Special Events" to accompany the festival including a "variety of dialogues, panels, anniversary and special event screenings, and an inventive photographic exhibition."

These will include discussions variously involving Jia Zhangke talking about his influences with Scott Foundas of LA Weekly;, Darren Aronofsky with FSLC director Richard Pena; Arnaud Desplechin talking with Kent Jones; Martin Scorsese on Albert Lewin's Pandora and the Flying Dutchman; a panel on the French documentary about a controversy about Islam in France, "It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks;" Wong Kar Wai talking about his working methods with J. Hoberman; "Prominent film critics from around the world" including Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cahiers du cinéma editor Emmanuel Burdeau, Film Comment editor-at-large Kent Jones, GreenCine Daily blog editor David Hudson, Argentine film critic Pablo Suarez, and others hashing over the future of film criticism. The photography show opening with the NYFF in the lounge of the Walter Reade Theater will be Brief Histories Of… and Correspondence Course(s) by filmmaker, author and visual artist Mark Rappaport.

Watch the Festival Coverage thread for the 2008 NYFF (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2339) for more details--though since these events will not be freely available to press, I am not sure how many of them I will be able to attend. The directors mentioned will probably be appearing for Q&A's after press screenings.

[Johann]

Shouldn`t that be "Debord"?
Without the A?

Che sounds awesome..

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the correction.

Che was much discussed in relation to its Cannes presentation.

Toronto is coming up shortly. A lot of the key stuff will be showing there and much more. I haven't seen their lineup... We ought to give it a going over, Johann, don't you think?

[Johann]

Where`s Peter?
I need some admin.
Where`s some updated photos?
I`ll post whenever I can.
Right now I`m looking at new apartments.

[Chris Knipp]

As a THR article (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib795ce2f70633fae335643ce57d6f677) points out, the NYFF this year is particularly "well stocked with Cannes titles,": 17 of the 28 festival official selections for September-October 2008 were a part of the French fest. Refer to that THR article for details of the lineup. IFC has four of the titles, more than any other distributor: McQueen's HUNGER, Garrone's GOMORRA, Desplechin's A CHRISTMAS TALE, and Assayas' SUMMER HOURS. Sony Pictures Classics has three: Cantet's THE CLASS, Wong's ASHES OF TIME REDUX, and Folman's WALTZ WITH BASHIR.

Cantet's THE CLASS, Eastwood's CHANGELING, and Aronofsky's Mickey Rourke vehicle THE WRESTLER will be showing at the Zeigfield theater throughout the festival--a new wrinkle.

The press screenings this time include two showings of quite a few of the films, to allow journalists and industry people more schedule flexibility. I will plan however on attending the screening that include a Q&A with the director, when there is one, as much as possible.

THE LINEUP LISTED ALPHABETICALLY:

THE CLASS, Laurent Cantet, France (Sony Pictures Classics) [Opening night]
CHANGELING, Clint Eastwood, U.S. (Universal) [Centerpiece]
THE WRESTLER, Darren Aronofsky, U.S. [Closing night]
24 CITY, Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan
AFTERSCHOOL, Antonio Campos, U.S.
ASHES OF TIME REDUX, Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong (Sony Pictures Classics)
BULLET IN THE HEAD, Jaime Rosales, Spain/France
CHE, Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain
CHOUGA, Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan
A CHRISTMAS TALE Arnaud Desplechin, France (IFC Films)
FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA, Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France
GOMORRAH, Matteo Garrone, Italy (IFC Films)
HAPPY GO LUCKY, Mike Leigh, U.K. (Miramax)
THE HEADLESS WOMAN, Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain
HUNGER, Steve McQueen, U.K. (IFC Films)
I'M GOING TO EXPLODE, Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico
LET IT RAIN, Agnes Jaoui, France, 2008
LOLA MONTES, Max Ophuls, France/West Germany (Rialto Pictures) [retrospective]
NIGHT AND DAY, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008
THE NORTHERN LAND, Joao Botelho, Portugal
SERBIS, Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France
SUMMER HOURS, Olivier Assayas, France (IFC Films)
TOKYO SONATA, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands
TONY MANERO, Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil
TULPIN, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland
WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France (Sony Pictures Classics)
WENDY AND LUCY, Kelly Reichardt, U.S. (Oscilloscope Pictures)
THE WINDMILL MOVIE, Alexander Olch, U.S.

[Chris Knipp]

The preceding alphabetical list indicates which NYFF titles already have U.S. distribution lined up. I counted 12 but there will surely be some more coming. They will be some of the more interesting theatrical openings in the latter part of the year.

In fact one more just came--CHE.--and now there are 13. CHE some were saying recently had a "last chance" at the NYFF and at Toronto to get US distribution. Magnolia Pictures has bought it now at Toronto and will give it a limited release in December and thereby qualify it for Oscar consideration. Its four hour and 20+ minute running time makes it a tough sell theatrically but it is capable of generating great interest, with Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro in the lead and another Oscar nomination most likely. It also has gone by the title GUERILLA.

[Chris Knipp]

Speaking of the fact that these US-release NYFF films--CHE, THE CHANGELING, THE WRESTLER, HUNGER, THE CLASS, A CHRISTMAS TALE, GOMORRAH, HAPPY GO LUCKY, SUMMER HOURS, WALTZ WITH BACHIR, WENDY AND LUCY will be among the more interesting of the fall and winter offerings stateside-- what else are people eagerly waiting for as 2008 winds down that may not have the Lincoln Center imprimatur? Any suggestions?

I'm guessing the following movies may be good or more than good or at the least fun to watch.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3, SENIOR YEAR (the series directed by Kenny Ortega with Zac Efron and other heartthrobs moved to the big screen); SUPERBAD and JUNO’s Michael Cera in NICK& NORA’S INFINITE PLAYLIST. This is director Peter Sollett's first film since RAISING VICTOR VARGAS. The now ubiquitous Seth Rogen is coming in in ZACH AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO, by good old Kevin Smith. Jason Mewes got his hair cut short for this one: a first!

On a more serious note, there will be Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic W, with Josh Brolin as Dubya; Gus Van Sant’s biopic MILK (with Sean Penn perhaps vying for an Oscar as Milk); and Jonathan Demme’s first narrative feature since his MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE remake, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, starring Anne Hathaway, about a dysfuncational family reunion (sounds like Noah Baumbach’s MARGOT AT THE WEDDING. but I hope it’s not).

Then there is ace screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s reputedly indigestible directing debut, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, and Aussie director John Hillcoat's filming of Cormac McCarthy’s powerful apocalyptic novel THE ROAD with Viggo Mortensen and the reputedly extraordinary child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee, and including Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron, and Robert Duvall in minor roles. I will be expecting wonders from that one.

In a less exacting mode comes the reunion of Pacino and DiNero as cops again (as in Michael Mann’s HEAT), in Jon Avnet’s RIGHTEOUS KILL; the trailers strive mightily to give away all the secrets of that one, alas. This time the two Italian Americans share the marquee with rapper 50 Cent. (Mann contemplates a sequel or remake of HEAT for 2009, by the way.) Ditto the Coen brothers’ new comedy with Clooney and Pitt,--like RIGHTEOUS KILL, destined to be totally overexposed in multiple trailers: BURN BEFORE READING—but it still looks like a romp and a good antidote to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, though probably not as brilliantly made.. Joe (ATONEMENT) Wright has an uplifting drama about skid row and classical music, THE SOLOIST, which has Robert Downey, Jr. in the lead and Catherine Keener and Jamie Foxx in supporting toles.

Other films predicted to be Oscar contenders:

--Sam Mendes' REVOLUTIONARY ROAD stars Leonardi DiCapro, Kate Winslet. Based on Richard Yates famous novel about the depression.
--Stephen Daldry’s THE READER from Schlenk’s WWII novel, starring Ralph Fiennes and again Kate Winslet.
--Baz Luhrmann’s AUSTRALIA with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, an “epic love story” of a journey across the Outback.
--David Fincher directs THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (a not-so-famous F. Scott Fitzgerald novel about a man who ages in reverse) with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, also Tilda Swinton (who’s to be seen in BURN AFTER READING). Fincher increasingly seems like one of our best directors, so this has to seem promising. (Thanks to the website OSCAR FRENZY (http://www.oscarfrenzy.com/commentary/2009-oscar-predictions-previewing-the-best-films-of-2008/) for this last set of titles.)

[Chris Knipp]

Maybe not Oscar material here, but interesting titles coming out right in the month of September (for anybody not lucky enough to be going to a film festival full of Cannes selections):

GHOST TOWN. Ricky Gervais as a grouchy malcontent who 'dies' for seven minutes and as a result wakes up in an altered state so that he "Sees dead people. . .and they annoy him." A high-concept comedy about a man who has the power to help other people, but can't be bothered. With Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. Maybe annoying, like the dead people; but Ricky Gervais could make it into fun.

CHOKE. A high-buzz-level Sundance (Special Jury Prize) item. This one directed by the actor Clark Gregg is the creation of Chuck (Fight Club Palahniuk from his book, and Sam Rockwell, an actor well adapted to crazy roles, is a sex-addict con man and medical school dropout who works as a historical re-enactor in a colonial Williamsburg theme park to pay the bill for keeping his insane mother--played by Angelica Houston--in an expensive sanatorium. His scam is getting in with rich people by letting them "save" him when he pretends to choke in pricey restaurants.

THE DUCHESS. Keira Knightley wears dazzling outfits and wigs in this 18th-century extravaganza directed by Britisher Saul Dibb about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, with Charlotte Rampling as her mother and Ralph Fiennes as her dad. Ralph as the Duke is quite naughty, and Keira is the first "It girl" but also involved in Whig politics and some of her own naughtiness. References to Lady Di are not unintentional.

THE WOMEN. A remake of the 1939 George Cukor Classic with Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman, Candice Bergen, Carrie Fisher and Debi Mazar. And no men.

Also:

THE LUCKY ONES. Neil Burger of The Illusionist directs Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, and Michael Pena in a drama about three returning Iraq vets who find themselves feeling out of place when they get back home.

LAKEVIEW TERRACE. Points of interest: directed by the brilliant playright Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty are two of his films), and starring Patrick Wilson of Little Children with Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. Plot: ths is the tale of a couple hounded in their neighborhood for being racially mixed. They fight back, and things get out of control.

But don't forget the Coens' BURN AFTER READING. That is still promising in case these other ones don't pan out. But anyway it looks like the summer is really over with its blockbusters, crude comedies, and B-pictures.

[Chris Knipp]

This year if it comes to pass there will be directors on hand for 24 of the 28 films, along with some of the actors, including Mickey Rourke and Catherine Deneuve, and an impressive array of talent from Darren Aronofsky to Wong Kar-wai.

Take a look at the full listing on the NYFF Festival Coverage Thread press conference listing (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20658#post20658) .

So if I neglect to mention them in describing the films, know that I was there and heard whatever they had to say.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
CHE some were saying recently had a "last chance" at the NYFF and at Toronto to get US distribution. Magnolia Pictures has bought it now at Toronto and will give it a limited release in December and thereby qualify it for Oscar consideration.

IFC Films will be the distributor. The film to be shown in theaters will be a "trimmed" version Soderbergh edited. One week run in NYC and L.A. in December to qualify for Oscars followed by a gradual commercial release in the rest of North America beginning in January.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the details. I think we shall be viewing the full version.

[Chris Knipp]

A sidebar to the NYFf is the series "VIEWS FROM THE AVANT GARDE." This includes the much heralded Guy Debord, whose name I hve spelled right this time, plus Bruce Conner, James Benning, Andrew Noren, Nathaniel Dorsky, Craig Baldwin. And films by artists such as Pat O'Neill, Ben Rivers, Michael Robinson, Julie Murray, Leslie Thornton, Ken Jacobs, Ernie Gehr and Lewis Klahr. Filmmakers being presented in the Walter Reade Theater venue for the first time include: Mary Helena Clark, Taylor Dunne, Chris Kennedy, Michael Maryniuk, Sylvia Schedelbauer, Joel Schlemowitz and Jessie Stead.

Views from the Avant-Garde is curated by Mark McElhatten and Film Comment editor Gavin Smith. About Debord the FSLC press release reads:
Filmmaker Olivier Assayas, writer Greil Marcus and filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin will launch the weekend program by joining the Film Society for a panel discussion following a 30th-anniversary screening of Situationist International originator and founder Guy Debord’s landmark opus, “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni,” Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. The film re-uses images from magazines, comics and popular films—a technique defined by Debord as détournement—to critique image culture and media-dominated society. It is “an act of condemnation, but it is also an affirmation,” says Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society, “of our ability to build on the best rather than the worst in mankind, to create a true Utopia rather than a paltry counterfeit. Without exaggeration, this is one of the most provocative experiences you’ll ever have at the movies.” How sad then that I probably won't get to see it, but that is because I am seeing all the NYFF selectons and reviewing them, and I can't do everything. I will catch something if I can. That day will include film showings and press conferences for Wong Kar-Wai and Hong Sang-soo.

The FSLC web page for VIEWS FROM THE AVANT GARDE IS HERE. (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/program/avantgarde/avantgarde.html)

[Chris Knipp]

LAURENT CANTET'S THE CLASS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20709#post20709) REVIEWED.

The top prize-winner at the Cannes Festival this year, is the NYFF opening night film.

There was a press conference wih Cantet conducted by FSLC director and festival commitee chair Richard Pena with an interpreter.

All scenes were shot in the classroom with three digital cameras, one on the teacher, one on the person speaking, and the third on peripheral student reactions. The 20th Paris arondissement middle school provides a far richer experience, Cantet said, than his little school in the French provinces.

[Chris Knipp]

KELLY REICHARDT: WENDY AND LUCY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20711#post20711) REVIEWED.

Her second feature, again set in the Pacific Northwest, confirms the director's distinctive artistic vision. She excels at careful observation and specific regional settings and has a particular interest in white Americans pushed toward marginality. The presence of the by now high profile Michelle Williams should help this second feature to gain Reichardt a larger audience.

[Chris Knipp]

ALEXANDER OLCH: THE WINDMILL MOVIE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20714#post20714) REVIEWED.

From a world of privilege, an unfinished search for an autobiography completed by a student and friend.

Presented at the New York Film Festival with Richard P. Rogers' first film, Quarry.

[Chris Knipp]

LUCRECIA MARTEL: THE HEADLESS WOMAN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20716#post20716) REVIEWED.

Personal guilt and class malaise.

[Chris Knipp]

PABLO LARRAIN: TONY MANERO (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20717#post20717) REVIEWED.

Low life brutality and sleazy aspirations in a reign of terror. At times Larrain's film seems crude and clumsy, but it's nonetheless hard to get out of your head.

[oscar jubis]

I'm following these reviews with great interest. Thanks, Chris. I've learned over the years to dismiss reports of "boos" at Cannes. It always seems that this type of crude reaction by a few is made to appear as more widespread by some of the news organizations present. Someone like Martel who doesn't follow the rules of classic narrative (but has directed two of my favorite films of the current decade) is likely to piss off a few reporters who like their movies neat and tidy. I don't know how many reviews one needs to read to conclude with sufficient authority that the reviews are "predominantly negative", but it's fine with me because you compensate by providing a link to Salon's positive review and explain that the critics acknowledge the film's "stylistic elegance". Films by certain directors like Alonso, Costa, Reygadas and Martel cannot possibly receive general acclaim partly because of the uniqueness of their vision and their aim to do something ultimately more substantial than merely entertain the general public. I'd be worried if no one "booed" their films at an industry event like Cannes. Regarding The Headless Woman, it has already received enthusiastic reviews by critics that matter to me like J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, and Quintin (perhaps the best Latin American critic, who also writes in English for CinemaScope and other film magazines).

[Chris Knipp]

I may have taken a leap of faith in assuming that a chorus of boos meant negative reviews. If so the critics are fruitcakes. I don't think they were so naïve as to have been reacting to Martel's unconventional narratives. On the contrary they probably know of her earlier films and found this one disappointing by comparison. I enjoyed watching it. She's good. No doubt about it. In retrospect though the premise of the car crash in which a rich white person may have killed a poor indigenous youth is a rather obvious setup. Isn’t it pretty much like how a half dozen "issue" films have been set up just in the past few years? Furthermore the chance of scheduling Pablo Larrain's Tony Manero right after The Headless Woman had a diminishing effect on the latter. Headless Woman was much more polished; it's an Acura and Tony Manero is an old Datsun. The only thing was, Tony Manero really shook and haunted me. The Datsun ran me over and left me gasping. The Acura ride was smooth and quiet. Headless Woman left an impression of well-made film but not a memorable one and this time, not one as original as The Swamp or The Holy Girl. Surely we should make our own judgments. I was not citing the boos in support of them; I had no impulse to boo through watching this excellent, if a little bit bloodless film. My desire on Headless Woman was only to be fair and objective in reporting the context in which it arrived. I only skimmed though a few reviews, mainly to check on the identifications of characters, who are hard to identify, yet numerous and in some cases present enough to require accurate mention.

[oscar jubis]

Many movies which, according to reports, have received boos at Cannes turn up to be among my favorites. Films like Antonioni's L'Avventura and Cronenberg's Crash, for instance. Another good critic calling The Headless Woman "one of the best films at Cannes" is Scott Foundas. I don't know if it's accurate to categorize those doing the "booing" at events like Cannes "critics" as many attending the press conferences are really entertainment reporters. By the way, you claim that Variety characterizes Martel's film as a "psychological thriller", which I thought odd in that Martel's films never conform to any genre conventions. I accessed the review through the link you kindly provide and I didn't find where the Variety reviewer makes such description of the film.

[Chris Knipp]

The designation "psychological thriller" may be from the distributor but it is espoused by Variety and is on their page for the basic information about the film, the "synopsis," as follows (see link--it's indeed a different Variety page from the review I linked to before, my oversight):


A psychological thriller about a woman who kills a dog on the highway and from that moment on fails to recognize both the people who approach her and their intentions. Link. (http://www.variety.com/profiles/Film/synopsis/185024/The+Headless+Woman.html?dataSet=1)

Even if "entertainment reporters," the booing audience members nonetheless represent negative "press" response for Martel's film at Cannes--a badge of honor, if you like.

[Chris Knipp]

MAX ORPHULS' LOLA MONTES (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20723#post20723) REVIEWED.

Some comments on the 1955 classic after viewing the Cinematheque Francaise's current restoration, the highlighted retrospective film of the 2008 New York Film Festival-- already shown this year at Cannes and Telluride.

[oscar jubis]

*Indeed, that would be some "suit", probably the distributor, giving the wrong impression in an effort to make the film more mainstream (I guess) rather then the "Variety review" as you reported. Leslie Felperin wouldn't do that.

*The opportunity to watch a new, 35mm restored print of an Ophuls film is something anyone interested in cinema ought to treasure. I'm licking my lips at the prospect. And I'm one who loves Letter From an Unknown Woman, La Ronde and The Earrings of Madame de.. a little more than Lola Montes.

"No director was more sensitive than Ophuls to the elusive volatility of love, the fragility and transience of desire"
Gilbert Adair in "Film: The Critics' Choice"

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, I prefer La Ronde and The Earrings of Madame de... a whole other world.

[oscar jubis]

I love Lola Montes but less so than the three others I mentioned. I'm open to the possibility that the restored version will prove me wrong. Perhaps the most influential of these masterpieces is Letter From an Unknown Woman. It's the film that inspired acclaimed philosopher-Harvard Professor Emeritus Stanley Cavell to write his masterful "Contesting Tears: The Melodrama of the Unknown Woman" (which I read recently).

[Chris Knipp]

I don't think it will prove you wrong. It's just cleaner and prettier, yet in some scenes the color looks dated, still. Some moments especially of the circus, oddly enough, since I don't really like the circus idea much, do give you a gorgeous feeling of rich color and depth. Ultimately, though, as a movie about people it is lacking, at times really sadly so. Its value is as a visual spectacle, not as a study of a person or of love or of a life, as Orphuls' other works are.

[Chris Knipp]

Twelve screenings are scheduled for this week. Look for reviews of:

GOMORRAH (Garrone)
AFTER SCHOOL (Campos)
CHOUGA (Ombirbaev)
FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (Skolimowski)
LET IT RAIN (Jaoui)
TULPAN (Dvortsevoy)
SERBIS (Mendoza)
24 CITY (Jia)
BULLET IN THE HEAD (Rosales)
HUNGER (McQueen)
HAPPY GO LUCKY (Leigh)
I'M GOING TO EXPLODE (Naranjo)

[Chris Knipp]

MATTEO GARRONE'S GOMORRAH (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20746#post20746) REVIEWED.

Garrone, whose previous features were the atmospheric, if little known 2002 The Embalmer (L'imbalsamabore ) and the edgy, off-putting 2004 Primo amore, enlisted professional actors working together with ordinary citizens, gang operatives, and ex-cons for roles in the film, which arguably achieves a new level of authenticity in the gangster genre. Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes this year.

[Chris Knipp]

ANTONIO CAMPOS' AFTERSCHOOL (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20748#post20748) REVIEWED.

Coming of age in the YouTube generation. Fear and loathing, love and death at a New England prep school as seen by a 15-year-old with a video camera. The filmmaker, a protege of a Cannes program who has received many awards and many rejections and was a Presidential Scholar, is only 24 today. Afterschool premiered in the Un Certain Regard series at the Cannes Festival.

[Chris Knipp]

DAREZHAN OMIRBAEV'S CHOUGA (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20750#post20750) REVIEWED.

A rather flat re-working of the theme of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, chiefly interesting for the handsome heroine and views of a newly rich Kazakhstan.

[Chris Knipp]

JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI'S FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (http://) REVIEWED.

Very limited, very dark, very finely made portrait of a shy, poorly socialized man who becomes a voyeur. Polish director Skolimowski's first return to directing in 17 years was the opener of the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, is included in the Toronto and New York film festivals, and opens in theaters in France in November.

[Chris Knipp]

AGNES JAOUI'S LET IT RAIN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20755#post20755) REVIEWED.

"Speak to me of rain, not good weather," a Georges Brassens song goes. This new Jaoui-Bacri collaboration is about relationships--of family, ethnicity--sex--that don't always go so well, but the pair are working in a warmer, mellower, more complex mode this time.

P.s. Let It Rain has now been acquired by IFC Films. October 8, 2008.

[Chris Knipp]

SERGEY DVORTSEVOY'S TULPAN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20757#post20757) REVIEWED.


Coming to the wilds of the Kazakhistan steppe, Asa can't win the hand of the pretty shepherd's daughter Tulpan, but he can't give up his dream of an idyllic life out in the wild. Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes.

[Chris Knipp]

BRILLANTE MENDOZA'S SERBIS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20760#post20760) REVIEWED.

A dilapidated Filipino movie theater is the star of this film, but it's not a dark, haunted place like the cinema of Tsai Ming-liang's austere Goodbye, Dragon Inn. This is as if a Third World telenovela, with X-rated sex added, was all crammed into a single comprehensive 90-minute episode. It's an impressive achievement, but a little bit indigestible. An official selection at Cannes, perhaps in that sense as in the general conception meant to provoke. Those who argue the whole production is exploitive and crude aren't far off the mark, but the depiction of a family isn't without interest, though this has none of the poetry and mood of other films about the devolution of a place.

[Chris Knipp]

STEVE MCQUEEN'S HUNGER (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20763#post20763) REVIEWED.

Under-40 Brit artist McQueen's powerful drama about the Bobby Sands hunger strike till death in 1981 to win the right for IRA prisoners in Belfast to be treated as political prisoners. Relevant today, though McQueen began the project in 2003 before there was an Abu Ghraib and the comparisons with post-9/11 repression were not foremost in his mind. Clearly one of the best English language films of 2008. Awarded the Camera d'Or prize at Cannes for the best first film in competition.

[Chris Knipp]

JIA ZHANG-KE'S 24 CITY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20764#post20764) REVIEWED.

A somewhat curious mixture of documentary and faked elements, this film depicts the history of a once-large and strategic factory started in the 50's and now dismantled and turned into a 5-star hotel. Some of the talking heads pack an emotional punch, but the best thing may be the handsome cinematography.

[Chris Knipp]

JAIME ROSALES' BULLET IN THE HEAD (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20769#post20769) REVIEWED.

This is falsely advertised as a mystery or a thriller. It is hard to stay awake through it. It is, of course, fun to argue about. But better to watch it when you have Fast Forward available. For Spanish viewers, who might detect Basque undertones, it might be more exciting.

[oscar jubis]

After re-reading your review of Solitary Fragments and my review of The Hours of the Day, the previous two, award-winning films by Jaime Rosales, one has to conclude he is extremely consistent in both his thematic concerns and formal methodology. I'm curious as to the reaction in Spain when the new film opens there next month.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes indeed, I can see the interrelationships of all three films--I have not seen the one you wrote about though. I ought to have mentioned Solitary Fragments and will make some changes in my new NYFF review of this latest Rosales film. I would not consider it comparable to Solitary Fragments, though in technique it relates (but without dialogue, that makes a huge difference). It seems to have received a lot of attention in Il Pais; I have not tried to decode all the Spanish articles, which you may report on later perhaps. We'll see whether this one garners as many awards. But again, I think the Spanish interest in ETA might bring about a more intense reaction than for US or international audiences. But while Solitary Fragments seemed to me very much to reward close attention, this one seems to frustrate all efforts to make anything more of it than what appears on the surface.

[oscar jubis]

There is a minimalist movement or tendency within Spanish Cinema right now, most of it centered in Barcelona. The other national cinema producing similarly rigorous works that forego plot (in the traditional sense) to focus on the quotidian is that of Argentina. This strain of filmmaking probably has its roots on Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), which is being screened here next month as part of a director retrospective.

I like how the NYFF is including many films by emerging filmmakers. I wonder how many readers are familiar with Mendoza, Rosales and Omirbaev. Here's reviews of films by these directors I've seen.

KILLER aka Tueur a Gages (Kasakhstan/1998)

"Darezhan Omirbaev is one of the most talented filmmakers currently working anywhere but his nationality seems to have doomed him to the margins". (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

This third feature by Omirbaev (1958) won the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. "Killer", the film's English title, is inappropriate because it raises the wrong expectations. This is not a thriller or a crime movie although it depicts criminality, with the violence just off screen. The protagonist, Marat, works as a chaffeur for a mathematician (Omirbaev's former profession). He rear-ends a Mercedes while driving home from the hospital where his wife Aijan has just given birth to a son. He's forced to borrow money to pay for the repairs then loses his job when the government stops funding scientific institutions (something that also affected the Kazak film industry following the collapse of the Soviet Union). Marat is forced to get a loan from a guy with organized crime connections and the calamities continue.

Killer opens with a scene in which the mathematician can't find a building's exit. We watch him wandering the halls and getting contrasting answers as to which way to go. The scene keeps accruing meaning as the strightforward, clean narrative moves along. As a matter of fact, the film seems even more impressive and more significant after a second viewing. Omirbaev depicts a post-communist society that has lost its traditions and its moral compass. The institutional and economic collapse is dramatized with great economy and conviction. Every scene has a clear purpose, a reason for being.

*I watched Killer on import dvd. Omirbaev first two features, Kairat and Cardiogram are available on UK dvd at a rather steep price. A Region 1 dvd of any of Omirbaev features would definitely be appreciated and quite deserved.

SLINGSHOT (PHILIPPINES)

Brillante Mendoza toiled as a production designer under the psudonymn Dante for a long time before he directed his debut at age 45. He is furiously making up for lost time with 6 films released since 2005, and quickly establishing quite a reputation in his native Philippines and abroad. Mendoza's latest is nothing less than a feat of filmmaking prowess. A comprehensive, fictionalized snapshot of Manila slum life that could easily pass for a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Now imagine the fly being able to move across space at will thanks to those handy, lightweight Hi-Def DV cameras. Mendoza takes you into the cramped rooms, narrow alleyways, and crowded streets with unparalleled urgency and immediacy.

Slingshot is bookended by a vertiginous police raid and a political rally, the only event not staged for the camera. The hard work, skill and time required to make the rest look absolutely real can't be overlooked. That Mendoza is a great director of actors, a brilliant performance shaper, will be obvious to any viewer who realizes Slingshot is not a documentary. The shooting of the film was scheduled to coincide with Holy Week and the campaign leading to council elections. Slingshot consists of a number of vignettes involving multiple characters, none of whom takes center stage. A girl kneels to beg not to be turned in to police after caught shoplifting a dvd player. Another girl, who's missing front teeth, wails after accidentally dropping her dentures down the drain. The youngest among a gang of thieving schoolboys, the only one who gets caught, gets beat up at the police station. A toddler plays with his feces while dad gets high with his friends. A basketball game devolves into a knife fight. Believers pray devoutly to Jesus and Allah. Two women compete for a handsome casanova. Residents make a long line to collect cash in exchange for votes. Scaming, hustling, borrowing, bartering, pawning, begging, stealing. Whatever it takes to survive in the oppressive environment. It has such an impact on the lives of slum residents that Mendoza's sociological, rather than psychological, approach is not only valid but entirely appropriate.

Slingshot ends with a sequence of unmitigated power and poignancy. At the rally, a candidate's empty speechifying is followed by the singing of "How Great is Our God" as a bystander gets his pocket picked.

THE HOURS OF THE DAY (Spain)

Abel is the young owner of a small boutique in Barcelona. He argues with his cute live-in girlfriend, humors his mum, helps his buddy set up a business, prepares a tasty cocido on sundays. Then Abel kills a stranger with his bare hands.

The Hours of the Day is the anti-thriller. Naturalistic performances, long takes, static camera, and use of off-screen space create a hyper-normal middle-class world, undisturbed by Abel's murders. We watch two murder scenes but it's clear Abel has killed before and will kill again. Sometimes the violence takes place outside our view with only sound guiding us. There's no stylization and no musical score.

Evil is banal, unpredictable and, sometimes unexplainable seems to be the message from writer/director Jaime Rosales. The Hours of the Day provides no explanations for the murders, no psychological insight, no flashbacks to a traumatic event, no effort to apprehend a serial killer who goes unpunished.

There were no walkouts, but a portion of the audience was ticked off by film's end. During Q&A with actor Alex Brendemuhl, a few questions had a sarcastic tone. Answers revealed that the filmmakers achieved exactly what they set out to do. Not everybody goes to films to learn that evil happens and you cannot stop it, or predict it, or understand it. The Hours of the Day received the FIPRESCI award at Cannes for "its subtle use of cinematographic expression in the observation of a mediocre man's behavior, whose only specificity is killing".

[Chris Knipp]

I like how the NYFF is including many films by emerging filmmakers. Thanks for your detailed response to my recent NYFF reviews, which are always appreciated. However this remark of yours could mislead newcomers to this thread or to the NYFF. It isn't a risk-taking festival and it's hard to be when it is a slate of only 28 films meant to be the best of the year world-wide. It is a slate full of famous names and directors who have been in the NYFF before. Even the new names come with success at Cannes, and are not really "new", just less familiar. A few exceptions might be Antiono Campos and Alexander Olch. But I'd hesitate to call Steve McQueen "emerging" when he arrives with the Order of the British Empire, the Turner Prize, and the Camera d'Or at Cannes this year for his first film, and he has actually made a lot of films and videos before.

Every year somebody writes a piece in a local paper about how establishment and gray-haired the NYFF and its audience are and that's true, though these pieces do ackwledge that the slate is excellent and great for film critics to write about.

Thanks for the information about the minimalist tendency in some Spanish-language film regions. I don't know if "rigorous works that forego plot (in the traditional sense)" really exist, despite Rosales' efforts. One main feature of his latest film would seem to be precisely its hidden plot, which can putatiely be teased out by the patient and observant viewer. Its leading up to a shooting moreover is a traditional plot device. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[Chris Knipp]

P.s. I enjoyed Mendoza's Serbis though I don't know if you could call it an 'art film.' It is a tour de force but also full of flaws. It might be slightly 'risk-taking' in that it's likely to offend the gray-haired Lincoln Center regulars with its explicit sex. I think the VARIETY review says that his Foster Child is much better.

As is clear Darezhan Omirbaev's Chouga or Shuga (the previous spelling was devised for the French audience, I think) did not work for me. I might like something else by him, who knows? In some ways he reminded me of Hong Sang-Soo, whom I like.

As I made clear also, this Rosales film didn't work for me at all, but his previous one did. I'd have to see the one before that which you've reviewed, to decide on that.

[Chris Knipp]

MIKE LEIGH'S HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20780#post20780) REVIEWED.

At 65 Mike Leigh counteracts the branding of some earlier films with a definitive anti-"miserabilist" statement. The gifted Sally Hawkins (Vera Drake, Persuasion, Cassandra's Dream) heads a cast of typical British depth in this depiction of the life of a sunny-spirited English 30-year-old..

[Chris Knipp]

GERARDO NARANJO'S I'M GONNA EXPLODE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20784#post20784) REVIEWED.

Youthful rebellion freshly and ironically chronicled from Mexico.

[Chris Knipp]

STEVEN SODERBERGH'S CHE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20796#post20796) REVIEWED.


Soderbergh's Cannes-controversial 4-hour-plus Che, aka The Argentine plus Guerilla, is impressive, but excessive. They thought the Bolivia story was too sad--or not sad enough, if you didn't know about the earlier triumphs. So the director had writer Peter Buchman write more about Cuba--and then decided to make another whole movie--and stick the two together. Benicio Del Toro got the Best Actor award at Cannes for the lead performance. There are good actors in other leads, such as Demian Bichir (Fidel Castro), Santiago Cabrera (Camillo Cienfuegos), Elvira Minguez (Celia Sanchez) Jorge Perugorria (Joaquin), Edgar Ramiorez (Ciro Redondo), Victor Rasuk (of Raising Victor Vargas as Rogelio Acevedo), Catalina Sandino Moreno (of Maria Full of Grace, as Aleida Guevara), Rodrogo Santoro (Raul Castro), Unax Ugalde (Little Cowboy), Yul Vazquez (Alejandro Ramirez), and in Part 2 Carlos Bardem (Moises Guevara), Julia Ormond (Lisa Howard), Lou Diamond Philipps (Mario Monje),and Franka Potente (as Tania), among others, including an unidentified cameo by Matt Damon. I wonder if all the accents match properly.

[Chris Knipp]

JOAO BOTELHO'S THE NORTHERN LAND (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20800#post20800) REVIEWED.

A Portuguese film adapting the eponymous novel by Augustina Bessa Luis (also said to be a great favorite of Manoel de Oliveira), this tells a complicated story about multiple generations using one actress, Ana Moreira, in seven roles. Hard-to-read and overly detailed (but thorough) subtitles made this film difficult to follow on firist viewing, but the beautiful digital images with rich painterly tableaux made me give it the benefit of the doubt. This is fine European filmmaking in the great tradition, but with smooth use of new technology. Botelho has been featured at Lincoln center twice before, in 1985 and 1988.

[Chris Knipp]

OLIVIER ASSAYAS' SUMMER HOURS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20803#post20803) REVIEWED.

Assayas brings it all back home in a film shot in France about a French family and the way modern life makes it divide up and relinquish its history and its heirlooms when three adult children lose their mother. "I don't know if SUMMER HOURS is a summing up of everything that preceded it," Assayas has said, "but it does recapitulate a lot of things at a moment when I felt the need to do so."

[Chris Knipp]

DARRON ARONOFSKY'S THE WRESTLER (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20805#post20805) REVIEWED.

Not for the squeamish. Staple guns, broken glass, barbed wire. Razor blades. Lap dancing. Tit rings. Heart attacks. Deli food. Mickey Rourke is 56 years old. This may be his best movie yet. He thinks so. and at the Venice Festival, this film won the Golden Lion.

[Chris Knipp]

CLINT EASTWOOD'S CHANGELING (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20808#post20808) REVIEWED.

A typically stylish and well-made effort by Eastwood about a boy who disappears, his bereaved mother (Angelina Jolie) and a corrupt LAPD and a wigged-out murderer. We're in James Ellroy territory, and sometimes Sam Fuller's, but this is about a forgotten crime story called the Wineville Chicken Murders and writer J. Michael Straczynski stays close to newspaper accounts from the 1928-1935 period of the story. Not quite up to Eastwood's outstanding 2003, 2004 and 2006 efforts, but still worth seeing, and likely to be talked of at Oscar time. (The Onion A.V. Club Oscar-o-Meter rated it an 8/10.)

[Chris Knipp]

ARI FOLMAN'S WALTZ WITH BASHIR (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20811#post20811) REVIEWED.

Traveling autobiographically through animated space-time, Ari Folman and Israeli veteran comrades recover buried memories of their participation in the 1982 Lebanon war and their complicity in the massacre of Palestinian civilians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian Militian Phalangiests.

Another of the NYFF's 17 films out of 28 from the Cannes festival, this dream meditation with a shocking finale aroused very mixed feelings in me.

[Chris Knipp]

WONG KAR-WAI'S ASHES OF TIME REDUX (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20813#post20813) REVIEWED.

New music, a little cutting, painstaking restoration of images from multiple copies, 'enhanced' color (some of that questionable), and still a magical experience not to be missed in this iconic, unique reinterpretation of the martial arts film.

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it in the US starting October 10th.

[oscar jubis]

Using the search feature, I found that I've mentioned ASHES OF TIME a total of 21 times on this site. I've called it "the most visually arresting film of the 1990s" and listed it in my top 10 films of that decade. I also wrote back in early 2005 that "I'm convinced it will one day be properly restored and subtitled". How could it not be? I was dismayed when the film was not included in a Wong Kar Wai box set released a couple of years ago. Now I think I understand why it wasn't included. There was not a single pristine and complete print of the film available! I've watched my dvd copy of ASHES OF TIME almost as often as a teenager plays her favorite song but I've exhorted readers not to buy that low-quality dvd and wait until the right time to experience it for the first time. Obviously the time has come and I hope anyone who loves movies and appreciates beauty runs to the theater playing this "redux" version. It's highly unlikely that any of the new films released this year will be the equal of ASHES OF TIME Redux.

[Chris Knipp]

I hope people will run to see it too. Didn't realize ASHES OF TIME was such a favorite of yours. I personally prefer DAYS OF BEING WILD, which was also been more simply 'reduxed' and briefly reissued in theaters. I saw the latter in the beautiful new print at Film Forum a few years ago. It to me is more the true Wong Kar-wai. However, for sheer visual dazzle, and quite a distinctive kind (nothing like Zhang Yimou for example), this one is remarkable. Since you're watched ASHES OF TIME so often, maybe you can elucidate the plot-line for us here. Or have you done that somewhere else?

Please tell me also if possible who the actor is in the still at the top of my review.

[Chris Knipp]

Still to come from the NYFF, reviews of:

NIGHT AND DAY (HONG SANG-SOO)

IT'S HARD BEING LOVED BY JERKS (DANIEL LECONTE)

TOKYO SONATA (KIYOSHI KUROSAWA)

A CHRISTMAS TALE (ARNAUD DESPLECHIN)

[Chris Knipp]

HONG SANG-SOO'S NIGHT AND DAY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20821#post20821) REVIEWED.

Another of South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo's well-observed bumblingly over-confident macho protagonists torn between several women. This time he's a Seoul painter of cloud pictures who flees to Paris in fear of prosecution for a minor drug charge, while his wife remains at home and he mixes with the local Korean community and especially some of the younger prettier women. As textured and ironic as ever, but a little over-long at 144 minutes. Shown at Berlin in February and in Paris theaters since July in a double bill with Woman on the Beach, the new Hong film has no US release planned.

[Chris Knipp]

DANIEL LECONTE'S IT'S HARD BEING LOVED BY JERKS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20838#post20838) REVIEWED.

A high-profile French trial over cartoons, French Muslims, and freedom of expression.

[Chris Knipp]

KIYOSHI KUROSAWA'S TOKYO SONATA (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20841#post20841) REVIEWED.

Kurosawa escapes his J-horror doldrums and makes a haunting family drama that stretches middle class limits, moving in directions both bizarre and touching. Hailed a a brilliant return to form in a new genre, Tokyo Sonata received the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard series at Cannes this year.

[oscar jubis]

Finally find a little time to visit the thread and read your latest reviews. I'm looking forward to seeing these movies. Currently editing midterm essays on Abel Gance's La Roue and Lewis Milestone's Hallelujah, I'm a Bum! and attending screenings of Chantal Akerman's films in preparation for her visit to campus on Tuesday.

The actor in the still you used for your review of Ashes of Time Redux is Tony Leung Ka Fai. He's less well known in the West than costar Tony Leung Chiu Wai. Ka Fai has been nominated 13 times for Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards and has won four times (most recently for his performance in Johnnie To's Election). As far as elucidating the plot line, I'll leave that for another time or to another person.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the identification. I like to caption the stills and so this is invaluable. Good luck with your work.

Actually I've read that the film has a site that gives plot explanations. It's debatable about whether they matter anyway.

Thanks again. I look forward to further feedback.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY opened in US theaters today. The reviews are generally excellent. It would be one of my recommendations to anybody from the NYFF.

[Chris Knipp]

ARNAUD DESPLECHIN'S A CHRISTMAS TALE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20847#post20847) REVIEWED.

More tonally controlled than Desplechin's last, and only superficially conventional in its Yuletide familial format, this is again a complex and highly original drama of reunions, conflicts, and revelations that's a glorious feast of all that the director does best. At the center of it, Catherine Deneuve and Matthieu Amalric, with Anne Cosigny, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni, Emmanuelle Devos and others in important roles.

[Chris Knipp]

A FESTIVAL SUMMING-UP...

...is coming in the NYFF Festival Coverage thread. (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2339)

Top ratings will likely go to:

THE CLASS (CANTET)
HUNGER (MCQUEEN)
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (LEIGH)


High praise to most of the French films and some of the Spanish-language ones.

Disappointments definitely include:

CHE (SODERBERGH)
GOMORRAH (GARRONE)
NIGHT AND DAY (HONG)


Best-avoided titles:

BULLET IN THE HEAD (ROSALES)
CHOUGA (OMIRBAEV)
THE NORTHERN LAND (BOTELHO)


I'll also put up linked indexes of all the titles reviewed.

[Chris Knipp]

LINKED INDEX TO NYFF REVIEWS

24 City (Jia) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20764#post20764)
Afterschool (Campos) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20748#post20748)
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20813#post20813)
Bullet in the Head (Rosales) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20769#post20769)
Changling (Eastwood) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20808#post20808)
Che (Soderbergh) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20796#post20796)
Chouga (Omirbaev) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20750#post20750)
Christmas Tale, A (Desplechin) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20847#post20847)
Class, The (Cantet) (http://www.cinescene.com/knipp/class.htm)
Four Nights with Anna (Skowlomowski) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20752#post20752)
Gororrah (Garrone) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20746#post20746)
Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20780#post20780)
Headless Woma, The (Martel) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20716#post20716)
Hunger (McQueen) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20763#post20763)
I'm Gonna Explode (Naranj0) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20784#post20784)
It's Hard Being Loved by Jerks (Leconte) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20838#post20838)
Let It Rain (Jaoui) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20755#post20755)
Lola Montes (Orphuls) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20723#post20723)
Night and Day (Hong) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20821#post20821)
Northern Land, The (Botelho) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20800#post20800)
Serbis (Mondoza) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20760#post20760)
Summer Hours (Assayas) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20803#post20803)
Tokoy Sonta (Kurosawa) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20841#post20841)
Tony Manero (Larrain) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20717#post20717)
Tulpan (Dvortsevoy) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20757#post20757)
Waltz with Bashir (Folman) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20811#post20811)
Wendy and Lucy (Reichardt) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20711#post20711)
Windmill Movie, The (Olch) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20714#post20714)
Wrestler, The (Aronofsky) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20805#post20805)

[oscar jubis]

I watched Changeling and I hope everyone else who posts here checks it out. Eastwood is one of our best Hollywood directors and his latest exhibits all the virtues of solid, mainstream Hollywood storytelling and production values. That's the overriding thought I had walking out of the theater after watching it. It has an epic quality to it, an earnestness, a sense of conviction about what it's bringing into the open. I like it less than Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima, which made my year-end Top 10s. I think it compares well with Flags of Our Fathers and Mystic River. It's gonna be a sad day when Eastwood stops making movies.

[Chris Knipp]

Clint is a remarkable individual, very much in good form as was obvious when we saw and heard him answer our questions at Lincoln Center a month ago after the press screening. He has certainly not stopped making movies and he has two coming. This one is indeed well made in many ways and in view of the level of current offerings is certainly a must see for any fan of mainstream American filmmaking. But it's not quite satisfiying; it's Clint's least good of late--though comparison with Flags of Our Fathers may be apt, I found the latter more involving. The Changeling story is rather extraordinary--as lurid as any of James Ellroy's, but in essence true. I found the insane asylum segment reminiscent of Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor. Angelina unfortunately is shrill and tense. As others in the press have commented, the best thing about Changeling is the period flavor, particularly in the street scenes, with the street cars and automobiles lovingly assembled.

[oscar jubis]

The psych ward scenes reminded me most of Frances (1982) with Jessica Lange as actress Frances Farmer, a role for which she received an Oscar nomination.
I'm looking forward to Clint's other 2008 release.

[Chris Knipp]

That too, but the other two are more period and lurid, as I recall. Clint stars in the next one.

[oscar jubis]

*I'm not sure what you mean by "the other two". I think you mean L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia. Shock Corridor is perhaps "lurid" but, of course, not a period film. It's set in in the present (1963) and it exposes both psychiatric institutions and American society in general. I didn't find it as wrenching as the psych ward scenes in both Frances (set in the 1940s) and Changeling. Perhaps the first Hollywood film to bring into the open the horrors of psychiatric institutionalization was The Snake Pit (1948). It's a very good film with a superb performance by Olivia de Havilland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting that Leigh sees Happy-Go-Lucky as "his answer to his branding as a miserabilist". He coul;d have simply brought up Topsy-Turvy or reminded those branding him of the optimistic and uplifting worldview of Life is Sweet and Secrets and Lies. Anyway, I'm not nearly as impressed by the new film as I am by the abovementioned and most other films by England's greatest director.

Half the time I found Poppy incredibly irritating. Her pestering of the library clerk in the opening sequence borders on abuse. She can't seem to understand some people want to be left alone. Her insistence on wearing boots with spiky heels when learning to drive a car with manual transmission is highly inconsiderate; a clear danger to the safety of others sharing the road. I bought into her reaction to having her bike stolen but not into her ability to learn to drive so quickly, given her attitude and said boots. The character borrows tics from protagonists of other Leigh films, mostly Katrin Cartlidge's Hannah of Career Girls. As far as the combination of comedy and pathos that seems to be Leigh's aim, I find that some of his earlier films, Grown Ups comes to mind, more seamless; more successful in general. With regards to the thread involving Poppy and Scott, I'd say the deck is a bit too stacked for it to satisfy as either comedy and drama.

I'm not denying Happy-Go-Lucky is a good film. I think you've certainly brought up most of what makes it enjoyable. Bear in mind that my comments attempt to justify why I didn't enjoy the film as much or think as highly of it as most who've written about it. This film is getting outrageously positive reviews. I do recognize the film has its share of attributes and it deserves to be seen.

[Chris Knipp]

Since we've had so much discussion of HAPPY-GO-LUCKY and CHANGELING here, and they're both in theatrical release, I've opened threads for both of them and transferred our discussion to them there, separated up according to the film. My new replies to your interesting remarks about both films are over there.

Links to the two threads:

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21006#post21006)

CHANGELING (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21003#post21003)

[Chris Knipp]

There's usually an article or two at NYFF time critiquing this particular festival as an institution. I meant to refer Filmleaf readers to this year's Been to the NYFilm Festival? Didn't Think So (http://www.nypress.com/article-18814-been-to-the-ny-film-festival-didnt-think-so.html) by Simon Abrams and published in The New York Press of September 24, 2008. Abrams finds the venue stodgy, not entirely without reason (FSLC daytime offerings do get an older crowd). I don't know if the venue and the Society are as off-putting to young filmgoeers as he thinks. You will find bloggers and ragged T-shirts and jeans at the press screenings, but the Film Society of Lincoln Center certainly isn't the cutting edge spot for film in New York City; he got that right.

Anyway, this article includes quotes from Phililp Lopate and Richard Pena with a historical background survey. And it offers hope in the new green and Film Comments Selects series and the revamped and enlarged facilities that are coming shortly. And he acknowledges that for the industry and press, the NYFF is a splendid event.

[oscar jubis]

By all appearances, the NYFF continues to be what it's been doing well since 1963: a showcase for the "best" from Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, etc. When you charge $16 and show films in a space that sits over 2,000 or 1,660 (the new space), you cannot take chances. You cannot piss off too many people by showing something truly fringe or avant garde under those circumstances. That's what the sidebars are for.
======================================
Don't you think that in general the audience for "art film" is older? that many young people eventually grow into people that appreciate "art film" when they reach a certain age? There are always some teens and young adults who love chanllenging, "art films" but they will always be the minority. My professors at UM have discussed this problem with me. It's a big issue at film studies programs. The kids dig The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Psycho, and Breathless but get bored by Vivre Sa Vie, Last Year at Marienbad, Ozu, and just about any silent film.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, doubtless the audience for "art" films is older. I don't know. The point was just to give a good example of this kind of article complaining about the NYFF that appears more or less every year in a NYC paper around festival time. Sometimes the NYTimes is also critical. As Abrams notes, the FSLC has some series that are more adventurous. The nature of the NYFF, however, its selectivity, makes it less likely to take chances.

Tribeca is different. So are other festivals. The FSLC is kind of conservative. Nonetheless you are basically right. But I found this article worth connecting Filmleaf readers. To give the youth point of view.

[Chris Knipp]

Readers of NYFF coverage may be interested in changes in the FSLC staff and NYFF selection committee. This press release came during the past week:
Dennis Lim joins New York Film Festival
Selection Committee

NEW YORK—The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that film critic and editor Dennis Lim will join the New York Film Festival’s selection committee following The Film Society’s Richard Peña and critics Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman and newest member Melissa Anderson in choosing the approximately twenty plus features that will make up the 2009 slate.

"Dennis is one of the most original voices in film criticism," remarks Peña, program director at The Film Society and NYFF selection committee chairman. "Comfortable with an exceedingly wide range of films, he brings fresh and often surprising points of view to his writing on cinema that challenges traditional orthodoxies."

Dennis Lim is the editor of Moving Image Source, the online publication of the Museum of the Moving Image. He writes frequently for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and was a film critic at The Village Voice from 1998 to 2006, as well as its film editor from 2000 to 2006. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics, and he teaches in the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University.

"The New York Film Festival has held a special place in local and global film culture for decades" says Lim. "It’s been an event of enormous significance to me as a film lover and a film journalist, and I’m truly honored to be on the selection committee."

He replaces Kent Jones, who, until recently, was The Film Society’s associate director of programming and a member of the Festival’s selection committee. There has been a shakeup (the term used in a NYTimes article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/movies/01linc.html?emc=rss&partner=rss) two weeks ago) sincehe appontment of Mara Manus to head the Film Society. Some have not been rehired, and some have left. These include Jeanne Burney, the press director since the departure of Graham Leggett to direct the San Frencaico Film Society and festival. And others are leaving, perhaps 25% of the staff. Definitely many are ot happy with Manus' reputation for an "aloof", "corporate," bottom-line oriented approach (she comes from six years of directing New York's Public Theater). However, the arrival of Dennis Lim seems a positive sign.

[oscar jubis]

I watched Tokyo Sonata and was relieved to find that your review mentions the film's "uncertainty of tone". I hope I'm quoting that bit correctly. You obviously like the film more than I do but I'm glad that you point out some of its deficiencies or limitations. It is a good review. I wish Kurosawa would stick to what he does best and leave topics like this to others, like Kore-eda for instance. Tokyo Sonata needed to either go deeper and more seriously into drama the way Cantet's masterpiece Time Out does, or become the dark and wild satire it sometimes threatens to become. By the way, I am still trying to figure out why the wife would stay married to a guy that doesn't seem to know how to show a modicum of affection.

[Chris Knipp]

Your last question might require a further study of Japanese manners and customs. And then you might not ask it.

I think Kurosawa was feeling stale with J-horror, even though he's done some of the masterpieces of the genre. I wouldn't condemn him to competently repeating himself. But you're doubtless right that this isn't as good as Cantet's TIME OUT. It doesn't develop its theme as consistently. I wrote
Though there's some uncertainty of tone and some cutting might have helped, Kurosawa tells an interesting, sometimes even moving story and has completely escaped from his alleged recent "J-horror" genre doldrums. Another NYFF 2008 film, a much finer one, is now having US distribution (just beginning in the Bay Area): Assayas' SUMMER HOURS/L'HEURE D'ETE.