New Directors/New Films and Film Comment Selects 2014 General Forum thread

[Chris Knipp]

Day 5 of ND/NF screenings -- end of the first week.

THE DOUBLE (Richard Ayoade 2013)--ND/NF

Thirty-something British director Richard Ayoade (SUBMARINE; "The IT Crowd") has produced an ingenious adaptation of the Dostoevsky doppelganger tale starring Jesse Eisenberg and frankly influenced in style and outlook by Gilliam's BRASIL and Welles' THE TRIAL. It is a triumph of editing, mise-en-scene, and acting and therefore certainly no sophomore slump, but one looks forward next time to his getting back a bit of the warmth and fun of his groovy, nostalgic debut.

[Chris Knipp]

Selects


FELONY (Matthew Saville 2013)--FCS

From the ANIMAL KINGDOM production team, but milder stuff. A cop story not about crime-fighting but a detective who gets into a grave moral dilemma in failing to admit harm he's done by his own drunken driving. Tom Wilkinson adds complexity and punch as an older cop with problems of his own. Both written by and starring Joel Edgerton (a crook in the earlier film, the detective in trouble here).

[Chris Knipp]

RETURN TO HOMS (Talal Derki 2013)--ND/NF

Winner of the world jury doc prize at Sundance, this is the most visceral, intimate portrait of urban rebel warfare you're likely to see. It also tenaciously follows a charismatic young leader, Abdel-Basset Al-Sarout, a 19-year-old star soccer player and blacksmith when it begins. He leads singing chants in the peaceful rebel demonstrations at first, and when armed conflict begins, becomes a leader ready to die a martyr. Filming is so risky and up-front we see rebels wounded and killed on camera. A remarkable film, a vivid snapshot, a poetic memoir, an impassioned plea -- a concentrated essence of all the hope, passion, and despair of the Arab Spring.

THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT/DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTSCHEN (Ramon Zürcher 2013)--ND/NF

I've reported on this before, but am reprinting my review from the SFIFF of last year. An experimental work by a young Swiss-German filmmaker that focuses on the mechanics and oddities of life examining objects as closely as humans, as observed from a family kitchen where people come and go in the course of a day. You may not get it, but let's say it's like Jacques Tati without the humor. It has been shown at no less than three dozen film festivals since its debut at the Berlinale early last year.

[Chris Knipp]

YOUTH (Tom Shoval 2013)--ND/NF

Another strong visceral film from an Israeli flimmaker, a new one. Israeli writer-director Tom Shoval's debut feature YOUTH brings up hot national issues like economic injustice, alienation, violence, sexism, and diminished expectations, but that wouldn't count for much if he had not crafted an intense, suspenseful story about a crime that is all the more visceral and shockingly physical for being done by a pair of young testosterone-fueled amateurs. -- good Israeli family boys turn into criminals.


STORY OF MY DEATH/HISTÒRIA DE LA MEVA MORT (Albert Serra 2013)--ND/NF

Sometimes maybe it makes sense just to hang out with famous people in period costume (Cassanova in this case) to get the feel of what they might have been like, and there are some beautiful painterly images, but also note what Cahiers du Cinéma says: "These two hours and a half of deadly (we insist: deadly) boredom will be the despair of those who love the films of Serra and will want to die when they see this gross caricature of radical chic cinema which is as pretentious as it is insignificant." It won the grand prize at Locarno though, so there you go.

[Chris Knipp]

Week two, day three of ND/NF press screenings.

FISH & CAT (Shahram Mokri 2013)--ND/NF

Intricate patterns of looping and voicovers, creepy restauranteurs, university students at a winter kite festival at a Caspian lake, all done in a single take (like Sukurov's RUSSIAN ARK, but without the beauty, glamor, history, or art), and what the point of all this is or how the fish and cat fit in for that matter, I cannot tell you. Two hours and a quarter of self-indulgence from a new generation of Iranian filmmaker.

SALVATION ARMY/L'ARMÉE DU SALUT(Abdellah Taïa 2013)--ND/NF

An austere, Bressonian Moroccan gay coming-of-age tale (from a celebrated 2006 novel by the director) in two episodes ten years apart. Suggests the writing of Paul Bowles. Filmed by Claire Denis' frequent dp, Agnès Godard in blues and grays. So simple and harsh the beauty of it may dawn on you only later.

OBVIOUS CHILD (Gillian Robbespierre 2013)--ND/NF

A rom-com about a female standup-comic that ends with an upbeat abortion sequence. Instead of bolting, the father turns out to be a sterling, hunky, Mr. Right. Definitely a woman's movie, but a nice change from the indulgence of male immaturity of the Apatow comedies. Jenny Slate stands out in the lead role and Jake Lacy is effortlessly appealing as Mr. Right.

[Johann]

The Film Comment Selects seems like a fantastic menu of movies- Raul Ruiz, a new Bertolucci, and Denis Villeneuve's Enemy are ones I'd check out.
The New Directors series is a great idea to expose new talents-I wish I could see them. You are in the zeitgeist of movie-watching at the moment Chris. New York is a REAL movie town.
I'd love to have the time and wherewithal to see and write about these films like you do. (Reading about them is the next-best thing, tho...)

I've been watching Scorsese's HUGO a lot on DVD recently. It is hypnotic. The third time I watched it I noticed that Melies (Ben Kingsley) is sitting at the counter of the toy shop in a shot in the exact same pose as his automaton is put in by Jude Law- looking down and hand on the table- So, George Melies IS his automaton. Makes sense, doesn't it? The automaton creates pictures, and so does Melies.....

[Chris Knipp]

I missed ENEMY at FCS because could not go at night and no screener, but it opens in NY cinemas tomorrow and I'll be going this weekend. I did see and reviewed the new Bertolucci. The Raul Ruiz was not new but 1983. Yes this is a great movie town, the best for English-speakers. Paris offers other things not available here. They say Toronto is a great movie town and there are those who love the Montreal Film Festival, someone I liked very much at Lincoln Center screenings who died last year, Mitch Banks, said it was his favorite. And he had been a regular at Cannes, Rotterdam.


Mitch Banks by CK

[cinemabon]

Outstanding as always, Chris. Trying to read your posts before I rush back to work. Here is social media link

https://www.facebook.com/newdirectors

[Chris Knipp]

Good, thanks.