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As a lighter week of P&I screenings begins, Monday offered two French films, by Bertrand Bonello and Mathieu Amalric.
Mathieu Amalric: The Blue Room/La Chambre bleue (2014)
This is a bit of a head-scratcher, a neatly made but bloodless adaptation of a Georges Simenon crime novel directed by and also co-starring the actor. Just a little over an hour. Much tighter and cunningly crafted than his previous meandering show biz saga ON TOUR, but this time Amalric seems to have captured the police procedural and narrative elements and lost the eroticism and passion.
Bertrand Bonello: Saint Laurent (2014)
An unofficial, non-Pierre Bergé sanctioned not-quite biopic about YSL during the years 1967-1976. Freer, more decadent, and with a more interesting cast than Jalil Lespert's also 2014 biopic YVES SAINT LAURENT. A somewhat odd topic for Bonello, but it has a lot of good stuff in it, and also Gaspard Ulliel, Louis Garrel, Valeria Tedeschi, Léa Seydoux, and other interesting actors. Some brilliant scenes and excellent use of split-screen and a combination of classical and 60's-70's soul.
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From the Spotlight on Documentary NYFF sidebar, a quickie from Frederick Wiseman -- only three hours.
Frederick Wiseman: National Gallery (2014)
You can learn a lot about restoration and about the content and histories of the paintings (14th to 19th centuries) in this movie about London's National Gallery. But the constant focus on gallery lectures gets repetitions and Wiseman's choices seem naive at times.
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Anthony Lane of The New Yorker reviews (together) GONE GIRL, THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY, and THE BLUE ROOM this week. I reviewd, or talked about, them all this week too. Maybe not as wittily. . . Two of these are included in the New York Film Festival; the third is now showing in New York, and it's worth seeing (THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY).
Lane's review.
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NYFF52 AT A GLANCE: DAY SIX
October 1, 2014
TODAY'S P&I SCREENINGS
10AM TIMBUKTU (100m)
*Press conference to follow with Director Abderrahmane Sissako
FREE NYFF TALKS!
NYFF Live: Joshua Oppenheimer (The Look of Silence) 7:00pm | Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Non-fiction Diary 3:00pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Spotlight on Documentary U.S. Premiere. Q&A with director Jung Yoon-suk.
How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock in Normandy 5:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with co-director Gina Leibrecht
The Man from Laramie 6:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Revivals Directed by Anthony Mann
Timbuktu 6:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate U.S. Premiere. Q&A with director Abderrahmane Sissako.
Beloved Sisters 6:00pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Main Slate North American Premiere.
Dreams Are Colder Than Death 7:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with director Arthur Jafa.
All About Eve 9:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Retrospective
Goodbye to Language (3D) 9:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Main Slate
The Look of Silence 9:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with director Joshua Oppenheimer.
LOOKING AHEAD: TOMORROW
Free NYFF Live talk with The Look of Silence's Joshua Oppenheimer; the first public screening of Timbuktu; the final screening of Mankiewicz's iconic All About Eve, Goodbye to Language, The Look of Silence, Beloved Sisters and The Blue Room; and more.
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Abderrahmane Sissako: Timbuktu (2014)
Sissako's serene, poetic vision of jihadist oppression in northern Mali. Abderrahmane Sissako, born in Mauritania and educated in Mali, is an African director whose concerns and outlook are broader and loftier than most. In Timbuktu, when he looks at the way the temporary jihadist takeover of northern Mali by the Ansar Dine group in 2012 quickly undermines the human dignity and way of life of the people, he does so with a surprising serenity that is at once poetic, gently ironic, ferocious, all-encompassing, and brave.
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Gabe Polsky: Red Army (2014)
Sports and politics from a Cold War perspective in a talking heads doc about Russian ice hockey players that is interesting and fast-paced. From the NYFF Spotlight on Documentary series.
Mike Leigh: Mr. Turner (2014)
A non-biopic biopic of the great unorthodox working-class-origins English painter (1775-1851) that skirts convention so subtly conventional audiences may not get it. Timothy Spall won Best Actor at Cannes for his towering, idiosyncratic performances.
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NYFF52 AT A GLANCE: DAY NINE
October 4, 2014
TODAY'S P&I SCREENINGS
10AM INHERENT VICE (148m)
*Press conference to follow with Director Paul Thomas Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Benicio Del Toro, Sasha Pieterse, Joanna Newsom, Hong Chau, Jena Malone, Martin Short, Maya Rudolph
FREE NYFF TALKS!
NYFF Live: Making Mr. Turner 7:00pm | Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
Panelists include cast members Marion Bailey and Dorothy Atkinson, as well as producer Georgina Lowe, director of photography Dick Pope, and production designer Suzie Davies.
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Projections Program 5 1:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Mr. Turner 2:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate Q&A with director Mike Leigh and actors Timothy Spall, Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson, and Dick Pope.
Projections Program 6 3:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Red Army 3:15pm | Walter Reade Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with director Gabe Polsky
The Wonders 3:15pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Main Slate North American Premiere. Q&A with director Alice Rohrwacher.
Projections Program 7 5:15pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Centerpiece: Inherent Vice —
5:30pm & 9:00 | Alice Tully Hall
5:45pm, 9:15pm, & Midnight | Walter Reade Theater
Projections Program 8 7:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Projections Program 9 9:45pm | Francesca Beale Theater
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Paul Thomas Anderson: Inherent Vice (2014)
PTA's adaptation of the 2009 Thomas Pynchon novel about a stoner private dick in 1970 Southern California with a miasma of drugs, corruption, and goofiness gets a bit lost in its intricate details. My biggest disappointment of Anderson's films; I even found ways to like PUNCH DRUNK LOVE. I could love re-watching this, but it makes too little sense in the first overview and I suspect he adds too little to what apparently is only (in Michiko Kikutani's words) "Pynchon-lite" to begin with.
The NYFF's Centerpiece film and a red carpet special, the movie's world premiere. Limited release comes in early December and wide release in January 2015.
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NYFF52 AT A GLANCE: DAY TEN
October 5, 2014
TODAY'S P&I SCREENINGS
NO P&I SCREENINGS TODAY
FREE NYFF TALKS! Sponsored by HBO
NYFF Live: Marion Cotillard 1:00pm | Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
HBO Directors Dialogues: Mike Leigh (Mr. Turner) 2:30pm | Walter Reade Theater
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
The King and the Mockingbird 11:00am | Francesca Beale Theater
Special Events Directed by Paul Grimault. Tickets just $7 for everyone!
The Princess of France 12:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Main Slate U.S. Premiere. Q&A with director Matías Piñeiro and actress Maria Villar.
On Cinema: Paul Thomas Anderson 12:30pm | Alice Tully Hall
NYFF Talks Sponsored by HBO.
Projections Program 10 1:30pm | Francesca Beale Theater
The Iron Ministry 3:00pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with director J.P. Sniadecki.
Two Days, One Night 3:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate Q&A with directors Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne and actress Marion Cotillard.
Projections Program 11 4:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
National Gallery 4:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Spotlight on Documentary U.S. Premiere. Directed by Frederick Wiseman.
Guys and Dolls 5:30pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Retrospective
Time Out of Mind 6:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate U.S. Premiere. Q&A with director Oren Moverman and actor Richard Gere.
Projections Program 12 6:30pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Heaven Knows What 8:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Main Slate U.S. Premiere. Q&A with directors Josh and Benny Safdie, actors Arielle Holmes and Caleb Landry Jones.
Projections Program 13 8:30pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Red Army 9:00pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Spotlight on Documentary Q&A with director Gabe Polsky.
Eden 9:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate U.S. Premiere. Q&A with director Mia Hansen-Løve, writer Sven Hansen-Løve, and actors Felix De Givry & Greta Gerwig.
Today's standby screenings include: The Princess of France, On Cinema, Projections programs 10 & 12, The Iron Ministry, Two Days, One Night, National Gallery, Guys and Dolls, Time Out of Mind, Heaven Knows What, and Red Army.
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Monday's P&I screening.
Nixk Broomfield: Tales of the Grim Sleeper (2014)
Broomfield tours LAPD racism & ghetto evil w/ "crack whore" Pam, the 52nd NYFF's only Main Slate doc. Maybe it's his "magnum opus"; it's more high-profile than other recent Broomfield films, and it is impressive the amount of detail he unearths about this long-ignored case and its ugly implications about ghetto life as a fertile ground for unchecked murder especially when he victims are black prostitutes the cops of LA categorize as subhuman. A clear, well-laid-out and cleanly-made documentary.
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Wed., 8 Oct. P&I screenings and public showings of Assayas' CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (heavily attended) and Robert Kenner's MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (Spotlight on Documentary sidebar)
Olivier Assayas: Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
About acting, about aging, about intergenerational rivalry, about the media circus and handheld devices and social media, about the Swiss Alps, about theater vs. film, this movie was conceived as a vehicle for Juliette Binoche. Well it's a well acted, serious and impressive film, but I found it heavy-handed and overlong; Kristen Stweart great though fore sure, a revelation. She is relaxed, quick, sophisticated, smart -- and makes a place for herself as one of our best young actresses and should get more European roles as well.
Robert Kenner: Merchants of Doubt (2014)
The issue is very important: global warming. The angle is the paid liars and hype artists, wearing various hates as scientists or writers or media mavens, who work for Exxon Mobil or the Koch brothers and sell the idea that global warming is nothing to worry about, that it doesn't exist, that it exists but is a good thing. The film compares this game to magic tricks and finds that a number of the same people work working several decades ago to sell the idea that cigarettes are good for you and nicotine isn't addictive. Kenner's previous film was the 2009 FOOD, INC., showing that most food production in the US is controlled by the same five big companies.
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Alex Ross Perry: Listen Up Philip (2014)
For this Sundance hit, indie filmmaker Perry received Hollywood producer backing and was able to assemble a dream cast of Jason Schwartzman, Elizabeth Moss, Jonathan Pryce, Dree Hemingway, Krysten Ritter, and Joséphine de La Baume with Eric Bogosian as voice-over narrator for his acid and sometimes hilarious portrait of a cruel narcissistic young novelist mentored by a famous older version of himself based on Philip Roth. Schwartzman is Philip. A very New York film that might be considered Perry's SQUID AND THE WHALE (which similarly had a home town debut in the 43rd NYFF, in 2005 (the first one covered in Filmleaf).
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NYFF52 AT A GLANCE: DAY 15
October 10, 2014
TODAY'S P&I SCREENINGS [done!]
11:15AM FOXCATCHER (134min)
*Press conference to follow with Director Bennett Miller, Steve Carell, Mark
Ruffalo, Anthony Michael Hall, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum and Vanessa Redgrave
6PM CITIZENFOUR (TBD) LOCATION: BOW TIE CHELSEA CINEMAS, 260 W 23rd St (b/t 7th Ave & 8th Ave)
FREE NYFF EVENTS! Sponsored by HBO
NYFF Live Talk: Albert Maysles (Iris) 7:00pm | Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Iris 3:45pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Spotlight on Documentary World Premiere. Q&A with director Albert Maysles and Iris Apfel.
CITIZENFOUR 6:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate World Premiere. Directed by Laura Poitras
The Forest 6:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Special Events U.S. Premiere. Directed by Arnaud Desplechin. Screening with Claire Denis's Voilà l’enchaînement.
Hiroshima Mon Amour 6:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Revivals Directed by Alain Resnais.
A Letter to Three Wives 6:30pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Retrospective
Suddenly, Last Summer 9:00pm | Howard Gilman Theater
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Retrospective
Listen Up Philip 9:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Main Slate Q&A with director Alex Ross Perry and actor Jason Schwartzman.
Life of Riley 9:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Main Slate U.S. Premiere.
Foxcatcher 9:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate Q&A with director Bennett Miller and actors Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Vanessa Redgrave, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, and Anthony Michael Hall.
LOOKING AHEAD: TOMORROW
Closing Night screenings of Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance; final screening of Foxcatcher, CITIZENFOUR, and Life of Riley; and free HBO Directors Dialogue with Laura Poitras! Plus, join us Sunday for encore screenings of some of NYFF's sold out films. See schedule here
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From yesterday:
Bennett Miller: Foxcatcher (2014)
Based on a true story of crime in the world of the very rich in the Nineties. Strange old-money American millionaire John E. Dupont maintains a wrestling training camp at his Pennsylvania estate. Over time he eventually shoots and kills one of the wrestlers, one of two brothers who have been at the camp for some time. An oppressive and somewhat heavy-handed film. With Sienna Miller, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Carell, and Channing Tatum.
Laura Poitras: Citizenfour (2014)
A nicely edited first-hand account of the Edward Snowden story. It provieds full context and meanings, but the key element is seeing Snowded himself up close in his Hong Kong hotel room as he and Guardian correspondents, mainly Glenn Greenwald, publish his revelations about NSA spying into personal details of everybody.
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NYFF52 AT A GLANCE: DAY 16
October 11, 2014
TODAY'S P&I SCREENINGS [done!]
10AM BIRDMAN (119m)
*Press conference to follow with Director Alejandro G. Innaritu, Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan, Andrea Riseborough
LOCATION: AMC Lincoln Square, 1998 Broadway (between W67th/68th)
FREE NYFF TALK!
HBO Directors Dialogues: Laura Poitras (CITIZENFOUR) 4:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
CITIZENFOUR 1:00pm | Walter Reade Theater
Main Slate World Premiere. Directored by Laura Poitras
Foxcatcher 2:00pm | Alice Tully Hall
Main Slate Q&A with actors Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, and Anthony Michael Hall.
Life of Riley 2:00pm | Francesca Beale Theater
Main Slate U.S. Premiere.
CLOSING NIGHT! Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Main Slate Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and select cast members in person at ATH screenings.
6:00pm & 9:00pm | Alice Tully Hall (ATH)
6:15pm & 9:15pm | Walter Reade Theater
6:30, 6:45, 9:30, 9:45 | Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
TOMORROW: BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
Join us all day tomorrow for encore screenings of previously unavailable festival favorites! Sponsored by Citibank. See schedule here
