NYFF 2004

[arsaib4]

So, did anyone catch anything interesting at the fest this year? pmw?

[pmw]

Hey, sorry to be so off the page for the past few weeks. Yes, saw some great great things at the NYFF this year. Here's a starter list and Ill follow up with some comments a bit later on:

Samuel Fuller's the Big Red One - a great recutting of a classic. I really enjoyed the deliberate pacing. There wasn't all of the sensationalism that we've come to expect from Hollywood war films. But no less exciting. Really great.

Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady - awesome

Sideways by Alexander Paine - In theaters now and a must see

Agnes Jaoui's latest, Look at Me - so so

The suprise hit of the fest (for me) - Lucretia Martel's "The Holy Girl" - dizzyingly wonderful.

Cafe Lumiere (Hou Hsia Hsien) - Delicate, understated, refreshingly reserved, and beautiful. Art with a capital A.

And that's all I saw actually...wanted to see more but work responsibilities won out. Id be interested to hear if anyone else has seen any of these. Of the ones in theaters now, Sideways is an absolute must.


P

[arsaib4]

Thanks for posting your comments.

Can't wait to see both The Big Red One and Payne's Sideways. I was hoping that the films from Hou and Jia will get picked up but nothing so far. I'm afraid if nothing happens in the next couple of months then it might be a while.

Lucrecia Martel is an immensely talented director who we can expect to deliver in the upcoming years. Her debut feature La Cienaga was a revelation. She just might be the most talented among the new wave of Argentinian filmmakers although couple more aren't far behind.

Was Tropical Malady even more difficult than Blissfully Yours? How does it compare?

[Chris Knipp]

Have never seen Samuel Fuller's 1980 The Big Red One; what does the recutting involve, though?

I see you meant La Nina Santa by Argentinian Lucretia Martel. Making rounds at festivals, its favorable mentions arouse curiosity. Now showing in London FF. Distribution here?

Sideways: I'm hoping I'll like it way better than About Schmidt, to which I had an allergic reaction. It will open here (SF Bay Area)some time soon; is having limited openings over the next few weeks with a "national rollout" November 24. I can say the same about David Gordon Green's Undertow; Green has left me underwhelmed, but I want to like him and it looks like Dermot Mulroney (who's better than you'd think) is well cast in it for a change in a strong seious role, so I'm hoping Undertow is going to turn me into a Greenista. Presently showing at San Francisco's Lumiere Theater.

Very much want to see more of Hou Hsiao Hsien's films and am sorry he isn't getting US distribution. Tyranny of Miramax again?

Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad) is to be released by Strand Releasing in 2005 -- I get this info from an article about distribution of NYFF films http://movies.yahoo.com/news/iw/2004...512000.htmlfor IndieWire by Anthony Kaufman. A good list here of what is and isn't getting distrbution out of the NYFF:

About 10 NYFF films still remain without a home in North America, from the work of Asian masters (Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Cafe Lumiere," Hong Sang soo's "Woman is the Future of Man," Jia Zhang-ke's "The World") to Middle Eastern newcomers (Keren Yedaya's "Or," Danielle Arbid's "In the Battlefields," Yousry Nasrallah's "The Gate of the Sun") to that of foreign auteurs, young and old (Pablo Trapero's "Rolling Family," Eric Rohmer's "Triple Agent").

In other words, if I read this right, the others did get distributers (slightly more than half), and so does this mean the NYFF is not a showcase for the best unseen new films but more like a Sundance for foreign films?

Looking at the list again, I'd have very much liked to have seen: Todd Solodz's Palindromes, Eric Rohmer's Triple Agent, Tsing-ming Liang's Goodbye Dragon Inn (shown at a theater in NYC; due Wellspring distribution?). Marco Bellocchio's Good Morning, Night (Buongiorno, notte) I have on a dvd I bought in Italy and will review eventually. Agreed, Agnes Jaoui is a lightweight, but a good entertainer, this one too, from the sound of it.

[arsaib4]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Have never seen Samuel Fuller's 1980 The Big Red One; what does the recutting involve, though?

There was an article about this in 'Film Comment' a few months back. Apparently 'Time' mag's critic and documentarian Richard Schickel went to work with a studio exec and ended up locating many reels of sound and video in some warehouse in kansas or someplace. Sam Fuller original cut was around 3 hrs while the 2 hr version was released in 1980. A few new battle scenes are said to be added along with the character of a German officer which is now explored with more depth; I'm sure Pmw will expand on this.

Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad) is to be released by Strand Releasing in 2005 -- I get this info from an article about distribution of NYFF films

It's a nice article, I posted it earlier in the thread I think.

In other words, if I read this right, the others did get distributers (slightly more than half), and so does this mean the NYFF is not a showcase for the best unseen new films but more like a Sundance for foreign films?

Nope, no word on any new deals since Palindromes which got picked up during the fest. The programmers always try to squeeze in a few films w/out any deals but still it's a prestigious event with big names for the NY crowd (NY critics have complained in the past since they've seen most of them at Cannes, Venice or Toronto).

Tsing-ming Liang's Goodbye Dragon Inn (shown at a theater in NYC; due Wellspring distribution?).

It's still playing at one location in NY after a month and a half, will expand slightly though but mostly special screenings.

http://www.wellspring.com/movies/in_...rs&movie_id=47

Marco Bellocchio's Good Morning, Night (Buongiorno, notte) I have on a dvd I bought in Italy and will review eventually.

Great film which I saw at an Italian showcase, I believe I mentioned this before. Wellspring also has this film, too bad the dvd didn't have english subs.

[Chris Knipp]

If you referred to the Kaufman article I missed it while I was away, but my link above doesn't work. Here is the article again:

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/iw/2004...08512000p.html

In other words, if I read this right, the others did get distributers (slightly more than half), and so does this mean the NYFF is not a showcase for the best unseen new films but more like a Sundance for foreign films?

Nope, no word on any new deals since Palindromes which got picked up during the fest. The programmers always try to squeeze in a few films w/out any deals but still it's a prestigious event with big names for the NY crowd (NY critics have complained in the past since they've seen most of them at Cannes, Venice or Toronto).

We seem to be speaking at cross purposes, maybe I set up a false dichotomy, between "a showcase for the best unseen new films" and "a Sundance for foreign films." Why couldn't it be both? Or it could be neither. That's what I'm trying to find out. You know about distributions, I really don't. Kaufman seemed to be saying that NYC is an important venue for foreign films seeking distribution, as well as (with various disadvantages and advantages in this) the last stop after the main European film festivals. Kaufman's title's "International Gateway: NYFF A Crucial Destination for World Cinema Seeking Distribution."

Kaufman wrote "About 10 NYFF films still remain without a home in North America," there were 23, right? So that implied that about 13 did get a home in North America, i.e., found distribution. But did they already have it before the NYFF? Than that makes Kaurman's title kind of lame.

NY critics complain of repetition, yet they seem to have reviewed very few of the previously unseen films, again according to the Kaufman article.

"Will expand slightly" for Tsing-ming Liang's Goodbye Dragon Inn is tantalizing, but since the Bay Area gets most small distributions, I assume it will get here, if only briefly.

You did mention the Italian showcase and we had a couple of exchanges about it, but I can't remember the films you said you saw--though I guess I can look them up at the series site. Believe me, and as I'm sure you know, there are loads of new Italian not to mention French films we don't know aything about, and I just had to grab a few because they were new or I already liked the directors. Now I wish I'd gotten more. But time was limited and so was money. Some were not cheap; for example, Buongiorno, notte was 25 euros -- $30.

This Big Red One recut sounds very different. An hour is a lot to leave out.

[arsaib4]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
We seem to be speaking at cross purposes, maybe I set up a false dichotomy, between "a showcase for the best unseen new films" and "a Sundance for foreign films." Why couldn't it be both? Or it could be neither. That's what I'm trying to find out. You know about distributions, I really don't. Kaufman seemed to be saying that NYC is an important venue for foreign films seeking distribution, as well as (with various disadvantages and advantages in this) the last stop after the main European film festivals. Kaufman's title's "International Gateway: NYFF A Crucial Destination for World Cinema Seeking Distribution." Kaufman wrote "About 10 NYFF films still remain without a home in North America," there were 23, right? So that implied that about 13 did get a home in North America, i.e., found distribution. But did they already have it before the NYFF? Than that makes Kaurman's title kind of lame.

Reading back on what I wrote, I should've been more analytical. As we discussed earlier in this thread and as Kaufman wrote, NYC is undoubtedly essential when it comes to distribution of foreign films but I'm not certain if NYFF is the proper locus for such activity. At this time of the year most distributers are trying to position their films for the fall release hoping to catch the critical eye. So they're not actively seeking new films unless they want to get a head start for next year and as we know most smaller companies can't afford to do that. Desplechin's Kings and Queen is the only foreign film to have recieved a distribution deal (Wellspring) so far - during or since the festival ended. Smaller events such as the different showcases (French, Italian, Spanish, etc...) and other screeings orgainized by 'Film Comment' or 'Village Voice' earlier in the year seem to serve that purpose better as there is no pressure to have an "event" such as an Almodovar retro or something similar. So the title of the article perhaps is not totally accurate although he's right about this event as the last one of the year.

NY critics complain of repetition, yet they seem to have reviewed very few of the previously unseen films, again according to the Kaufman article.

I thought 'NY Times' did a good job reviewing every film shown in the main line-up; Kaufman's article came during the fest.


Believe me, and as I'm sure you know, there are loads of new Italian not to mention French films we don't know aything about, and I just had to grab a few because they were new or I already liked the directors. Now I wish I'd gotten more. But time was limited and so was money. Some were not cheap; for example, Buongiorno, notte was 25 euros -- $30.

Absolutely, but atleast you got the opportunity to be exposed to such films, I know you favoribly mentioned Matteo Garrone's L' Imbalsamatore once and his new film Primo Amore came out recently on dvd (with subs!). I was tempted to go for it but not knowing too much about it prevented me along with the price, this is what a member wrote at imdb,

I was one of those people very impressed with 'The embalmer' and i was waiting with anxiety for the second effort by Garrone. Now that the movie is out i'm not disappointed at all. This is a very dark story (probably is better to watch the movie alone!) but if you get connected (and i mean 'really and deeply' connected) with the characters you will be truly moved. Garrone is for sure the most interesting filmmaker now working in Italy and i truly hope he can pursue his personal way of seeing cinema. He's so original that he need no comparison with other great filmmakers to be appreciated and he also always choose very well his actors. Trevisan and Cescon are in fact very effective in their roles and this make us italian movie lovers very happy because we can see some different face on the screen (not the usual ten italian actors or so practically working in every movie!). Now i can't wait to see another movie from Garrone and i also hope he keep collaborating with Banda Osiris! (The soundtrack of 'First love' is simply great).

I'd love to hear about some of the films even if you don't get a chance to fully review them.

[Chris Knipp]

First of all, thanks for your interest and I think actually I am going to be able to fully review all the films I saw in Paris and Rome, and the ones I got Italian dvd's of too. In the case of the ones seen in Paris, my memories may not be as detailed as I would like, but I find I can research them on the Internet to supplement that. There are often good reviews in French or Italian, and even viewers' comments, though less so, seemingly, in the French sites than the Italian ones (fewer viewers' comments, that is). Does anybody know a French website that gives lots of viewers' comments, like FilmUp in Italy?

I don't want to harp on Kaufman's article any more, but I think I was somewhat misled by it. I get your point about the timie of year not being ideal for new films to find distribution in the NYFF. You have clarified things quite a bit this time, thanks! I guess Kaufman was suggesting the Times neglected films from the NYFF NOT in the main lineup, but the smaller, less known ones that could be looking for distribution. That said, though, I know the Times is pretty good about reviewing even very small films, covering most of what opens in the city as well as the Festival. And their festival reviews often hold up well once the films are in general release.

I just missed a chance to see Primo Amore for free a week or so ago in the ongoing UC Berkeley Italian Students' film series. I have read about it in detail. It sounds like very odd, edgy material. My Italian teacher said I didn't miss anything! But she is probably more in search of the upbeat than I am. I found L'Imbalsamatore quite fresh and throught-provoking. What a contrast to Muccino! Garrone seems to me to have things in common with Pupi Avati, including the focus on the provincial outlook in Italy, how it limits and defines people. I want to see the rest of Amelio's output too because Le chiave di casa impresssed me a lot. I've got one other one by Gabriele Salvatores among the dvd's I bought in Florence. I've got a couple of Pupi Avati's.

My regret is that I don't have the wherewithal to see these guys' whole body of work, so I can't generalize about them without faking it -- something you've justifiably chided me for doing in the past!

[arsaib4]

I use 'FilmUp' quite a bit also, even though I don't understand Italian I've gotten used to it enough to find the release dates and other info necessary but for reviews and such I use my translation software. I tend to favor the official reviews as sometimes users do end up revealing certain plot points etc,. so I try to just glance over them. Try allocine.fr for french info, it's a great site with ratings from both presse and spectateurs along with plethora of other valuable information.

I think it's hard of find all of Avati's work even in Italy, especially on dvd so not many have seen his output other than at a retrospective perhaps. Having said that I found his latest? called Il Cuove Altrove hard to sit through, it's almost painfully simple-minded. It did get a U.S release recently. Garrone does sounds like someone to keep an eye on.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the tip. I have seen Allocine, and it's clearly a big site; I'll start making more use of it. Interesting that you also use FilmUp. But I like to read the viewer comments there and anywhere, because it gives me a picture of what the audience is like and how they express themselves. "Ordinary" viewers, such as the cross section on IMDb, sometimes come up with observations that elude the professional reviewers.

I've noticed that Pupi Avati's output is only partly available. I didn't like Il cuore altrove either; it seemed manipulative (the main character doesn't have a chance), something I never like, and that was my first view of Avati. But I'm beginning to be intrigued by his odd, rather insular point of view. Garrone though, despite his off-center topics, seems more in touch with the rest of the world.

P.s. I have a chance to see Ermanno Olmi's 2003 Cantando dietro i paraventi this week. Apropos of a revival of Tree of the Wooden Clogs a few years ago the Guardian wrote "No other Italian film-maker of world stature has been as neglected as Ermanno Olmi, " and he's made almost sixty films, but we've seen few of them in this country.

[arsaib4]

Ermanno Olmi has certainly been out of the spotlight in recent years but perhaps that's the way he wants it. I read a postive review of Cantando dietro i paraventi coming out of Berlin Festival from a german critic where he wrote that Olmi has begun on a new path where he wants to be free, doing whatever he wants to do and this is perhaps a prime example of it (a costume drama shot in China with Bud Spencer). His previous Il Mestiere delle armi is one of my favorites among Italian films. Both films are coming out on dvd this week, in Italy.

[Chris Knipp]

I read somewhere today that one of the reasons he's out of the spotlight is he's been ill. And he's old. This one is related to Il mestiere delle armi; both are anti-war allegories. Funnily enough since it came out at the same time as Kill Bill: Vol. 1 in Italy, they were occasionally spoken of together, as twin western orientalist flicks. It's in the hands of Miramax/Mikado as of Oct. 2003, so I guess they're sitting on it http://print.google.com/print/doc?ar...d=pcpoAOctGf1.? Isn't 98 minutes a bit short for them? The Guardian wrote in April "Olmi is riding high on the back of his Berlin festival hit Singing Behind the Screens"; will he ride high to the front of US screens?

[arsaib4]

Ahhh...., "twin western oriental flicks," I wonder however what Olmi would say about all the red stuff in Kill Bill.

I'd love to see the link to the article, if you can re-post it. I wasn't aware that Cantando dietro i paraventi (Singing Behind the Screens) had a distributer. This just might prevent me from going for the Italian disc which is said to have subtitles.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm sorry the link got fouled up --it was a Google website listing (not just found via Google). I can't seem to find it now, but it was a copy of an article from Variety. Probably it was the one I'll paste in below,which I just found via KeepMedia (http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Variet...7/?extID=10026). Miramax is mentioned elsewhere, for instance in a thumbnail review of the movie on the NYTimes website (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...ml?v_id=296795).

SINGING BEHIND SCREENS (CANTANDO DIETRO I PARAVENTI)


by JAY WEISSBERG | Oct 27 '03 [Variety]


(ITALY-U.K.-FRANCE)

A Mikado/01 Distribution (in Italy)/Miramax (in U.S.) release of a Cinema 11 Undici, RAI Cinema (Italy)/Lakeshore Entertainment (U.K.)/Pierre Grise Prods. (France) production, in association with Sky. (International sales: Lakeshore Intl., Los Angeles.) Produced by Luigi Musini, Roberto Cicutto. Executive producer, Alessandro Calosci.

Directed, written by Ermanno Olmi. Camera (color, Panavision widescreen), Fabio Olmi; editor, Paolo Cottignola; music, Han Yong; production designer, Luigi Marchione; art director, Pasquale Germano; costume designer, Francesca Sartori; sound (Dolby Digital), Armando Trivellini; choreographer, Yang Yu-lin; assistant director, Gaia Gorrini; casting, Andrea Marrari. Reviewed at International Recording preview theater, Rome, Oct. 22, 2003. Running time: 99 MIN.

Old Captain ..... Bud Spencer

Widow Ching ..... Jun Ichikawa

Confidante ..... Sally Ming Zeo Ni

Nostromo ..... Camillo Grassi

Admiral Ching ..... Makoto Kobayashi

Supreme Admiral

Kwo Lang ..... Xiang Yang Li

Imperial Dignitary ..... Guang Wen Li

Imperial Emissary ..... Ruohao Chen

Unwitting Client

in Brothel ..... Davide Dragonetti

Military Client ..... Alberto Capone

Mary Read ..... Carlene Ko

Prince Thin Kwei ..... Sultan Temir Omarov

Little Guiady ..... Bellino Zheng

Old Emperor ..... Xuwu Chen

Jettisoning all traces of his realist style, veteran helmer Ermanno Olmi has crafted his most complex and sumptuous work to date with "Singing Behind Screens." This Chinese folktale, partly staged in a brothel, is the product of a mature director confident with the range of techniques at his command. Arthouse auds familiar with the Olmi name and sympathetic to Chinese period tales may help to defray, or even cover, pic's 10 million euro pricetag. Stateside, Miramax has already picked up pic as part of a package deal.

Olmi himself sees the film as a follow-up to his anti-war "The Profession of Arms," but the multi-layered construction and ravishing imagery combine to make it more like a fairytale.

A young man (Davide Dragonetti), in what looks like 1930s urban China, gets lost and mistakenly enters a Chinese brothel. Though visibly uncomfortable, he becomes attracted not only to the sexual situations but even more to the staged narration of a Chinese folktale about a female pirate.

Pic initially crosscuts between the start of the staging and the young man's entrance. Though it occasionally returns to this character, for the most part the film moves between the highly theatrical staging of the story in the brothel and the "opened-out" scenes in actual locations.

Fable is narrated by an old captain (Bud Spencer) from the deck of a large Chinese junk that fills one end of a huge room. The brothel's clients, in little reed huts arranged with a view of the stage, can either watch the show or indulge in other pleasures.

Initially only the narrator's voice is heard, and the action is performed as a dance. However, at the moment the young man succumbs to the charms of a hooker, the pic cuts to a real lake where pirate junks are firing on a shoreside village.

Leader of the pirates is Admiral Ching (Makoto Kobayashi), who's backed by a consortium of profiteers. To calm things down, the Emperor (Xuwu Chen) offers Ching a high title if he'll give up his pillaging. However, Ching's backers, unwilling to lose their income, murder the pirate first with a poisoned carp.

Ching's widow (Jun Ichikawa) seeks vengeance, pillaging villages and vessels and becoming the most feared corsair of the coast. When the old emperor dies and his heir (Sultan Temir Omarov) ascends the throne, the new ruler personally goes out to capture the widow.

Olmi has worked with fairytales and fantasy before, from the sweet simplicity of "The Legend of the Holy Drinker" to the childish misfire of "The Secret of the Old Wood." But "Singing" is a more complex realization of the director's liking for creating multiple worlds that work both in the imagination and in real terms, somewhat a la Peter Greenaway. Auds expecting a swashbuckling tale or an anti-war tract will be disappointed: Skirmishes and pillaging are kept to a minimum, and the pirate figure is sympathetic, so it's hard to perceive any pacifist theme here.

Rights problems prevented screen credit being given to Jorge Luis Borges' story "The Widow Ching, Lady Pirate" from his "A Universal History of Infamy." (In fact, Borges took the plot from a 19th-century Chinese work, and the tale may well go back further than that.) Olmi adds the framing device of the brothel, using the staged play-within-a-play to reveal what is seen as the essence of truth. The plot boils down to a tale of fury appeased by forgiveness; the opulent staging gives a sense of depth to the material.

Glorious lensing by Olmi's son, Fabio, makes the stunning vistas of Lake Scutari in Montenegro completely convince as a Chinese coast, with majestic, painterly mountains. Where "The Profession of Arms" (also shot by Fabio), was memorable for its icy blues and smoky whites of a frozen landscape, here the dominant tones are opulent blues, rich reds and vibrant yellows, all redolent of the Far East.

Music mirrors the striking settings, with generous chunks of Stravinsky, Berlioz and Ravel.

Thesps take a back seat to the visual compositions. As often, Olmi gathers a cast of mostly unknowns, headlined by female dancer Jun Ichikawa (not to be confused with the male Japanese helmer), whose calm, at times hard exterior occasionally slips to reveal the jumble of emotions that thrust her into pirating. Seasoned vet Bud Spencer (aka Carlo Pedersoli) brings flair to the narrator's theatrical recitation, and finds humor in the role without straying into Robert Newton-like excesses.

Film's title comes from a Chinese poem, in which the sign of a contented home is said to be the sound of a woman singing within its walls.



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[arsaib4]

Thanks for the article/review, it has certainly increased my curiostiy for the film and proven the fact that Miramax is involved. I did some search on the film and Miramax but at this point it's not on the company's slate either for fall this year or even sometime early next year. Hopefully they haven't dropped it altogether due to the recent budget cuts. Miramax still however has Marco Giordana's epic 6 hr drama La Meglio gioventu (The Best of Youth) slated for March next year (delayed once again from January). It'll be interesting to see how they go about marketing this one for the audience that nowadays doesn't usually appreciate anything over 90 mins.