New York Film Festival 2019 (forum)

[Chris Knipp]

BACURAU (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles 2019)

Humans hunting humans for sport in a rural northern Brazilian town stands for the brutality of the current right wing regime, American imperialism, and other unsavory aspects of Brazilian politics and history. A surprising genre-blurring mix (Wikipedia calls it "a Brazilian Weird Western") that would benefit from more dramatic tension and tighter structure, but good enough to include in 31 international festivals and be co-winner of the 2019 Cannes Jury Prize. Coming later to US theaters.

[Chris Knipp]

Marco Bellocchio’s THE TRAITOR,
History-Making True Story of the Man Who Betrayed the Sicilian Mafia;
Movie Has US Theatrical Premiere Friday, January 31 [2020] at Film Forum
- press release.

Filmleaf NYFF review of THE TRAITOR HERE. I may have been hard on it but the film is a one-of-a-kind Italian epic tragicomedy of the country's struggle with that alien cancer, La Camorra.

THE TRAITOR played at the 2019 Cannes, Toronto, New York and AFI Film Festivals and was Italy’s official submission to the 2020 Academy Awards® for Best International Film. It was nominated for four 2019 European Film Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.

THE TRAITOR will open Friday, January 31 for an ongoing engagement at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street (west of 6th Avenue), with screenings daily at 12:45, 3:35, 6:30 & 9:20.

Release in selected US theaters will follow.