Post Mortem (Chile-Mexico-Germany) Directed by Pablo Larrain Screenplay, Larrain, Mateo Iribarren With: Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Jaime Vadell, and Amparo Noguera Pablo Larrain's breathtaking visual command makes for enthralling viewing in "Post Mortem," a rigorous, formally controlled yet emotionally gripping drama set during Chile's bloody 1973 military coup. Auds willing to engage with the stunning framing will be receptive to the story of a morgue worker and the washed-up showgirl he yearns for, yet the helmer's deceptively cold style, as well as several sequences held to fidget-inducing lengths, will divide even confirmed arthouse viewers. More daring than "Tony Manero" but also less accessible, "Post Mortem" will need strong crix support to stay alive outside fest showcases. A spectacular opening offers a taste of the cinematic inventiveness to come, with a shot from the bottom of an army tank noisily crushing an unpopulated plaza littered with debris. It's a sudden, arresting illustration of the destruction of a nation's soul: the real subject of the film, brought out via the quasi-metaphorical figure of Mario (Alfredo Castro), a coroner's assistant who transcribes autopsy reports. The outwardly emotionless Mario desires his neighbor across the street, a self-enchanted showgirl named Nancy (Antonia Zegers) who's just been laid off. While he's driving her home from the nightclub, they're suddenly surrounded by a leftist demonstration; they view the protesters as a temporary nuisance, hardly deserving a second thought, but Nancy is swept up by her activist friend Victor (Marcelo Alonso), leaving Mario alone. Nancy's father uses their house as a meeting place for the unionists, which sends the apolitical woman across to Mario's place, where she toys with the stiff suitor, their conversation resembling a badminton game as words sail slowly back and forth in almost regular volleys. At dinner she suddenly starts to cry, then he does as well: It's an odd extended scene shot with a fixed camera, one of several guaranteed to leave some auds feeling that Larrain is perversely playing with them (the pic's final seven or so minutes will add further fodder). While the meaning is unclear, it furthers the sense of instability and tragedy lurking just around the corner, though its artificiality is problematic. Some time later, Nancy's house is ransacked and her father and brother are missing: Larrain keeps the camera on Mario in the shower, with only the horrific noises on the soundtrack clueing auds in to what's happening across the street. It's a breathtaking sequence in its originality, and yet hardly the only one in the film. On his way to work he's confronted by wrecked cars and empty streets, and once in the morgue, bullet-riddled bodies start piling up. The military arrive, taking Mario, coroner's assistant Sandra (Amparo Noguera) and their right-leaning boss Dr. Castillo (Jaime Vadell) offsite to perform a very important autopsy. Scenes that follow are unsparing and chilling, and while Larrain shoots them with a sense of observational detachment, he drives home the full impact of the horrifying brutality of the army takeover. The violence, and the way it quickly conditions those who witness the effects, leeches into Mario's very being, making him even steelier as it also turns Sandra mad. Noguera (as Sandra), in only a few scenes, is devastatingly effective, though the film belongs to Castro and his emotionless, specter-like presence. Zegers (as Nancy), too, is fascinating to watch, much like the felines Nancy claims to hate, in the way she stares at people with an expectant, mysterious intensity. But in many ways the real star of "Post Mortem" is the framing. Larrain uses space in an extraordinary way, forcing the viewer to think about what's beyond the screen almost constantly, either via astonishingly inventive sound design, or simply by the way he places his figures in a shot. As with "Tony Manero," Larrain's d.p., Sergio Armstrong, uses highly textured 16mm stock to achieve a true 1970s cinematic feel, where pallid faces are made more ghostly by the preponderance of period browns. It's a world awash in crushed expectations, mutedly livid like the corpses in the morgue, and equally lacking in hope. Running time: 96 MIN. (Spanish dialogue) A Fabula, Canana, Autentika production. (International sales: Funny Balloons, Paris.) Produced by Juan de Dios Larrain. MORE cast: Marcelo Alonso, and Marcial Tagle Camera (color, 16mm-to-35mm, widescreen), Sergio Armstrong; editor, Andrea Chignoli; music, Alejandro Castanos, Juan Cristobal Meza; production designer, Polin Garbisu; costume designer, Muriel Parra; sound (Dolby SRD), Miguel Hormazabal; line producer, Ruth Orellana; casting, Paula Leoncini. Reviewed By Jay Weissberg at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 4, 2010. (In New York film festival.) Add Comment 4:44 Last Day on Earth Directed, written by Abel Ferrara With: Willem Dafoe, Shanyn Leigh, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Hipp, & Paz de la Huerta If the world were ending tomorrow, you'd probably want to spend your final hours with better company than the central duo in "4:44 Last Day on Earth." A less nihilistic and far less interesting companion piece to Lars von Trier's recent "Melancholia," Abel Ferrara's latest cine-doodle likewise treats a worldwide cataclysm as an occasion for two individuals to exorcise their demons, here through acts of sexual, artistic and emotional release more perplexing than edifying to witness. Ferrara's underlying tenderness at times creeps into his raw, unruly filmmaking, but beyond his international following, this apocalyptic melodrama won't have especially deep impact. The rare disaster picture to hilariously sum up its doomsday scenario with the words "Al Gore was right," "4:44 Last Day on Earth" features footage of the global-warming spokesman explaining, vaguely, how rapid ozone depletion has scheduled the Earth for a date with disaster tomorrow at 4:44 a.m. "There will be no survivors. The world will end," another broadcast ominously announces. We see these and many other images on the many TV screens and iPads littering the Upper East Side loft where Cisco (Willem Dafoe) lives with his younger lover, Skye (Shanyn Leigh). Pic unfolds mostly within the confines of this rectangular multimedia space, a microcosmic representation of how technology facilitates the rapid dissemination of bad news, good news (the Dalai Lama makes an appearance), fond memories, distractions and whatever else human beings seek in times of crisis. It's also the place where Skye, a painter, feverishly attacks a sub-Jackson Pollock canvas while Cisco, an actor, spends his time watching TV and occasionally railing against passersby in the streets below. Faced with the prospect of imminent destruction, Cisco and Skye seek refuge in sex, occasioning an extremely hands-on foreplay sequence that lasts several indulgent minutes, captured with an up-close and frankly undesired level of intimacy. By around this point, auds may question why writer-director Ferrara chose to filter the end of the world through the ravings and gropings of this particular pair; a shot of the two meditating cross-legged fails to provide an answer (and indeed signaled the cue for several journalists to hastily exit the film's Venice press screening). The techno-savvy twosome also spend a great deal of time on Skype, saying their farewells to loved ones. This leads to the most dramatic rupture in the film, when Skype -- er, Skye -- catches Cisco video-chatting with his ex-wife and daughter, prompting the young woman to go ballistic and complain to her mother (Anita Pallenberg, memorable in her brief, blurry appearance). Cisco's sudden itch for a cocaine fix only makes matters worse, and he soon storms out of the apartment." 4:44 Last Day on Earth" becomes more involving at this stage, as Cisco drops in on some buddies (among them Natasha Lyonne and Paul Hipp) whom he hasn't seen in some time and, he realizes, won't see ever again. The sight of longtime friends having a drink and shooting the breeze, laughing on the edge of the abyss, at last inspires a genuine reckoning with Ferrara's hypothetical endtimes scenario. The hopeful message the director seeks to leave us with, of the need to draw close to our loved ones in what is literally humanity's darkest hour, feels entirely sincere in the delivery. But it's too little too late, begging to be taken seriously in a way this largely alienating picture hasn't prepared us for. Even when they're not ranting hysterically at each other, Dafoe (reteaming with the helmer after "New Rose Hotel" and "Go Go Tales") and first-timer Leigh (also Ferrara's g.f.) give performances that leave the viewer firmly on the outside, looking in. Ferrara's fans will be heartened by this essential New York helmer's first Gotham-shot film in more than a decade. Given the subject matter, the Manhattan ambience is rather less than triumphant; what we see of the city is largely restricted to the view from Cisco's rooftop, where the blue-green tint of the sky, captured in limpid outdoor shots by Ferrara's longtime d.p., Ken Kelsch, imparts a subtle sense of the otherworldly. Tech package is expectedly rough and raw but achieves some nifty, even spooky low-budget effects in the final stretch. Running time: 84 MIN. Camera (color, DCP/35mm), Ken Kelsch; editor, Anthony Redman; music, Francis Kuipers; production designer, Frank DeCurtis; art director, Sara K. White; set decorator, Shawn Annabel; costume designer, Moira Shaughnessy; sound, Allison Howe; sound designer, Neil Benezra; visual effects supervisor, David Isyomin; stunt coordinators, Tony Vincentl, Jared Burke; line producer, Adam Folk; assistant director, Michael Meador. MORE cast: Anita Pallenberg, Deirdra McDowell, Triana Jackson, Trung Nguyen, Jose Solano, Judith Salazar, Jimmy Valentino, and Pat Kiernan A Fabula/Funny Balloons/Wild Bunch presentation in association with Bullet Pictures. (International sales: Wild Bunch/Funny Balloons, Paris.) Produced by Juan de Dios Larrain, Pablo Larrain, Peter Danner, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval. Reviewed By Justin Chang at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 5, 2011. (Also in New York Film Festival.) ++++++++++++++++ Vito (Docu) Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz With: Vito Russo Jeffrey Schwarz's involving biodoc on Vito Russo, leading gay activist, film scholar and author of "The Celluloid Closet," portrays a vibrant, charismatic, remarkably consistent individual, as generous in his personal life as in his political engagements. Via interviews, rare clips and miles of archival footage (Russo always at the forefront of gay rallies, protests or celebrations), Schwarz also makes his subject a dramatic focal point in the history of gay rights from the Stonewall riots to the AIDS epidemic. Docu preemed at the New York fest, launching further fest rounds and possible theatrical play before broadcast on HBO. Schwarz freely shifts among the familial, social and political facets of his subject, benefiting from the fact that these qualities were in sync. Russo recounts in a lengthy interview how he embraced his homosexuality at an early age, refusing to feel religious guilt or social shame. According to Russo's brother Charles and cousin Phyllis, both featured prominently, the family quickly accepted his gay lifestyle. Such was emphatically not the case of society at large in the '50s and '60s, even after Russo moved to Greenwich Village. Montages of newsreels and newspaper headlines attest to the stigma, raids, arrests and suicides that ruled the day. Following the 1969 Stonewall riots, where drag queens and homosexuals first stood up to police harassment, and the subsequent rise of Gay Pride, Russo assumed a major role in the Gay Activists Alliance. The group staged theatrical protests targeting organizations that promulgated homophobia, from the church to city hall to mass media. Russo proved a strong voice for inclusion of people with all types of sexual preferences and behaviors when the movement threatened to splinter. Schwarz includes an excerpt from 1973's Gay Pride Day in which angry lesbian feminists accuse drag queens of degrading women while Russo tries desperately to impose solidarity, finally summoning Bette Midler, a familiar face at the Baths, to placate the crowd. A lifelong cinephile, Russo also established gay film nights, finding that sharing movies with like-minded audiences created a sense of community (they all laughed in the same places). His exploration of images of gays in films, presented worldwide as a popular illustrated lecture years before "Celluloid Closet" was finally published, was groundbreaking. Docu-director Schwarz channels Russo by providing a plethora of vintage silent and early-talkie clips, from a comic bit featuring two laced-trimmed, swishy waiters to a "problem movie" titled "Different From Others," revealing the range of queer characters that routinely popped up in films before the Hayes Code explicitly prohibited not only their depiction but even any reference to their existence. Code-dictated cinema offered more indirect, metaphoric imagery as homosexuality became increasingly visualized as frightening or tragically self-destructive, Schwarz supplying a rough approximation of the original Russo lecture's famous gay "death montage." After the bestselling "Closet," Russo became the first official gay celebrity, regularly making guest television appearances and hosting his own public TV program "Our Time." But AIDS takes centerstage in the last section of the docu, as Russo, now afflicted with the disease that felled countless friends, publicly fights government indifference to the epidemic. Running time: 93 MIN. Camera (color/B&W, HD), David Quantic; editor, Philip Harrison; music, Miriam Cutler; sound, Cat Gray, John Iskander, Salvador Luna, Ray Moore, Arran Murphy, Justin Schier, Chris White; supervising sound editor, Jeff Kushner; re-recording mixer, Joe Milner. Also featuring: Michael Schiavi, Phyllis Antonelllis, Charles Russo, Lily Tomlin, Armistead Maupin, Larry Kramer, Bruce Vilanch, Arnie Kantrowitz, and Rob Epstein An HBO Documentary Films presentation of an Automat Pictures production. Produced by Jeffrey Schwarz. Executive producer, Bryan Singer. Co-producers, Philip Harrison, Lotti Pharriss Knowles. Reviewed By Ronnie Scheib at New York Film Festival (Special Events), Oct. 14, 2011. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My Week With Marilyn (U.K.) Directed by Simon Curtis Screenplay, Adrian Hodges Source: based on the diaries by Colin Clark Marilyn Monroe - Michelle Williams Colin Clark - Eddie Redmayne Laurence Olivier - Kenneth Branagh Milton Greene - Dominic Cooper Vivien Leigh - Julia Ormond Lucy - Emma Watson Sybil Thorndike - Judi Dench Paula Strasberg - Zoe Wanamaker To the extent that Michelle Williams' multilayered interpretation of Marilyn Monroe serves as its raison d'etre, "My Week With Marilyn" succeeds stunningly. Otherwise, the film flits uneasily between arch drawing-room comedy and foreshadowed tragedy as perceived by infatuated young Brit Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), recounting his personal experiences with the fragile screen icon during the shooting of 1957's "The Prince and the Showgirl." Taking no chances, unlike its star, "Marilyn" complacently coasts on Williams' bravura perf amid mostly stodgy showbiz re-creations, but awards buzz and ever-reliable Anglophilia could spell solid B.O. returns for the Weinstein Co. The true story itself feels ripped from film fan magazines of the period, as scribe Adrian Hodges and helmer Simon Curtis filter the proceedings through their protagonist/narrator, the youngest in an upper-class family of intellectuals. Colin heads off to London to work in a movie industry pooh-poohed by his elders, landing a job as third assistant director on "The Prince and the Showgirl," starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), also helming the pic. It's through Clark's eyes that Monroe is introduced as she arrives in London for the first time, accompanied by new husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). She proceeds to seduce and captivate the press, although no amount of charm works on Olivier, whose explosive ego seems ill suited to the job of placating director. Olivier's literal-minded belief in letter-perfect discipline conflicts with Monroe's more coddled Method acting, the professional insecurities of both stars -- one rising, one falling -- exacerbating the problem. Feeling dissed, abandoned and misunderstood in a strange land (her husband having returned to New York), Monroe latches on to Colin as her champion and confidant ("Why is Sir Larry so mean to me?"), someone who can support her against the old guard. The two share a sexually charged but platonic intimacy, Colin apparently being the latest in a long line of such lads. Hodges' script deliberately contrasts the hidebound aristocracy of the British stage with the natural, untutored spontaneity of Hollywood; at one point, Sybil Thorndike (Judi Dench) reminds Branagh's Olivier that, unlike them, Monroe knows how to act for the camera. Ironically, then, "Marilyn" is all too stagily directed by theater- and TV-trained Curtis, lining up his characters with no attention to spatial logic or rhythmic flow. Every moment, period detail, antique roadster or TWA passenger plane seems carefully placed for superficial authenticity; although this approach sometimes plays effectively against Williams' continually morphing performance, it leaves the film's non-Monroe sections mired in artifice. Thesping is surprisingly hit-or-miss, given the roster of English luminaries; Branagh's exclusive use of theatrical rhetoric works better in comedic scenes than in the film's occasional attempts at emotional depth. Dench's performance is rousing but familiar; Redmayne brings a bright-eyed, puppy-dog eagerness to his role; and standout Toby Jones strikes a rare eclectic note as a loudmouth American press agent. But the film belongs to Williams, whose tour-de-force turn conflates three Marilyns: the lost, damaged little girl who seeks to escape others' expectations and return to simpler childhood days; the sexy superstar who impishly poses with a wink in complicity with her public; and the actress playing a pre-scripted part. The genius of the performance lies in the way Williams stresses the interconnectedness of these personalities: The neediness fuels the impudence, the vulnerability turns sexually provocative, and the little girl and sexpot together drive the screen role. Thesp even ventures into saucy singing and dancing a la Marilyn in the pic's opening and closing numbers. Camera (color, widescreen), Ben Smithard; editor, Adam Recht; music, Conrad Pope; music supervisors, Maggie Rodford, Dana Sano; production designer, Donal Woods; art director, Charmian Adams; set decorator, Judy Farr; costume designer, Jill Taylor; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Richard Dyer; supervising sound editor, Nick Lowe; re-recording mixers, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener; special effects supervisor, Mark Hold; visual effects supervisors, Alan Church, Sheila Wickens; casting, Deborah Aquila, Nina Gold, Tricia Woods. MORE cast: Arthur Jacobs - Toby Jones Owen Morshead - Derek Jacobi Arthur Miller - Dougray Scott A Weinstein Co. (in U.S.) release of a Weinstein Co., BBC Films, Trademark Films production. Produced by David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein. Executive producers, Jamie Laurenson, Simon Curtis, Ivan Mactaggart, Christine Langan, Bob Weinstein, Kelly Carmichael. Co-producer, Mark Cooper. Co-executive producer, Colin Vaines. Reviewed By Ronnie Scheib at New York Film Festival (Centerpiece Gala), Oct. 9, 2011. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Descendants Directed by Alexander Payne Screenplay, Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash Soource: based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings Matt King - George Clooney Alexandra King - Shailene Woodley Scottie King - Amara Miller Sid - Nick Krause Elizabeth King - Patricia Hastie Some movies aim to distract us; others seek to help us understand. "The Descendants" tackles some of the prickliest issues a contempo family can face -- coping with a loved one's right-to-die decision -- with such sensitivity that it's hardly noticeable you're being enlightened while entertained. As a Hawaiian father of two negotiating complex emotions while his wife lies comatose after a boating accident, George Clooney reveals yet another layer of himself. His involvement, plus the welcome return of "Sideways" director Alexander Payne, will bring in auds; their tell-a-friend enthusiasm should spell sleeper success among catharsis-seeking adults. With its tropical vistas and near-perfect weather, Hawaii makes an unexpected backdrop for such a story, a mismatch that island native Matt King (Clooney) acknowledges in his opening voiceover. "Paradise can go fuck itself," he says, the line betraying the anger he feels in the face of his wife's 23-day coma. It isn't a typical movie-star role; movie stars seldom play helpless. And yet Clooney has always kept his character-actor instincts close, which enable him to disappear into a well-written, soul-baring part like this with little vanity or baggage. Here, he plays a dad who's never had to practice that role. Husband, check. Provider, check. But Matt was always the "backup parent" to his more adventure-seeking wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie, seen waterskiing in the opening shot, then bedridden for the remainder of the film), and the thought of having to raise his 10- and 17-year-old daughters solo terrifies him. The accident comes at a particularly difficult time, as Matt holds a majority stake in the family trust: 25,000 acres of unspoiled land on Kauai that his relatives are pushing him to sell. To some extent, Matt is overshadowed by a decision he doesn't want to make (the fate of real estate he doesn't necessarily feel entitled to) and forced to deal with one that's already been made for him (his wife's will stipulates she doesn't want to live in a vegetative state). Through it all, his focus remains on his children. Younger daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) is starting to act out, while teenage Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) has become such a handful she's been shipped off to boarding school. Woodley, best known for her work on ABC Family's soapy "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," is a revelation in the role of Alex, displaying both the edge and depth the role demands. At face value, she appears to be going through a rebellious phase, but as the story unfolds, she proves to be the strong one, wiser than she appears and potentially better equipped to deal with the tragedy at hand. The inescapable heaviness of the subject aside, "The Descendants" never descends to griefsploitation, as Payne and fellow screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash carefully select moments that reveal the characters' ever-changing emotions without wallowing in their pain. Nearly every detail sources directly back to Kaui Hart Hemmings' sensitively crafted novel, and yet, Payne's triumph is in striking the right tone -- and knowing what to leave unsaid. The near-paradisiacal setting is hardly the only irony in this scenario; there's also an unexpected amount of humor to be found in the circumstances immediately surrounding a loved one's death, and the director embraces both contradictions with due respect. Though Payne undoubtedly ranks among the leading portraitists of American cinema, his earlier films display a semi-condescending, even judgmental attitude toward his characters. Here, the individuals are every bit as flawed, and yet the tone is refreshingly open-minded, allowing observant auds to draw their own conclusions. Take Alex's friend Sid (Nick Krause), an overgrown puppy of a kid one might be tempted to dismiss as a dim-witted pothead on first encounter. Indeed, the film milks a few laughs at his gape-mouthed expense early on, and yet later scenes reveal that Alex was smart in her choice of companions. "The Descendants" deals in themes universal enough that audiences will come to the table with their own life experience to draw from, and Payne intuitively understands how to leave things open enough that we can personalize the story for ourselves. With the exception of Clooney, none of his casting choices seem obvious, which further brings the world to life. The entire ensemble treads the tricky line between comedy and tragedy with aplomb, from Robert Forster (as Matt's surly father-in-law) to Beau Bridges (playing a cousin counting on the land deal going through), extending even to smaller turns from Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer. "The Descendants" is one of those satisfying, emotionally rich films that works on multiple levels. Some will call their travel agents to book Hawaiian vacations as soon as they dry their eyes (just as "Sideways" boosted wine-tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley), while more cynical auds should find layers to engage their sensibilities as well. Of particular interest is the way Payne allows class and race to supply an interesting, albeit subtle, subtext. There's a melancholy sense of something passing, linked to Hawaii itself through the stunning mix of widescreen vistas and native music, as well as the assurance of life's essentials being preserved in the film's perfectly executed final shot. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 115 MIN. Camera (Panavision widescreen, Deluxe color prints), Phedon Papamichael; editor, Kevin Tent; music supervisor, Dondi Bastone; production designer, Jane Anne Stewart; art director, Timothy T.K. Kirkpatrick; set decorator, Matt Callahan; costume designer, Wendy Chuck; sound (SDDS/Dolby/Datasat), Jose Antonio Garcia; supervising sound editor, Frank Gaeta; re-recording mixer, Patrick Cyccone; stunt coordinator, Brian L. Keaulana; visual effects supervisor, Mark Dornfeld; visual effects, Custom Film Effects; associate producer, Tracy Boyd; assistant director, Richard L. Fox; second unit director, Tracy Boyd; second unit camera, Radan Popovic; casting, John Jackson. MORE Cast: Cousin Hugh - Beau Bridges Brian Speer - Matthew Lillard Julie Speer - Judy Greer With: Milt Kogan, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel, Laird Hamilton, Robert Forster, Barbara Lee Southern, Celia Kenney. A Fox Searchlight release and presentation of an Ad Hominem Enterprises production in association with Little Blair Prods. and Ingenious Film Partners, made in association with Dune Entertainment. Produced by Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor. Co-producer, George Parra. Reviewed By Peter Debruge at Telluride Film Festival, Sept. 2, 2011. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Carnage (France-Germany-Poland-Spain) Directed by Roman Polanski Screenplay, Polanski, Yasmina Reza Source: based on the play "God of Carnage" by Reza (translated by Michael Katims) Penelope Longstreet - Jodie Foster Nancy Cowen - Kate Winslet Alan Cowen - Christoph Waltz Michael Longstreet - John C. Reilly The gloves come off early and the social graces disintegrate on cue in "Carnage," which spends 79 minutes observing, and encouraging, the steady erosion of niceties between two married couples. But the real battle in Roman Polanski's brisk, fitfully amusing adaptation of Yasmina Reza's popular play is a more formal clash between stage minimalism and screen naturalism, as this acid-drenched four-hander never shakes off a mannered, hermetic feel that consistently betrays its theatrical origins. Classy cast and pedigree should yield favorable specialty returns for the Sony Classics release, arriving Dec. 16 Stateside after its Venice and New York festival bows. Known as a filmmaker of icy, incisive temperament with such play-to-pic translations as "Macbeth" and "Death and the Maiden" under his belt, Polanski seemed an ideal fit for "God of Carnage," Reza's withering takedown of smug, middle-class values and the comforting notion, expressed by one character early on, that "we're all decent people." Like its Broadway progenitor, the smartly retitled "Carnage" unfolds in something close to real time in a Brooklyn apartment, and its single-set confinement recalls Polanski's similarly claustrophobic studies of urban alienation in "Repulsion," "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant." The helmer's legal woes prevented him from shooting in the U.S., a fact resourcefully concealed by a well-appointed Paris studio set and some expert digital touch-up work. The first of only two exterior scenes is an opening long shot of Brooklyn Bridge Park, where some roughhousing among 11-year-olds ends with one boy, Zachary, striking another, Ethan, with a stick. It's a wordless tableau that forms a deliberate contrast with the verbal pyrotechnics to follow in Reza and Polanski's extremely faithful adaptation -translated from French into English by Michael Katims. The incident leaves Ethan with two missing teeth, and Zachary's parents, Alan and Nancy Cowen (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet), pay a visit to Ethan's parents, Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly), to initiate a reconciliation between their sons. Yet as the four discuss the incident with initially polite deference over cobbler and coffee, their veneer of civility soon crumbles under the film's relentless scrutiny. Doing the most to hasten the screaming match is Penelope, whose casually barbed insinuations reveal a near-maniacal need to control the situation; at the other end of the spectrum, busy lawyer Alan signals his complete disinterest by making regular phone interruptions. Anxious to offset her husband's rudeness, Nancy does herself no favors by overdosing on warm beverages, and before anyone can say "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," Michael breaks out the scotch, momentarily relieving the tension and lubricating them all for the next round. Couple turns against couple, husbands against wives, and the tulips, handbags and bodily fluids begin to fly, in a payoff that has as much zing here as it did in the play. Yet while "Carnage" is still largely a hoot, it never divorces itself from the talky trappings of the stage; the considerable effort expended to let the piece breathe onscreen merely exposes its underlying artifice, making it fairly easy to reject Reza's thesis that individuals live in a natural state of opposition according to gender, class and personal philosophy. One is continually made aware of buttons being pushed, of the actors taking pains to say precisely the wrong (or right) thing to fan the flames, yet the film actually becomes less tense as it progresses. Certain repeated questions -- "Why are we still here?" and "Should we wrap this up?" -- begin to take on unwelcome meanings, despite the compact running time. While the four actors deliver distinctive turns, marked by body language often more pointed than the dialogue, the proceedings are somewhat dampened by the miscasting of one couple. Foster, called on to function as more of an ensemble player than usual, nails Penelope's insufferable micro-managing and liberal do-gooder impulses, but the tightly wound actress doesn't bellow with the full-blooded authority the role requires. Reilly is almost too easily cast as Michael, pointedly the shlubbiest and most blue-collar of the bunch, at times tilting the material toward a broader style of comedy than desired. Winslet assuredly charts Nancy's passive-aggressive journey from vulnerable to tetchy. But it's Waltz who gives the film's most delectable turn, in part because it's the most subdued. Almost mumbling his lines to himself and delivering half of them into a cell phone, his Alan radiates supreme indifference to the needs of anyone but himself. Polanski's technical collaborators use every tool in their arsenal to achieve the illusion of seamlessness, and the level of craft at work is something to behold. Herve de Luze's editing carves up the performance space into a multitude of angles and perspectives offered up by Pawel Edelman's camera, which at times isolates the characters in stationary shots that express relationships visually, and elsewhere tracks the actors up and down the apartment corridors. Dean Tavoularis' production design and Milena Canonero's costumes are the very picture of bourgeois complacency. The almost imperceptible shifting of the light outside the Longstreets' window as the day goes on reps an especially subtle touch, while Alexandre Desplat's music, underscoring the central theme with chordal progressions and drumbeats, is wisely used only to bookend the picture. Running time: 79 MIN. (English dialogue) Camera (color), Pawel Edelman; editor, Herve de Luze; music, Alexandre Desplat; production designer, Dean Tavoularis; set decorator, Frankie Diago; costume director, Milena Canonero; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS), Jean-Marie Blondel; re-recording mixer, Dean Humphreys; visual effects supervisor, Michael Tanguy; line producer, Frederic Blum; assistant director, Ralph Remstedt; casting, Fiona Weir. With: Elvis Polanski, Eliot Berger. A Sony Pictures Classics (in North America) release of a Said Ben Said presentation of a SBS Prods., Constantin Film Produktion, SPI Film Studio, Versatil Cinema, Zanagar Films, France 2 Cinema co-production with the participation of Canal Plus, Cinecinema, France Televisions, the Polish Film Institute, ARD/Degeto, Filmfernsehfonds Bayern and Wild Bunch. Produced by Said Ben Said. Co-producers, Martin Moszkowicz, Oliver Berben, Piotr Reisch, Jaume Roures. Reviewed By Justin Chang at Venice Film Festival, Sept. 1, 2011. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Press release “Paradise Lost” and Its New Ending Lead Roster of Special Events at 2011 NYFF Big news from the New York Film Festival today with just over five weeks to go until opening night. Twenty-five special programs and screenings round out the lineup for the 2011 Festival. A selection of ten new documentaries highlight the list of Special Events set for the 49th NYFF, running September 30 – October 16 at Lincoln Center. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the anticipated new film about the West Memphis Three will be unveiled at the festival. The U.S. premiere of the HBO documentary will include the first screening of the film with its new ending, including footage shot last week by Berlinger (pictured, left) and Sinofsky (pictured, right) in Arkansas on the day Jason Baldwin (pictured, center), Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelly were released from prison. Other documentaries on tap include Frederick Wiseman’s Crazy Horse, about the legendary Parisian erotic cabaret, Jeffrey Schwarz’ Vito, about the acclaimed queer cinema activist, and Nelson Pereira dos Santos’ Music According to Tom Jobim about the legendary Brazilian musician. Another key highlight is The 99 – Unbound, the first animated feature film based on the DC Comics series of Islamic comic heroes by Naif A. Al-Mutawa and directed by Dave Osbourne. After the screening, Dr. Al-Mutawa will discuss the ideas behind the project and some of his plans for introducing The 99 to America. Restored film screenings, showing in the Festival’s Masterworks section, will include a new restoration of the original 1925 silent version of Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. The screening will feature a new score restoration conducted by Timothy Brock, his 9th film commissioned by the Chaplin Estate, as well as a live orchestral accompaniment featuring members of the New York Philharmonic. Sara Driver’s You Are Not I, a film that was shot by Jim Jarmusch, was long considered destroyed by a warehouse fire. It has been rediscovered and restored for this special event. Also on tap is Hugo Santiago’s Invasión and screenings of Karl Heinz Martin's From Morning Till Midnight with The Alloy Orchestra in person, as well as a rare showing of George Meliés' A Trip To The Moon, recently reconstructed and featuring a new original soundtrack by Air. Numerous other special one-time only events are on tap for this year’s New York Film Festival. Among them are three episodes from Oliver Stone’s new Showtime series The Untold History of the United States (with a panel discussion), the special three part Dreileben with films directed by Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf and Christoph Hochhäusle, a salute to Roger Corman, a presentation about Rin Tin Tin with author Susan Orlean, and a panel discussion about famed film critic Pauline Kael. Also set is a tribute to the 20th Anniversary of Sony Pictures Classics. Anniversary screenings on tap include a ten year celebration of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (with members of the cast in attendance), a tenth birthday celebration for Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and a screening of The Exterminating Angel, Luis Buñuel’s film that opened the first New York Film Festival in 1962. The screening will kick-off a year-long retrospective of highlights from the past 49 editions of the NYFF leading up to the 50th in the fall of 2012. The 2011 Views From the Avant Garde lineup, as well as a number of free forums at the 2011 New York Film Festival will be announced soon by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Special Events at the 2011 New York Film Festival Masterworks Screenings: The Gold Rush, directed by Charlie Chaplin (restored) Invasión, directed by Hugo Santiago (restored) You Are Not I, directed by Sara Driver (restored) Special Presentations: Documentaries: Andrew Bird: Fever Year, directed by Xan Aranda (USA) The Ballad of Mott the Hoople, directed by Mike Kerry and Chris Hall (UK) Corman's World: Exploits of A Hollywood Rebel, directed by Alex Stapleton and screening of The Intruder, directed by Roger Corman Crazy Horse, directed by Frederick Wiseman (USA, France) Don't Expect Too Much, directed by Susan Ray (USA) Music According to Tom Jobim, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos (Brazil) Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (USA) Patience (After Sebald), directed by Grant Gee (UK) Tahrir, directed by Stefano Savona (France/Italy) Vito, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (USA) Special Anniversary Screenings: Castle in the Sky, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan). 25th Anniversary Screening (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki) The Exterminating Angel, directed by Luis Buñuel (Mexico): 50 Years of the New York Film Festival Howard's End, directed by James Ivory (20 Years of Art Cinema: A Tribute to Sony Pictures Classics) The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson (USA). 10th Anniversary Screening. Presented by New Wave Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan). 10th Anniversary Screening. (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki) Special Events: The 99 – Unbound, directed by Dave Osborne with Naif A. Al-Mutawa A Conversation with Susan Orlean, "Rin Tin Tin, the Life and the Legend" with Noel Smith's Clash of the Wolves screening. Dreileben Parts 1 – 3: Beats Being Dead, directed by Christian Petzold; Don't Follow Me Around, directed by Dominik Graf; One Minute of Darkness, directed by Christoph Hochhäusler (Germany) From Morning till Midnight (Von morgens bis Mitternacht), directed by Karl Heinz Martin (Germany) with The Alloy Orchestra. With A Trip To The Moon (La voyage dans la lune) Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States. Screening of the first 3 chapters of TV series with panel discussion featuring Oliver Stone, co-writer Peter Kuznick, historian Douglas Brinkley (Rice University) and journalist Jonathan Schell (The Nation). "Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark" with Fingers, directed by James Toback. Panel discussion with David Edelstein (Film Critic, New York magazine), Brian Kellow, Geoffrey O’Brien (Editor in Chief, Library of America), James Toback (film director), Camille Paglia (University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts) Sodankylä Forever Parts 1-4, directed by Peter Von Bagh (Finland) Film Society members can buy advance festival passes & packages on FilmLinc.com. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Press release 49TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL MAIN SLATE - Films & Descriptions 4:44: LAST DAY ON EARTH Dir. by Abel Ferrara, 2011, USA, 82min How would we spend our final hours on Earth? And what does how we choose to die say about how we have chosen to live? In the hands of the inimitable Abel Ferrara (Go Go Tales, NYFF '07), this thought experiment takes on a visceral immediacy. With the planet on the verge of extinction, a New York couple (Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh) cycle through moments of anxiety, ecstacy, and torpor. As they sink into the havens of sex and art, and Skype last goodbyes in a Lower East Side apartment filled with screens bearing tidings of doom and salvation, the film becomes one of Ferrara’s most potent and intimate expressions of spiritual crisis. An apocalyptic trance film, 4:44 is also a mournful valentine to Ferrara’s beloved New York: the director’s first fiction feature to be filmed entirely in the city in over a decade, and coming 10 years after the September 11 attacks, a haunting vision of doom in the lower Manhattan skyline. THE ARTIST Dir. by Michel Hazanavicius, 2011, France, 90min An honest-to-goodness black-and-white silent picture made by modern French filmmakers in Hollywood, USA, “The Artist” is a spirited, hilarious and moving delight. A sensation in Cannes, Michel Hazanavicius' playful love letter to the movies' early days spins on a variation on an “A Star Is Born”-like relationship between a dashing Douglas Fairbanks-style star (Jean Dujardin, who won the best actor prize in Cannes) whose career wanes with the coming of sound and a dazzling young actress (Berenice Bejo) whose popularity skyrockets at the same time. Meticulously made in the 1.33 aspect ratio with intertitles and a superb score, “The Artist” has great fun with silent film conventions just as it rigorously adheres to them, turning its abundant love for the look and ethos of the 1920s into a treat that will be warmly embraced by movie lovers of every persuasion. With James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and John Goodman as a definitive cigar-chomping studio boss. CARNAGE Dir. by Roman Polanski, 2011, France/Germany/Poland Summoning up the sinister from beneath the veneer of normalcy has always been Roman Polanski's specialty, so it's no surprise that the great director does such a smashing job of putting Yasmina Reza's 2009 Tony-winning play “God of Carnage” on the screen. With the expert cast of Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz and John C. Reilly, Reza's explosively comic X-ray of the anger and venality lying just under the surface of the outwardly civilized behavior of two New York City couples has been fully realized. Returning to the New York Film Festival with a feature for the first time since he presented his debut work, Knife in the Water, at the very first festival in 1963, Polanski pries open the true nature of these characters in something of a companion piece to his previous New York-set film, “Rosemary's Baby.” Although it was filmed in Paris, the Brooklyn locale is as convincingly rendered as are the alternately uproarious and devastating revelations of human nature. CORPO CELESTE Dir. by Alice Rohrwacher, 2011, Italy/Switzerland/France, 100min “Seeing the Spirit is like wearing really cool sunglasses,” according to the instructor of 13-year old Marta’s (Yle Vianello) catechism class. Such observations introduce Marta to the religious climate in the small seaside Calabrian town to which she, her mother and older sister have just moved from Switzerland. Marta is sent to the local church to prepare for her Catholic confirmation and (hopefully) make some new friends. But the religion she finds there is mainly strange: the way it dominates people’s lives is unlike anything she’s ever experienced. Alice Rohrwacher’s extraordinarily impressive debut feature chronicles Martha’s private duel with the Church, carried out under the shadow of the physical changes coursing through her. Rohrwacher is not interested in pointing out heroes and villains, but instead in offering a perceptive look at how the once all-powerful Church has dealt with its waning influence. A DANGEROUS METHOD Dir. by David Cronenberg, 2011, France/Ireland/UK/Germany/Canada, 99min David Cronenberg, a filmmaker with a peerless grasp on the mysteries of the mind and the body, turns his attention to a seminal chapter in the founding of psychoanalysis. Adapted from Christopher Hampton’s play A Talking Cure, A Dangerous Method charts the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and his protégé turned dissenter Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), as it was shaped by the case of Sabine Spielrein (Keira Knightley), a young Russian Jewish patient of Jung’s. Cronenberg brilliantly dramatizes not just the rivalry and rupture between two pioneers who defined a field but also the birth of their groundbreaking theories of the unconscious and the forces of Eros and Thanatos. Featuring an electrifying trio of lead actors, who turn near-mythic figures into flesh and blood, this is a film of tremendous vigor and ambition, a historical drama that brings ideas to life. THE DESCENDANTS Dir. by Alexander Payne, 2011, USA, 115min In his first film since the Oscar-winning Sideways, writer-director Alexander Payne once again proves himself a master of the kind of smart, sharp, deeply felt comedy that was once the hallmark of Billy Wilder and Jean Renoir. Based on the bestselling novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants stars George Clooney as Matt King, the heir of a prominent Hawaiian land-owning family whose life is turned upside-down when his wife is critically injured in a boating accident. Accustomed to being “the back-up parent,” King suddenly finds himself center stage in the lives of his two young daughters (excellent newcomers Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller), while at the same time being forced to decide the fate of a vast plot of unspoiled land his family has owned since the 1860s. Rooted in Clooney’s beautifully understated performance, Payne’s film is an uncommonly perceptive portrait of marriage, family and community, suffused with humor and tragedy and wrapped in a warm human glow. A Fox Searchlight release. FOOTNOTE Dir. by Joseph Cedar, 2011, Israel, 106min Thanks to a clerical error, Eliezer Shkolnik, a respected if little-known Talmudic scholar, is informed that he’s won the coveted Israel Prize; in truth, the prize was meant for his son, Uziel, a much more flamboyant, widely-read Talmudist. The authorities ask Uziel to help them rectify the situation, but Uziel argues the case for his father’s deserving the honor; meanwhile, Eliezer plans to use the occasion as an opportunity to intellectually take down his son and the whole generation of a la mode Talmudists. Winner of the prize for Best Screenplay at Cannes, New York born-and-trained Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar has here created the wryest of Jewish comedies, an emotional competition that pits father against son, built around the understanding of sacred texts. Rarely has the weight of a culture’s intellectual past been depicted so forecefully, nor shown to be as vibrant. A Sony Pictures Classic release. GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Dir. by Martin Scorsese, 2011, USA, 208min Rich in mesmerizing archival footage, Martin Scorsese’s expansive documentary on the Beatles’ lead guitarist—and of one of the greatest musicians of the 1960s and ’70s—traces in detail all aspects of Harrison’s professional and personal life. Friends (Eric Clapton, Eric Idle), family (wives Patti Boyd and Olivia Harrison), and band mates (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) reflect on Harrison’s mid-’60s embrace of Indian mysticism and music, which forever changed the sound of the Fab Four. Harrison’s spirituality also defines his masterful solo work, especially the 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass, produced by Phil Spector, another subject interviewed in depth. Until his untimely death in 2001, Harrison remained fiercely committed to his music and other passions (including film producing), earning the admiration of all who were lucky enough to work with him. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE Dir. by Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011, France/Germany, 108min In her exceptional third feature, writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve (The Father of My Children, ND/NF 2010) shows once again her talent for capturing the agony and the ecstasy of adolescence. Besotted teenagers Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky) and Camille (Lola Créton) struggle, as all couples must, with a painful push-pull dynamic, heightened by the young man’s decision to leave Paris and travel through South America. Over the course of eight years, we watch Camille, initially devastated by her boyfriend’s departure, emerge with new passions, intellectual and otherwise. Touchingly illuminating the indelible imprint that first romance leaves, Hansen-Løve’s film also explores the hard-won satisfaction of leaving the past behind. A Sundance Selects release. THE KID WITH A BIKE Dir. by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2011, Belgium/France, 87min Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the latest film by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne centers on Cyril, a restless 11-year-old boy (terrific newcomer Thomas Doret) placed in a children’s home after being abandoned by his father. Unwilling to face the fact that parents are imperfect people, Cyril runs away to his former apartment block in search of both dad and his abandoned bicycle. Instead, he meets Samantha (the excellent Cécile de France), a kind hairdresser who helps to retrieve his bike and eventually agrees to become his weekend guardian. But literally and figuratively, Cyril isn’t out of the woods just yet. Shooting once more in the Belgian seaport town of Seraing, the Dardennes have created another poetic, universally resonant drama about parents, children and moral responsibility. A Sundance Selects release. LE HAVRE Dir. by Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, Finland/France/Germany, 103min The latest deadpan treat from Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past, NYFF '02) was inspired, the director has said, by his desire to have been born a generation earlier, so that he could have witnessed the Resistance during World War II. Thus Le Havre abounds with sly references to classic Resistance dramas from Port of Shadows to Casablanca as it tells the whimsical tale of Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a noted Parisian author now living in self-imposed exile in the titular port city. Dividing most of his time between his neighborhood bar and caring for his bedridden wife (longtime Kaurismaki muse Kati Outinen), Marcel finds himself alive with a new sense of purpose when he comes to the aid of a young African on the run from immigration police and trying to reunite with his mother in London. Beautifully shot in Kaurismaki’s signature shades of muted blue, brown and green, with scene-stealing appearances by French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud and a dog named Laika, Le Havre is a gentle yet profound comedy of friendship, random acts of kindness and small acts of revolution. A Janus Films release. THE LONELIEST PLANET Dir. by Julia Loktev, 2011, USA/Germany, 113min This staggeringly acute examination of the fissures that develop between couples from Julia Loktev (Day Night Day Night, ND/NF 2007) proves that even the most wide-open spaces can feel suffocating during romantic discord. Nica (Hani Furstenberg) and Alex (Gael García Bernal), a few months away from their wedding, take a hiking trip in the Caucasus in Georgia, led by tour guide Dato (Bidzina Gujabidze). Nica and Alex appear to be completely in-sync partners, wildly attracted to each other and sharing the same interests. But a split-second decision by Alex proves horrifying to Nica and sets off impenetrable, stony silences. In a film in which so much is communicated nonverbally, Furstenberg and Bernal astoundingly uncover the toxic, erosive effects of disappointment and resentment. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE Dir. by Sean Durkin, 2011, USA, 101min Sean Durkin’s haunting first feature, about a young woman’s halting attempts to undo the psychic terror of the cult she’s just escaped, heralds the arrival of a remarkable new talent. Fleeing a Manson-like Catskills compound at dawn, Martha (Elizabeth Olsen, leading an excellent cast) reconnects with her older sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), a bourgeois New Yorker who takes in her sibling at the Connecticut country house she shares with her husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy). Lucy remains unaware of exactly what happened to Martha over the past few years—details that Durkin slowly but powerfully unveils in uncanny, disorienting flashbacks. The film’s gorgeous, painterly compositions have the chilling effect of suggesting that even our worst nightmares still retain a seductive allure. A Fox Searchlight release. MELANCHOLIA Dir. by Lars von Trier, 2011, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany/Italy, 135min The end of the world—and the collapse of the spirit—has never been depicted as beautifully and wrenchingly as in Melancholia, the latest provocation from Lars von Trier (Antichrist, NYFF '09). The title refers both to a destructive planet “that has been hiding behind the sun” and the crippling depression of new bride Justine (a revelatory Kirsten Dunst, rightful winner of the Best Actress award at Cannes this year), whose mental illness is so severe that she drives away her groom during their disastrous wedding reception. As the extinction of the planet looms ever larger, Justine is desperately tended to by her sister, Claire (an equally magnificent Charlotte Gainsbourg), herself gripped by anxiety over the impending doomsday. Melancholia’s premise may be science fiction, but the feelings of despair it plumbs are the most heart-felt human drama. A Magnolia Pictures release. MISS BALA Dir. by Gerardo Naranjo, 2011, Mexico, 113min One of the most exciting young talents around, the Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo (I'm Gonna Explode, NYFF '08) approaches the hot-button topic of drug violence through the perspective of an unlikely, unwitting heroine: a Tijuana beauty pageant contestant (Stephanie Sigman) who stumbles into the path of ruthless cartel operatives and corrupt officials. Although inspired by a true story, Miss Bala avoids docudrama cliches and tabloid sensationalism, and instead evokes the pervasive climate of fear and confusion that has enveloped daily life in some increasingly lawless pockets of northern Mexico. Using long takes and fluid, precise camera work, Naranjo fashions a highly original thriller: an anguished and harrowing mood piece with an undertow of bleakly absurdist humor and moments of heart-stopping action. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Dir. by Simon Curtis, 2011, UK One of the most exciting actresses working today, Michelle Williams accomplishes the near-impossible—portraying Marilyn Monroe as an actual person, not just an easily caricatured icon—in this charming bio-pic centering around the production of Laurence Olivier's film The Prince and the Showgirl. Based on two memoirs by Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), who worked as an assistant on Olivier’s film, My Week With Marilyn depicts Monroe’s numerous clashes with her imperious, classically trained director (played with great relish by Kenneth Branagh), maddened by his star’s method acting and her ever-present drama coach, Paula Strasberg (Zoë Wanamaker). Williams captures not only Monroe’s notorious fragility, both on-screen and off-, but also her magical, unclassifiable charisma. A Weinstein Company release. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA Dir. by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011, Turkey, 150min Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest begins as a small caravan of cars snakes its way through the nocturnal countryside, looking for where a murdered man was buried. Yet every time the confessed killer points out the grave, the gravediggers come up empty; much of the landscape looks alike, it’s dark out, and anyway the killer claims he was drunk. As the increasingly frustrating investigation wears on, far more is revealed than where the body is buried; through quick looks, furtive gestures and offhand bits of dialogue, Ceylan (Climates, NYFF 2006) reveals in this seemingly pacific Turkish outback a festering world of jealousies and resentments, as the story behind the murder gradually emerges. Impeccably photographed (by Gökhan Tiryaki) and with a stand-out performance by Taner Birsel as a police inspector, this is Ceylan’s most impressive film yet. PINA Dir. by Wim Wenders, 2011, Germany/France/UK, 106min Here revolutionizing the dance film just as he did the music documentary in Buena Vista Social Club, Wim Wenders began planning this project with legendary choreographer Pina Bausch in the months before her untimely death, selecting the pieces to be filmed and discussing the filmmaking strategy. Impressed by recent innovations in 3D, Wenders decided to experiment with the format for this tribute to Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal; the result sets the standard against which all future uses of 3D to record performance will be measured. Not only are the beauty and sheer exhilaration of the dances and dancers powerfully rendered, but the film also captures the sense of the world that Bausch so brilliantly expressed in all her pieces. Longtime members of the Tanztheater recreate many of their original roles in such seminal works as “Café Müller,” “Le Sacred du Printemps,” and “Kontakthof.” A Sundance Selects release. PLAY Dir. by Ruben Östlund, 2011, Sweden/Rance/Denmark, 124min A deliberately provoked racial incident, based on numerous similar real-life transgressions, is played for all it's worth in “Play.” Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund has developed mesmerizing visual strategies based on long takes and fixed camera positions to relate a disturbing tale of how five savvy African immigrant boys in Gothenberg take advantage of the liberal guilt and placating temperament of three local kids to rob them and take them for a ride to unknown destinations. Social, racial and political credos are twisted, pulled inside out and stood on their head by this bracing and confronting work, which will challenge the assumptions of many a viewer. Dazzlingly shot on the new Red 4K camera, “Play” is a considerable achievement both formally and dramatically that poses more questions than it answers as it lays bare attitudes lurking beneath the surface tranquility of Scandinavian life—a peacefulness that, as we have seen of late, can sometimes be tragically shattered. POLICEMAN Dir. by Nadav Lapid, 2011, Israel/France, 100min A boldly conceived drama pivoting on the initially unrelated activities of an elite anti-terrorist police unit and some wealthy young anarchists, “Policeman” is a striking first feature from writer-director Nadav Lapid. Provocatively timely in light of recent unrest tied to social and economic inequities in Israel, this is a powerfully physical film in its depiction of the muscular, borderline sensual way the macho cops relate to one another, as well as for the emphatic style with which the opposing societal forces are contrasted and finally pitted against one another. Although the youthful revolutionaries come off as petulant and spoiled, their point about the growing gap between the Israeli haves and have-nots cannot be ignored, even by the policemen sent on a rare mission to engage fellow countrymen rather than Palestinians. A winner of three prizes at the Jerusalem Film Festival and a special jury prize at Locarno. A SEPARATION Dir. by Asghar Farhadi, 2011, Iran, 123min A critical and audience favorite at this year's Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear as well as acting prizes for all four lead performers, A Separation is an Iranian Rashomon of searing family drama that turns into an unexpectedly gripping legal thriller. The film, directed by Asghar Farhadi, begins with married couple Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) obtaining coveted visas to leave Iran for the United States, where Simin hopes to offer a better future to their 11-year-old daughter. But Nader doesn’t feel comfortable abandoning his elderly, Alzheimer’s-stricken father, and so the couple embark on a trial separation. To help care for the old man, Nader hires Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a pregnant, deeply religious woman who takes the job unbeknownst to her husband (Shahab Hosseini), an out-of-work cobbler. Almost immediately there are complications, culminating in a sudden burst of violence that constantly challenges our own perceptions of who (if anyone) is to blame and what really happened. SHAME Dir. by Steve McQueen, 2011, UK, 99min In his much-anticipated encore to his superb first feature, “Hunger,” British artist Steve McQueen reunites with the extraordinary Michael Fassbender in the ferociously sexual drama “Shame.” An explosive portrait of a sex addict walking a tightrope between presentable respectability and the wild side, this incendiary drama captures the anger and the ecstasy of its anti-hero's incessant drive for conquest in contemporary New York, where any woman he meets he believes is ripe for the taking. Madly attractive but with cruelly cold eyes, this compulsive Casanova finds his style cramped by the abrupt arrival of his unstable sister (Cary Mulligan), whose insecurities crack open issues of his own. Daring, stylistically brilliant and erotically charged, McQueen's heady, beautiful and disturbing film seems as determined to leave the viewer unsettled as it will surely serve to further propel Fassbender into the front ranks of contemporary screen actors. SLEEPING SICKNESS Dir. by Ulrich Köhler, 2011, Germany/France/Netherlands, 91min This remarkably assured third feature by the young German director Ulrich Köhler—winner of Best Director at this year’s Berlin Film Festival—transports us to Cameroon, where German doctor Ebbo (Pierre Bokma) and his wife have spent two decades combating an epidemic of sleeping sickness in the local villages. Soon, they will return to Europe and to lives long ago put on hold, and this has created a crisis for Ebbo, who, like Joseph Conrad’s Kurtz, has spent too much time up river to ever come back down. Meanwhile, a young black doctor—a Frenchman born to Congolese parents—travels to Africa to evaluate the efficiency of Ebbo’s program. But when he arrives, nothing goes according to plan, and despite his heritage, he feels very much a stranger in a strange land. Finally, the two subjects of this haunting meditation on Africa’s past and future dovetail—effortlessly, seamlessly—and the cumulative impact is stunning. THE SKIN I LIVE IN Dir. by Pedro Almodóvar, 2011, Spain, 113min At “The Cinema Inside Me” program at the 2009 NYFF, Pedro Almodóvar surprised many when he spoke of his great love for American horror and science fiction films—a clue, it turns out, to what he was then just planning. With his new film, Almodóvar ventures headlong into those very genres. Dr. Robert Ledgard (a welcome return for Antonio Banderas) is a world famous plastic surgeon who argues for the development of new, tougher human skin; unbeknownst to others, Dr. Ledgard has been trying to put his theory into practice, keeping a young woman, Vera (Elena Anaya), imprisoned in his mansion while subjecting her to an increasingly bizarre regime of treatments. Fascinated by the thin layer of appearance that stands between our perception of someone and that person’s inner essence, Almodóvar here addresses that continuing theme in his work in a bold, unsettling exploration of identity. A Sony Pictures Classic release. THE STUDENT Dir. by Santiago Mitre, 2011, Argentina, 110min Politics is a game, a seduction, and a vicious cycle in Santiago Mitre’s gripping, fine-tuned debut, the story of Roque (Esteban Lamothe), a university student who falls for a radicalized teacher and organizer (Romina Paula) and soon finds himself entangled with Buenos Aires campus activists, in a world as heated and byzantine as the one inhabited by the student revolutionaries of the mythic 1960s. Anchored by Lamothe’s nuanced, charismatic performance, The Student complicates the classic bildungsroman narrative of education and disillusionment, emphasizing the endless adaptability—or malleability—of its protagonist. An urgent attempt to grapple with the legacy of Peronism in present-day Argentina, the film abounds with telling details and rich local color. But it’s also a truly universal political thriller, one that illuminates the conspiratorial pleasure, the ruthless hustle, and the moral fog of politics as it is practiced. THIS IS NOT A FILM Dir. by Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, 2011, Iran, 75min Accused of collusion against the Iranian regime and currently appealing a prison sentence and a ban from filmmaking, Jafar Panahi (a four-time NYFF veteran with films like Offside and Crimson Gold) collaborated with the documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb on a remarkable day-in-the-life chronicle that, as with many great Iranian films, finds a rich middle ground between fiction and reality. Shot with a digital camera and an iPhone, the movie is almost entirely confined to the director’s apartment, where he discusses his films and an unrealized script, while the outside world imposes itself through phone calls, television news, a few comic interruptions, and the sound of New Year’s fireworks. Far more than the modest home movie it initially seems to be, This Is Not a Film is an act of courage and a statement of political and moral conviction: surprising, radical, and enormously moving. THE TURIN HORSE Dir. by Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky, 2011, Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA, 146min After witnessing a carriage driver whipping his horse, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche ran to the scene, threw his arms around the horse and then collapsed; he would spend the next, final ten years of his life in almost total silence. Focusing not on Nietzsche but on the driver and his family, Béla Tarr (Satantango, NYFF 1994) and his longtime collaborator Agnes Hranitzky, working from a screenplay by Tarr and novelist László Krasznhorkai, create a mesmerizing, provocative meditation on the unsettling connectedness of things, in which the resonance of actions and gestures continues long after their actual occurrence. Beautifully photographed (by Fred Kelemen) on the austere, unforgiving Hungarian plain lands, The Turin Horse challenges us to enter into a world just beyond the one we experience daily. Winner of the Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. A Cinema Guild release. Film Society of Lincoln Center Under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, the Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, currently planning its 49th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award—now named “The Chaplin Award”—to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. The Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational programs and specialty film releases at its Walter Reade Theater and the new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Press release THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER announces Alexander Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS as Closing Night Gala Selection for the 2011 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL NYFF’s Main-Slate of 27 Features On Cinema with Alexander Payne NEW YORK, August 17, 2011 —The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Alexander Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS will be the Closing Night Gala selection for the 49th New York Film Festival (September 30-October 16). NYFF’s main slate of 27 feature films was also announced as well as a return to the festival stage of audience favorite, On Cinema (previously titled The Cinema Inside Me), featuring an in-depth, illustrated conversation with Alexander Payne. The 2011 edition of NYFF will also feature a unique blend of programming to complement the main-slate of films, including: the Masterworks programs, additional titles added to the previously announced BEN-HUR, Nicholas Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN and Velvet Bullets and Steel Kisses: Celebrating the Nikkatsu Centennial, as well as Views from the Avant-Garde, and several special event screenings, all of which will be announced in more detail shortly. “In many of the films in this year’s Festival, characters pass from recognition of a problem or situation to actual resistance,” says Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, “This confrontational attitude is perhaps a sign of our increasingly polarized times.” In his first film since the Oscar-winning SIDEWAYS, writer-director Alexander Payne once again proves himself a master of the kind of smart, sharp, deeply felt comedy that was once the hallmark of Billy Wilder and Jean Renoir. Based on the bestselling novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, THE DESCENDANTS stars George Clooney as ‘Matt King’, the heir of a prominent Hawaiian land-owning family whose life is turned upside-down when his wife is critically injured in a boating accident. Accustomed to being “the back-up parent,” King suddenly finds himself center stage in the lives of his two young daughters (excellent newcomers Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller), while at the same time being forced to decide the fate of a vast plot of unspoiled land his family has owned since the 1860s. Rooted in Clooney’s beautifully understated performance, Payne’s film is an uncommonly perceptive portrait of marriage, family and community, suffused with humor and tragedy and wrapped in a warm human glow. Screening at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday, October 16, Alexander Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS marks the filmmakers 3rd visit to the New York Film Festival; previous titles presented were ABOUT SCHMIDT and SIDEWAYS. Fox Searchlight is releasing the film on November 23, 2011. Since making his debut with CITIZEN RUTH in 1996, Oscar-winning writer-director Alexander Payne (ABOUT SCHMIDT, SIDEWAYS) has emerged as one of the most gifted voices in American movies today, the maker of wry, sharp-edged human comedies that recall the best of Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch and Jean Renoir. He is also a passionate cinephile who has served as a past guest director of the Telluride Film Festival and an outspoken advocate for film preservation. In the third edition of NYFF’s now-annual master class, On Cinema, Payne will discuss his own personal history of cinema in extended conversation with NYFF selection committee chairman Richard Peña, featuring clips from the films that inspired and influenced him and an audience Q&A. Rose Kuo, Executive Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, said, “We are delighted to welcome back Alexander Payne to the New York Film Festival. Payne's nuanced character studies capture the moral chaos lurking just below the surface of everyday American lives. ELECTION, ABOUT SCHMIDT, SIDEWAYS and now THE DESCENDANTS are sophisticated comedy dramas that have marked him as one of the unique and distinctive talents in contemporary American cinema and we cannot think of a stronger conclusion to the festival’s remarkable lineup of films. From established masters to newly discovered talents, this year's selection demonstrates the New York Film Festival’s commitment to providing a platform for the most exciting voices in cinema.” The 49th New York Film Festival main-slate: Opening Night Gala Selection CARNAGE Director: Roman Polanski Country: France/Germany/Poland Centerpiece Gala Selection MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Director: Simon Curtis Country: UK Special Gala Presentations A DANGEROUS METHOD Director: David Cronenberg Country: UK/Canada/Germany THE SKIN I LIVE IN Director: Pedro Almodóvar Country: Spain Closing Night Gala Selection THE DESCENDANTS Director: Alexander Payne Country: USA 4:44: LAST DAY ON EARTH Director: Abel Ferrara Country: USA THE ARTIST Director: Michel Hazanavicius Country: France CORPO CELESTE Director: Alice Rohrwacher Country: Italy/Switzerland/France FOOTNOTE Director: Joseph Cedar Country: Israel GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Director: Martin Scorsese Country: USA GOODBYE FIRST LOVE Director: Mia Hansen-Løve Country: France/Germany THE KID WITH A BIKE Director: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne Country: Belgium/France LE HAVRE Director: Aki Kaurismäki Country: Finland/France/Germany THE LONELIEST PLANET Director: Julia Loktev Country: USA/Germany MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE Director: Sean Durkin Country: USA MELANCHOLIA Director: Lars von Trier Country: Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany/Italy MISS BALA Director: Gerardo Naranjo Country: Mexico ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Country: Turkey PINA Director: Wim Wenders Country: Germany/France/UK PLAY Director: Ruben Östlund Country: Sweden/France/Denmark POLICEMAN Director: Nadav Lapid Country: Israel/France A SEPARATION Director: Asghar Farhadi Country: Iran SHAME Director: Steve McQueen Country: UK SLEEPING SICKNESS Director: Ulrich Köhler Country: Germany/France/Netherlands THE STUDENT Director: Santiago Mitre Country: Argentina THIS IS NOT A FILM Director: Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb Country: Iran THE TURIN HORSE Director: Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky Country: Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Peña also includes: Melissa Anderson, contributor, The Village Voice; Scott Foundas, Associate Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center; Dennis Lim, Editor, Moving Image Source & Freelance Critic; and Todd McCarthy, Chief Critic Hollywood Reporter General Public tickets will be available September 12th. There will be an advance ticketing opportunity for Film Society of Lincoln Center Patrons and Members prior to that date. For more information visit www.Filmlinc.com/NYFF or call 212 875 5601. Press release THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER announces the addition of Two Special Gala Presentations for the 2011 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL with: David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD and Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN New York, NY, August 15, 2011 -- The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the first-time addition of two Galas to join the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Night Galas for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16) with David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD set to screen on Wednesday, October 5 and Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN on Wednesday, October 12. "We’re delighted to be welcoming David Cronenberg to the festival for the first time and to be welcoming back one of the NYFF’s closest friends, Pedro Almodovar,” says Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. “It’s a special pleasure to introduce our audiences to exciting new work by two of contemporary cinema’s most challenging artists.” Scheduled at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday, October 5 will be: David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD Adapted by Christopher Hampton from his play The Talking Cure, the film chronicles the ever-shifting relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Basking at first in Freud’s approval and encouragement, Jung increasingly questions his theories and methods. At the heart of their dispute is their rival approaches to the beautiful yet deeply unbalanced Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly), who eventually draws each man under her spell. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the Sony Pictures Classics release also stars Vincent Cassel and Sarah Gordon. The film is set for a November 23 release. Presented the following Wednesday, on October 12, will be: Pedro Almodóvar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN Reuniting the director with Antonio Banderas, the star of several of his early films, this dramatic thriller was written by Almodovar in collaboration with brother and producer, Agustin, based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel Mygale. Dr. Robert Ledgard (Banderas) is a world famous plastic surgeon who argues for the development of new, tougher human skin; unbeknownst to others, Dr. Ledgard has been trying to put his theory into practice, keeping a young woman, Vera (Elena Anaya), imprisoned in his mansion while subjecting her to an increasingly bizarre regime of treatments. Fascinated by the thin layer of appearance that stands between our perception of someone and that person’s inner essence, Almodóvar here addresses that continuing theme in his work in a bold, unsettling exploration of identity. Almodóvar regular Marisa Paredes offers another winning performance as Marilia, Ledgard’s faithful assistant. A Sony Pictures Classics release is scheduled to open October 14, 2011. Commenting on the first-time addition of the two Galas to join the Opening, Closing and Centerpiece events headlining the NYFF lineup this year, Rose Kuo, Executive Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, said, "This year has seen a great deal of growth for us with the opening of our new Film Center and we are thrilled to continue that expansion at this year’s NYFF. We will be offering more screenings, panels, and family events as well as these two new marquee nights that feature highly anticipated fall films." General Public tickets will be available September 12th. There will be an advance ticketing opportunity for Film Society of Lincoln Center Patrons and Members prior to that date. For more information visit www.Filmlinc.com/NYFF or call 212 875 5601. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesApril 2012 CategoriesAll |
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