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Thread: New York Film Festival #46 Sept. 26-oct. 12, 2008

  1. #16
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    KELLY REICHARDT: WENDY AND LUCY REVIEWED.

    Her second feature, again set in the Pacific Northwest, confirms the director's distinctive artistic vision. She excels at careful observation and specific regional settings and has a particular interest in white Americans pushed toward marginality. The presence of the by now high profile Michelle Williams should help this second feature to gain Reichardt a larger audience.

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    ALEXANDER OLCH: THE WINDMILL MOVIE REVIEWED.

    From a world of privilege, an unfinished search for an autobiography completed by a student and friend.

    Presented at the New York Film Festival with Richard P. Rogers' first film, Quarry.

  3. #18
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    LUCRECIA MARTEL: THE HEADLESS WOMAN REVIEWED.

    Personal guilt and class malaise.

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    PABLO LARRAIN: TONY MANERO REVIEWED.

    Low life brutality and sleazy aspirations in a reign of terror. At times Larrain's film seems crude and clumsy, but it's nonetheless hard to get out of your head.

  5. #20
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    I'm following these reviews with great interest. Thanks, Chris. I've learned over the years to dismiss reports of "boos" at Cannes. It always seems that this type of crude reaction by a few is made to appear as more widespread by some of the news organizations present. Someone like Martel who doesn't follow the rules of classic narrative (but has directed two of my favorite films of the current decade) is likely to piss off a few reporters who like their movies neat and tidy. I don't know how many reviews one needs to read to conclude with sufficient authority that the reviews are "predominantly negative", but it's fine with me because you compensate by providing a link to Salon's positive review and explain that the critics acknowledge the film's "stylistic elegance". Films by certain directors like Alonso, Costa, Reygadas and Martel cannot possibly receive general acclaim partly because of the uniqueness of their vision and their aim to do something ultimately more substantial than merely entertain the general public. I'd be worried if no one "booed" their films at an industry event like Cannes. Regarding The Headless Woman, it has already received enthusiastic reviews by critics that matter to me like J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, and Quintin (perhaps the best Latin American critic, who also writes in English for CinemaScope and other film magazines).

  6. #21
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    I may have taken a leap of faith in assuming that a chorus of boos meant negative reviews. If so the critics are fruitcakes. I don't think they were so naïve as to have been reacting to Martel's unconventional narratives. On the contrary they probably know of her earlier films and found this one disappointing by comparison. I enjoyed watching it. She's good. No doubt about it. In retrospect though the premise of the car crash in which a rich white person may have killed a poor indigenous youth is a rather obvious setup. Isn’t it pretty much like how a half dozen "issue" films have been set up just in the past few years? Furthermore the chance of scheduling Pablo Larrain's Tony Manero right after The Headless Woman had a diminishing effect on the latter. Headless Woman was much more polished; it's an Acura and Tony Manero is an old Datsun. The only thing was, Tony Manero really shook and haunted me. The Datsun ran me over and left me gasping. The Acura ride was smooth and quiet. Headless Woman left an impression of well-made film but not a memorable one and this time, not one as original as The Swamp or The Holy Girl. Surely we should make our own judgments. I was not citing the boos in support of them; I had no impulse to boo through watching this excellent, if a little bit bloodless film. My desire on Headless Woman was only to be fair and objective in reporting the context in which it arrived. I only skimmed though a few reviews, mainly to check on the identifications of characters, who are hard to identify, yet numerous and in some cases present enough to require accurate mention.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 09-19-2008 at 03:29 PM.

  7. #22
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    Many movies which, according to reports, have received boos at Cannes turn up to be among my favorites. Films like Antonioni's L'Avventura and Cronenberg's Crash, for instance. Another good critic calling The Headless Woman "one of the best films at Cannes" is Scott Foundas. I don't know if it's accurate to categorize those doing the "booing" at events like Cannes "critics" as many attending the press conferences are really entertainment reporters. By the way, you claim that Variety characterizes Martel's film as a "psychological thriller", which I thought odd in that Martel's films never conform to any genre conventions. I accessed the review through the link you kindly provide and I didn't find where the Variety reviewer makes such description of the film.

  8. #23
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    The designation "psychological thriller" may be from the distributor but it is espoused by Variety and is on their page for the basic information about the film, the "synopsis," as follows (see link--it's indeed a different Variety page from the review I linked to before, my oversight):

    A psychological thriller about a woman who kills a dog on the highway and from that moment on fails to recognize both the people who approach her and their intentions. Link.
    Even if "entertainment reporters," the booing audience members nonetheless represent negative "press" response for Martel's film at Cannes--a badge of honor, if you like.

  9. #24
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    MAX ORPHULS' LOLA MONTES REVIEWED.

    Some comments on the 1955 classic after viewing the Cinematheque Francaise's current restoration, the highlighted retrospective film of the 2008 New York Film Festival-- already shown this year at Cannes and Telluride.

  10. #25
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    *Indeed, that would be some "suit", probably the distributor, giving the wrong impression in an effort to make the film more mainstream (I guess) rather then the "Variety review" as you reported. Leslie Felperin wouldn't do that.

    *The opportunity to watch a new, 35mm restored print of an Ophuls film is something anyone interested in cinema ought to treasure. I'm licking my lips at the prospect. And I'm one who loves Letter From an Unknown Woman, La Ronde and The Earrings of Madame de.. a little more than Lola Montes.

    "No director was more sensitive than Ophuls to the elusive volatility of love, the fragility and transience of desire"
    Gilbert Adair in "Film: The Critics' Choice"

  11. #26
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    Yes, I prefer La Ronde and The Earrings of Madame de... a whole other world.

  12. #27
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    I love Lola Montes but less so than the three others I mentioned. I'm open to the possibility that the restored version will prove me wrong. Perhaps the most influential of these masterpieces is Letter From an Unknown Woman. It's the film that inspired acclaimed philosopher-Harvard Professor Emeritus Stanley Cavell to write his masterful "Contesting Tears: The Melodrama of the Unknown Woman" (which I read recently).

  13. #28
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    I don't think it will prove you wrong. It's just cleaner and prettier, yet in some scenes the color looks dated, still. Some moments especially of the circus, oddly enough, since I don't really like the circus idea much, do give you a gorgeous feeling of rich color and depth. Ultimately, though, as a movie about people it is lacking, at times really sadly so. Its value is as a visual spectacle, not as a study of a person or of love or of a life, as Orphuls' other works are.

  14. #29
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    Twelve screenings are scheduled for this week. Look for reviews of:

    GOMORRAH (Garrone)
    AFTER SCHOOL (Campos)
    CHOUGA (Ombirbaev)
    FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA (Skolimowski)
    LET IT RAIN (Jaoui)
    TULPAN (Dvortsevoy)
    SERBIS (Mendoza)
    24 CITY (Jia)
    BULLET IN THE HEAD (Rosales)
    HUNGER (McQueen)
    HAPPY GO LUCKY (Leigh)
    I'M GOING TO EXPLODE (Naranjo)

  15. #30
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    MATTEO GARRONE'S GOMORRAH REVIEWED.

    Garrone, whose previous features were the atmospheric, if little known 2002 The Embalmer (L'imbalsamabore ) and the edgy, off-putting 2004 Primo amore, enlisted professional actors working together with ordinary citizens, gang operatives, and ex-cons for roles in the film, which arguably achieves a new level of authenticity in the gangster genre. Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes this year.

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