Bruce Dern will give a free talk on October 10 at Lincoln Center about his latest film, Alexander Payne’s NEBRASKA
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater
144 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Thursday, October 10, free, 7:00
212-875-5600
www.filmlinc.com
Chicago-born actor Bruce Dern looks like he will finally be getting his due, gaining raves for his performance in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, which earned him the Best Actor award at Cannes this year. The gruff seventy-seven-year-old Dern has appeared in some ninety movies, from Westerns and black comedies to psychedelic head trips and science fiction, from sports and horror flicks to gangster pictures and literary adaptations; among his myriad films are The Great Gatsby, The Trip, Silent Running, The Cowboys, The King of Marvin Gardens, That Championship Season, Bloody Mama, and Smile. The former husband of Diane Ladd and the father of Laura Dern, Dern received his lone Oscar nomination for 1979’s Coming Home. In Nebraska, Dern plays an old man going on a road trip with his son (Will Forte), believing that there is a pot of gold waiting for him at the end of the rainbow. Dern will participate in a free talk with Brian Brooks about the film on October 10 at 7:00 at Lincoln Center as part of NYFF51 Live, a series of public discussions that is a sidebar to the fifty-first New York Film Festival. Nebraska will have its final NYFF screening on October 12 at noon at Alice Tully Hall. NYFF51 Live, which previously had free talks with Isabelle Huppert, Steve McQueen, Claire Denis, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and agnès b., continues on October 10 at 7:45 with a short filmmakers panel and concludes on October 11 at 7:00 with producer and studio executive David V. Picker.
After the breakout success of Born to Run in 1975, Bruce Springsteen became embroiled in a lawsuit over control of his music that prevented him from going into the studio to make the highly anticipated follow-up. Springsteen found himself at a crossroads; “You didn’t know if this would be the last record you’d ever make,” he says in the revealing behind-the-scenes documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Combining archival footage of the Darkness sessions shot by Barry Rebo with new interviews with all the members of the E Street Band in addition to producers Jimmy Iovine, Jon Landau, and others, editor and director Thom Zimny melds Bruce’s past with the present, delving deep into Springsteen’s complex, infuriating, and fiercely dedicated creative process. “I had to disregard my own mutation,” Springsteen says at one point, regarding his battle to avoid getting caught up in the hype that came with Born to Run, so he decided that his next album would be “a meditation on where are you going to stand.” Rebo captures Springsteen and the E Street Band — from a bare-chested Bruce to a bandanna-less Steve Van Zandt — rehearsing and recording alternate takes of familiar songs as well as tunes that would later wind up on such albums as The River and Tracks, opening up Bruce’s famous notebooks and examining his intense creative process, which included throwing away dozens and dozens of songs that he believed just didn’t fit within his vision of what Darkness should be. Two of the most fascinating parts of the The Promise involve Patti Smith discussing “Because the Night,” explaining that the lyrics she added are about her waiting for her boyfriend at the time (and later husband), Fred “Sonic” Smith, to call her, and Toby Scott talking about mixing the Darkness record to get the sound pictures in Bruce’s head onto vinyl. The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town is screening October 10 at the Landmark Sunshine as part of the CBGB Festival, which also includes such other music-related films as Bad Brains: A Band in DC, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power Live — In the Hands of the Fans, Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams, and Nick Mead’s Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am.
Israeli-born, L.A.-based director Michael Mayer’s debut feature film, Out in the Dark, is a gripping romantic thriller about two men forced to make dangerous choices if they want their love to survive. One night in a Tel Aviv gay club, Israeli lawyer Roy (Michael Aloni) and Palestinian student Nimr (Nicholas Jacob, in his acting debut) instantly hit it off. Roy works in his father’s business, and his parents (Alon Oleartchik and Cheli Godenberg) accept his sexuality. But Nimr, who lives in Ramallah and has just received a permit to cross the border in order to take an important class in Tel Aviv, has to hide his sexual orientation from his younger sister, Abir (Palestinian singer Maysa Daw), his mother, Hiam (Khawlah Haj), and his older brother, Nabil (Jameel Khouri), who is part of a local gang that has it in for gays and Palestinian collaborators. So when Nimr’s permit is revoked by a hard-line Israeli officer, Gil (Alon Pdut), who insists that Nimr give him information, Roy and Nimr have to fight for their relationship — and, perhaps, their lives. Written by Mayer with Yael Shafrir, Out in the Dark is photographed in intimate, dark close-ups by Ran Aviad that heighten the emotional tension. The story never gets polemic or takes sides, as it shows that there are good and bad people in both Israel and Palestine, providing a microcosm of the long, violent stalemate that has led to so many individuals paying a severe personal price. Winner of Audience Awards at eight film festivals around the world (in addition to other prizes), Out in the Dark is currently screening at Cinema Village.
Zachary Heinzerling’s 
