Pedro Almodóvar’s BROKEN EMBRACES will close festival (The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Sony Pictures Classics)
Alice Tully Hall unless otherwise noted
September 25 – October 11
Tickets: $20 ($10 obstructed view) unless otherwise noted
212-875-5050
http://www.filmlinc.com
Tickets are now on sale for the forty-seventh annual New York Film Festival, which features a rather unusual lineup this year. The selection committee for the forty-seventh edition of the NYFF include Film Society program director Richard Peña and critics Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman, Melissa Anderson, and Dennis Lim, who have chosen twenty-nine films from seventeen countries. While the list features such perennial favorites as Manoel de Oliveira, Marco Bellocchio, Andrzej Wajda, Lars von Trier, Todd Solondz, Jacques Rivette, and Michael Haneke, there is also a large number of less-well-known filmmakers, resulting in what should be an exciting festival. Nouvelle Vague legend Alain Resnais kicks things off with WILD GRASS, while the always inventive Pedro Almodóvar closes the festivities out with BROKEN EMBRACES. Also on the bill is the HD version of THE WIZARD OF OZ in honor of its seventieth anniversary. The screenings are being held primarily in newly renovated Alice Tully Hall, which is oddly advertising half-price tickets for obstructed views (?!).
Friday, September 25 Opening Night: WILD GRASS (LES HERBES FOLLES) (Alain Resnais, 2009), $40 ($20 obstructed view), 6:00
Saturday, September 26, 11:00 am THE WIZARD OF OZ (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Saturday, September 26, 2:15 SWEETGRASS (Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2009)
Saturday, September 26, 5:30
and
Sunday, September 27, 9:15 ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLOND HAIR GIRL (SINGULARIDADES DE UMA RAPARIGA LOURA) (Manoel de Oliveira, 2009), preceded by GET YER YA-YAS OUT! (Bradley Kaplan, Ian Markiewicz, Albert Maysles, 1969-2009)
Saturday, September 26, 8:30
and
Sunday, September 27, 6:00 VINCERE (Marco Bellocchio, 2009)
Sunday, September 27, 11:30 am
and
Monday, September 28, 6:00 KANIKOSEN (Sabu, 2009)
Sunday, September 27, 2:15 GHOST TOWN (Zhao Dayong, 2008)
Monday, September 28, 9:15
and
Tuesday, September 29, 6:00 POLICE, ADJECTIVE (POLITIST, ADJ.) (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2009)
Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is on one helluva boring stakeout in Romanian black comedy
POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2009)
New York Film Festival
Alice Tully Hall
Monday, September 28, 9:15
Tuesday, September 29, 6:00
Tickets: $20 ($10 obstructed view)
212-875-5050
http://www.filmlinc.com
http://www.ifcfilms.com
The first half of Corneliu Porumboiu’s POLICE, ADJECTIVE is as dreadfully boring as detective Cristi’s (Dragos Bucur) assignment, tailing a student, Victor (Radu Costin), who enjoys a joint with two of his friends every day after school. While Cristi wants to nail the kid’s supplier, the cop’s boss has him on a tight deadline, insisting he arrest Victor if the investigation continues to go nowhere, but Cristi strongly disagrees with putting the teenager away for up to seven years for a crime he believes will soon be abolished by the government. However, the film picks up considerably as Cristi seeks help from various contacts, getting caught up in red tape and public servants who would really rather not be bothered. And when he get called in by the chief (Vlad Ivanov from 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, and 2 DAYS) and gets a long lecture in linguistics, well, you won’t be able to control yourself from laughing out loud. Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST) keeps the pace very slow and very steady, but hang in there, because the end is a riot. POLICE, ADJECTIVE won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is Romania’s official entry for the Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
Tuesday, September 29, 9:15 THE ART OF THE STEAL (Don Argott, 2009)
Wednesday, September 30, 6:00 A ROOM AND A HALF (POLTORY KOMNATY ILI SENTIMENTALNOE PUTESHESTVIE NA RODINU) (Andrey Khrzhanovsky, 2009)
Wednesday, September 30, 9:15
and
Thursday, October 1, 6:00 TO DIE LIKE A MAN (MORRER COMO UM HOMEM) (João Pedro Rodrigues, 2009)
Thursday, October 1, 9:30
and
Friday, October 2, 3:00 LEBANON (Samuel Maoz, 2009)
Israeli film offers claustrophobic view of 1982 war
LEBANON (Samuel Maoz, 2009)
New York Film Festival
Alice Tully Hall
Thursday, October 1, 9:30
Friday, October 2, 3:00
Tickets: $20 ($10 obstructed view)
212-875-5050
http://www.filmlinc.com
Claustrophobics, beware. Nearly all of Samuel Moaz’s microcosmic examination of the first day of the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war — the same struggle recently tackled by Ari Folman in the animated WALTZ WITH BASHIR — takes place within a dark, grungy tank. In this tiny space, audiences get to experience the fear building inside company leader Yigal (Michael Moshonov), driver Hertzel (Oshri Cohen), weapons loader Assi (Itay Tiran), and gunner Shmulik (Yoav Donat) as they are suddenly put in the middle of a secret, dangerous mission by commander Jamil (Zohar Strauss) and meet action head-on almost immediately, having to deal with the prospects of killing for the first time. The world outside the tank is seen only through the cross-hairs of Shmulik’s telescopic lens, making everyone outside a potential victim. At times the tension mounts at a breathtaking pace, although the film gets bogged down in too much melodrama as the characters get further developed. As a teenager, writer-director Moaz actually fought in the war, and it was his memories of having killed a man on that very day — June 6, 1982 — that led him to make the movie, which won the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival. LEBANON is quite a ride.
Thursday, October 1, 10:00
and
Friday, October 2, 11:30 TRASH HUMPERS (Harmony Korine, 2009), Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Aves.
Friday, October 2, 6:00
and
Saturday, October 3, 4:15 SWEET RUSH (TATARAK) (Andrzej Wajda, 2009)
Friday, October 2, 9:00
and
Saturday, October 3, 1:00 ANTICHRIST (Lars von Trier, 2009)
Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST should, unsurprisingly, prove rather controversial (The Film Society of Lincoln Center/IFC Films)
ANTICHRIST (Lars von Trier, 2009)
New York Film Festival
Alice Tully Hall
Friday, October 2, 9:00
Saturday, October 3, 1:00
Tickets: $20 ($10 obstructed view)
212-875-5050
http://www.filmlinc.com
Generally, Danish Dogme practitioner Lars von Trier makes films that critics and audiences alike are either repulsed by or deeply love. Controversial works such as BREAKING THE WAVES, THE IDIOTS, DANCER IN THE DARK, and DOGVILLE win international awards while also driving people out of theaters. In fact, at his recent New York Film Festival press conference for ANTICHRIST, he was asked how he feels when no one walks out on his work: “Then I have failed,” he replied with a sly grin. Well, there are sure to be many walkouts during ANTICHRIST, a harrowing tale of grief, pain, and despair that begins with a gorgeously shot, visually graphic sex scene followed by a tragic accident. The rest of the film details how the unnamed couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) deal with the loss of their young child; a therapist, he opts to treat her more as a patient than as his wife, a highly questionable decision that threatens to tear them apart — both psychologically and physically, as the film turns into an extremely violent horror flick in the final scenes. Somehow, we found ourselves pretty much right in the middle of this one, neither loving it nor hating it while admiring it greatly despite its odd meanderings, loose holes, sappy dialogue, and occasionally awkward scenarios. In certain ways, it’s a bizarre amalgamation of Alfred Hitchcock’s SPELLBOUND, Ingmar Bergman’s SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING (and various other Stephen King stories), Roman Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY, Richard Donner’s THE OMEN, Robert Wise’s AUDREY ROSE, and Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Or something like that. Add half a star if you think von Trier is a creative genius; delete two stars if you consider him a certifiable lunatic.
Saturday, October 3, 11:00 am CROSSROADS OF YOUTH (CHEONGCHUN’S SIPJARO) (An Jong-hwa, 1934)
Saturday, October 3, 7:00 & 10:00 Centerpiece: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE (Lee Daniels, 2009), $40 ($20 obstructed view)
Sunday, October 4, 12 noon HENRI GEORGE’S CLOUZOT’S INFERNO (L’ENFER DE HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT) (Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, 2009)
Sunday, October 4, 3:00 INDEPENDENCIA (Raya Martin, 2009)
The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Pyramide Films
Bruno Dumont’s HADEWIJCH screens at fest
Sunday, October 4, 6:00
and
Tuesday, October 6, 9:15 HADEWIJCH (Bruno Dumont, 2009)
Sunday, October 4, 9:00
and
Monday, October 5, 6:00 EVERYONE ELSE (ALLE ANDEREN) (Maren Ade, 2009)
Monday, October 5, 9:00
and
Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 MIN YÈ… (TELL ME WHO YOU ARE) (Souleymane Cissé, 2009)
Wednesday, October 7, 6:00
and
Thursday, October 8, 9:00 THE WHITE RIBBON (DAS WEIßE BAND) (Michael Haneke, 2009)
Wednesday, October 7, 9:30
and
Friday, October 9, 3:00 AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN (36 VUES DU PIC SAINT-LOUP) (Jacques Rivette, 2009)
Thursday, October 8, 6:00 NE CHANGE RIEN (Pedro Costa, 2009)
Friday, October 9, 6:00
and
Saturday, October 10, 12 noon MOTHER (MAEDO) (Bong Joon-Ho, 2009)
Friday, October 9, 9:15
and
Saturday, October 10, 6:00 WHITE MATERIAL (Claire Denis, 2009)
Saturday, October 10, 9:00
and
Sunday, October 11, 11:00 am LIFE DURING WARTIME (Todd Solondz, 2009)
Sunday, October 11, 2:00 BLUEBEARD / LA BARBE-BLEUE (Catherine Breillat, 2009)
Sunday, October 11, 5:00 & 8:00 Closing Night: BROKEN EMBRACES / LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Pedro Almodóvar, 2009), $40 ($20 obstructed view)
Michael Haneke will discuss THE WHITE RIBBON and more at festival
SPECIAL EVENTS / SIDEBARS / TRIBUTES/ MASTERWORKS
Alice Tully Hall (ATH)
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, David B. and Samuel Rose Building, tenth floor, West
65th Street between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave., upper level (SHKP)
Walter Reade Theater, 65th Street between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave. (WRT)
http://www.filmlinc.com
In addition to the main slate of films at the forty-seventh annual New York Film Festival, there will plenty more to see and do, including dialogues with such directors as Michael Haneke and Claire Denis, sidebars investigating Chinese cinema and the avant-garde, special screenings of old classics, and a tribute to the now-defunct New Yorker Films.
Saturday, September 26
through
Tuesday, October 6 NYFF Masterworks: (Re)Inventing China — A New Cinema for a New Society, 1949 – 1966, comprising twenty films made in the People’s Republic of China between 1949 and 1965, including BIG LI, LITTLE LI AND OLD LI (DA LI, XIAO LI HE LAO LI) (Xie Jin, 1962), KEEP THE RED FLAG FLYING (SONG OF THE RED FLAG) (HONG QI PU) (Ling Zifeng, 1960), and THIS LIFE OF MINE (THE LIFE OF A BEIJING POLICEMAN) (WO ZHE YI BEI ZI) (Shi Hui, 1950), $11 per screening, series pass $45 for any five screenings, WRT
Sunday, September 27 Approaching the Wizard: Flying Monkeys, Ruby Slippers and Yellow Brick Roads in American Cinema and Culture, panel discussion with John Fricke, Jane Lahr, Ned Price, and Robert Sklar, WRT, $11, 11:00 am
Sunday, September 27 HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Marco Bellocchio, SHKP, $16, 2:00
Wednesday, September 30 Chandleresque: Raymond Chandler on Film and Television — An Illustrated Lecture by Adrian Wootton, followed by screening of THE BLUE DAHLIA (George Marshall, 1946), WRT, $15, 7:00
Thursday, October 1 Creating Film Culture: A Tribute to Dan and Toby Talbot and the “New Yorker Years,” conversation with Molly Haskell, Dan and Toby Talbot, and Jonathan Demme, followed by screening of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE (Louis Malle, 1981), and preceded by a reception and book signing, WRT, $25, 5:30
Friday, October 2
through
Sunday, October 4 Views from the Avant Garde, including films by Pier Paolo Pasolini & Giuseppe Bertolucci, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Chick Strand, Michael Snow, Peggy Ahwesh, Ken Jacobs, Stephanie Barber, Lynne Sachs, Ernie Gehr, and many others, WRT, $11
Sunday, October 4 HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Lee Daniels, SHKP, $16, 2:00
Wednesday, October 7
through
Sunday, October 11 NYFF Masterworks: The Films of Guru Dutt — A Heart as Big as the World, including screenings of such films as AAR-PAAR (HEADS OR TAILS) (Guru Dutt, 1954), IN SEARCH OF GURU DUTT (Nasreen Munni Kabir, 1989), and SAHIB BIBI AU GHULAM (MASTER, MISTRESS AND SERVANT) (Abrar Alvi, 1962), $11, WRT
Thursday, October 8 HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Michael Haneke, SHKP, $16, 7:00
Friday, October 9 THE NIGHT OF COUNTING THE YEARS (AKA THE MUMMY) (AL-MOMIA) (Shadi Abdelsalaam, 1969), WRT, $15, 6:15
Saturday, October 10 Pedro Almodóvar’s History of Cinema: A Conversation, with Richard Peña, ATH, $16, 3:30
Saturday, October 10 The Red Riding Trilogy: RED RIDING: 1974 (Julien Jarrold, 2009), RED RIDING: 1980 (James Marsh, 2009), and RED RIDING: 1983 (Anand Tucker, 2009), WRT, $25 for all three screenings, $11 for one, 4:00
Sunday, October 11 HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Claire Denis, SHKP, $16, 2:00
Davis Guggenheim follows up his Oscar-winning AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH with the awe-inspiring IT MIGHT GET LOUD, an intimate look at three guitar heroes and the instrument that has made them famous. On January 23, 2008, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, U2’s the Edge, and the White Stripes’ Jack White held a summit on an L.A. soundstage, where they shared stories about their love of music and, more specifically, the guitar — and, yes, they do eventually make beautiful music together. But IT MIGHT GET LOUD is much more than that; Guggenheim traces each six-string slinger’s personal history, joining them as they take fascinating, revealing forays into their past, returning to childhood places that influenced their career directions. White discusses how having a van led to his receiving his first guitar, the Edge goes back to the school where he, Bono, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. formed a band as young teens, and Page invites the cameras into his home, where he puts on old LPs and even plays air guitar (!) to Link Wray’s “Rumble.” In addition, White writes and records a song in a Tennessee farmhouse on the spot; the Edge, whom Page calls a “sonic architect,” explains his use of technology to arrive at his unique, expansive sound; and Page talks about how John Bonham’s drumming in the hallway of Headley Grange revolutionized rock-and-roll records. Guggenheim supplements the film with amazing archival footage of the three guitar heroes, including extremely early performances that have never been seen by the public before. But at its heart, IT MIGHT GET LOUD is about the creative process, as three generations of very different, massively talented musicians — the ultracool Page, the techno-geek Edge, and the cynical White — share their secrets, their inspirations, and their deep, profound love of the guitar. Oh, and make sure the theater turns the speakers all the way up to 11.
Expanded from his six-minute short, ALIVE IN JOBURG, Neill Blomkamp’s heavily hyped DISTRICT 9 is a sci-fi tale that incorporates elements from numerous genre classics (and clunkers) to create a tense, entertaining thriller that is not quite the cinematic breakthrough many are claiming it is. Sharlto Copley stars as Wikus van der Merwe, an awkward government bureaucrat in charge of moving a ghetto of nearly two million aliens out of one fenced-in area and into another. But the task is far more difficult and dangerous than he anticipated, and after discovering a makeshift lab under alien Christopher Johnson’s (Jason Cope) shack, Wikus is accidentally sprayed with a chemical that starts changing him. Soon he is on the run from the government, which wants to experiment on him, and the crazed leader of a Blackwater-like private military organization headed by the villainous Koobus (David James). Meanwhile, the aliens’ spaceship hovers ominously over Johannesburg. A parable that evokes apartheid in South Africa (the film was shot in and around Soweto) as well as the violence along the Mexico-America border and other xenophobic hotspots, D-9 has plot holes you can launch a rocket through, and the final scenes spiral way out of control, but it’s still a strong debut by an up-and-coming filmmaker being mentored by Peter Jackson.
