New York Film Festival
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These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: New York Film Festival I
I have both good and bad news about the New York Film Festival (September 27-October 13). First, the good news: For the most part, the films in this impressive, carefully balanced program are very good. And the bad: The fest has become so expansive that quantity just may overshadow quality. A bright, high-energy, and well-regarded expert in all things cinema, Kent Jones debuts as head of the NYFF. For the first time in its 51 years, the composition of the selection committee has been, wisely, revised. Traditionally it was guided by the fest director, always a professional programmer, but rounded […]
by Howard Feinstein on Sep 26, 2013 -
Editing Life of Pi
At the start of my interview with Tim Squyres, the editor of most of Ang Lee’s films, including his latest, Life of Pi, I tell him how much I like the movie. I say that I know I like it because its images, its ingeniously affecting conclusion, and, most of all, the headspace it created for me have lingered for days. Upon waking each morning, scenes have come flooding back. And the subtleties of the film’s ending, which contains a rich meditation on the role stories play in our lives, have resonated in my mind in unexpected ways. “I get […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 1, 2012 -
Nicole Kidman: Hollywood’s Unlikely Rebel
While other A-List actresses have chased the kind of star vehicles that kill on opening weekend, Nicole Kidman has been quietly becoming Hollywood’s most unlikely rebel—a statuesque leading lady with a snowballing penchant for bold auteur partnerships. It’s hard to pinpoint when, exactly, the gal from Days of Thunder began her metamorphosis into the daring muse currently drawing viewers to The Paperboy (above), but many would likely cite Gus Van Sant’s To Die For as the pivotal work in Kidman’s filmography. The sheer unlikeability of the delusional, cradle-robbing viper Suzanne Stone screams of Tinseltown-bombshell repellant, but Kidman executed the role […]
by R. Kurt Osenlund on Oct 15, 2012 -
A Trans-Generational Triple Feature at NYFF 50
It was not until the very close of Michael Haneke’s laurel-laden Amour that I came to a pleasantly odd realization. Without any foresight, I had managed to stumble upon the perfect trans-generational triple feature—perhaps not just at the New York Film Festival, but in the grander scheme as well. At first blush, the Tokyo-set Like Someone in Love, New York-based Frances Ha, and the claustrophobic Parisian quarters of Amour have as much in common as, well, an Eastern social order, a misguided American woman, and a shackled octogenarian couple could. But a closer look reveals a glaringly common thread. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Oct 11, 2012 -
San Sebastian Critic’s Notebook #1
San Sebastian is celebrating six decades in the film festival business with the insistence that “60 years is nothing.” In their welcome guide this year, the organizers say: “As far as a film festival is concerned, 60 years shouldn’t be concealed with facelifts, but should be flaunted proudly.” There’s little doubt that the ever-increasing leviathan that is the Toronto International Film Festival is having an effect on any festival close to its dates — and San Sebastian follows hot on its heels. But José Luis Rebordinos’s second edition as director shows this Basque country old lady has plenty of life […]
by Amber Wilkinson on Sep 24, 2012 -
Jones and Koehler Named New Film Society Programming Directors
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced Robert Koehler and Kent Jones as the replacements for longtime Program Director Richard Peña. Film Society Executive Director Rose Kuo said, “Richard Peña has played a fundamental role in defining our organization and its commitment to discovering and supporting the best and most important cinema in the world. Kent Jones and Bob Koehler, whose thinking and writing about cinema I deeply respect, are the perfect team to build upon Richard’s vision and carry it forward.” Peña will be honored at a Gala Tribute during this year’s New York Film Festival. Jones, who was a […]
by Billy Brennan on Sep 13, 2012 -
NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES SIDEBAR PROGRAMS
Following on from the announcement of its main slate, the New York Film Festival has unveiled the event’s sidebar programs, which includes a sneak preview of three episodes of Oliver Stone’s forthcoming Showtime series Untold History of the United States. For me, the most exciting strand of those just announced is Cinema Reflected, which has such titles as Room 237, Rodney Ascher’s obsessional examination of Kubrick’s The Shining; Marina Zenovich’s follow-up doc Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out; a bizarre concoction by Taxidermia director György Pàlfi called Final Cut — Ladies and Gentlemen which proclaims to be scenes from 450 of […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 21, 2012 -
NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FULL SLATE FOR 2012
Just announced is the full slate for this year’s NYFF, this year celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. Already announced were the opening, closing and centerpiece movies (Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Robert Zemeckis’ Flight and David Chase’s Not Fade Away, respectively — all world premieres), and the rest of the lineup is as typically exciting and robust as it ever is, packed with auteur works culled almost exclusively from Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. Unveiling the summation of the best of arthouse cinema in 2012, Richard Peña, the Selection Committee Chair & Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 16, 2012 -
ANG LEE’S “LIFE OF PI” TO OPEN 50TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
The world premiere of Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s epic 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s highly acclaimed Booker Prize-winning novel, will open the New York Film Festival, which starts September 28 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Lee is no stranger to the NYFF: this will be the second time one of his movies has opened the fest (The Ice Storm kicked off the 1997 edition), while in 2009 Lee was the subject of a career retrospective at FSLC’s annual celebration of cinema. “Life of Pi is a perfect combination of technological innovation and a strong artistic vision,” said […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 13, 2012 -
NYFF: WEST MEMPHIS 3 ON HAND FOR UNVEILING OF NEW “PARADISE LOST 3” ENDING
You probably know by now that the West Memphis 3 (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin) were released from prison after giving an Alford plea — a guilty plea but not admitting to the act and asserting innocence — in August. At the time directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were locking up their third film on the WM3, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, when they heard the news of the surprise development and raced down to Arkansas. Unable to put the footage of the three being freed in the film before screening it at the Toronto International Film […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 11, 2011
