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Coming Soon, Documentary, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Preview, Review, War

New York Film Festival Preview: The Gatekeepers

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZepXBymtkUQ]

Screening: Thursday, October 11, 9pm

Venue: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

In The Gatekeepers, documentarian Dror Moreh does something unprecedented by interviewing six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s Secret Service. Individually, the “gatekeepers” reflect on their successes and failures during the ongoing struggles between Israel and Palestine and the mission for peace. In what is surely considered a strong contender for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination, this film is among the most astonishing documentaries of the year. (Moreh sites 2004 Oscar-winning documentary The Fog of War as an inspiration.) The level of access Moreh achieves is remarkable, offering a point of view never previously heard in such a medium. The film is ripe with strong narratives as told by each of the six men, as well as varied “textures” that are achieved through sit-down interviews, revealing archival footage, well-composed graphics, and a score that underlines the visuals in a subtle-yet-impactful manner. The narrative can be a bit cumbersome to follow for those not familiar with the political and social struggles between Israel and Palestine, but even still one would be hard-pressed not to appreciate the film’s obvious achievements.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Dror Moreh

Genre: Documentary

Countries: Israel, France, Germany, Belgium

Language: Hebrew with English subtitles

Runtime: 97 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Actors, Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Amour

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekjfj8sLFqs]

Screening: Saturday, October 6, 3pm

Venue: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

Winner of this year’s prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, legendary filmmaker Michael Haneke’s Amour tells the story of an octogenarian couple living in France. After Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) suffers multiple strokes, her devoted husband Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) loyally stays by her side, caring for her throughout the duration of her deteriorating health. Amour tells a simple, truthful, emotional, tragic, haunting, and beautiful story—one that is likely to remain with the viewer long after the end credits roll. Both veteran French actors Riva and Trintignant offer exceptionally brave performances, only achieved by baring every bit of themselves to each other and on screen. Though the film’s pacing is slow, it reflects a feeling of quiet sadness that hangs heavily over the couple’s Parisian apartment. Amour is Austria’s official 2012 Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film and is considered an easy favorite for a nomination.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Michael Haneke

Genres: Narrative, Drama

Country: Austria

Language: French with English subtitles

Runtime: 127 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Comedy, Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Not Fade Away

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j71yt23H5vw]

Screenings: Saturday, October 6, 6pm & 9pm

Venue: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Gala Tributes

*CENTERPIECE FILM*

*WORLD PREMIERE*

Suburban New Jersey. Mid 1960s. A group of teens form a band in the shadow of some of the biggest names of the time—Rolling Stones, The Beatles. In his film directorial debut, Sopranos creator David Chase crafts a film that’s as much a love letter to the 1960s as it is to the classic tunes of his youth. Joining forces with an ideal music supervisor, the legendary Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and himself a patron saint of New Jersey, the duo captures the essence of the era in great detail, though at times the constant in-your-face references breach on annoying. Not Fade Away feels a bit disjointed at times and is not as strong as Cameron Crowe’s 2000 Oscar-winning Almost Famous (an easy comparison), but the film does manage to stand on its own two feet and will surely be enjoyed by any child of the ’60s with a garage band. Above all else, the soundtrack is pretty boss.

Limité Rating: 3/5

Director: David Chase

Genres: Narrative, Comedy, Drama

Country: USA

Language: English

Runtime: 112 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Comedy, Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Final Cut – Ladies and Gentlemen

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

Screening: Monday, October 1, 9pm

Venue: Francesca Beale Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Cinema Reflected

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy and girl get married. Girl gets pregnant. Boy and girl split up. Etc. Etc. It’s a rather simple tale, but this reviewer can guarantee you’ve never seen it done quite like this. In Final Cut – Ladies and Gentlemen, Hungarian filmmaker Pálfi György uses brief scenes from nearly 500 films (and some TV shows) to tell this plain story. It’s a remarkable achievement and is the greatest celebration of cinema to hit the big screen in a long time. This is the ultimate movie about movies.

Employing a hodgepodge of scenes from films ranging from The Birth of a Nation (1915) to Avatar (2009), from live-action to animation, from comedy to drama—and everything in between—Final Cutamazingly tells a cohesive narrative from start to finish—one that could have been easily ruined in the hands of a less-skilled filmmaker. The amount of visual and auditory texture in this “epic” is staggering, and yet this visual collage does not strain the eye and is not distracting. Recognizing that so much of what makes a great movie great are the little moments on screen—waking up in bed, a loving stare, an expression of joy—György embroidered a fine tapestry that highlights these singular moments, and in doing so he tells a story of love and loss, of happiness and sorrow—a simple story with great depth, as told through the voice of cinema through the ages.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Pálfi György

Genres: Experimental, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Country: Hungary

Language: Mostly silent with some lines in English

Runtime: 85 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Foreign Film, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Beyond the Hills

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiJRGbCKCu0]

Screenings:

Monday, October 1, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Sunday, October 7, 2:30pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Thursday, October 11, 3:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

Voichita and Alina, childhood friends who were raised in the same orphanage, are reunited in the hills of Romania after years of separation. Voichita is a nun in training, living in a pious monastery in the hills without electricity or any other conveniences of modern life. Alina is returning from Germany, where she’s spent the last several years. Feeling anxious and alone, Alina is determined to convince her best friend to return to Germany with her, but Voichita is not the same girl. She’s found God and is under the watchful eye of the resident priest and patriarch of the monastery, simply known as Papa. Alina decides to stay, in hopes that she will be able to persuade her friend to leave the monastery. Things go awry for everyone there once Alina begins to display erratic behaviors, threatening the resident nuns and priest and forcing them to take action.

Continue reading New York Film Festival Preview: Beyond the Hills →

Actors, Drama, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, New Release, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: The Paperboy

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GMwWaDSr0]

Screening: Wednesday, October 3, 8:30pm (opens in limited release on Friday, October 5)

Venue: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

Set in 1960s racially charged southern Florida, two journalists (Matthew McConaughey and David Oyelowo) attempt to exonerate a convicted man (John Cusack) for the murder of a despicable sheriff. Meanwhile, the younger brother (Zac Efron) of one of the journalists falls for the woman (Nicole Kidman) who is romantically linked to the accused man.

Continue reading New York Film Festival Preview: The Paperboy →

Comedy, Coming Soon, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Frances Ha

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

Screenings:

Sunday, September 30, 6:30pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Thursday, October 4, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Wednesday, October 10, 4pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

She breaks up with her boyfriend and begins to lose her newly engaged best friend. Things are not looking up for Frances, a struggling dancer in her late 20s who finds herself practically couch surfing throughout New York City. Her life didn’t turn out quite the way she expected, and as a result, she’s forced to face the challenges of just plain living. In his directorial follow-up to 2010′s Greenberg, Noah Baumbach once again collaborates with lead actress Greta Gerwig (who also wrote the script with Baumbach) in Frances Ha. Where this coming-of-age tale falls flat on story, it more than makes up for in character. No doubt, the film’s black-and-white cinematography adds a touch of quirkiness to complement the dynamic characters of Frances and her best friend Sophie (played by Mickey Sumner). Frances’s hopes, dreams, and disappointments play out in a relatable fashion that isn’t too heavy. It is easy to see ourselves in her position, struggling to reconcile our dreams with our reality. The film is heavy on dialogue with little quiet time, setting off the pace at which Frances’s life unravels—and it does so to the point where she finds herself working and living at her old college for a summer, illustrating a very clear regression. Frances Ha is a delightful movie with memorable performances by both Gerwig and Sumner. Following Baumbach’s terrific showing with Oscar-nominated The Squid and the Whale (2005), the writer/director lost his footing a bit with Margot at the Wedding (2007) and to a lesser degree with Greenberg. Thankfully, he’s back in peak form with Frances Ha.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Noah Baumbach

Genres: Narrative, Comedy

Country: USA

Language: English

Runtime: 86 min.

Note: Greta Gerwig and Mickey Sumner will be participating in a free conversation, courtesy of NYFF Live on Monday, October 1 at 7pm in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater, located in Lincoln Center at 144 W. 65th St., NYC.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Life of Pi

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZEZ35Fhvuc]

Screenings:

Friday, September 28, 6pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Friday, September 28, 6:15pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Friday, September 28, 6:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Friday, September 28, 6:45pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Friday, September 28, 9:15pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)

Friday, September 28, 9:45pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Gala Tributes

*WORLD PREMIERE*

Based on the best-selling book of the same title, Life of Pi tells the story of young Pi, a spirited Indian teenager whose faith and endurance are put to the ultimate test when he must fight for survival in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a lifeboat and a ferocious Bengal tiger to keep him company. Pi’s father must sell his family-owned zoo and plans to relocate his family to Canada by way of a Japanese ship. There, he will sell the many exotic animals he’s taken into his custody. After the ship sinks during a terrible storm, Pi is the lone (human) survivor and must find a way to survive on the mighty Pacific for more than 200 days.

Continue reading New York Film Festival Preview: Life of Pi →

Coming Soon, Drama, Film Festival, Independent Film, Narrative, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Passion

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaSVR4pCKT4]

Screenings:

Saturday, September 29, 9pm (Alice Tully Hall)

Saturday, October 6, 9pm (Walter Reade Theater)

Thursday, October 11, 3:15pm (Francesca Beale Theater)

Venue: Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Main Slate

In the highly competitive world of advertising, Christine (Rachel McAdams) takes credit for an idea had by her underling Isabelle (Noomi Rapace), which results in a downward (and deadly) spiral for all involved. Passion is adapted from the 2010 French film Love Crime (dir. Alain Corneau). Directed by Brian De Palma—the same man who birthed such gritty and violent films as Carrie (1976), Scarface (1983), and The Untouchables (1987)—this movie will not live up to the “classic” status of its siblings. Upon watching Passion, one immediate question comes to mind: Mr. De Palma, what the hell were you thinking?

In a film that is perhaps best described as a sleazy late-night “skinemax” movie with less skin, the opening close-up shot of the Apple logo is as sordid and egregious as the lingerie, cheesy saxophone music, posh locales, lipstick, backstabbing, and sex that permeate this poorly written and badly acted movie. McAdams reprises some of the same manipulative and tawdry traits as her character in Mean Girls (2004), but they are less appealing to watch here. And given the setting of an ad agency (the advertising industry is grossly misrepresented, by the way), the Apple logo, which makes a second appearance later in the movie, reveals a film that is all-too aware of itself. This “meta” device, which could have been used cleverly falls flat instantly. Additional miscues in the film’s story include some nonsensical character motivations; some moments of “really?? are you serious??”; and a sloppy, head-scratching error regarding a very important item towards the end of the film. If the purpose of this movie is to be really, really bad, then this movie is really, really good.

Limité Rating: 1/5

Director: Brian De Palma

Genres: Narrative, Drama, Thriller

Countries: France/Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 100 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.

Coming Soon, Documentary, Film Festival, Independent Film, Preview, Review

New York Film Festival Preview: Casting By

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1EHFoE9uB0]

Screening: Friday, October 12, 6:30pm

Venue: Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC

Series: NYFF50: Cinema Reflected

Much credit is given to the actors, directors, and writers of feature films and TV series, but little is known about the casting directors and their creative contributions to the successes (and failures) of these visual arts. Casting By is a terrific documentary that pulls back the curtain on the little-thought-about art of casting, with a particular emphasis placed on legendary casting director Marion Dougherty (Midnight Cowboy, 1969; The World According to Garp, 1982) for whom the film is dedicated. The documentary explores the early days of casting, when the discipline was more of a “clerical” role, organizing and filing actors’ headshots, to a more substantial practice that includes, in part, understanding the psychology of characters and the talents and qualities different actors bring to a part. The modern-day bureaucracy of the capitalist film industry and the casting director’s detractors (such as Ray director Taylor Hackford) are prominently explored, as well as the fact that the casting director position is the only main title credit on a film not to have its own Oscar category. The film’s greatest achievement is in its elevation of these unsung heroes of film and TV, proving their worth and showing how the guts and instincts of some of Hollywood’s greatest casting directors helped create some films and characters that will forever be etched in our minds as “classics.” In addition to Dougherty and other prominent casting directors, the documentary features some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Jeff Bridges, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jon Voight, John Travolta, and others.

Limité Rating: 4/5

Director: Tom Donahue

Genre: Documentary

Country: USA

Runtime: 89 min.

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 – October 14, 2012.