Nyff 2015

[Chris Knipp]

THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (Guy Madden, Evan Johnson 2015)

I am not a Madden fan so frankly this was hard to sit through. On the other hand its score and the richly, variously distressed flickering images fascinated me and showed unmistakable technical mastery and often gave aesthetic pleasure. D'Angelo tweeted that the second half ought to be in iMax. Actually projection and sound in the Walter Reade Theater are so good it amounts to the same thing. Someone (Kurt Brokaw) explained to me afterward that what was being pastiched were short filmd series that in silent era audiences would get new installments of every week. And incidentally at the Q&A which I watched up close (to get a shot, that I'll post later) Madden was very on the ball and articulate and didn't look wild and poetic like in his Wikipedia pic but just a regular guy.

Though this is far from my favorite of the festival it is a worthy inclusion. But it's soon-to-be-released too, like BRIDGE OF SPIES, THE WALK, STEVE JOBS, and CAROL and according to Manohla Dargis' preview, most of the Main Slate (which is kind of a pity), that the FSLC is not offering more hard-to-see stuff in the prime spots.