New York Film Festival 2018 (forum)

[oscar jubis]

I liked Paul Dano's movie too; reminds me of something like "Kramer vs Kramer" or "Ordinary People".

Your headline about the new Coen Bros' movie is applicable to their output, generally speaking. I'm not quoting you verbatim here but the idea is fine craft in the service of nihilism, which is something of little value to me. I was mildly entertained by the film, particularly with the use of language or the wordplay in a couple episodes.

I'm anxious to see "Roma" because it depicts a world I know quite intimately. I may be too tough a judge of it; too close to the subject.

"The Other Side of the Wind" is so rich with all kinds of film-history references a lot of (young?) people will totally miss. This movie also has more meaning to me than it does to the average audience. I absolutely love the wat Welles plays near the hazy boundary between fiction and documentary; drama and comedy. Just brilliant film!

[Chris Knipp]

I agree Wildlife is a very fine film. I think, though, that you are wrong to dismiss the Coens' output so summarily (there is great variety in their work) and you underrate The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, especially the penultimate episode, "The Gal Who Got Rattled," which everybody likes and has tenderness, great attention to period, and fine acting before its dark finale.

Just found Mike D'Angelo's two tweets on Buster. First:

Mixed on BUSTER SCRUGGS but "The Gal Who Got Rattled" is my film of the year. Just note-perfect.

Then he says something I was thinking, how Bill Heck stands out.

Is it just me or is this Bill Heck fellow in BUSTER SCRUGGS very quietly sensational? Last time I felt such a strong star-is-born feeling was Mackenzie Davis (also opposite Zoe Kazan, come to think of it).

Heck plays the wagon train leader Billy Knapp who becomes the heroine's would-be savior and suitor. There is nothing cold or nihilistic about that sequence. It's sweet, and a treatise on old-fashioned manners and decency. Sometimes angry and bitter artists (Jonathan Swift, for instance) harbor a passionate tenderness and caring. Would you call Samuel Beckett nihilistic? If so, you'd be wrong.

Many including Justin Chang seconded D'Angelo's tweet in praise of Bill Heck. Might be good also to listen to Film Comment's podcast on this film.

It is necessary to see The Other Side and the documentary about it before saying anything, and you're not kidding when you say kids may miss many references, adults too. They have immense fun in the documentary with elaborate references and recollections and asides. After all this, I don't know if I like Orson Welles after all. Of course I do, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with him, and you can see why he had trouble getting his movies financed, or finished. He had to be grand (studio) but he was too indie, he didn't fit. Should write about these for the NYFF coverage but it's a lot to take on.

[Chris Knipp]

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (Joel, Ethan Coen 2018)

Six episodes made for Annapurna Television, then sold to Netflix for internet streaming and limited theatrical release, all in a Western mode, with many of the clichés of the genre, grasping prospectors, gunslingers, frontier towns, a wagon train, attacking Indians, a stagecoach and ladies in need of a man, in varied style but presented as stories from a storybook (mostly written by the Coens over a period of many years, but one by Jack London and one by another writer). They are mostly dark or grim, but one, the longest, is also memorably sweet. Beautifully crafted, like miniatures, with splendid landscapes and fine actors, this film is one of the Coens' best in recent years, and its Metascore is 78; only six other of their films rank higher on this scale. They are Inside Llewyn Davis (93), No Country for Old Men (91) Fargo 85, Blood Simple 81, True Grit 80, A Serious Man 79. (Barton Fink is 69; these don't all make sense.)

[Chris Knipp]

Lincoln Center's important Christian Petzold retrospective opens Fri. 30 Nov. 2018

[press release]
Christian Petzold: The State We Are In Starts Tonight!
Don't miss our highly anticipated showcase of the acclaimed German master, who joins us in person this weekend for the largest U.S. retrospective of his work to date.

Weekend highlights include:
An opening-night sneak preview of NYFF56 hit Transit, featuring a pre-screening reception and director Q&A to follow • Petzold's remarkable debut feature The State I Am In • The critically acclaimed post-WWII drama Phoenix • Berlin Film Festival prizewinner Yella • and much more!

Get Tickets

Nina Hoss in Barbara

[Chris Knipp]

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Barry Jenkins 2018)

Barry Jenkins' third feature, adapting the James Baldwin novel about two young lovers in Harlem in the early 1970's, seemed to me (and some others) a little too beautiful and sweet to be true. But it's still moving and still a must-see. It came out in theaters on Christmas Day.

[Chris Knipp]

NYFF 2018 Main Slate films not seen yet (still quite a few):

3 Faces
Dir. Jafar Panahi

La Flor
Dir. Mariano Llinás

Grass
Dir. Hong Sangsoo

Happy as Lazzaro / Lazzaro felice
Dir. Alice Rohrwacher

Her Smell
Dir. Alex Ross Perry

Hotel by the River
Dir. Hong Sangsoo

Image Book, The
Dir. Jean-Luc Godard

In My Room
Dir. Ulrich Köhler

Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Dir. Bi Gan

Ray & Liz
Dir. Richard Billingham

Too Late to Die Young
Dir. Dominga Sotomayor

These are the "hardest" to see, except that Happy as Lazzaro / Lazzaro felice is on Netflix.

[Chris Knipp]

Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey Into Night

Additions to Filmleaf's 2018 NYFF Main Slate coverage.

HAPPY AS LAZZARO (from Netflix) was added soon after the last post.

IN MY ROOM Was added 12 Apr. via the San Francisco Film Festival. Coming shortly will be another addition,

LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT A review will appear on Filmleaf shortly. It's soon to be released in San Francisco and Berkeley. It's a big one, much discussed and admired.

That's it for now.
__________________________________

HER SMELL is now showing in San Francisco, but but hard for me to get to right now. No doubt to be seen if only for Elizabeth Moss's performance and it's sure to be available online soon.

3 FACES Us release by Kino Lorber but we missed both its NYC and San Francisco playdates (Mar.-Apr.). It will be available online soon no doubt.

RAY & LIZ will be playing in Baltimore (9 May) in the Maryland Film Festival but US release is uncertain.

HOTEL BY THE RIVER is US released by Cinema Guild and will have limited distribution in 2019.

GRASS came out in NYC 19 Apr. Unfortunately, Filmleaf there.

So: progress. But three out of eight ain't great. Just goes to show you why it's important to attend film festivals - and why it's unfortunate Filmleaf isn't covering the NYFF as press anymore. When we were, seeing and reviewing the entire Main Slate was a given.