New York Film Festival 2023

[Chris Knipp]

PERFECT DAYS (Wim Wenders 2023)

A middle-aged Tokyo toilet cleaner has a happy life, wordlessly enjoying his daily routines. A slow burner, takes us from boring repetition with a few events and new characters to more understanding. This film is well known because its star, veteran Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, received the Best Actor award at Cnnes earlier this year.

NYFF: OCT. 11 & 12 6:30, 5:30, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.
Q&A with star Kojji Yakusho and co-producer Takuma Takasaki.

[Chris Knipp]

FERRARI (Michael Mann 2023)

The 61st New York Film Festival races to the finish with this beautifully made, if slightly bloodless and old fashioned film, planned for decades by octogenarian Michael Mann and his first in eight years. Starring Adam Driver, Peélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley, who were present for Q&A after the show.

Closing night film, 6 pm Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.

[Chris Knipp]

THE PIGEON TUNNEL (Errol Morris 2023)

Morris interviewed the master spy novelist John le Carré (David Cornwell) not long before his death in his late eighties (Dec. 2020), but this is no less a searching self-examination - and yet also a warm and rich portrait. A must for fans and the curious about the author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener, with many film adaptations and TV series including the timeless Alec Guinness performance as le Carré's central figure, George Smiley.

NYFF 'Spotlight' series. Now in theaters and since Sept. 20, 2023 on AppleTV+

[Chris Knipp]

KIDNAPPED/RAPITO (Marco Bellocchio 2023)

Opened Odt. 31 in Paris as L'ENLÈVEMENT, it received an AlloCiné press rating of 4.1 (82%), showing the French critics like it quite a bit more than the Anglophone ones (or than Metacritic thought they did - 68%). This is probably a film that will have a long life.
Comment from L'OBS:

The fact that this great film, which ends with an incredible sequence in which Edgardo gives up nothing, was ignored by the jury at the last Cannes Film Festival is surprising. Too classical? Too formal? That doesn't hold water for a moment.

[Chris Knipp]

ANATOMY OF A FALL (Justine Triet 2023)

Opened in Paris Nov. 1, receiving an AlloCiné press rating of 4.4 (88%). The French critics acknowledge this is a courtroom drama/whodunit/psychological thriller that has it all - and throughly deserves its Cannes Palme d'Or. This is about as much fun, entertainment, and intellectual and emotional stimulation you can have in a movie theater.

[Chris Knipp]

COUP DE CHANCE (Woody Allen 2023)

Paris release Sept. 27. Owen Gleiberman gave this film a rave in Variety at Venice. Many French critics are very lukewarm, or dismissive, saying it's old fashioned, its view of the locale like "Emily in Paris" but not as good, its heightened colors garish. The public seems only slightly warme, but it is still showing in theaters all over the country. AlloCiné press rating 2.7 (54%), spectators rating 3.0 (60%). Top critic quote (LCI):

A delightful comedy of manners, veering towards the detective genre in the manner of Match Point, this fiftieth film bears the author's inimitable touch, with its comical situations and killer lines.

[Chris Knipp]

ABOUT DRY GRASSES (Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2023)

US theatrical release announced to begin in NYC Feb. 23, 2024 at Film Forum.

Metacritc rating: 82% AlloCiné press rating: 4.0 (80%). Turkey’s Official Submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Oscars.

[Chris Knipp]

LA CHIMERA (Alice Rohrwacher 2023)

This amiably chaotic study of an Englishman filching archeological treasures in Italy featuring Josh O'Connor (whose star continues to rise - he'll be featured in Guaddagnino's THE CHALLENGERS shortly) and Isabella Rossellini is out in limited release now in select US theaters. See the article about O'Connor in the current Vanity Fair.