|
Last year at this time, The
Queen was introduced to New Yorkers. Stephen
Frears gem opened the 44th New York Film Festival
and went on to become one of the most acclaimed
movies of the year, garnering a Best Picture Oscar
nomination and the Best Actress Award for Helen
Mirren (along with a legion of other trophies)!
The Fest also debuted works as diverse as: David
Lynch’s maddening Inland Empire;
Pedro Almodovar’s lyrical Volver;
Todd Field’s astonishing Little Children
and Guillermo Del Toro’s stirring Pan’s
Labyrinth.
Always eclectic as well as eccentric,
this year’s New York Film Festival stays on
typical course with a host of diverse offerings
that run the gamut from works by Festival favorites
(Wes Anderson, Eric Rohmer, The Coen Brothers) to
more daring artists (Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat,
Julian Schnabel) to a cinema master (Sidney Lumet).
The Gotham Fete’ is, arguably,
the most exhilarating of all film festivals (certainly
in the US) because of it’s obvious elitism.
Don’t misunderstand, the selection committee
are not arrogant, they simply adore cinema and choose
to celebrate what they see as the best cinema has
to offer. They are (thankfully) much less concerned
with who walks the Red Carpet. The result is an
always-interesting crop of must-see pics!
Twenty-eight films will be shown
from September 28th thru October 14th at the Frederick
P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center (while
the currently-gutted Alice Tully Hall is completely
renovated. Many are taken directly from films shown
at Cannes.
Jason Schwartzman, Owen
Wilson and Adrian Brody in
The Darjeeling Limited
Javier Bardem in
No Country for Old Men
Opening night boasts Wes Anderson’s
sublime The Darjeeling Limited, a spiritual
mindfuck of a film on par with his masterwork, The
Royal Tennenbaums. The film stars Owen Wilson,
Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Idiosyncratic
is the word for Anderson and can also describe Joel
and Ethan Coen, who made the Festival Centerpiece,
the Cormac McCarthy adaptation No Country for
Old Men, with Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem
and Josh Brolin.
Persepolis
The Closing Night selection, Persepolis,
is based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel
about her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution
and features the voice of Catherine Deneuve.
The festival also includes ten
new short films and six retrospectives, including
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: The Final
Cut and John Ford’s The Iron Horse
which will be accompanied by a full orchestra in
Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall!
Philip Seymoure Hoffman
and Ethan Hawke in
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Directorial legend, Sidney Lumet,
returns to the Festival after an absence of 43 years
(Fail-Safe, 1964) with the searing and
brilliant Before the Devil Knows You’re
Dead—a towering achievement that is reminiscent
of Long Day’s Journey Into Night and even
has the nail-bite of The Departed. It’s
a shattering masterpiece.
Redacted
Also on the Festival lineup: Noah
Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding
(with
Nicole Kidman); Abel Ferrara’s Go Go Tales;
Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There (featuring
Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger—among others—as
Bob Dylan); Julian Schnabel’s inspiring French
co-production The Diving Bell and the Butterfly;
Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park; Brian
De Palma’s Redacted and John Landis’
Mr. Warmth, The Don Rickles Project—to
name just some of the US entries. Many other countries
are repped.
Under the leadership of Richard
Pena, the New York Film Festival continues to fascinate,
irritate, intrigue and excite. What more could true
cinephiles ask for?
Venue
and Ticket Information
Ttis year’s New York Film Festival screenings
will be held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home
of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street,
in the Time Warner Center. Opening and Closing nights,
the HBO Films Directors Dialogues and other special
event screenings will be held in four other venues
in New York: Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center,
Broadway at 65th Street; the Walter Reade Theater
at Lincoln Center, 65th Street at Amsterdam Ave.;
the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, in the David B.
and Samuel Rose Building, next to the Walter Reade
Theater, 65th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway,
10th Floor; and The TimesCenter, 242 W 41 St., between
7th and 8th Avenues. Go to
filmlinc.com for complete information.
Tickets can be purchased in person
at the Frederick P. Rose Hall box office (all events
except sidebars); the Avery Fisher Hall box office
(Avery Fisher Hall screenings); and the Walter Reade
Theater box office (HBO Films Directors Dialogues
and special events day of performance only, showcases).
Purchases can also be made online at filmlinc.com
for all events and by phone through CenterCharge,
212.721.6500, for all events except Opening Night
and showcases.
|
