this week in film and television

NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL MAIN SLATE: MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA

Students have to fight for their future in Dash Shaw’s MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA

MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA (Dash Shaw, 2016)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Aves.
Monday, October 10, Alice Tully Hall, $25, 9:00
Tuesday, October 11, Howard Gilman Theater, $20, 6:00
NYFF Live discussion: Wednesday, October 12, amphitheater, free, 7:00
Festival runs September 30 – October 16
212-875-5050
www.filmlinc.org
dashshaw.tumblr.com

Daria and Scooby-Doo meet The Poseidon Adventure and Titanic in graphic novelist Dash Shaw’s first full-length feature animation, the awkwardly titled, awkwardly plotted, yet awkwardly entertaining My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea. In the somewhat semiautobiographical tale, Dash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) runs the school newsletter with his best friend, Assaf (Reggie Watts); the two consider themselves investigative journalists, even if no one reads their stories. Dash is further frustrated when Assaf shows an interest in Verti (Maya Rudolph), who has different ideas for the newsletter. After publicly embarrassing Assaf, a stunt that disappoints the relatively cool Principal Grimm (Thomas Jay Ryan), Dash discovers that the high school’s new roof, which is under construction, is not up to code. Just as he starts telling everyone that, the school begins breaking apart and falling into the ocean. Dash soon finds himself with Assaf, lunch lady Lorraine (Susan Sarandon), and his archenemy, Mary (Lena Dunham), as they try to stay above water and survive the maelstrom that is swirling all around them. In order to make it, they’ll have to go from the freshman floor, the lowest one, up through the sophomore, junior, and senior floors to potential safety, a clever way of having them grow up fast. But their journey is a gory one as they encounter plenty of dead students and teachers along with lots of body parts.

Survival is the name of the game in animated disaster epic set in high school

Shaw (Cosplayers, Bottomless Belly Buttons) wrote and directed the film, with his partner, Jane Samborski, serving as lead animator, creating much of the DIY-style art in his Brooklyn kitchen; the two previously collaborated on the online series The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D., based on Shaw’s 2009 graphic novel. The cartoon style is all over the place, from sketchy and purposely amateurish to hallucinogenic and surreal, incorporating images of real fire and water; at times it looks like the film is being projected by the iconic 1960s psychedelic Joshua Light Show. (In fact, one of the other animators was Curtis Godino, who has worked with JLS and founder Joshua White; Frank Santoro also contributed to the film.) A cool elevator sequence pays homage to early German animator Lotte Reiniger. The narrative contains ginormous plot holes; try to suspend disbelief and just let the tongue-in-cheek madness play out onscreen. Shaw and Samborski do a good job of capturing the general angst and ennui of high school life, although it does become repetitive during the too-long seventy-five-minute running time. And a direct reference to Shaw’s publisher is completely gratuitous. The film also features the voices of Alex Karpovsky as slacker Drake, John Cameron Mitchell as jock Brent Daniels, and Louisa Krause as popular girl Gretchen, with music by Rani Sharone of the band Stolen Babes and the haunting solo project Thrillsville. My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea is screening October 10 at 9:00 and October 11 at 6:00 at the New York Film Festival; both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Shaw. In addition, the free discussion NYFF Live: Making My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea will take place October 12 at 7:00 in the amphitheater with Shaw, Samborski, and producer Kyle Martin.

NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL MAIN SLATE: SON OF JOSEPH

Vincent (newcomer Victor Ezenfis) is desperate to put his family back together in Eugène Green’s SON OF JOSEPH

SON OF JOSEPH (LE FILS DE JOSEPH) (Eugène Green, 2016)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
West 65th St. between Eighth & Amsterdam Aves.
Sunday, October 9, Bruno Walter Auditorium, $20, 8:00
Monday, October 10, Walter Reade Theater, $20, 6:00
Festival runs September 30 – October 16
212-875-5050
www.filmlinc.org
www.kinolorber.com

Eugène Green returns to the New York Film Festival with the glorious French satire / black comedy / biblical parable Son of Joseph, a masterful blending of sound, image, and story that is as stunning to listen to as it is to watch. Newcomer Victor Ezenfis stars as Vincent, an intractable young teen who is desperate to discover who his father is, no matter how hard his single mother (Natacha Regnier), a nurse, tries to keep that information from him. “I don’t want to help people,” he says. “I love no one.” His sneaky ways finally reveal the man’s name, and Vincent tracks him down only to discover that the man, Oscar Pormenor (Mathieu Amalric), is a boorish, self-obsessed publisher who is cheating on his wife with his sexy secretary, Bernadette (Julia de Gasquet). At a party for his company’s latest book, The Predatory Mother, ever-so-chic critic Violette Tréfouille (Maria de Medeiros) mistakes Vincent for an up-and-coming novelist, with Oscar cluelessly declaring him the next Céline before finding out who the boy really is. Soon a disappointed Vincent is befriended by Oscar’s brother, Joseph (Fabrizio Rongione), but neither is aware of the connection. As Vincent is introduced to art and literature, he attempts to manipulate everyone around him in order to form the family he’s always wanted.

A single mother (Natacha Regnier) has her hands full with son Vincent (Victor Ezenfis) in extraordinary biblical parable

Green, an American expatriate living and working in France, divides Son of Joseph into five chapters named for major biblical events, including “The Sacrifice of Abraham,” “The Golden Calf,” and “The Flight to Egypt.” Vincent is mesmerized by a poster in his room of Caravaggio’s “The Sacrifice of Isaac”; at the Louvre, Joseph shows him religious paintings such as Philippe de Champaigne’s “The Dead Christ” and Georges de la Tour’s “Joseph the Carpenter.” Ever the absurdist, Green (Toutes les nuits, Le monde vivant) turns to the surreal for the finale, which features a revelation that elicited an audible gasp of wonder from the audience when I saw it, an exhalation in which I heartily participated. As in 2014’s architectural wonder La Sapienza, which also starred Rongione, each frame is composed like a work of art, courtesy of longtime Green cinematographer Raphaël O’Byrne, along with editor Valérie Loiseleux, set designer Paul Rouschop, and costume designer Agnès Noden. The entrancing color schemes and long two-shots in addition to spectacular sound by Benoît De Clerck immerse you in Green’s unique and unusual fantasy world.

The actors, who speak in Green’s trademark overly mannered and stiff style, occasionally look directly into the camera, speaking lines to the viewer, but Son of Joseph never gets preachy. It’s a bizarrely entertaining tale of family, of fathers and sons, and mothers and sons, where all the details matter. Inside a church, Vincent witnesses musical ensemble Le Poème Harmonique perform a work in Latin by Domenico Mazzocchi about a mother dealing with the death of her son. Earlier, when Vincent turns down a friend’s offer to join his sperm-selling operation, it’s not merely because he might find the job distasteful; deep down, he doesn’t want any other kid to go through life not knowing who his father is. He might say, “I don’t want to help people. I love no one.” But he proves himself wrong in this stunner. Coproduced by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Son of Joseph is screening October 9 at 8:00 and October 10 at 6:00 at the New York Film Festival; both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Green, who also appears in the film as the grizzled hotel concierge.

BEING 17

Marianne (Sandrine Kiberlain) is caught in the middle in André Téchiné’s poignant BEING 17

BEING 17 (QUAND ON A 17 ANS) (André Téchiné, 2016)
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at Third St., 212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., 212-757-2280
Opens Friday, October 7
strandreleasing.com

André Téchiné’s Being 17 is a touching and sensitive coming-of-age drama set in and around the beautiful Pyrenees in France. Written by Téchiné and Céline Sciamma, who has made such poignant films about teens as Girlhood and Water Lilies, Being 17 is told from the point of view of seventeen-year-old Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein), a loner who has a strong relationship with his mother, Marianne (Sandrine Kiberlain), a local doctor, and his father, Nathan (Alexis Loret), a helicopter pilot fighting overseas. Damien starts getting into fights with classmate Tom (Corentin Fila), another loner who lives on a mountain farm with his adoptive parents, Jacques (Jean Fornerod) and Christine (Mama Prassinos). When Christine falls ill, Marianne treats her, letting her know that she is pregnant, which both delights and frightens the parents-to-be, who had previously gone through several unsuccessful pregnancies before adopting Tom. It also worries Tom, who tells Marianne sadly, “Finally, a real child.” She responds, “There are no fake children.” With Tom struggling at school, both families decide it is best for him to move in with Damien and Marianne, primarily because it takes him hours to get to and from school each day and this way he will have more time to study. But things get complicated when both Damien and Marianne become enthralled with the strapping, brooding teen.

Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) and Tom (Corentin Fila) experience a rare quiet moment in BEING 17

Partly inspired by Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Being 17 uses nature as another character in this complex triangle. Tom is most at home in the mountains and valleys, among the grass and trees (beautifully photographed by Julien Hirsch), finding peace there even as his fights with Damien get more and more brutal. The physicality of their bouts, enhanced by the training Damien does with family friend and veteran Polo (Jean Corso), provides a flipside to Nathan’s experiences in a real war, which he relates to his wife and son over Skype. Marianne serves as mother and doctor to both boys, creating multiple forms of jealousy, especially as Tom, who is uncomfortable around people in general and wants to become a veterinarian, is attracted to Marianne as mother, doctor, and maybe more. But at the heart of the film is Damien’s burgeoning sexuality as he grows more and more interested in Tom as an object of desire, which further confuses Tom. Téchiné (Wild Reeds, Changing Times) tells the story with a gentle tenderness that is affecting, anchored by a splendidly nuanced performance by seven-time César nominee Kiberlain (Mademoiselle Chambon, 9 Month Stretch), who is extraordinary as her character evolves. Newcomer Fila brings an instant electricity to the screen; he and Klein (Sister, Gainsbourg) have a sizzling chemistry. Winner of the International Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Outfest, Being 17 is a poignant collaboration between longtime French master Téchiné, who is seventy-three, and the vastly talented Sciamma, who is half his age.

NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL MAIN SLATE: YOURSELF AND YOURS

Young-soo (Kim Joo-hyuk) tries to win back Min-jung (Lee Yoo-young) in Hong Sang-soo’s YOURSELF AND YOURS

YOURSELF AND YOURS (Hong Sang-soo, 2016)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
West 65th St. between Eighth & Amsterdam Aves.
Friday, October 7, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 9:00
Monday, October 10, Walter Reade Theater, 9:00
Friday, October 14, Howard Gilman Theater, 9:45
Sunday, October 16, Howard Gilman Theater, 8:00
Festival runs September 30 – October 16
212-875-5050
www.filmlinc.org

“Don’t try to know everything,” Min-jung (Lee Yoo-young) says in Hong Sang-soo’s latest unusual and brilliant romantic drama, Yourself and Yours. It’s impossible to know everything that happens in Hong’s films, which set fiction against reality, laying bare cinematic narrative techniques. With a propensity to use protagonists who are directors, it is often difficult to tell what is happening in the film vs. the film-within-the-film. He also repeats scenes with slight differences, calling into question the storytelling nature of cinema as well as real life, in which there are no do-overs. In the marvelous Yourself and Yours, scenes don’t repeat, although the existence of a main character might. Min-jung is in a relationship with painter Young-soo (Kim Joo-hyuk), who is dealing with the failing health of his mother when he is told by a friend (Kim Eui-sung) that Min-jung was seen in a bar drunk and arguing with another man. Young-soo refuses to believe it, since he and Min-jung are facing her drinking problem by very carefully limiting the number of drinks she has when she goes out with him. But when the friend insists that numerous people have seen her in bars with other men and imbibing heavily, Young-soo confronts her, and she virulently defends herself, claiming that they are lies and that he should have more faith in her. She leaves him, and over the next several days she has encounters with various men, but she appears to be either a pathological liar or have a memory problem as she tells the older Jaeyoung (Kwon Hae-hyo), a friend of Min-jung’s, that she is a twin who does not know the painter; later, with filmmaker Sangwon (Yu Jun-sang), she maintains that they have never met despite his assertion that they have. Through it all, Young-soo is determined to win her back. “I want to love each day with my loved one, and then die,” he explains with romantic fervor. He also acknowledges Min-jung’s uniqueness: “Her mind itself is extraordinary,” he says.

Min-jung (Lee Yoo-young) tells Jaeyoung (Kwon Hae-hyo) she has a twin in YOURSELF AND YOURS

Yourself and Yours is an intelligent and witty exploration of fear and trust, built around a beautiful young woman who might or might not be lying, as she seems to reboot every time she meets a man, erasing her recent past. Lee (Late Spring, The Treacherous) is outstanding as Min-jung, keeping the audience on edge as to just what might be going through her “extraordinary” mind. Kim (Lovers in Prague, My Wife Got Married) plays Young-soo with just the right amount of worry and trepidation. As with most Hong films (The Day He Arrives, Oki’s Movie, Like You Know It All, Right Now, Wrong Then), there is a natural flow to the narrative, with long shots of characters just sitting around talking, smoking, and drinking — albeit primarily beer in this case rather than soju — with minimal camera movement courtesy of Hong regular cinematographer Park Hong-yeol (Hahaha, Our Sunhi), save for Hong’s trademark awkward zooms. There’s also an overtly cute romantic comedy score by Dalpalan to keep things light amid all the seriousness. Hong continually works on his scripts, so the actors generally get their lines the day of the shoot, adding to the normal, everyday feel of the performances. Many writers have compared the film to Luis Buñuel’s grand finale, 1977’s That Obscure Object of Desire, in which Carole Bouquet and Angelina Molina alternate playing a flamenco dancer, postulating that there are numerous Min-jungs wandering around town, a series of doppelgängers hanging out in bars. That’s not the way I saw it at all (and at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Hong denied it was a direct influence); instead, I see it as one Min-jung, dealing with the endless aspects of relationships, and one Young-soo, an artist who desperately wants to believe in true love and who does not want to be alone, particularly with his mother on her deathbed. There’s the smallest of cues near the end that explains it all, but I’m not about to give that away. And I’m not sure how much it even matters, as regardless of how many Min-jungs might populate this fictional world, Hong has crafted another mesmerizing and mysterious look at love and romance as only he can. The film is screening October 7, 10, 14, and 16 at the New York Film Festival; it is currently without U.S. distribution, perhaps partly because Hong is embroiled in controversy, having recently left his wife of thirty years for the much younger Kim Min-hee, star of Right Now, Wrong Then, as if he is living one of his own movies.

NILSSON SCHMILSSON: MIDNIGHT COWBOY

Oscar nominees Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman try to make it in the big city in John Schlesinger’s powerful and moving MIDNIGHT COWBOY

MIDNIGHT COWBOY (John Schlesinger, 1969)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Friday, October 7, 2:00 & 7:00
Series runs October 7-9
718-636-4100
www.bam.org

In 1968, John Lennon proclaimed, “Nilsson! Nilsson for president!” The race might have been between Richard M. Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, but the smart Beatle was declaring his support for Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, who had covered the Fab Four’s “You Can’t Do That” on 1967’s Pandemonium Shadow Show, a version that incorporated twenty other Beatles songs in its brief two minutes and sixteen seconds. Nilsson, who died in 1994 at the age of fifty-two, would have turned seventy-five this year, so BAM is celebrating his career as a film composer and sometime actor with the BAMcinématek weekend series “Nilsson Schmilsson,” named after his Grammy-nominated 1971 album. The three-day, five-film fest begins with John Schlesinger’s masterful Midnight Cowboy, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight as the worst hustlers ever. The only X-rated film to win a Best Picture Oscar, Midnight Cowboy follows the exploits of Joe Buck, a friendly sort of chap who leaves his small Texas town, determined to make it as a male prostitute in Manhattan. Wearing his cowboy gear and clutching his beloved transistor radio, he trolls the streets with little success. Things take a turn when he meets up with Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo (Hoffman), an ill, hobbled con man living in a condemned building. The two loners soon develop an unusual relationship as Buck is haunted by nightmares, shown in black-and-white, about his childhood and a tragic event that happened to him and his girlfriend, Crazy Annie (Jennifer Salt), while Rizzo dreams of a beautiful life, depicted in bright color, without sickness or limps on the beach in Miami.

Adapted by Waldo Salt (Serpico, The Day of the Locust) from the novel by James Leo Herlihy, Midnight Cowboy is essentially a string of fascinating and revealing set pieces in which Buck encounters unusual characters as he tries desperately to succeed in the big city; along the way he beds an older, wealthy Park Ave. matron (Sylvia Miles), is asked to get down on his knees by a Bible thumper (John McGiver), gets propositioned in a movie theater by a nerdy college student (Bob Balaban), has a disagreement with a confused older man (Barnard Hughes), and attends a Warholian party (thrown by Viva and Gastone Rosilli and featuring Ultra Violet, Paul Jabara, International Velvet, Taylor Mead, and Paul Morrissey) where he hooks up with an adventurous socialite (Brenda Vaccaro). Photographed by first-time cinematographer Adam Holender (The Panic in Needle Park, Blue in the Face), the film captures the seedy, lurid environment that was Times Square in the late 1960s; when Buck looks out his hotel window, he sees the flashing neon, with a sign for Mutual of New York front and center, the letters “MONY” bouncing across his face with promise. The film is anchored by Nilsson’s Grammy-winning version of “Everybody’s Talkin’,” along with John Barry’s memorable theme. Iconic shots are littered throughout, along with such classic lines as “I’m walkin’ here!” Midnight Cowboy, which was nominated for seven Oscars and won three (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director), is screening October 7 at BAM Rose Cinemas; “Nilsson Schmilsson” continues through October 9 with Freddie Francis’s Son of Dracula, starring Nilsson and Ringo Starr, Otto Preminger’s bizarre Skiddoo, Robert Altman’s Popeye, and Fred Wolf’s animated The Point.

BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL: BATTLEFIELD

Sean O’Callaghan, Carole Karemera, Ery Nzaramba, Jared McNeill, and Toshi Tsuchitori in BATTLEFIELD (photo by Richard Termine)

Sean O’Callaghan, Carole Karemera, Ery Nzaramba, Jared McNeill, and Toshi Tsuchitori appear in BATTLEFIELD at BAM (photo by Richard Termine)

Next Wave Festival
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton St.
Through October 9, $30-$110
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.bouffesdunord.com

“To hell with the state of humanity,” the blind king Dritarashtra (Sean O’Callaghan) says at the beginning of Battlefield, Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne’s return to their international triumph, The Mahabharata. It’s also a return home for the ancient Sanskrit epic to the BAM Harvey, previously an abandoned movie house that was renovated back in the late 1980s specifically for the nine-hour Mahabharata. In Battlefield, codirectors Brook and Estienne and their C.I.C.T. — Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord company explore a central section of The Mahabharata, focusing on the aftermath of the bloody battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, which left millions dead. The sparse stage is littered with bamboo sticks that represent the victims of the fierce war; there is also a small black rectangular block where various characters sit, mournfully understanding that there is little difference between victory and defeat. The new king, Yudhishthira (Jared McNeill), seeks advice from a soothsayer (Ery Nzaramba, who also plays several victims) and learns a devastating secret from his mother, Kunti (Carole Karemera), while Toshi Tsuchitori, who also performed in the original Mahabharata, sits in a chair off to the side, playing powerfully moving percussion on his African drum. The play evokes both Shakespeare and Brook and Estienne’s adaptation of The Suit, but it is too often flat and lackluster. There are some wonderful moments, particularly the use of colored scarves to identify the characters (the costumes are by Oria Puppo) in addition to sticks that represent various objects, but the stripped-down seventy-minute production feels like it’s all middle, with no beginning or end, existing in its own unclear time and space, even as it makes relevant connections to what is going on in the world today. Brook will participate in a discussion following the October 6 performance. The play runs through October 9, after which BAMcinématek will present the series “Peter Brook: Behind the Camera,” consisting of nine of the Paris-based English director’s films, beginning October 10 at 7:00 with his five-and-a-half-hour adaptation of The Mahabharata, which he will introduce, and continuing through October 20 with such works as The Beggar’s Opera, Lord of the Flies, Swann in Love, King Lear (starring Paul Scofield), and a week-long run of 1968’s Tell Me Lies (A Film About London).

BEYOND THE INGÉNUE: PAULINE AT THE BEACH

Pauline (Amanda Langlet), Pierre (Pascal Greggory), and Marion (Arielle Dombasle) get involved in a complicated love sextet in Éric Rohmer’s PAULINE AT THE BEACH

CINÉSALON: PAULINE AT THE BEACH (PAULINE À LA PLAGE) (Éric Rohmer, 1983)
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Tuesday, October 4, $14, 4:00 & 7:30
Series continues Tuesdays through October 25
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org

“Love’s a form of insanity,” Pauline (Amanda Langlet) says in Éric Rohmer’s modern French classic, 1983’s Pauline at the Beach. The fifteen-year-old virgin turns out to be the most intelligent and honest character in the film, which earned Rohmer the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival. Amanda Langlet stars as Pauline, a teenager who is spending the end of the summer on the Normandy coast with her older cousin, sexy fashion designer Marion (Arielle Dombasle). Windsurfing hottie Pierre (Pascal Greggory) wants to rekindle the romance that cooled off when Marion left to get married, but the now-divorced Marion lusts for Henri (Féodor Atkine), a balding, middle-aged father who is not nearly as serious about sex as Marion is. Meanwhile, Pauline and fellow teen Sylvain (Simon de La Brosse) start a cute flirtation that gets upended when Marion shows up at Henri’s beach house one afternoon to discover candy girl Louisette (Rosette) hiding in a bathroom with Sylvain. A series of lies, misunderstandings, and miscommunications — all the elements of a basic French sex farce — ensue as various characters reevaluate their relationships as well as their faith in love.

Photographed by the great Néstor Almendros, who worked extensively with Rohmer and François Truffaut, Pauline at the Beach is a sophisticated jigsaw puzzle of a romantic drama, as Marion, Pierre, Pauline, and Henri spend much of the film debating over just what love is, each justifying their own beliefs. While the grown-ups act like children, the two teens are more like adults when examining the future. The film is also a splendid time capsule of 1980s styles, from the cheesy music to the awesome hairstyles and bathing suits. Dombasle, who has had a long film career, is racy and seductive as the libidinous blonde, but Langlet, in her cinematic debut, steals the show with her fantastic bangs, skimpy bikini, and expressive puppy-dog eyes. The third in Rohmer’s 1980s “Comedies and Proverbs” cycle — which also includes The Aviator’s Wife, A Good Marriage, Full Moon in Paris, The Green Ray, and Boyfriends and Girlfriends — Pauline at the Beach is screening October 4 at 4:00 and 7:30 in the FIAF CinéSalon series “Beyond the Ingénue”; the later show will be introduced by author Min Jin Lee (Free Food for Millionaires). The series continues Tuesday nights through October 25 with Patricia Mazuy’s The King’s Daughters, Jacques Rozier’s Adieu Philippine, and a double feature of Antoine Desrosières’s Haramiste and Claire Denis’s US Go Home.