Film Comments Selects And New Directors, New Films 2009

[Chris Knipp]

I'm going to cover just a few films from these two excellent series which overlap the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center.

Film Comment Selects series:


A l’aventure*
Adam Resurrected
Better Things*
The Chaser
Demon Lover Diary
Frontier of Dawn*
Hurlements...
The Hurt Locker
In girum imus...
Jerichow*
The Killing of...
...Fabulous Stains
Lake Tahoe*
The Mugger
Paradise
Revanche*
Seventeen
The Society of...
The Third Generation
The Tiger’s Tail
A Week Alone*
A Woman in Berlin

*Ones I have reviewed.

Look up full detals on the Fslc website here:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/fcs09/program.html

A list of Film Comment Selects for 2008 will be found here. (https://tickets.filmlinc.com/php/calendar.php?sid=&cmode=6&month=2&day=22&year=2008&org=)

[tabuno]

I don't understand what the title of your thread means. "Film Comments," is this a film series? For those of us who know little about such things, it might be helpful to have some brief description of the more esoteric film events, an introduction to such threads. I am also struggling with interpreting your thread as a thread to comment on any new film or director whose film is tentatively scheduled to be released this year (2009).

[Chris Knipp]

Fernando Eimbcke: LAKE TAHOE (2008)--FCS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2473)

Second feature by the 39-year-old director again focuses on a teenage boy and absent parents, this time takes a crabwise approach to the emotional dislocation following major loss. Some viewers at festivals found this too minimal or too subtle, though many acknowledged it to be a gem artistically. I found it brilliant and suffused with humanism. One Italian commentator calls the incidents delaying Juan's car repair "'a Via Dolorosa' on the way back to existence and the quotidian."

[Chris Knipp]

tabuno:

That "S" after "Comment" was a typo. The Lincoln Center series is called FILM COMMENT SELECTS. The magazine.

FCS runs Feb. 20-March 5.

The other series, also at Lincoln Center, is NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2009, March 25 - April 5. Press screenings run March 4-March 20.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's (FSLC's) monthly film magazine is Film Comment. Every year at this time the staff selects new films for a series.

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times has called this series "the punk-kid alternative to the New York Film Festival." The selections have more edge and risk than the more staid FSLC fall film festival, which strives to present more sure-fire and high quality stuff, but doesn't really take chances much. FCS is the most exciting new film series of the year at Lincoln Center.

Sorry about the typo--you cant correct thread titles without cancelling the whole thread.

I'm posting the reviews in the Festival Coverage section, but I don't expect to see many of either series, just a sampling. Many of the "Film Comment Selects" films have already been shown, and they overlap too much with the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema press screenings and my ongoing review-writing for me to manage to see many of these other two excellent series at Lincoln Center. Maybe next time I'll plan for it all, we'll see how things go.

THREAD IN 'FESTIVAL COVERAGE' SECTION FOR FCS AND ND/NF, 2009 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009)

[Chris Knipp]

FILM COMMENT SELECTS 2009 PAGE ON FSLC WEBSITE (http://www.filmlinc.org/wrt/onsale/fcs09/program.html)

NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2009 PAGE ON FSLC WEBSITE (http://www.filmlinc.org/ndnf/ndnf.html)

NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS PRESS SCREENING SCHEDULE

Wednesday, Mar. 4
10:30 a.m. - 12:06 p.m.:
Amreeka
Cherien Dabis, USA/Canada/Kuwait, 2009; 96m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

1:30 p.m. - 3:03 p.m.:
Stay the Same Never Change
Laurel Nakadate, USA, 2009; 93m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Thursday, Mar. 5
10:30 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.:
Barking Water
Sterlin Harjo, USA, 2009; 85m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Friday, Mar. 6
10:30 a.m. - 12:17 p.m.:
The Fly / Mukha
Vladimir Kott, Russia, 2008; 107m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1
PLEASE NOTE: This film will be press screened on Digibeta.
It will be shown to the public on a 35mm print.

1:30 p.m. - 3:06 p.m.:
Every Little Step
Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern, USA, 2008; 96m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Monday, Mar. 9
10:30 a.m. - 12:05 p.m.:
The Maid / La Nana
Sebastian Silva, Chile, 2009; 95m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1
PLEASE NOTE: This film will be press screened on HDCAM.
It will be shown to the public on a 35mm print.

1:30 p.m. - 2:59 p.m.:
Treeless Mountain
So Yong Kim, USA/South Korea, 2008; 89m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Tuesday, Mar. 10
10:30 a.m. - 12:11 p.m.:
Cold Souls
Sophie Barthes, USA/Russia, 2008; 101m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

1:30 p.m. - 3:17 p.m.:
The Shaft / Dixia de tiankong
Zhang Chi, China, 2008; 98m

screening with
Suspended
Kimi Takesue, USA, 2009; 9m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Wednesday, Mar. 11
10:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.:
Unmade Beds
Alexis Dos Santos, UK, 2008; 93m

screening with
Copy of Coralie / La Copie de Coralie
Nicolas Engel, France, 2008; 22m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Thursday, Mar. 12
10:30 a.m. - 12:04 p.m.:
Ordinary Boys / Chicos normales
Daniel Hernandez, Spain, 2008; 85m

screening with
Killer
Adam Leon and Jack Pettibone Riccobono, USA, 2009; 9m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Friday, Mar. 13
TENTATIVE
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 Noon:
Louise-Michel
Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Delepine, France, 2008; 90m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

1:00 p.m. - 2:18 p.m.:
$9.99
Tatia Rosenthal, Israel/Australia, 2008; 78m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

2:30 p.m. - 4:04 p.m.:
The Cove
Louie Psihoyos, USA, 2009; 94m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Monday, Mar. 16
10:30 a.m. - 12:18 p.m.:
Birdwatchers / La terra degli uomini rossi
Marco Bechis, Italy/Brazil, 2008; 108m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

1:30 p.m. - 3:05 p.m.:
Home
Ursula Meier, Switzerland/France/Belgium, 2008; 95m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

Tuesday, Mar. 17
10:30 a.m. - 12:10 p.m.:
The Milk of Sorrow / La teta asustada
Claudia Llosa, Spain/Peru, 2008; 100m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

1:30 p.m. - 3:09 p.m.:
Autumn / Sonbahar
Ozcan Alper, Germany/Turkey, 2008; 99m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

3:30 p.m. - 5:09 p.m.:
Mid-August Lunch / Pranzo di ferragosto
Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy, 2008; 75m

screening with
Cathrin
Mads Matthiesen, Denmark, 2009; 24m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Wednesday, Mar. 18
TENTATIVE
10:30 a.m. - 11:58 a.m.:
Give Me Your Hand / Donne-moi la main
Pascal-Alex Vincent, France/Germany, 2008; 79m

screening with
Releve
Bastian Caspar, Sebastian Natto, and Denis Trumbach, Germany, 2007; 9m
Venue: MoMA Titus 1

1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.:
We Live in Public
Ondi Timoner, USA, 2008; 90m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Thursday, Mar. 19
10:30 a.m. - 12:28 p.m.:
Paper Soldier / Bumaznyj soldat
Aleksei German Jr., Russia, 2008; 118m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

1:00 p.m. - 2:26 p.m.:
Parque Via
Enrique Rivero, Mexico, 2008; 86m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

Friday, Mar. 20
10:30 a.m. - 11:55 p.m.:
Harmony and Me
Bob Byington, USA, 2009; 75m

screening with
It's All in the Fingers
Kei Ishikawa, Poland/Japan, 2009; 10m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

1:30 p.m. - 3:04 p.m.
Can Go Through Skin / Kan door huid heen
Esther Rots, Netherlands, 2009; 94m
Venue: FSLC Walter Reade Theater

[Chris Knipp]

Philippe Garrel: THE FRONTIER OF DAWN (2008)--FCS (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009)

Another gloomy and deliriously beautiful tragic romantic love story by Garrel and Garrel: the director, Philippe, again as in the long 1968 Paris swoon Regular Lovers, has chosen his son Louis, "the raven-haired prince of the cinematheque," as his protagonist. With Laura Smet and Clementine Poidatz as the women in Louis' life, and with 20-year Garrel collaborator William Lubtchansky's rich black and white photography.

[oscar jubis]

I've seen the Russian PAPER SOLDIER and the Mexican PARQUE VIA. Both well worth seeing with the more minimalist Mexican character-study more to my taste. Hope to catch LA NANA at the MIFF. LA TETA ASUSTADA, the new film by Claudia Llosa (the wonderful Madeinusa) has gotten excellent reviews and, surprisingly, is not showing at the festival.

[Chris Knipp]

As I said, I will only see a few from these two series. I will only be here for LA NANA of those you mention from the ND/NF series, and that's unlikely due to my schedule for that day (March 9).

Today (Feb. 28) I saw REVANCHE (Gotz Spielmann, Austrian) and L'AVENTURE (Jean-Claude Brisseau, French), of the FCS series.

[Chris Knipp]

Jean-Claude Brisseau: A L'AVENTURE (2009)--FCS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21433#post21433)

A beautiful, but macho and retro, "exploration" of female sexuality, hypnosis, and cosmology. More expository (in more senses than one!) than dramatic, it's elegant and stylish and sexy -- and elementary -- as only a film by a French baby boomer could be.

[Chris Knipp]

Gotz Spielmann: REVANCHE (2008)--FCS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21432#post21432)

"Neo-noir" hardly does justice to this story of crime and redemption from Austria, an Oscar nominee and winner of other awards. This is a good one. It slides from the sleezy underside of Vienna to a quiet rural setting. But wherever you go, there you are.

Click on the title to go to my review in the Festival Coverage section of Filmleaf.

http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009

[Chris Knipp]

Christian Petzold: JERICHOW (2008)--FCS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21453#post21453)

Petzold's lean, mean style makes this reshaping of The Postman Always Rings Twice hard to get out of your head. This director deserves to be far better known outside Germany. Another excellent choice by the Film Comment Selects selectors.

http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009

[oscar jubis]

Both Revanche and Jerichow are being distributed in the US. The latter seems too generic to interest me, but I'll give it a chance.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll add that information about the US buyers to my reviews, what I can find anyway. If you mean Jerichow is too much of a genre film for your taste, that isn't the same as "generic." Check your dictionary on "generic."

"Revanche," the film by Goetz Spielmann . . .has just been picked up for North American theatrical and home video distribution by art film distributor Janus and the Criterion Collection.--Movie Jungle. (http://www.moviejungle.com/headlines/templates/templatemjnews3.aspx?articleid=740&zoneid=1)

The U.S. distribution rights to Jerichow have been acquired by The Cinema Guild--IndieWIRE. (http://www.indiewire.com/article/iw_news_cinema_guild_takes_jerichow/)

http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009

[Chris Knipp]

Duane Hopkins: BETTER THINGS (2008)--FCS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21461#post21461)

Hopkins' film about depression, addiction, and old age in the English Cotswolds is a shocking study of urban problems come to the country. His images and cast are lovingly delineated, but he lets style get in the way.

http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009

[Chris Knipp]

Celine Murga: A WEEK ALONE (2007)--FCS (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2473-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2009)

Adolescents and children are left by themselves in a gated community near Buenos Aires in this subtle, slow-burning film about privilege, neglect, and class.

[oscar jubis]

I hope to catch Murga's new film at the MIFF although it's likely to come back later this year at one of two Argentinian series curated by my dear friend and Argentinian Academy recipient Adriana Bianco.
Here's a link to my review of Murga's Ana and the Others (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13316#post13316)

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks.
Murga's debut is accomplished and recommended but. . . Ana and the Others feels like the work of a filmmaker yet to find her own style The person who introduced Una semana solos said it was quite different from her first. You'll have to see if you think it shows her 'finding her own style' or still looking.

[Chris Knipp]

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's series NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS is their other most interesting short fest of the year besides FILM COMMENT SELECTS. The ND/NF sereis is presented at both the Walter REade Theater at Lincoln Center, and at the Museum of Modern Art.

Last year the series introduced some indie debuts that were to earn kudos: Courtney Hunt of FrozenRiver, Lance Hammer of Ballast, NS Tia Lessen and Carl Deal, whose Katrina documentary Trouble the Water has proven to be so important.

Other intros last year: Serge Bozon's La France, Keret and Geffen's Jellyfish, Puenzo's XXY, Celine Sciamma's Water Lilies, as well as Wonderful Town and La Zona. (Some of these turn up at the SFIFF.)

In earlier years, NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS has been a launching pad for Teven Spielberg, Pedro Ammodovar, Atom Egoyan, Nicole Holofcener, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Sally Potter, Wong Kar-Way, and more.

This year they celebrated their history by presenting revival screenings of important earlier firsts: Metropolitan, Big Night, Half Nelson and In the Company of Men.

FSLC now has its full roster of this years (2009's) ND/NF series up on their website. (http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/program.html) Unfortunately my NYC time won't allow me to see many of them. Press screenings run through March 20, 2009; the 2009 series runs March 25-April 5.

[Chris Knipp]

Daniel Hernandez: ORDINARY BOYS (2008)--ND/NF (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=21535#post21535)

This well-photographed narrative of some twenty-somethings in a poor neighborhood of Tetouan, Morocco, where some of the Madrid terrorist bombers came from is marred by uninteresting characters and an overly haphazard edit. This setting is very authentic, though.

[Chris Knipp]

Another New York City film event is the revival of Costa-Gavras' 1969 Z in a beautiful 35 mm print. Nobody could exrpess the film's superiority over contemporary efforts better than the review by Armond Whitle, which Film Forum displays blown up large in their lobby. (http://www.nypress.com/print-article-19518-print.html) If this film interests you, don't miss Film Forum's page of supportive material, including a recent interview with the director and a raft of recent critics' raves, on their own website. (http://www.filmforum.org/films/z.html) You could write q book comparing this film with Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers. They do very different things, but they have a similar impulsive energy and moral fervor.

[oscar jubis]

I am a huge admirer of Pontecorvo's film and not at all a fan of Z based on long-ago viewings. Z's "moral fervor" is highly dubious I seem to remember. Will watch it again as many think it's good and important so one in my position ought to have a fresh opinion.

[Chris Knipp]

I said you could compare them at length; I didn't say they were the same. Have you read Armond White'srecent review of "Z"? He acknowledges and even revels in the fact that it's meant to be a popular work. THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS is more somber and sticks closer to documentary realism, while Z is intentionally generic, though based on Greece. Z impressed me more than I expected it to, on second viewing.

ARMOND WHITE REVIEW. (http://www.nypress.com/print-article-19518-print.html)

[oscar jubis]

You said they have a "similar impulsive energy and moral fervor" but my memories of both films clash with the idea that they have similar moral fervor. I will only read reviews and express firm opinions after I rewatch the new print.

[Chris Knipp]

On this new viewing of Z I found there was more moral fervor in it than I'd realized originally. You may not, I don't know.

[Chris Knipp]

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER.


You'll find all the items referred to here. (http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/program.html)

A.O. Scott's NYTimes "Neo-Neo-Realism" article is here. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/magazine/22neorealism-t.html?_r=1&ref=movies)

THIS IS TO REMIND ANYONE WHO'S INTERESTED THAT THE NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS SERIES BEGINS TODAY AND RUNS AT THE WALTER READE THEATER, 165 W. 65th St, New York City, NY, FROM MARCH 25-APRIL 5, 2009.
(Press release:)
New Directors/New Films starts Wednesday, March 25. The slate is bursting with brand-new directors. And we have a new look for our email newsletter.
There's plenty to be excited about this year. Remember that huge directing talent like Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Sally Potter, Wong Kar Wai, Kelly Reichardt and Pedro Almodovar appeared at New Directors early in their careers. Inside this newsletter, we hope you'll find tips on discovering tomorrow's major film directors today.

Meet the New Directors
For her animated adaptation of
the stories of acclaimed Israeli writer Etgar Keret in $9.99, director Tatia Rosenthal tapped the estimable vocal talents of Geoffrey Rush and Anthony LaPaglia.

Tulsa resident Sterlin Harjo (Barking Water) may be new to Film Society audiences, but he's already collected a fistful of laurels in his short career. In 2006, he was one of the inaugural recipients (and the first Native American recipient) of the prestigious United States Artists Fellowship. He's also received support from the Sundance Institute.

Award-winning National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos assembled an amazing band of professional filmmakers and environmental activists (including Richard O'Barry, the man who trained Flipper) to go undercover and underwater to reveal the terrible truth of the dolphin industry in The Cove. The film was the winner of the Audience Award for documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Meet all this year's New Directors.
ND/NF: Events of Note
Writing in the New York Times, A.O. Scott notes that Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden"This spring...a handful of small movies from relatively young directors are setting out to expand, modestly but with notable seriousness, the scope of American filmmaking." Scott's view of this "neo-neo realism" movement includes many current and past ND/NF filmmakers, as New Voice Nick Feitel points out in a post for the filmlinc blog.

Get your own insider's view of a major filmmaking trend via Teaming Up, a vital conversation with filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) and Critics' Choice, a look-back at some ND/NF classics including Frozen River and Metropolitan.

[Chris Knipp]

From Oscar:
Both Revanche and Jerichow are being distributed in the US. The latter seems too generic to interest me, but I'll give it a chance. Both are now showing in theaters here or in San Francisco. Oscar's remark turned out to be right in my opinion, because Revanche still sticks in my mind and Jerichow has faded. So I was wrong -- not for the first time -- when I said "Petzold's lean, mean style makes this reshaping of The Postman Always Rings Twice [Jerichow] hard to get out of your head." It's Revanche that's hard to get our of your head. I would give it higher marks. So does Metacritic: JERICHOW--71, REVANCHE-83 But those are both good scores and either would be worth seeing if the opportunity arises.

--July 17, 2009.