NYFF Review: Steven Soderbergh's Che
With his two-part epic about the iconic revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Steven Soderbergh circumvents the genre's pitfalls: his Che is free of cliche and achieves a degree of emphatic insight and sharp characterization that deserves to be called revolutionary. Read Jürgen's review of Che.
More from the 46th New York Film Festival:
NYFF: Serbis
"No loitering here!" the signs around the dilapidated porno theater declare, but there's an awful lot of loitering in Brillante Mendoza's Serbis, along with fighting, chasing, lying, worrying, and baby-making. Set almost exclusively inside the cavernous building's staircases, hallways, back rooms, and darkened screening hall, the film encompasses a single day in the life of the sprawling Filipino family who runs and inhabits the theater.
There are boils and blowjobs, goats on the run, thieves, hustlers, little boys with lipstick, and a grandmother who is suing her husband for infidelity. Through some emphatic magic of cinema, what should be sordid and revolting (and apparently shocked critics in Cannes) somehow becomes inviting. Like the streets that surround the theater, Serbis teems with life. [Jürgen] ***
More from Sukhdev Sandhu, Daniel Kasman, Glenn Kenny, and David Hudson, and a video interview with Brillante Mendoza (part 2, part 3). Serbis screens at the 46th New York Film Festival on Sunday, October 12.
NYFF: Chouga
From Kazahkstan, an austere adaptation of Anna Karenina that stays true to the plot but jettisons all of the passion. Hearts are broken, women are adored and abandoned, suicides attempted and executed, but for a story in which love motivates everything, director Darezhan Omirbaev casts an oddly cold and distant eye.
Yet somehow, Chouga manages to stay intriguing, in part because of unique choices -- a sudden pan to the window sill, undue attention paid to a son's video game and the falling snow -- and a luminous lead performance by Ainur Turgambaeva. [Jürgen] ***
More at The Auteurs' Notebook. Chouga screens on Saturday, October 11 at the 46th New York Film Festival.
NYFF: Bullet in the Head
The title may suggest a thriller, but Catalan director Jaime Rosales's film belongs to that genre only in the widest possible sense. Yes, somebody eventually gets killed, but that's just about the only thing that can be said with certainty.
Bullet in the Head has only one line of dialogue; the rest of the film follows a bearded protagonist around with a very long lens that observes him buying a newspaper, drinking coffee, having sex, and crossing the border into France. Conversations are drowned out by ambient noise, leaving us with a feature-length version of the mysterious moments when Scarlett whispers in Bill Murray's ear and Daniel threatens Eli after the baptism.
Are they talking about money? Love? Murder? Once I started actively participating, Bullet in the Head became a mildly interesting game at the very edges of narrative, only ever just barely providing enough substance to keep me involved. It's bound to sorely test the patience of anyone who isn't willing to supply their own answers. [Jürgen] **
Bullet in the Head screens at the 46th New York Film Festival on Sunday, October 12. More from Alison Willmore and Daniel Kasman.
Angelina Jolie Graces NYFF Premiere of Clint Eastwood's Changeling
Clint Eastwood's Changeling stars Angelina Jolie (wearing red, red lipstick on those bee stung lips and a terrific hat) as a working single mother in the late 1920s whose son goes missing. When he is returned to her five months later, she is certain the he is not the same boy. He's a different boy. He's three inches shorter than the pencil marking on the wall. He's been circumcised. He doesn't remember his elementary school teacher.
The corrupt police chief doesn't want his mistake to be exposed and puts Jolie into a mental institution -- which turns out to be chock full of women who have tried to cross the LA police, including Amy Ryan as a prostitute with a heart of gold.
Why this film was chosen as the Centerpiece for the 2008 New York Film Festival is beyond me. Eastwood's film, based on a true story, is a slick studio production with an A-list star and doesn't need the support offered by its inclusion at an prestigious fest. Also, it's a terrible film. The second half of Changeling becomes a by-the-book courtroom drama about the case of a gruesome serial murderer who lured boys into his car and hacked them to pieces. The film features an extended hanging scene, drawn out to its agonizing fullest. Why Clint Eastwood felt compelled to tell this story, I can not say.
Recently, I read a novel called The Changeling by Joy Williams, rereleased for its thirtieth anniversary. A young mother's infant son is returned to her after a plane crash; he is not the boy he used to be. Unlike Eastwood, Williams offers no tangible explanation for the transformation. The boy is a genuine changeling. The book is wonderful.
Eastwood's Changeling screened last night at the NYFF. The film opens in limited release on October 24th, 2008. [posted by Marcy] **
NYFF: Four Nights with Anna
The 2008 New York Film Festival's first real dud. After 17 years, Polish veteran Jerzy Skolimowski delivers a murky, repetitive movie that plays like an involuntary parody of an Eastern European art film.
A damaged, bumbling worker at a hospital crematorium played by Artur Steranko (who happens bear an uncanny resemblance with Mr. Bean, if Mr. Bean burnt more body parts) quietly stalks a woman for whose rape he was once falsely imprisoned.
He slips sleeping pills into her sugar and spends nights in her room, where he paints her toenails and repairs her cuckoo clock. The ending raises more questions than it answers -- if you're still paying attention. [Jürgen] *
More on Four Nights with Anna from the filmlinc blog, Slant, Glenn Kenny, and David Hudson's roundup at GreenCine Daily.
NYFF: 24 City
A richly rewarding exploration of China's rapidly changing reality from art house darling Jia Zhangke. While a munitions factory in Chengdu was dissembled and moved to make room for luxury high rise apartments, Jia interviewed hundreds of workers about their lives and distilled their stories into a ravishing mixture of striking imagery, evocative music, and deeply emotional personal histories performed by professional actors, including Joan Chen. [Jürgen] ****
Reviews of 24 City from filmlinc blog, Reverse Shot, Kevin Lee, and at GreenCine Daily. More from the 46th New York Film Festival.
Review: Rachel Getting Married
Anne Hathaway shows off her dark side in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. As Kym, a recovering addict returning home for her sister's wedding, Hathaway lets loose in her edgiest role since the straight-to-DVD Havoc. She sports a short, choppy hair cut, wears the requisite bad girl black eyeliner, and throws a variety of tantrums. It's nearly impossible to count how many fights, family revelations, and teary-eyed reconciliations happen in this film, a veritable orgy of family angst.
Debra Winger, Mad Men's Rosemarie Dewitt, Bill Irwin, and Tunde Ademimpe co-star. Rachel Getting Married opened on Friday in limited release. Read Marcy's review.
NYFF: Wendy and Lucy
Michelle Williams stars as Wendy, a homeless young woman on her way to Alaska with her beloved dog, in Kelly Reichardt's minimalist drama. Wendy and Lucy is screening at the New York Film Festival before a winter engagement at Film Forum. The film is all Michelle Williams, who appears in nearly every frame. Read Marcy's review of Wendy and Lucy.
Public screenings for the 46th New York Film Festival are now underway, and you can follow our complete coverage here. We also recommend the GreenCine podcast from Saturday's panel discussion on film criticism and the first of Jamie Stuart's excellent short films for this year's fest.
NYFF: Tony Manero
Pablo Larrain's wicked Tony Manero, named for John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever, is the most thrilling selection so far at this year's NYFF. The story of Raúl (Alfredo Castro) and his troupe of dancers eager to put on a disco show in a local taverna could have played like another "art-conquers-all" fairy tale like Billy Elliot and all the rest. But before the fearsome backdrop of Pinochet's Chile, Raúl's single-minded determination to wear that white suit and dance on lit glass tiles becomes infected with violence and seemingly bottomless despair. By turns hilarious and harrowing, Tony Manero is full of shocking surprises and potent characterizations. [posted by Jürgen] ****
More from Vadim Rizov, Nick Schager, and the roundup of Cannes reviews at GreenCine Daily. See the NYFF official site for screening information.