NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL (Dec. 2015-Jan. 2016)

[Chris Knipp]

French poster for the film

ANOMALISA (Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman 2015). Stop-motion animation with urination, masturbation, cunnilingus, and a Kafkasesque Willy Loman experience, a dull business trip to Cleveland by a Brit living in L.A. who seduces a young woman, and has a paranoid syndrome that makes everybody but her sound to have the voice of Tom Noonan. David Thewlis voices the man and Jennifer Jason Leigh voices the young woman in this hallucinatory celebration of ordinariness and loneliness. A "masterpiece"? The jury, for me, is still out on that. But a Charlie Kaufman original and maybe the last standout to be US-released at the end of the year. Opened in NYC Wed., 30 Dec. 2015, seen that day at Landmark Sunshine. (Also showing at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas 6.)

[Chris Knipp]

CONCUSSION (Peter Landesman 2015). About Bennett Omalu, the Nigerian forensic pathologist with seven degrees whose work in Pittsburgh revealed how multiple concussions in normal play caused brain damage in NFL players. I was unprepared for how well Will Smith submerged into the role. He is still a star and he can act. Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are fine in supporting roles and David Morse memorable as the first identified victim. The critics are right that this is weakened as a whistleblower story by its distracting immigrant story and marriage story; but what they reveal of its sterling real-life hero will be inspiring to to African Americans it ways white movie reviewers just don't get. Director Peter Landsman is a former investigative journalist. Opened Christmas Day 2015. At AMC Village 7 31 Dec. 2015.

[Chris Knipp]

THIS IS BOSSA NOVA (Paulo Thiago 2005). A US theatrical release (DVD coming?-there is a UK one) of what must be the definitive documentary history of the the best known Brazilian musical style, the Fifties-Sixties syncopated singing outgrowth of samba with jazz tie-ins, told by many of the original artists (prime movers Jobim and Gilberto weren't around any more, though). Sometimes this soft-spoken, laid-back music may seem a bit blah, but somebody must like it, since Antônio Carlos ("Tom") Jobim is the most-covered pop composer other than the Beatles, and, as he liked to say, there were four of them. Many interviews, comments, stories from present-at-the-inception Roberto Menescal and Carlos Lyra, with a dozen or more others and many clips, including Sinatra and Jerry Mulligan riffing (separately) with Jobim. Most people know "The Girl from Ipanema" and "The Waters of March"; but there's a whole lot more where that came from. In Portuguese, 126 mins. Original title: Coisa Mais Linda: História e Casos da Bossa Nova. On a screener; opening a fanning-out US release at Cinema Village New Year's Day 2016.

[Chris Knipp]

YOSEMITE (Gabrielle Demeestere 2015). Another first-time director's collaboration with James Franco on some of his short stories, this about ten-year-old boys. Demeestere and Franco met at NYU film school and worked out the idea of adapting two of his stories, and she added a third intertwining characters and winding up episodes a bit. Franco plays the father in the first story, set in the eponymous park. This is more slight than the excellent Palo Alto by Gia Coppola, but well done in its way and precise in every detail of age, milieu and period--including primitive video games and primordial internet. One trouble is that the pedophile young man (Henry Hopper) who invites home one of the boys -- a repeated situation Demeestere keeps in suspension -- is more disturbing than anything else and so tends to overwhelm the film with the effect of making every relationship by extension also seem (unnecessarily) potentially inappropriate or weird. Another is how sketchy and episodic it all is; a third that, as treated here, without much plot, ten-year-old boys don't seem all that interesting or distinguishable from each other. But Demeestere works really well with the boys, and they are very natural. There are many nice moments. Watched at the first theatrical showing of the film before a friendly audience including friends and relatives, among others, and followed by a Q&A with the director. At IFC Center, New Year's Day 2016.

[Chris Knipp]

Güeros (Alonso Ruizpalacios 2014). A hip coming of age road movie is the first feature from gifted Mexican writer-director Alonso Ruizpalacios. Shot in academy ratio and black and white and marked by a fresh use of camera, editing, sound, and humor and a breaking the fourth wall that owe something to the Nouvelle Vague, it focuses on Tomás, a slim, pale teenage bad boy ("güero" is Mexican slang for light-skinned) whose mother can't cope with him, so sends him from Veracruz to live in Mexico City for a while with his older brother "Sombra" ("dark-skinned"). Sombra is a student at the national university, but it's disrupted by a huge strike (loosely based on the 11-month strike of 1999), and he's "on strike from the strike," sitting idly in his trashy concrete apartment, a depressed slacker trying to teach himself card tricks. They get out, with his roommate and best friend Santos and girlfriend Ana (a strike leader), on a mission to find a cult Mexican rock idol of the Sixties called Epigmenio Cruz admired by their late father and both brothers, reportedly dying of cirrhoisis of the liver, to pay him homage. It's said that Cruz once "made Bob Dylan cry." Ruizpalacios has acknowledged a debt to Truffaut, Godard, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Fellini, but his light touch, wit, and grasp of earthy Spanish vernacular (though he studied in London and speaks perfect English too) also link Güeros with Latin American youth films like Alex dos Santos' 2006 Glue, Che Sandoval's You Think You're the Prettiest, But You Are the Sluttiestt (2009), and the work of Fernando Eimbcke and Gerardo Naranjo. This won prizes at Berlin and Tribeca and had a limited US release May 2015 (see A.O. Scott's enthusiastic and detailed description in the NYTimes). Now out on DVD from Kino Larber. Watched on a DVD provided by Rodrigo Brandão (Indie Strategy) 2 Jan. 2015.

Now on Netflix (2024).

[Chris Knipp]

Final films before leaving New York till February. Nothing I was too excited about, but this rounds it out.



SISTERS (Jason Moore 2015. It was impossible to see anything remotely funny or in any way worthwhile in Sisters.I will quote Richard Brody's short review of it for The New Yorker, which is thorough. I don't want to remember it further.

This hectic and sentimental comedy, though built on a firm foundation of familiar experience and stifled pain, is a sad waste of sparkling talent. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star as the fortyish Ellis sisters. The elder, Kate (Fey), a cosmetician, is the free-spirited single mother of a teen-age girl, Haley (Madison Davenport); the younger, Maura (Poehler), a childless and recently divorced nurse, is compassionate to a fault. When their parents (Dianne Wiest and James Brolin) sell the family home in Orlando, the Ellis sisters rush there to clear out the room that they shared throughout childhood. Once they’re back in their home town, their old friends turn up, and their old memories well up, along with frustrations and grudges. Maura needs to cut loose, Kate needs to calm down, and both seek to fulfill their needs by throwing a wild party in the empty house. The belabored raunchiness of the physical and verbal humor is further burdened with facile psychologizing. There are solid subjects at hand—adults’ seemingly unending adolescence, the burden of solitude in middle age, the unspoken demands of family ties—but they remain undeveloped. Directed by Jason Moore; with Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena.--Richard Brody, "Movies - Now playing," The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2016.

MEET ME AT THE FAIR (Douglas Sirk 1953) Meet Me at the Fair was part of the FSLC's Douglas Sirk retrospective. It is an odd musical about a runaway orphan, dishonest city politicians, and a traveling seller of a fake elixir of health. Amusing enough in its way, it seems a bit lacking in unity and not very typical of the melodrama and social and political subtlety Sirk is noted for. Unfortunately my education in the art of Douglas Sirk still needs a lot of work. With Dan Dailey, Diana Lynn, Chet Allen. Allen, who played the orphan, a boy of radiant charm and good looks with a beautiful voice, came to the sad end that too often befalls child actors, committing suicide by overdosing on antidepressants at the age of 43, having met with nothing but disappointment in the rest of his life. I still need to view or review and comment upon Imitation of Life (1959) All That Heaven Allows1955) Written on the Wind (1956) Magnificent Obsession and Magnificent Obsession (1954). Seen at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center, 4 Jan. 2016.



RICHARD III (Laurence Olivier 1955.) A lovingly restored boxy-formatted Technicolor film whose bright colors looked like renaissance paintings, notable for gorgeous flaming reds. But there isn't much feeling of scope or grandeur; it's more like a small sound stage being busily filled with nothing beyond. Bright clear readings of the text, and the film is 155 minutes long. An excellent cast, led by Olivier in the main role with Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richardson, John Guilgid, Pamala Brown and others, making this a must-see or students of Shakespeare on film. But but a pall is cast over it all from the start by a pallid, ghostly Olivier as Richard, stiff rather than warped or strange. There isn't much energy, or much rhythm or pulse to the production, astonishing considering the excellence of a cast that includes I remember the more 1995 film version with Ian McKellan and Annette Benning, cast in Fascist Thirties style. McKellan gave it some heft and nastiness. The protagonist should be a real villain, creepy, physically repellant, and possessed of a terrifying, maniacal energy. Probably the Olivier Shakespeare film that counts is Henry V, despite its being overshadowed recently by Kenneth Branagh''s brilliant 1989 debut. Press screening for a short revival run of the restored print of the 1955 film at Film Forum, 5 Jan. 2016.

I am now no longer in NYC. This was certainly going out not with a bang but a whimper. But though it might not seem so, movies aren't all I do. The last days of this sojourn were were softened by hours of good times with friends (even a fascinating conversational companion assigned me by lucky chance by an airline) and lovely visits to the new Egyptian exhibition and my old favorite the Jacques and Nathasha Gellman Collection of School of Paris art at the Met and second and third visits to the massive (if a tad too much so) Frank Stella retrospective at the new Whitney and the Picasso sculpture show at the Museum of Modern Art.

[Johann]

Thank you for another great New York Movie Journal, and thank you for your eternal cultural edification.
For one man, you do the work of a thousand.
The site doesn't need any members, to be honest. It just needs you. :)

[Chris Knipp]

You exaggerate, but thanks. The site needs you and other members. And it needs readers. And our able webmaster and Founder PW.

[Johann]

What happened to Peter? I think I scared him off. His hair must be white over my posts.

[Chris Knipp]

Peter speaks of you fondly. I didn't see him this time because he was on the road. He's busy with other things but his hair still retains its color.

[Chris Knipp]

It is not good to be away from New York. Film Forum (where I always spend time) has current program that is not too shabby:



Go to their website here.

BLEAK STREET
Wednesday, Jan 20 - Tuesday, Feb 2
12:30 2:40 4:50 7:10 9:25

Legendary Mexican director Arturo Ripstein’s gorgeous true crime noir drama has U.S. theatrical premiere today, Wednesday, January 20.

“Creepy and beguiling. Turns a lurid tabloid true-crime story into a somber, surreal, monochromatic dream… unfolds in a stylized world that recalls old movies and pulp novels… Ripstein’s hallucinatory, deliberate style is engrossing…full of strange, vivid images and scenes.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times

TOP 10 FILMS OF 2015!
– James Quandt, Artforum

“A VISIONARY TRIUMPH.”
– Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

“(A) FANTASTIC TRUE-CRIME MELODRAMA, filmed in lurid black-and-white.”
– Gary Kramer, Metro

“A WILD, CARNIVALESQUE DIVE. PHANTASMAGORIC.”
– Peter DeBruge, Variety
Buy Tickets NowWatch Trailer

BLEAK STREET filmmaker Arturo RipsteinSkype Q&A with BLEAK STREET filmmaker Arturo Ripstein & screenwriter Paz Alicia Garciadiego!

Friday, January 22, 7:10 show
Buy Tickets Now

Special deals on delicious local Mexican cuisine
with your BLEAK STREET ticket stub!

Café habana HENCHO EN DUMBO TOBACHE
Free elote or Mexican street corn
with $15+ food purchase
Valid through 2/9
2-for-1 margaritas
or micheladas
Valid through 2/2
10% off total bill
(with meal purchase)
(Thompson Street location)
Valid through 2/2


FARGO
Friday, Jan 22 - Thursday, Jan 28
DAILY: 12:30 2:50 4:50 7:00 9:10
SUN: 1:40 3:40 5:40 7:40 9:40

20th anniversary 4K restoration of Joel & Ethan Coen’s neo-classic black comedy, starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi opens Friday.

"TINY, PERFECT DETAILS: ear hats, car window scrapers, Paul Bunyan statues, tan Cutlass Cieras, woodchippers — iconography so singular that you could dangle miniatures from a charm bracelet and people would recognize the reference… a work of brick-by-brick world-building in the service of characters whose ordinariness is just as carefully crafted.”
– Village Voice

"STEADILY MOUNTING DELIGHT! COMPLETELY ORIGINAL!… The kind of movie that makes us hug ourselves with the way it pulls off one improbable scene after another. FILMS LIKE FARGO ARE WHY I LOVE THE MOVIES!”
– Roger Ebert
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STRATFORD ON HOUSTON - LAST 2 DAYS - ENDS THURS

Zeffirelli’s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Polanski’s MACBETH

Festival of classic Shakespeare screen adaptations, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, ends this Thursday.

WED, JANUARY 20
Franco Zeffirelli’s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Brando in Mankiewicz’s JULIUS CAESAR

THU, JANUARY 21
Roman Polanski’s MACBETH

Buy Tickets NowComplete Schedule


SON OF SAUL
NOW PLAYING
12:30 2:45 5:10 7:30 9:50

László Nemes’s astounding, critically acclaimed debut film, set in Auschwitz.

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE!
Best Foreign Language Film

WINNER! GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARD
Best Foreign Language Film

“AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE.”
– Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

*****! [5 STARS]
[highest rating]
“STAGGERING.”
– Dave Calhoun, Time Out New York

Click here to watch Charlie Rose’s interview with filmmaker László Nemes and star Géza Röhrig.

WINNER!
Grand Prix - 2015 Cannes Film Festival
Best Foreign Language Film
– National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Online
Best First Film – New York Film Critics Circle
Best Actor – Village Voice Critics’ Poll

BEST FILMS OF 2015!
J. Hoberman, Tablet
Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
Andrew O’Hehir, Salon
Eric Kohn, Indiewire
The Playlist (Indiewire)
Anne Thompson, Thompson on Hollywood (Indiewire)
Slant
Rex Reed, New York Observer
and many more!
Buy Tickets NowWatch Trailer



EXPLORERS
introduced by Ethan Hawke
Sun, January 24
11:00 AM

All seats: $8.00

Joe Dante’s 80s sci-fi comedy, starring child actors Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix in their film debuts. Archival 35mm print.

“It looks terrific, moves along at a gallop, and is marvelously good-natured.”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London)
Buy Tickets Now


BARTON FINK

THE COEN BROTHERS
Friday, Jan 29 - Thursday, Feb 4
A two-week, 15-film tribute to writers/producers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen.

“THE SIBLING AUTEURS INVITE US INTO A FIERCELY INDEPENDENT WORLD!”
– Time Out

Film Forum
209 West Houston St. west of 6th Ave.
Map and Directions
Box Office: 212-727-8110
Tickets: $8.00 Member $14.00 Regular

[Chris Knipp]

I think I forgot to include this preview, so here it is -- from a Dec. screening but the film is coming to NYC & LA in three weeks and I'll publish my full review then.


French poster for the film

LOUDER THAN BOMBS (Joachim Trier 2015) A family - father and two sons - struggle to deal with the death of the wife and mother, a war photographer who committed suicide but the youngest doesn't know that yet. A deliberately disjointed film with dreams, flashbacks, and entries into different consciousnesses, this doesn't work as well or seem as authentic as Trier's excellent first two films, and the artificial setup and switch to English language are reasons. Still, fascinating to watch because he and his co-writer/collaborator are so thoughtful and smart. With Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg, Isabelle Huppert, and newcomer Devon Druid, along with Amy Ryan, David Strathairn, and others. It was released in Paris after the attacks and retitled Back Home. Opens in theaters 8 of Apri 2016l (released by The Orchard). Full review coming then. At Magno2 Screening Room, Seventh Ave. 15 Dec. 2015.