Nyff 2010

[Chris Knipp]

Nyff 2010

INDEX OF LINKS TO ALL REVIEWS

Another Year (Mike Leigh 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25169#post25169)
Aurora (Cristi Puiu 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25144#post25144)
Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, The (Andrei Uticǎ 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25067#post25067)
Black Venus (Abdellatif Kechiche 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25152#post25152)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25088#post25088)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25107&posted=1#post25107)
Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25139#post25139)
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25197#post25197)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010/page2#post25156)
LennonNYC (Michael Epstein 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25109#post25109)
Letter to Elia, A (Scorsese, Jones 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25067#post25067)
Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25170#post25170)
My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25119#post25119)
Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25192#post25192)
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25121#post25121)
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25101#post25101)
Old Cats (Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25182#post25182)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25097#post25097)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25154#post25154)
Quattro Volte, Le (Michelangelo Frammartino 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25100#post25100)
Revolución (ten short films from Mexico, 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25179#post25179)
Robber, The (Benjamin Heisenberg 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25069#post25069)
Robinson in Ruins (Patrick Keiller) 2010 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25103#post25103)
Silent Souls (Alexei Fedorchenko 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25115#post25115)
Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25136#post25136)
Strange Case of Angelica, The (Manoel de Oliveira 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25147&posted=1#post25147)
Tempest, The (Julie Taymor 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25163&posted=1#post25163)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25068#post25068)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weeresethakul 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25105&posted=1#post25105)
We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25160#post25160)



The New York Film Festival runs September 24th - October 10th, 2010.

Nyff announced its opening night film today (July 8, 2010): David Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/). Here is part of the press release. The schedule will come in this thread later and reviews will appear in the Filmleaf Festival Coverage section here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=24650#post24650)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/llan.jpg
Chris Knipp review of The Social Network. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25136#post25136)


NEW YORK, July 8, 2010 - The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that David Fincher's The Social Network has been selected as the Opening Night film for their upcoming 48th Annual New York Film Festival, kicking off at Alice Tully Hall on Friday September 24th. Directed by Fincher from a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. The film is set to be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment on October 1, 2010. The New York Film Festival runs September 24th - October 10th, 2010.

"It's exceptionally rare to discover a film that so powerfully captures the spirit of its time; The Social Network is such a film. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin are a director/writer team, like Lumet and Chayefsky before them, that make this movie not only of the moment, but reflective of larger cultural issues as well, and confirm their position at forefront of contemporary cinema," says Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history... but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications. From director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin comes The Social Network, a film that proves you don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies. The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Ceán Chaffin and based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich.

For an exclusive teaser trailer, please visit filmlinc.co (http://filmlinc.com/nyff/index.html) [FSLC PRESS RELEASE.]

Sony Trailer (http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/thesocialnetwork/clips/2189/).

[Chris Knipp]

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Brand, Molina, and Hounsou during filming

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has just announced their centerpiece film will be Julie Taymor's THE TEMPEST. (http://www.hollywoodnews.com/2010/07/26/julie-taymor-to-close-venice-film-fest-with-the-tempest/)
Taymor's provocative fantasy-drama The Tempest is the director's big-screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's final masterpiece and in addition to Helen Mirren, features Russell Brand, Reeve Carney, Tom Conti, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Djimon Hounsou, Felicity Jones, Alfred Molina, David Strathairn and Ben Whishaw. The Tempest was adapted and directed by Taymor. The film is produced by Taymor, Robert Chartoff, Lynn Hendee, Julia Taylor-Stanley and Jason K. Lau. The original music is by Oscar-winning composer, and Taymor's long-time collaborator, Elliot Goldenthal. Costumes were designed by three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell. The film was edited by Oscar winner Françoise Bonnot. Touchstone Pictures will release the Miramax Film on December 10th in New York and Los Angeles. [FSLC PRESS RELEASE.] The film will close the Venice Film Festival. Mirren will play a female version of the male master of revels, Prospero; Djimon Hounsou will be Caliban and Ben Whishaw Ariel, Alfred Molina Stefano, Russell Brand Trinculo. Cast here. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1274300/fullcredits#cast)a

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/72q.jpg
Cécile de France in a scene from Eastwood's Hereafter

Another press release from the Film Society of Lincoln Center about the third featured film of the 48th NYFF, the endpiece or or closing night film, which will be Clint Eastwood's HEREAFTER:


NEW YORK, August 16, 2010 - The 48th New York Film Festival will host 28 feature films from fourteen countries when it runs Sept. 24-Oct. 10 at Alice Tully Hall and The Walter Reade Theater, including the Closing Night selection, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter. The festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center will also feature a unique blend of programming to complement the main-slate of films, including: two Masterworks programs, Elegant Elegies: The Films of Masahiro Shinoda and Fernando de Fuentes' Revolutionary Trilogy, in addition to The Cinema Inside Me: Olivier Assayas, Views from the Avant-Garde, and 10 special event screenings, all of which will be announced in more detail shortly.

"As so beautifully evident in Hereafter, Clint Eastwood continues to make the most daring, provocative films in America. With his returned appearance here in the New York Film Festival, the director has showcased an Opening Night film, a Centerpiece film and now this year's Closing Night with Hereafter, a "hat trick" of which we are especially proud," says Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Clint Eastwood's Hereafter marks the filmmaker's 4th visit to the New York Film Festival; previous Eastwood titles presented were The Changeling (Centerpiece 2008), Mystic River (Opening Night 2003) and Bird (1988). Hereafter stars Matt Damon, Cécile de France, Jay Mohr, Bryce Dallas Howard, George McLaren and Frankie McLaren. The film is written by Peter Morgan (The Queen) and produced by Clint Eastwood, Kathleen Kennedy and Robert Lorenz. The executive producers are Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Tim Moore and Peter Morgan.

Hereafter tells the story of three people who are haunted by mortality in different ways. Matt Damon stars as George, a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie (Cécile de France), a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus (Frankie/George McLaren), a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might-or must-exist in the hereafter. [FSLC PRESS RELEASE.]

[Johann]

Can't wait for Julie Taymor's latest. She's a true film artist, in the same league as Kubrick to me.
I've seen her version of Shakespeare's TITUS (1999) about a hundred times (or more). Never get tired of it. (have had the 2-disc Fox DVD for years)

Looking forward to the additions to this thread.

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/73q.jpg

The FSLC has an events page for the 2010 NYFF now here:

NYFF 2010 events (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/2010/)
(click above)

News, essays, and eventually program schedule will appear there.

48th New York Film Festival 2010 Slate:

Opening Night
THE SOCIAL NETWORK, David Fincher, 2010, USA, 120 min

Centerpiece
THE TEMPEST, Julie Taymor, 2010, USA, 110 min

Closing Night
HEREAFTER, Clint Eastwood, 2010, USA, 126 min
__________________

ANOTHER YEAR, Mike Leigh, 2010, UK, 129 min

AURORA, Cristi Puiu, 2010, Romania, 181 min

BLACK VENUS, (Venus noire), Abdellatif Kechiche, France, 166 min

CARLOS, Olivier Assayas, 2010, France, 319 min

CERTIFIED COPY (Copie conformé), Abbas Kiarostami, 2010, France/Italy, 106 min

FILM SOCIALISME, Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, Switzerland, 101 min

INSIDE JOB, Charles Ferguson, 2010, USA, 120 min

LE QUATTRO VOLTE, Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010, Italy, 88 min

LENNON NYC, Michael Epstein, 2010, USA, 115 min

MEEK'S CUTOFF, Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA, 104 min

MY JOY (Schastye moe), Sergei Loznitsa, 2010, Ukraine/Germany, 127 min

MYSTERIES OF LISBON (Misterios de Lisboa), Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France, 272 min

OF GODS AND MEN (Des homes et des dieux), Xavier Beauvois, 2010,
France, 120 min

OKI'S MOVIE (Ok hui ui yeonghwa), Hong Sang-soo, 2010, South Korea, 80 min

OLD CATS (Gatos viejos), Sebastian Silva, 2010, Chile, 88 min

POETRY (Shi), Lee Chang-dong, 2010, South Korea, 139 min

POST MORTEM, Pablo Larrain, 2010, Chile/Mexico/Germany, 98 min

REVOLUCIÓN, Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Embecke, Amat Escalante, Gael Garcia
Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas,
Patricia Riggen, 2010, Mexico, 110 min

THE ROBBER (Der Räuber), Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany, 90 min

ROBINSON IN RUINS, Patrick Keiller, 2010, UK, 101 min

SILENT SOULS (Ovsyanki), Alexei Fedorchenko, Russia, 75 min

THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA (O estranho caso de Angélica), Manoel de Oliveira,
Portugal, 97 min

TUESDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS (Marti, dupa craciun), Radu Muntean,
Romania, 99 min

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL PAST LIVES (Lung Boonmee raluek chat),
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010, UK/Thailand, 113 min

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (Somos lo que hay), Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico, 90 min
__________________

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Peña also includes: Melissa Anderson, contributor The Village Voice; Scott Foundas, Associate Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center; Dennis Lim, Editor, Moving Image Source & Freelance Critic; and Todd McCarthy, Critic indieWire.

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/74q.jpg
The real Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss rowing at Oxford

Scott Foundas, formerly of LA Weekly, now Associate Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and juror of the NYFF, has an essay (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/2010/revenge-of-the-nerd) on David Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK , "The Revenge of the Nerd," which you may like to read. It shows why the film was a brilliant choice for the NYFf's opening night and why it will only enhance David Fincher's already high reputation.

FACEBOOK: "This is very rich material for a movie on such timeless subjects as power and privilege, and such intrinsically 21st-century ones as the migration of society itself from the real to the virtual sphere—and David Fincher’s The Social Network is big and brash and brilliant enough to encompass them all. I"

THE WRITING: "Adapted by The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin from Ben Mezrich’s nonfiction best-seller The Accidental Billionaires, The Social Network was one of those “buzz” scripts that seemed to be on everyone’s lips in Hollywood for the past couple of years, and it’s easy to understand why. The writing is razor-sharp and rarely makes a wrong step, compressing a time-shifting, multi-character narrative into two lean hours, and, perhaps most impressively, digests its big ideas into the kind of rapid-fire yet plausible dialogue that sounds like what hyper computer geeks might actually say (or at least wish they did): Quentin Tarantino crossed with Bill Gates."

THE CHARACTERSs Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg): [FROM HIS SOON-TO-BE EX-GIRLFRIEND] "Listen. You’re going to be successful and rich, but you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a geek. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole." [HIS ALLIES:] the Indian-American Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) and the towering, blond and bronzed identical twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both played by the disarming Armie Hammer, himself a scion of corporate blue bloods)." [AND:] "Former Facebook CFO Eduardo Saverin (the superb Andrew Garfield), the latter being the closest thing in the movie to a wholly sympathetic character." [THE WINKLEVOSS TWINS:] "I’m six-foot-five, 220, and there’s two of me,” notes one of the Winklevoss brothers upon learning of Zuckerberg’s Facebook subterfuge, contemplating physical retaliation."

New issue of Film Comment
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6198/picture192.png

[Chris Knipp]

PRESS SCREENING SCHEDULE Sept. 15-Oct. 7, 2010

Aug. 30, 2010. Press and Industry Screenings schedule has been sent out. I've expanded it to explain everything. This includes all the 28 main slate films plus various sidebar items, notably the "Masterworks" series. The latter are thoroughly explained by Simon Abrams on the New York Press website here. (http://www.nypress.com/blog-7097-nyff-announces-masterworks.html) My focus however will be an attempt to review all 28 main slate items if the schedule permits (Sept. 22 looks difficult). Clint Eastwood's Hereafter is not included; maybe there will be a substitution for Closing Night.

This schedule is also printed at the beginning of the Festival Coverage thread for NYFF 2010 here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=24999#post24999)

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/75q.jpg
ANOTHER YEAR - MIKE LEIGH

Screenings/Q&A's scheduled

Mon Sep 13
Noon - 5pm
Credential pick-up only


Tue Sep 14
9am - PRISONERO 13 (76m)
10:30am - EL COMPADRE MENDOZA(85m)
12:30pm - LET'S GO WITH PANCHO VILLA (92m)
(Masterworks (http://www.houstonpress.com/2010-08-19/calendar/el-prisionero-13-prisoner-13-and-el-compadre-mendoza-godfather-mendoza/Wed Sep 15 [/COLOR]
9am - PALE FLOWER Masterworks Elegant Elegies: The Films of Masahiro Shinoda (96m)
11am - SILENCE (129m) [?]
2pm - CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF Craig McCall, 2010, UK; 86m[/B] (83m) (Nyff Special Even (http://www.mcnblogs.com/theatreblog/2010/08/2010_new_york_film_festival_ma.html)t)

Thu Sep 16
9 am THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU Andrei Ujic, 2010, Romania; 180m
Noon - press conf VIA SKYPE
1pm - NURENBERG [The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration] (80m) (Nyff Special Event, "[URL="http://www.nypress.com/blog-7097-nyff-announces-masterworks.html"]Masterworks" series (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/2010/nyff-special-event-nuremberg-the-schulbergwaletzky-restoration) )
2:30pm - press conf

Fri Sep 17
9am - CARLOS, Olivier Assayas, 2010, France, 319 min

Mon Sep 20
9am - POETRY (Shi), Lee Chang-dong, 2010, South Korea, 139 min
11:19am - Poetry - press conf VIA SKYPE
12:30pm - LE QUATTRO VOLTE, Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010, Italy, 88 min
2pm - press conf VIA SKYPE
2:30pm - OKI'S MOVIE (Ok hui ui yeonghwa), Hong Sang-soo, 2010, South Korea, 80 min

Tue Sep 21
9am - ROBINSON IN RUINS, Patrick Keiller, 2010, UK, 101 min
10:40am - press conf VIA SKYPE
11:45am - UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL PAST LIVES (Lung Boonmee raluek chat),
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010, UK/Thailand, 113 min
1:30pm s - press conf
2:30pm - CERTIFIED COPY (Copie conformé), Abbas Kiarostami, 2010, France/Italy, 106 min
France, 120 min
4:30pm - press conf

Wed Sep 22
9am - LENNON NYC, Michael Epstein, 2010, USA, 115 min
11am - press conf
Noon - A LETTER TO ELIA Martin Scorsese & Kent Jones, 2010, USA; 60m (Special Event, Masterwork (http://www.nypress.com/blog-7097-nyff-announces-masterworks.html)s)
2:30pm - TUESDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS (Marti, dupa craciun), Radu Muntean,
Romania, 99 min
4:15pm - press conf VIA SKYPE
5:15pm - THE ROBBER (Der Räuber), Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany, 90 min
6:45pm - press conf
7:30pm - SILENT SOULS (Ovsyanki), Alexei Fedorchenko, Russia, 75 min
8:45pm - press conf

Thu Sep 23
9am - MY JOY (Schastye moe), Sergei Loznitsa, 2010, Ukraine/Germany, 127 min
11:08am - press conf VIA SKYPE
12:30pm - OF GODS AND MEN (Des homes et des dieux), Xavier Beauvois, 2010,
2:30pm - press conf OF GODS AND MEN

Fri Sep 24
9am - THE SOCIAL NETWORK, David Fincher, 2010, USA, 120 min
11am - press conf
Noon - FILM SOCIALISME, Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, Switzerland, 101 min
2pm - Views from the Avant-Garde (sampler)

Mon Sep 27
9am - AURORA, Cristi Puiu, 2010, Romania, 181 min
Noon - press conf
1pm - THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA (O estranho caso de Angélica), Manoel de Oliveira,
Portugal, 97 min
(tentative) press conf

Tue Sep 28
9am - BLACK VENUS (Venus noire) , Abdellatif Kechiche, France, 166 min
(tentative) press conf
12:30pm - POST MORTEM, Pablo Larrain, 2010, Chile/Mexico/Germany, 98 min
2:10pm - press conf VIA SKYPE

Wed Sep 29
9am - INSIDE JOB, Charles Ferguson, 2010, USA, 120 min
11am - press conf
1pm - BOXING GYM Frederick Wiseman, 2010, USA; 91m (Nyff Special Event (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/2010/nyff-special-event-frederick-wiseman%E2%80%99s-boxing-gym))
(tentative) - press conf

Thu Sep 30
10am - WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (Somos lo que hay), Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico, 90 min
Noon - THE TEMPEST, Julie Taymor, 2010, USA, 110 min(110m)
2pm - press conf

Fri Oct 1
NO PRESS &INDUSTRY SCREENINGS OR PRESS CONFERENCESF

Mon Oct 4
9am - ANOTHER YEAR, Mike Leigh, 2010, UK, 129 min
11:10am - press conf
12:30pm - MEEK'S CUTOFF, Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA, 104 min
2:15pm - press conf

Tue Oct 5
9am - FOREIGN PARTS Verena Paravel & J.P. Sniadecki, 2010, USA; 80m (Nyff Special Event (http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/2010/nyff-special-event-foreign-parts))
(tentative) press conf
11:30am - REVOLUCIÓN, Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Embecke, Amat Escalante, Gael Garcia
Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas,
Patricia Riggen, 2010, Mexico, 110 min
1:15pm - press conf VIA SKYPE

Wed Oct 6
9am - OLD CATS (Gatos viejos), Sebastian Silva, 2010, Chile, 88 min
10:30am - Old Cats - press conf
Noon - Shorts program (compilation - 123m)

Thu Oct 7
9am - MYSTERIES OF LISBON (Misterios de Lisboa), Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France, 272 min
1245p - press conf

Fri Oct 8
10am HEREAFTER (Clint Eastwood,2010, USA, 126, 126 min

And by the way....

The 67th Venice International Film Festival begins now: September 1-11, 2010. For details go here. (http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/festival/lineup/off-sel/out-of-competition/elia.html)

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/76q.jpg
Julian Schnabel with Rula Jebreal, who wrote the
screenplay for Miral from her own novel of the
same name. The film includes Willem Dafoe,Vanessa
Redgrave, Alexander Siddig, and Hiam Abbas

The Nyff P&I screenings begin the week of September 13 and I'll be there.

This is the Venice lineup, films in competition:

Black Swan (USA, 103 minutes), directed by Darren Aronofsky
La Pecora Nera (Italy, 93 minutes), directed by Ascanio Celestini
Happy Few (France, 103 minutes), directed by Antony Cordier
La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi /The Solitude of the Prime Numbers (Italy, Germany, France, 118 minutes), directed by Saverio Costanzo
Silent Souls (Russia, 75 minutes), directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko
Promises Written in Water (USA, 75 minutes), directed by Vincent Gallo
Road to Nowhere (USA, 121 minutes), directed by Monte Hellman
Balada Triste de Trompeta (Spain, France, 107 minutes), directed by Álex de la Iglesia
-Venus Noire (France, 166 minutes), directed by Abdellatif Kechiche
-Post Mortem (Chile, Mexico, Germany, 98 minutes), directed by Pablo Larraín
Barney's Version (Canada, Italy, 132 minutes), directed by Richard J. Lewis
Noi Credevamo/We Believed (Italy, France, 204 minutes), directed by Mario Martone
La Passione/Passion (Italy, 106 minutes), directed by Carlo Mazzacurati
Somewhere (USA, 98 minutes), directed by Sofia Coppola
13 Assassins (Japan, United Kingdom, 126 minutes), directed by Takashi Miike
Potiche (France, 103 minutes), directed by François Ozon
Meek's Cutoff (USA, 104 minutes), directed by Kelly Reichardt
Miral (USA, France, Italy, Israel, 112 minutes), directed by Julian Schnabel
Norwegian Wood (Japan, 133 minutes), directed by Tran Anh Hung
Attenberg (Greece, 95 minutes), directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (China, 122 minutes), directed by Tsui Hark
Drei/Three (Germany, 120 minutes), directed by Tom Tykwer
out of competition, closing night:
-The Tempest (director Julie Taymor- U.S.)

Not much overlapping with the Nyff, just those noted with a tick mark. An article about Venice, the oldest major festival going (this is number 67), notes (http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/youthful-flavour-venice-film-festival-3753806), "The average age of filmmakers in the main line-up this year is an unusually low 47." Note the interesting new US titles not in the Nyff shown at Venice: Arronofsky's BLACK SWAN, Coppola's SOMEWHERE, Schnabel's MIRAL, Gallo's POEMS WRITTEN ON WATER. An open night midnight movie was Rodriguez's MACHETE, but that's already showing here in UA theaters, no big deal. I've also pointed out I'M STILL HERE by Casey Affleck premiered in Venice out of competition and I have posted a review (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2911-I-M-NOT-THERE-%28Casey-Affleck-2010%29) of it; it opens in US theaters Sept. 10, 2010.

DARK SWAN stars Nathalie Portman and is about a ballerina who finally gets the big role, and then goes nuts. There is a lesbian sex scene and violence and horror. Schnabel's MIRAL is about a young Palestinian girl orphaned in the Arab-Israeli war who is drawn back into the conflict. SOLITUDE OF THE PRIME NUMBERS, from Primo Levi's famous novel, also looks interesting.

Quentin Tarantino, who chaired the Cannes jury in 2004, chairs Venice's this year. Jafar Panahi, a previous Venice winner (THE CIRCLE, 2000) was banned from attending by the Iranian government, though he has been released from jail. He was meant to be on the jury at Cannes but was incarcerated at that time.

[Chris Knipp]

In answer to the question, "What about HEREAFTER?" Clint Eastwood's new film has been set up now with a P&I screening at the end, Fri Oct 8, 2010 at 10am - Hereafter (126m). And since a big turnout is expected for Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK, an extra roll-over screening is planned the same morning, whatever that means.

[Chris Knipp]

Mon., Sept. 13- There were three supplementary screenings to avoid the necessity of watching five Sept. 22nd. So this was not just credential pickup day after all. I saw these three out of those five. Reviews will follow, but I will give you short comments here from what I just saw today.

TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS (Marti, dupa craciun) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25068#post25068), Radu Muntean, Romania, 99 min. TUESDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS is a scrupulously, but also abysmally, realistic quotidian study of a married man with a wife and 10-year-old daughter and an orthodontist girlfriend who's fixing the daughter's teeth. The moral is that when the ugly truth comes out, a couple still has to show up for the in-laws and play Santa for the daughter.

A LETTER TO ELIA (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25067#post25067) Martin Scorsese & Kent Jones, 2010, USA; 60m. LETTER TO ELIA is a very personal hour-long confession, with handsomely remastered clips, of Scorsese's very personal debt to the films of Elia Kazan, a debt too emotional and detailed to confess to Kazan himself, but contained in this "American Masters" PBS film I was happy to learn AMERICA, AMERICA was Kazan's favorite of his films because it's also mine. The Red Scare ratting moment is not bypassed--or fully dealt with. The fascination is the simple portrait of a man (Scorsese) who lived through movies and then had to deal with his life by making them.

THE ROBBER (Der Räuber) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25069#post25069), Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany, 90 min. THE ROBBER is a taut, minimal, intentionally fun-free German story of an ex-con from a good family whose endorphin/adrenalin addiction has led him to be both a champion marathoner and a guy who robs bank for a hobby. Drawn from fact and the novel based on fact. Andreas Lust gives a committed and convincing performance as the runner/robber.

[Chris Knipp]

Martin Scorsese, Kent Jones: A LETTER TO ELIA (20100 (BENJAMIN HEISENBERG: THE ROBBER (2010))

A personal tribute by Scorsese and a review of director Elia Kazan's career and major films.

Click on the title above for the review in the Festival Coverage section.

[Chris Knipp]

Radu Muntean: TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25068#post25068)

Rigorously mundane film from Romania about the internal breakdown of a marriage. Externally, if may not have altered yet.

Click on the title above for the review in the Festival Coverage section of this New York Film Festival 2010 film.

[Chris Knipp]

Benjamin Heisenberg: THE ROBBER (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25069#post25069)

The protagonist robs banks. He also wins marathons. He may be running away from something, such as the police? An austere crime story from Austria, in German and a selection of the New York Film Festival 2010.

Click on the title above for the review in the Festival Coverage section.

[Chris Knipp]

Tues. Sept. 14 P&I screenings:
Fernando Fuentes. Three films in the NYFF a sidebar program:

Prisoñero 13 (76m) 1933
A corrupt colonel orders an execution and finds he has unwittingly sacrificed his own son.
El Compadre Mendoza 85m) 1934
In this witty and intelligent satire, a landowner tries to mollify government and zapatistas alike.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/71w.jpg
Let's Go with Pancho Villa (92m) 1936
The stunning megaproduction revisits Pancho’s legend, following six loyal enlistees to their doom.
(Masterworks: Fernando de Fuentes' Mexican Revolution Trilogy)

Nice looking cleaned up prints, fair subtitles. These had a lot of charm. Presumably the look of people, uniforms, etc. was not inaccurate. Not great films but historical documents. Fuentes was a Mexican pioneer. And each of these films is successively looser and more inventive.

Wed., Sept. 15 P&I screenings:
More samplings of the NYFF sidebar material.
The first two are from the series:
MASTERWORKS: Elegant Elegies: The Films of Masahiro Shinoda. The 12-film series (mostly from the Sixties) runs from Sept. 25 – Oct. 10. The two shown to P&I (with FSLC summaries) are:

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/72w.jpg
Pale Flower (Kawaita hana 1964, 96 min)
Shinoda’s dazzling breakthrough film follows a gangster (Ikebe Ryo) who gets released from jail, only to find his old yakuza gang merged with their former rivals. Disillusioned and without allies, he becomes drawn to a gambler (Mariko Kaga) and resolves to commit murder for her viewing pleasure.

As influenced by the Nouvelle Vague as the popular Japanese yakuza genre, Shinoda crafts a visually stunning and unapologetically nihilistic vision of the underworld and its inhabitants, with a memorable use of music by Purcell.

“The daily life of an assassin interests me more than the assassination. The routine of coming home and daydreaming or sitting still and thinking about what you’ll do next is what I wanted to capture.” —Masahiro Shinoda

Silence (Chinmoku 1971, 129m)
A 17th-century Portuguese missionary’s betrayal of his beliefs under torture conveys the extraordinary, insidious toll of religious persecution on mind and spirit. As part of Japan’s policy of sakoku (a system of restrictions on foreign trade set up to reduce Iberian influence), Christianity was considered a punishable offense. Within this hostile milieu, Shinoda focuses on the attempt by two missionaries to bolster an underground Christian sect in a small fishing village, yielding a nuanced exploration of faith, culture clash, and guilt. Adapted from the revered novel by Shusaku Endo and featuring a hybrid score by Toru Takemitsu.

The third film is a documentary about the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. NYFF summary:

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/73w.jpg
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Craig McCall, 2010, UK; 86m)
As wonderfully informative as it is delightfully entertaining, Cameraman traces the eight-decade career of cinematographer Jack Cardiff. A child actor who found his true calling on the other side of the camera, Cardiff was the first European to be trained in shooting Technicolor; a few years later, Michael Powell promoted the ace cameraman to full-scale cinematographer for A Matter of Life and Death. Soon, cinematic history would be made: together, Powell and Cardiff set the standard for the creative use of color in classics such as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. Craig McCall traces the development of Cardiff’s art on both sides of the Atlantic, detailing his constant interaction with the painters and paintings he admired while offering a treasure lode of Cardiff anecdotes about Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Marilyn Monroe and a host of other legends. A Strand release.

[Chris Knipp]

Brief comments on today's, Wed., Sept. 15 P&I screenings.

As mentioned above, they were more samplings of the NYFF sidebar material.
The first two are from the series MASTERWORKS: Elegant Elegies: The Films of Masahiro Shinoda

Pale Flower (Kawaita hana 1964, 96 min)
This is gorgeous, beautifully composed black and white with stylish avantgardist percusiony music by Toru Takemitsu (much more notable than Purcell). Opening gambling sequences are ace. The intercutting of gangster business involving old men and a racetrack somewhat dampen the energy of the gambling and the lone samurai (his tiny pad may show influence of Jean-Pierre Melville's film). I found the pacing and editing somewhat slack at certain points. Muraki (Ryô Ikebe)'s assassination isn't simply done to impress the gambling girl. A Nouvelle Vague evidence and other ones, perhaps including Douglas Sirk, are much in evidence and this is a very Sixties piece, while also quite Japanese. A nice piece of work even if it lacks something. Shinoda seems and by reports was and is a director of the second rank, though he had moments and this is one of them, though by what some say not the best of his early films.

Silence (Chinmoku 1971, 129m)

"A 17th-century Portuguese missionary’s betrayal of his beliefs under torture conveys the extraordinary, insidious toll of religious persecution on mind and spirit." Yes, and this is a new topic,at least for us. However it is a shift to square rather than widescreen format and to color and my friend commented that is just looked like "bad Pasolini." Certain features put me off immediately concerning language. Two actors supposed to be Portuguese monk-missionaries are played by an American and an English actor, and -- in complete violation of fact -- they speak English (along with Japanese) to each other and sometimes to the locals. They are also not very good actors. This time, Toremitsu's score doesn't add anything distinctive to the long-winded proceedings. A tedious and drawn-out film. Nothing like the quality of the first one shown here.

The third film is a documentary about the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. NYFF summary:

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Craig McCall, 2010, UK; 86m)
This is a very polished documentary with many interesting talking heads including the ubiquitous Scorsese, who, as usual, has keen observations to make about the look of specific films and the early history of color in movies. Interesting to note hoe much technicolor for Cardiff was seen as like painting, which explains the look's faults as well as its virtues. Cardiff shot THE RED SHOES, Hitchcock's ROPE, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, FOR A START. What makes this documentary good -- what made it even possible -- is that Cardiff, whose career went back to 1914, not only lived to be 95 but in quite recent years was in excellent shape and spoke very well. A must-watch for those interested in the history of Technicilor or any film buff who cares about mainstream filmmaking, especially English, from the Thirties through the Seventies, and beyond. Cardiff got to work with some of the most beaufiful women in movies during those decades and also did nice big portrait photos of them. And though his directing career was mostly quite undistinguished he directed twelve or fifteen films -- then when the English film industry went downhill, gladly returned to cinematography.

[Chris Knipp]

Brief comments on today's, Wed., Sept. 15 P&I screenings.

As mentioned above, they were more samplings of the NYFF sidebar material.
The first two are from the series MASTERWORKS: Elegant Elegies: The Films of Masahiro Shinoda

Pale Flower (Kawaita hana 1964, 96 min)
This is gorgeous, beautifully composed black and white with stylish avantgardist percusiony music by Toru Takemitsu (much more notable than Purcell). Opening gambling sequences are ace. The intercutting of gangster business involving old men and a racetrack somewhat dampen the energy of the gambling and the lone samurai (his tiny pad may show influence of Jean-Pierre Melville's film). I found the pacing and editing somewhat slack at certain points. Muraki (Ryô Ikebe)'s assassination isn't simply done to impress the gambling girl. A Nouvelle Vague evidence and other ones, perhaps including Douglas Sirk, are much in evidence and this is a very Sixties piece, while also quite Japanese. A nice piece of work even if it lacks something. Shinoda seems and by reports was and is a director of the second rank, though he had moments and this is one of them, though by what some say not the best of his early films.

Silence (Chinmoku 1971, 129m)
"A 17th-century Portuguese missionary’s betrayal of his beliefs under torture conveys the extraordinary, insidious toll of religious persecution on mind and spirit." Yes, and this is a new topic,at least for us. However it is a shift to square rather than widescreen format and to color and my friend commented that is just looked like "bad Pasolini." Certain features put me off immediately concerning language. Two actors supposed to be Portuguese monk-missionaries are played by an American and an English actor, and -- in complete violation of fact -- they speak English (along with Japanese) to each other and sometimes to the locals. They are also not very good actors. This time, Toremitsu's score doesn't add anything distinctive to the long-winded proceedings. A tedious and drawn-out film. Nothing like the quality of the first one shown here.

The third film is a documentary about the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. NYFF summary:

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (Craig McCall, 2010, UK; 86m)
This is a very polished documentary with many interesting talking heads including the ubiquitous Scorsese, who, as usual, has keen observations to make about the look of specific films and the early history of color in movies. Interesting to note hoe much technicolor for Cardiff was seen as like painting, which explains the look's faults as well as its virtues. Cardiff shot THE RED SHOES, Hitchcock's ROPE, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, for a start. What makes this documentary good -- what made it even possible -- is that Cardiff, whose career went back to 1914, not only lived to be 95 but in quite recent years was in excellent shape and spoke very well. A must-watch for those interested in the history of Technicilor or any film buff who cares about mainstream filmmaking, especially English, from the Thirties through the Seventies, and beyond. Cardiff got to work with some of the most beaufiful women in movies during those decades and also did nice big portrait photos of them. And though his directing career was mostly quite undistinguished he directed twelve or fifteen films -- then when the English film industry went downhill, gladly returned to cinematography.

There will be more sidebar material tomorrow: the three-hour documentary satire on the Romanian dictator and a reconstructed set of footage about the Nurenberg trials:

Thu Sep 16
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1981/copertanicolaeceausescu.jpg

9 am THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUSESCU Andrei Ujic, 2010, Romania; 180m
Noon - press conf VIA SKYPE
1pm - NURENBERG [The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration] (80m) (Nyff Special Event, "Masterworks" series )
2:30pm - press conf

[Chris Knipp]

Nuremberg [The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration] is an attempt to recreate a film made shortly after the war crimes tribunals by the US Army. Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky have used a version made for release in Germany and combined the original sound track from the trials with the voiceover text, spoken in this version by Liev Schreiber, but with the film unaltered. A German cut was used because the American ones were degenerated. This film includes grim footage of concentration camps, and opening and closing speeches by lawyers for the defense and prosecution, Judge Jackson of the US Supreme court who presided, and other participants, including the accused. In a post-screening Q&A Ms. Schulberg speculated that the film may have been suppressed in the US for two main reasons, to avoid undermining the Marshall Plan by inflaming Americans against the Germans, and because we can only handle one enemy at a time and the new one was the Soviets. Promoters of this reissue hope that it will increase American awareness of the need for US participating in the International Criminal Court.

[Chris Knipp]

Andrei Uticǎ: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25085#post25085)

This documentary, of the experimental, neutral type is composed entirely of state footage and some home movies featuring the Romanian dictator (who reigned from 1965 to 1989, when he and his wife were executed after a revolt), and the footage is presented with and without sound and without commentary and it lasts for three yours. I dare you to watch it. Premiered at Cannes and a NYFF 2010 Special Event.

[Chris Knipp]

Olivier Assayas: CARLOS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25088#post25088)

TV miniseries about the revolutionary pro-Palestinian terrorist now known as "Carlos the Jackal" whose exploits in the Sevenies made him world famous. Notable for its authentic flavor, rich locations, many languages, deep supporting cast, and the powerful lead performance of Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez, whom Todd McCarthy has compared to "the arrogant charisma of Brando in his prime." To be released in several formats and lengths in the US by IFC.

[Chris Knipp]

Lee Chang-dong: Poetry (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25097#post25097)

Themes of moral responsibility, beauty in everyday life, aging in a brilliantly integrated film awarded as Best Screenplay at the Cannes Festival this year.

Click on the title above for the review in the Festival Coverage section.

[Chris Knipp]

Michelangelo Frammartino: Le Quattro Volte (2010) (http://doublefugue.com/browse.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.variety.com%2Freview %2FVE1117942773.html%3Fcategoryid%3D31%26cs%3D1&b=2&f=norefer)

Pythagoras, transmigration of souls, and Calabrian goats are keys to this blend of fiction and documentary much admired at Cannes.

[Chris Knipp]

Hong Sang-Soo: OKI'S MOVIE (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25101#post25101)

Hong Sang-soo means philandering drinkers, egocentric filmmakers, pretty women, winter weather, and endless self-reflectiveness. This can lead him to good character studies, ironic laughs, keenly observed almost-real-time flirtations -- and to a light intellectualism and energetic use of dialogue that owe a clear debt to the French New Wave. This time. . .

Click on title above for festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Patrick Keiller : ROBINSON IN RUINS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25103#post25103)

Vanessa Redgrave voices the narration of this intriguing, intelligent film that hovers between historical analysis and geographical essay while traveling in an ellipse around the south of England with a series of static shots of locations that illustrate ecology, history, and politics in a world marked by the collapse of late stage capitalism, privatization of public lands (from the 16th century onwards), the emptying of the countryside, and planetary ecological disaster.

Click on the title above for the festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25105&posted=1#post25105)


Won the Golden Palm (to[ prize) at the Cannes Festival this year, a film about going over to the other side, with elements that are at once beautiful and funny.

Click on the title above for the festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Abbas Kiarostami: CERTIFIED COPY (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25107&posted=1#post25107)

Is a copy as good as the real thing in art? Why are these two people playing at being an old married couple? A film by the great Iranian director made in Tuscany with an English opera singer and a French actress, Juliette Binoche, who received the Best Actress award at Cannes this year for her performance.

Click on the title above for the Filmleaf Festival Coverage review.

[Chris Knipp]

Michael Epstein: LennonNYC (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25109#post25109)

The new documentary of the ups and downs of John Lennon's nine years in the Big Apple is part of the American Masters PBS series which will debut on the small screen in Novembrer. Thre is a lot of archival footage, and interviews, including Yoko.

[Johann]

Fantastic thread Chris. I don't wanna interrupt this marvelous series of posts/reviews. Wish I could be in NY.

"The Social Network" is a film that I'm really itchin' to see. David Fincher is always compelling.
I know it captures the moment. And that's a GREAT thing.

Is Oliver Stone's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" playing at the fest? I know it opened at Cannes.
Look for Werner Herzog's latest too: he DID have a film premiering in Toronto. A doc on caves I heard.
Thanks for the press releases. Nice to read such supplements.

Uncle Boonmee is a film I've been itchin' to see too. Ever since it won the Palme.
The Jack Cardiff doc ("Cameraman") sounds like essential viewing. and the Scorsese/Jones piece is awesome. Thanks again.

Are you "festivalled-out" yet?

[Chris Knipp]

Is Oliver Stone's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" playing at the fest?

It is not. There are as usual only 28 Main Slate selections. No prizes: being selected is itself a prize. You need to go back one page on this thread and you'll get the Main slate list here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2876-Nyff-2010&p=24980#post24980)


"The Social Network" is a film that I'm really itchin' to see.

So is everybody, including me. It has also been receiving a lot of publicity, especially in New York (lead articles in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, the NY Times). However it is opening theatrically shortly after its Nyff premiere, so the festival isn't offering anything hard to find in it, or in Clint's HEREAFTER or Julie Taymor's THE TEMPEST, though all may have a lot to offer, we'll see.


Are you "festivalled-out" yet?

I hope not: I'm not half way through the Main Slate yet. However this is the testing middle week--twelve films. Beside the Jack Ca5rdiff and Elia Kazan films, another show biz must-see is LennonNYC, which screened today.

[Chris Knipp]

Alexei Fedorchenko: SILENT SOULS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25115#post25115)

Smoking, burning, and buntings on a doomed road trip. A 75mm Russian film in handsome 35mm Scope, the director's third feature, focuses on rituals of the dying Merja culture of a Finno-Ugric tribe in West Central Russia. Two friends go to cremate the dead wife of one. Shown three weeks earlier at Venice.

Click on the title for the festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Sergei Loznitsa: MY JOY (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25119#post25119)

Click on the title above for the festival review.

The Belarus-born documentary filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa has produced a frustrating first feature in My Joy, a film that joins together a series of mostly violent and increasingly repugnant anecdotes he was told during a decade of wandering the Russian provinces. When you have seen this film, you will cross visiting Russia forever off your "to-do" list. Loznitsa doesn't abandon narrative. He simply violates its rules.

[Chris Knipp]

Of Gods and Men (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25121#post25121)

In Algeria in the early 1990's eight French Cistercian monks are told to accept military protection and to leave the country. They must decide whether to do that or obey their convictions and duty to the villagers and remain. Based on true events. Winner of the Grand Prix (second prize) at Cannes (after Weerasethakul's UNCLE BOONMEE) at Cannes.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for your coverage of the fest. I subscribe to the notion advanced by Hoberman in his Voice piece that "the key to the festival’s significance for local film culture is the number of movies that arrive at Lincoln Center without distribution". Consequently he recommends 4 undistributed films (out of 6 total recommendations) and they are FILM SOCIALISME, AURORA, POST MORTEM and MYSTERIES OF LISBON. For a lot of people there is something alluring about being amongst the first to see movies that will eventually be distributed. I understand that, but it just doesn't matter to me.

[Chris Knipp]

Of course Jay Hoberman is right to champion obscure unreleased films, and you are right to echo him. However I like both them and hot new ones like THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and I not only am glad to have (somewhat late) seen it in time to get out a review before the NYFF opening night showing and definitely in time for the release in a week, but also to have seen it with other movie people and writers and get to hear the stars Jesse, Andrew, and Justin and Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher talk about it and answer questions. Likewise Julie Taymor and Clint Eastwood are movie icons and seeing them in person will be fun. Indifference to what everybody is talking about is not a superiority to which I aspire. Those three are part of the Nyff, and help sell tickets and get promotion and publicity. They are also well chosen, unlike some of the Cannes stuff that is featured. Aside from those three, not only the four films Hoberman has singled out but, most of the other Nyff selections are not going to be showing at a theater near you.

I'll be interested to see BLACK VENUS. I don't know if MYSTERIES OF LISBON will get a theatrical release or not. Often it's just a matter of time. It has big European stars in it.

[Chris Knipp]

Apropos of the above exchange, coming today is my review of the most talked about film of the New York Film Festival, THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher), seen today. And also of the less talked about and even less understood FILM SOCIALIME (Jean-Luc Godard), also seen today. Those were the two Nyff P&I screenings for Friday.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/75w.jpg

[Chris Knipp]

David Fincher: THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25136#post25136)

Sony Columbia's release of the Aaron Sorkin-David Fincher collaboration about the founding of Facebook and the battles that ensured. It's one of the year's best American films and also one of the most significant. It's got a grip on the zeigeist.

Click on the title for the festival review. Also will be in the general forum because this is a general release that is getting reviewed.

Opening Night film of the New York Film Festival, October 24, 2010

[Chris Knipp]

First reviews of THE SOCIAL NETWORK are very enthusiastic. See former chief Variety critic Tood McCarthy's on his IndieWIRE blog "Deep Focus" here (http://blogs.indiewire.com/toddmccarthy/archives/review_the_social_network/). I like the way he opens up the implications in his conclusion:
“The Social Network” is about so many things—the primacy of an idea, the things that define a generation, ambition and drive fomented by rejection and anger, the limitations of orthodoxy versus unbridled imagination, simultaneous creative and destructive impulses, the fluidity of what’s considered an outsider and insider, rebel and establishment—that it provides almost an unlimited number of things to think about, while also providing a viewing experience of continual stimulation. Everything about it is rich.

[Chris Knipp]

Jean-Luc Godard: FILM SOCIALISME (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010/page2#post25139)

"The first hour is wonderful," blogs the Voice's J Hoberman. "Unfortunately, as with much Godard, the movie is unsustainable. Film Socialisme goes on the rocks once it lands somewhere in the south of France, where the children of a gas station owner put their parents on trial and advise the world to both liberate and federate."--MUBI (http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/1862).

[Chris Knipp]

Cristi Puiu: Aurora (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25144#post25144)


Another relentless Romanian exploration of the quotidian, this time in a tale of multiple murder. Puiu's second feature, in which he stars, lacks the moral outrage and black humor of his 2005 debut feature (shown at NYFF 2005), The Death of Mr. Lazarescu.

[Chris Knipp]

Manoel de Oliveira: THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25147&posted=1#post25147)

The venerable Portuguese filmmaker returns to his theme of doomed love in this tale he first thought of in the Fifites of a Sephardic Jewish photographer living beside the Douro river who falls under the spell o a beautiful woman who has just died when he is asked to take her picture before burial. The two lovers float into the sky as trasmogrified spirits as in a painting by Chagall. Music; a Chopin sonata. Balm to the spirit after Cristi Puiu.

[Chris Knipp]

Abdellatif Kechiche: BLACK VENUS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25152#post25152)

Kechiche dramatizes with painful vividness the story of the woman from South Africa who was humiliated in carnivals in London and Paris as a wild savage and ended life as a prostitute.

Click on the title above for the festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Pablo Larraín: POST MORTEM (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25154#post25154)

Larraín's TONY MANERO depicted a creepy hoodlum who exemplified the Pinichet regime in Seventies Chile. Now in a film that's equally haunting and macabre the same actor, Alfredo Castro, embodies a morgue functionary who was present at the autopsy of Salvador Allende a few years earlier.

[Chris Knipp]

Charles Ferguson: INSIDE JOB (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010/page2#post25156)

Narrated by Matt Damon, Inside Job is a documentary film that describes and analyzes the world financial crisis. With this film and his 2007 Iraq war and occupation film No End in Sight Ferguson establishes himself, along with Errol Morris of The Fog of War, Alex Gibney of Taxi to the Dark Side, Adam Curtis of The Power of Nightmares, the team of Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott of The Corporation and a very few others, among the best of the new investigative political filmmakers who lay out a large, controversial topic for us in terms so compelling and lucid that the result becomes a definitive film statement.

Click on the title above for the NYFF review.

Screened Sept. 29. Shown in the festival Oct. 1 and 4.

[Chris Knipp]

Jorge Michel Grau: WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25160#post25160)

From Mexico, a genre-bending film about cannibals with family, sexuality, and poverty issues in Mexico City. The director's first feature, it debuted at Directors Fortnight at Cannes.


Click on the title above for the festival review.

[Chris Knipp]

Julie Taymor: THE TEMPEST (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25163&posted=1#post25163)

Taymor's new version of Shakespeare's last play is strong on image, not so strong on ideas. The NYFF Centerpiece with some well known movie actors and a couple of relative newcomers, with Helen Mirren as Prospera, who's had a sex change.


Click on the title for the review.

[Chris Knipp]

Mike Leigh: ANOTHER YEAR (20100 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25169#post25169)

A mellow older couple have friends who need their attention and help. They must decide how much trust they can offer and how much help they can give. Wonderful acting and warm humanity balance the schematic structure.

Click on the film title above for the NYFF review.

[Chris Knipp]

Kellly Reichardt: MEEK'S CUTOFF (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25170#post25170)


In this minimalist twist on the traditional Western, a dubious racist mountain guide vies for respect with an Indian as a group of settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail run out of water and get lost, in 1845.


Click on the title for the review.

[Chris Knipp]

Ten short films from Mexico: REVOLUCIÓN (2020) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25179#post25179)

Ten short films to commemorate, and ruefully comment upon, the Mexican revolution. They were directed by Mariana Chenillo, Patricia Riggen, Fernando Eimbcke, Amat Escalante, Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo García, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá & Carlos Reygadas, 2010, Mexico, in Spanish. Listed as 105 min for the NYFf, 124 at the Berlinale.

I was not able to see more then the first four and a piece of the fifth, due to sound track problems at the P&I screening, and the Skype Q&A was canceled. I have summarized from Leslie Felperin's Berlinale Variety review to provide information and evaluations about the last six films. From his comment and what I saw this seems an unusually interesting and coherent omnibus.

Click on the title above for the Featival Coverage review.

[Chris Knipp]

Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano: OLD CATS (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25182#post25182)

In Santiago, Chile, a freeloading middle-aged lesbian daughter tries to get her mother to sign over her apartment. The acting is more convincing than some of the writing. Everyone is good, especially the old couple, theatrical institutions in Chile, who're a real married couple, playing the roles in their real apartment, with their real old cats.

[Chris Knipp]

Raúl Ruiz: MYSTERIES OF LISBON (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25192#post25192)

Adapted from an 1854 three-volume serial novel by Camilo Castelo Branco, this film by Ruiz is a series of back-tracking and interlocking Gothic-cum-amour fou tales of revenge, duels, revelations, changed identities, and wild, mostly adulterous romances recapping some of the writer's own experiences, with a beautiful, sumptuous mise-en-scene. Unfortunately chronologies become so intricate they're impossible to keep track of, and the 273min. length is daunting to watch. Also made up into a TV miniseries of six 55-min. segments.

Metacritic score 83.

[Chris Knipp]

Clint Eastwood: HEREAFTER (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25197#post25197)

Eastwood, working from a script by Peter Morgon of THE QUEEN and FROST/NIXON, takes the potentially corny theme of talking to the world of the dead and makes something understated and interesting, with several strong action sequences. There are flaws, but it almost fully works.

The New York Film Festival 2010 Closing Night film. It's all over. For me. The film will be shown three times to the public at Alice Tully Hall on October 10.

Click on the title above for the Festival Coverage review.

[Chris Knipp]

INDEX OF LINKS TO ALL REVIEWS OF THE NYFF 2010

Another Year (Mike Leigh 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25169#post25169)
Aurora (Cristi Puiu 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25144#post25144)
Autobiography of Nicolae Ceauşescu, The (Andrei Uticǎ 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25067#post25067)
Black Venus (Abdellatif Kechiche 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25152#post25152)
Carlos (Olivier Assayas 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25088#post25088)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25107&posted=1#post25107)
Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25139#post25139)
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25197#post25197)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010/page2#post25156)
LennonNYC (Michael Epstein 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25109#post25109)
Letter to Elia, A (Scorsese, Jones 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25067#post25067)
Meek's Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25170#post25170)
My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25119#post25119)
Mysteries of Lisbon (Raúl Ruiz 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25192#post25192)
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25121#post25121)
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25101#post25101)
Old Cats (Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25182#post25182)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25097#post25097)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25154#post25154)
Quattro Volte, Le (Michelangelo Frammartino 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25100#post25100)
Revolución (ten short films from Mexico, 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25179#post25179)
Robber, The (Benjamin Heisenberg 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25069#post25069)
Robinson in Ruins (Patrick Keiller) 2010 (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25103#post25103)
Silent Souls (Alexei Fedorchenko 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25115#post25115)
Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25136#post25136)
Strange Case of Angelica, The (Manoel de Oliveira 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25147&posted=1#post25147)
Tempest, The (Julie Taymor 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25163&posted=1#post25163)
Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25068#post25068)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weeresethakul 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25105&posted=1#post25105)
We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau 2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25160#post25160)

Letter to Elia and Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaçescu are sidebar items. The other titles are the entire Main Slate of the 48th New York Film Festival (2010).

[oscar jubis]

In case anyone is interested, the Sundance Channel is now showing CARLOS as a three-part series. I am looking forward to it.

[Chris Knipp]

That is the version I saw, but all on one day. It is being shown in both lengths at IFC Center in NYC now. I presume IFC will show it in some other US theaters. CARLOS is definitely one of the NYFF's standout selections. The latest NY Times article about the film is by Larry Rohter, Oct. 8, " A Sweeping Tale of a Terrorist and His Time. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/movies/10carlos.html?ref=terrorism)

Strand Releasing has announced that Uncle Boonmee will be Thailand’s Official Selection for Best Foreign Language Film for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. It opens in New York on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at the Film Forum. Strand is the distributor for this film.

[Chris Knipp]

Comments on the NYFF

Comments on the Main Slate films

Time hasn't allowed me to write a more formal summing up, but here are some general comments on this year's NYFF.


THE SCREENINGS. As usual the Press & Industry screenings are a pleasure, beautifully presented in comfortable surroundings and if not the most cutting edge series, at least the classiest and nicest to watch of my movie year. They're presented separately from the public ones, at the Walter Reade Theater, a venue that's cozier than the large, handsomely renovated public screening auditorium, Alice Tully Hall, yet has superb image and sound facilities, and a stage where Q&A's are conducted. Refreshments and coffee are provided in the spacious gallery across the lobby. There is a first-rate staff headed by theater manager Glenn Raucher, who in two and a half years in the job has emerged as more and more indispensable -- as well as a pleasure to have around. Screenings are scheduled over a longer period than the festival itself, on weekdays only, spread out so that anyone with the time in mornings and afternoons to spare can watch everything in a civilized manner.

THE FILMS. Favorites that I'd call mainstream or conventional are the brilliant, fast-paced The Social Network (David Fincher); subtle, complex Poetry (Lee Chang-dong); the thrilling biographical miniseries Carlos (Olivier Assayas); the French drama of the clash of politics and religion, Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois); and an original first film, a German character study about a crook who's also a star athlete, The Robber (Benjamin Heisenberg) -- which I'd rate in about that order. These are my top picks. But not all I recommend. And highlighting them doesn't mean the festival doesn't have depth, even if there was nothing in 2010 as great as Haneke's The White Ribbon or as provocative on a grand scale as von Trier's Antichrist or on a lesser scale Precious and Trash Humpers, all included in last year's NYFF.

Movies I liked a lot that are a edgier and demanding are the dark political portrait of Seventies Chile, Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín), and the cannibal genre film We Are What We Are (Jorge Michel Grau).

Manoel de Oliveira's Strange Case of Angelica is in a class by itself. From what I've seen of de Oliveira's work, it's feather-light, but lovely. Likewise I'd put Clint Eastwood in a class by himself. He is an old-fashioned filmmaker. Hereafter deserves respect. It's not quite successful, but it has class, it's thought-provoking, and it has fine acting and terrific action scenes, unusual because they have both punch and restraint.

I'm not so happy with Kiarostami's Certified Copy, which was so well received at Cannes. It's beautifully made, but it seems a put-on, posing as something profound (and melding into polished European filmmaking, after a lifetime of working in Iran), but its game-playing by a couple who may be long married or have just met seems gimmicky. I'd not have included it. Though art house film-goers will love this film, it left me feeling empty and a little played-with.

Another Year (Mike Leigh) is beautifully made and acted but seemed too pat and schematic. Leigh gets great performances and has a powerful working method, but his recent films seem fun yet don't leave such a strong impression. Julie Taymor's The Tempest, chosen partly to sell tickets as the Centeriece film, has some nice acting, but isn't at all an interesting interpretation of Shakespeare. Just window dressing.

Offerings from Eastern Europe and Russia or Ukraine continued familiar veins for where they came from and were quite disappointing. Cristi Puiu's slow motiveless study of multiple murders Aurora (not up to his Death of Mr. Lazarescu) and Radu Muntean's family breakdown movie Tuesday, Before Christmas, both from Romania, are very similar, slow, flat, obsessively quotidian. They have a certain quality but don't seem very memorable, perhaps due to a lack of narrative structure. Aleksei Fedorchenko's Russian folkloric tale Silent Souls wasn't very memorable either. Sergei Loznitsa's debut My Joy may seem radical to some but impresses only for its ultraviolence--and, admittedly, some fine camerawork. It makes ultimately no narrative sense and is a series of anecdotes posing as a coherent story. Nothing outstanding. The Romanians seem overrated, the Russians not living up to past performance.

Other disappointing features were Kelly Reichardt's attempt at a radical western, Meek's Cutooff, a lame misfire; and Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo's Oki's Movie. Hong, whose almost Nouvelle Vague-like studies of male-female relationships and vain movie directors I've loved in the past, seems to be repeating himself and running in circles. The followup of The Maid by Chiliean Sebastian Silva and his partner Pedro Peirano, Old Cats, seemed to ruin a good setup and actors with writing of the daughter's part that fell into caricature. The brilliant French-Arab director Abdellatif Kechiche's Black Venus was much too long; he seemed to want to punish the audience with his message of 19th-century white racism and this was a falling off from earlier work closer to his own experience.

Two greats produced works I couldn't quite tune in to. Godard's Film Socialisme's provocations seem largely incomprehensible; images are intermittently ugly -- beautiful. Raúl Ruiz's Mysteries of Lisbon is gorgeous, its mise-en-scene rich, its tales fascinating. But the tales-within-tales failed to dovetail; the long film is impossible to follow. Mysteries of Lisbon is a very fine film -- almost. A masterpiece manqué.

Festivals naturally and properly favor films that set themselves apart from mainstream fare. This means a leaning toward work that is hard to understand, glacially slow, often shot cooly, like Hou Hsiao-hsien's and some other great Asian directors', from a certain distance with a stationary camera. There's also a taste for features that merge fiction with documentary elements, especially exotic ones. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the Thai festival darling Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cannes 2010 top prize winner, fills the bill. He has every right to go his own way. However when all is said and done he works so far out on the margins that he connects emotionally only occasionally. This study of rural spiritualism and communication with the dead has haunting and beautiful moments, but also seems disjointed, fey, and self-indulgent.

Documentaries of the festival kind similarly are ones that test an audience, are hard to follow (not a crime), without commentary or with mysterious commentary. Le Quattro Volte and Robinson in Ruins were of that kind, and The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaşescu, a valid portrait of the Romanian dictator but one that could probably have been an hour shorter. Fred Wiseman's repetitive and boring Boxing Gym did not enchant me. He has covered everything but when he takes the fun out of even ballet I balk. These sometimes haphazard documentary efforts do no honor to the work of great directors included in the festival, whose jurors might rethink their documentary selecting process. On the other hand the conventional documentaries LennonNYC and Letter to Elia (a sidebar) and the handsomely mounted financial meltdown study Inside Job were very worthwhile -- especially the latter, the important (if not unique) Inside Job, which was as smart as The Social Network. Lennon, Elia, and Inside Job are of interest, but does their aesthetic merit warrant inclusion? Docs remain a moot point for the NYFF. Maybe they should include only one really fine one and let it go at that. A doc on a level with Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, or Philibert's To Be and to Have, and other great ones. But when you consider content apart from form, you go astray.

Unfortunately I could only see part of the Mexican short collection, but it shows Mexican filmmakers have coherence and more of a sense of commonality than directors of any other Latin American country. Latin America in general remains a source of vibrant new work, while Korea has fallen back somewhat, and Japan and Italy remain in decline from past glories.

[Chris Knipp]

Through the kindness of the webmaster Robin Yacoubian, my coverage of the NYFF 2010 is now featured also on the new English movie website FLICK FEAST. Check it out HERE. (http://flickfeast.co.uk/spotlight/york-film-festival-2010/).

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2210/flickfeast.png (http://flickfeast.co.uk/)

[Chris Knipp]

Good news about Jorge Michel Grau's WE ARE WHAT WE ARE/SOMOS LO QUE HAY, the highly original horror film from Mexico featured in the NYFF 2010: It has a US theatrical release coming. It opens on Friday, February 18 at IFC Center. It was on my Best Unreleased list.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/77w.jpg

Let me know if any others on this list are getting released:

BEST UNRELEASED
Double Hour, The (La doppia ora, Giuseppe Capotondi 2009)
In the Beginning (À l'origine, Xavier Giannoli 2009)
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux, Xavier Beauvois 2010)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong 2010)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín 2010)
Rapt (Lucas Belvaux 2009)
Robber, The (Der Räuber, Benjamin Heisenberg 2010)
Strange Case of Angelica, The (O Estranho Caso de Angélica, Manoel de Oliveira 2010)
We Are What We Are (Somos lo que hay, Jorge Michel Grau 2010)
You Think You're the Prettiest, But You're the Sluttiest (Te creís la más linda, pero erís la más puta, Che Sandoval 2008)

THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA was recently released. Sony Picture Classics has bought OF GODS AND MEN. I would love it if RAPT and IN THE BEGINNING and POETRY got US release this year.

[oscar jubis]

One of the shorts from the omnibus REVOLUCION you managed to watch is:
"Amat Escalante's The Hanging Priest begins with spectral, haunting images (one is in the world of Bueñuel or Cormac McCarthy) and ends with the priest and two children appealing to real people on the street (their faces blurred out) for help and being turned away. Pretty strong stuff."

I was wondering if you have seen either of the two features by Escalante (who is from Barcelona but resides in Mexico). The debut, Sangre, won a Fispreci prize at Cannes and played in ND/NF in 2006 but was not released in the US. I bought an import DVD from Mexico (no English subs). His next movie, The Bastards, is like a Mexican version of Haneke's Funny Games which I'm just not in the mood right now ("nihilistic" says Variety). Escalante has worked for Reygadas, who co-produced his features. Sangre: Mysterious, enigmatic, reticent, elliptical narrative style using non-actors in mostly banal situations. Just watched it. Certainly one that lingers in the mind.

[Chris Knipp]

If you check my Paris report I saw all of the REVOLUCION collection there in May. I definitely was impressed by THE HANGING PRIEST, and seeing the whole collection in Paris and re-reporting (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3065-PARIS-MOVIE-REPORT-%28May-2011%29&p=26183#post26183), I remained so. No, I have not seen those other ones. Thanks for the information I wasn't attending ND/NF in 2006, just the past couple of years. Would need subtitles.

Just watched the new indie film from Sundance and SXSW, BELLFLOWER (Evan Glodell) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242599/). I will publish my review after Aug. 5 or 19, when it opens in NY/LA and NorCal, respectively. Good wild edginess.

[oscar jubis]

The second film directed by Amat Escalante, Los Bastardos (The Bastards), is available on DVD with subtitles. Netflix has it. In case you are curious. I'll get to it eventually...
Will check out Bellflower when available. I've seen a couple of new films lately but nothing to recommend. I caught the theatrical re-release of Truffaut's The Soft Skin also.

[Chris Knipp]

I looked into Los bastardos, but Netflix does not have it; they only say that they may be getting it -- and those things often don't happen. I've been "saving" expected DVDs on Netflix for years that they have yet to make available.

I don't know if you will like Bellflower, but it is a new young American director who's pretty out there and is likely to be noticed.

I love The Soft Skin.

I just saw a new French film, Sarah's Key (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1668200/), (French title Elle s'appelait Sarah, half or one third in English), about the Holocaust in France and aftermath or denial with a present-day follow-up in the US. Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenne and starring Kristen Scott Thomas, Niels Arestrup, and others. This is a film that the French need to see, especially the worse-than-the-Superdome roundup and temporary confinement of thousands of Jews known as "La rafle du Vélodrome d'Hiver." It is otherwise rather conventional however. Even Arestrup can't save it, and he couldn't save The Big Picture (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?3026-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-at-Lincoln-Center-2011&p=25762#post25762) (Lartigau) either -- a movie that opens July 22 in the UK but no listing for the US yet. From the Douglas Kennedy novel--I reviewed it for the 2011 FSLC Rendez-Vous.

Allociné ratings:
Sarah's Key: 3.3
The Big Picture: 3.8

A little high in my opinion. For comparison:

The White Ribbon: 4.1
A Prophet: 4.6
Transformers3: 2.6
Kung Fu Panda2: 3.4

[Chris Knipp]

Raúl Ruiz: MYSTERIES OF LISBON (2010) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2875-New-York-Film-Festival-2010&p=25192#post25192)


Opening August 5, 2011 at at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center of Lincoln Center. 4h 17m plus a 20 min intermission. Beginning of a limited US theatrical release.

[Johann]

Mighty stuff.

[Chris Knipp]

It's so hard to follow I cannot remember much of it but its beauty. But for those who like to wallow in the exquisite whims of an auteur, this is a must-see. Bring a sandwich.

[Chris Knipp]

From Film Forum in New York today, April 11, 2011:

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/1541/clickt.gif

POST MORTEM
Through Thur, April 24
1:00 3:15 5:30 7:50 10:00
From TONY MANERO director Pablo Larraín

Chile during the 1973 coup

"A politically charged, darkly comical provocation."
- Aaron Hillis, Village Voice

I was just entioning Laraín yesterday in discussing fellow Chilean director Cristian Jiménez's' Bonsái. Larraín must surely be Chile's darkest, most politically charged filmmaker. His films leave an indelible impression. Here is a chance for some more North Americans to see a commercial presentation of Larráin's latest film. Maybe it will be shown in other cities. (Successful runs at Film Forum are sometimes extended.)