Nyff 2015

[Chris Knipp]

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (Jia Zhangke 2015)

Lost generation - or lost touch? Jia's new study of the decline of relationships in modern China seems to schematic.

[Chris Knipp]

Carol (Todd Haynes 2015)

A rapturous swoon, with great acting, period settings, and cinematography (by Ed Lachman who also did the lensing for Hanyes's Far from Heaven and the Mildred Pierce miniseries). From an early-Fifties novel by Patricia Highsmith originally published under a pseudonym, this dreamy lesbian love story is a homage to a time when it was naughty to be gay but it's insulated here by urban New York sophistication and wealth -- no hardscrabble Brokeback Mountain passion.

[Chris Knipp]

THE WITNESS (James Soloman 2015)

The Kitty Genovese murder case is exhaustively investigated by Kitty's younger brother Bill, who was sixteen at the time when she was killed, filmed and assisted by James Soloman. There is a wealth of information and a search for closure that doesn't come for him or us, though there are some new facts to ponder. She didn't die alone. Several people may have called the police. She was a lesbian. The killer is a creep. And so? Somehow despite its thoroughness, this fails to develop into a great documentary.

[Chris Knipp]

MAGGIE'S PLAN (Rebecca Miller 2015)

Annoying intentionally messy NYC sophisticate (academic) sort of rom-com, but one sees why the NYFF included it. It's very Baumbach, and stars his girlfriend Greta Gerwig. And it's a turn to comedy for Miller. Ethan Hawke's first film with a female director. And it shows how nutty-funny tragic drama queen Julianne Moore can be.

[Chris Knipp]

HEART OF A DOG (Laurie Anderson 2015) -- NYFF Special Events

Hard to dislike this meandering, genial effusion and speculation by performance artist Anderson (who also was chosen to design the NYFF poster this year). It talks about America and NYC post-9/11; her rat terrier Lolabelle; this and that; and key experiences of her youth. Dedicated to her husband Lou Reed, who died in October 2013.

[Chris Knipp]

THE TREASURE/COMOARA (Polombiou 2015)

The deadpan Romanian maker of Police, Adjective and As Evening Falls on Bucharest (neither favorites of mine but liked by the FSLC jury) makes a shaggy-dogish tale (long at 89 minutes) about men strapped in the economic crisis who dig up a family treasure -- one of them giving part of his share away to schoolkids. Maybe it means something about communism, or maybe just about Robin Hood.

[Chris Knipp]

RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN (Hong Sang-soo 2015)

This Korean festival darling, whose cinematic parent is Eric Rohmer, never fails to please me, so I didn't mind that this time his film runs to two hours, and they are two halves that tell the same story, with slight variations. As usual, it's an art film director on a trip for an event related to his work, who's more interested in getting drunk and wooing a pretty woman than talking to his fans.