New leadership, pricey renovations, the massive exposure that arises from holding an event at Lincoln Center -- each of these factors are worthy of analysis when considering the New York Film Festival, but ultimately the program comes down to the whims of five people.
Selected by a handful of critics and journalists, NYFF stands out on the festival circuit for its idiosyncratic, cinephile-oriented program that features highlights from the year in world cinema, but no world premieres.
Even though everything in the 17-day festival screened somewhere else first (much it at Cannes, Toronto, or Berlin), it's still a fascinatingly eccentric compilation of big screen accomplishments.
Some highlights to look for as the festival gets under way this Friday:
Wild Grass
Octogenarian French New Wave veteran Alain Resnais' beguiling romantic comedy went virtually unnoticed in the main competition at Cannes last May, dwarfed by the shadows of Quentin Tarantino and Michael Haneke (whose black-and-white period piece "The White Ribbon" also screens at NYFF). But Resnais proves that he's still got a few tricks up his sleeve with his beautiful and oddly hilarious look at romance amid midlife crises. The movie was selected for the opening night slot, and appropriately so -- it appeals to young movie buffs and old school arthouse lovers alike.
Trash Humpers
Harmony Korine's naughty return to form follows a demented group of killers as they engage in the eponymous sexual activity as a means of social rebellion, while their deeds unfold on VHS camcorder footage to mix the "Kids" writer's penchant for freaks with an unsettling degree of realism. "Trash Humpers," which Korine conceived and shot a mere three months ago in his hometown of Nashville, mystified audiences in Toronto but was met with widespread critical approval. A late NYFF addition, it's surefire bet for cult popularity. Then there's the press conference, which may or may not involve cast members showing up in character. Stay tuned for more.
To Die Like a Man
Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues premiered this magnificently shot and deeply felt portrait of a transvestite in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. Though already deemed "undistributable" by at least one journalist at a press screening earlier this week, "Man" deserves an audience attuned to its mixture of emotional fragility and celebratory queerness. Imagine "Transamerica" as directed by John Waters and you might get halfway there. The rest is a collage of signifiers almost too intense for words.
Antichrist
By now, the whole world knows about Lars Von Trier's frightening and knowingly twisted look at an ailing couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainesborough) going crazy in the wilderness. Genital mutilation and talking animals notwithstanding, "Antichrist" is actually far more poignant than its sensationalistic reputation would have you believe. But NYFF attendees will have to be be willing to sit through the whole thing if they want to figure that much out.
Lebanon
My favorite movie at the Toronto International Film Festival ended its time there without distribution. Since then, however, Sony Pictures Classics snatched up this intense, engaging war movie set during Israel's militant engagement with Lebanon in the early 1980s. Blending the setting of "Waltz with Bashir" with the suspense of "The Hurt Locker," it practically screams for an Oscar -- and, beyond that, an appreciative audience.
Precious
Fresh from winning top honors at TIFF, Lee Daniels's moving portrait of Harlem strife takes the centerpiece slot at NYFF, where it's bound to receive a flashy homecoming. Another surefire Oscar contender, its New York premiere provides a testing ground for what sort of reception the drama might get when it hits theaters in a few weeks.
The entire NYFF program is listed below.
New York Film Festival 2009
September 25 - October 11
Main Slate
OPENING NIGHT
Wild Grass / Les herbes folles
Alain Resnais, France, 2009; 113m
The venerable Alan Resnais creates an exquisite human comedy of manners, mystery and romance with some of France's - and our - favorite actors: Sabine Azéma, André Dussollier, Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Almaric. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
CENTERPIECE
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Lee Daniels, USA, 2009; 109m
Precious is sixteen and living a miserable life. But she uses all the emotional energy she possesses to turn her life around. Director Lee Daniel's audacious tale features unforgettable performances by Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. A Lionsgate release.
CLOSING NIGHT
Broken Embraces / Los abrazos rotos
Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 2009; 128m
Almodóvar's newest masterwork is a candy-colored emotional roller that barrels from comedy to romance to melodrama to the darker haunts of film noir and stars his muse, Penélope Cruz, in a multilayered story of a man who loses his sight and the love of his life. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
36 Views of Saint-Loup Peak / 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup
Jacques Rivette, France, 2009, 84m
The legendary Jacques Rivette returns with an elegiac look at the final days of a small-time traveling circus.
Antichrist
Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2009, 109m
Surely to be one of the year's most discussed films, Lars von Trier's latest chronicles a couple's efforts to find their love again after a tragic loss, only to unleash hidden monsters lurking in their souls. An IFC Films release.
The Art of the Steal
Don Argott, USA, 2009, 101m
Bound to be controversial, this intriguing account of the travails of the legendary Barnes collection of art masterworks and the foundation set up to protect it raises vital questions about public vs. private "ownership" of art.
Bluebeard / La Barbe Bleue
Catherine Breillat, France, 2009, 78m
Two sisters reading Charles Perrault's 17th century tale of perhaps the first "serial killer" becomes a meditation on the enduring fascination with a character who has served as inspiration for countless novels, plays and films.
Crossroads of Youth / Cheongchun's Sipjaro
An Jong-hwa, Korea, 1934, 73m
The oldest surviving Korean film, this recently-rediscovered masterwork will be presented with live musical accompaniment as well as a benshi (offscreen narrator).
Eccentricities of a Blonde
Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France, 2009, 64m
One hundred years young, director Manoel de Oliveira returns with another gem: a wry, moving tale of a pure if frustrated love adapted from a novel by Eça de Queiroz.
Everyone Else / Alle Anderen
Maren Ade, Germany, 2009, 119m
The ups and downs, joys and jealousies, frustrations and fulfillments of a young couple on a summer holiday provide the premise for this brilliant meditation on modern coupling.
Ghost Town
Zhao Dayong, China, 2008, 180m
A revealing, one-of-a-kind look at China far away from the glittering urban skylines, this portrait of a contemporary rural community in China offers extraordinary insights into everything from the role of religion to gender relationships to the place of social deviants.
Hadewijch
Bruno Dumont, France, 2009, 105m
A young woman searches for an absolute experience of faith-and in the process grows increasingly distant from the world around her.
Independencia
Raya Martin, Philippines, 2009, 77m
Maverick director Raya Martin offers a kind of alternative history of the Philippines and its struggle for nationhood in this stylized tale of a mother and son hiding in the mountains after the US takeover of the islands.
Inferno / L'Enfer
Serge Bromberg, France, 2009, 100m
A film buff's delight, Serge Bromberg film resurrects the surviving footage of Clouzot's aborted, experimental film L'Enfer, revealing a slightly mad but beguiling project that will always remain one of cinema's great "what ifs."
Kanikosen
Sabu, Japan, 2009, 109m
Kanikosen is a highly stylized, stirring, manga-flavored update of a classic Japanese political novel, with labor unrest aboard a crab canning ship evolving into a cry of a younger generation aching to break the bonds of conformity.
Lebanon
Samuel Maoz, Israel, 2009, 92m
Debut director Samuel Maoz takes us inside an Israeli tank and the emotions of its crew during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Life During Wartime
Todd Solondz, USA, 2009, 96m
Preparing for his bar-mitzvah, a young man must deal with his divorced mother's prospective fiancé as well as rumors that his own father is not really dead.
Min Yé
Souleymane Cissé, Mali/France, 2009, 135m
A work of startling originality, Souleymane Cissé's first film in over a decade insightfully and incisively chronicles the dissolution of an upper-middle class African marriage.
Mother/ Maedo
Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2009, 128m
Convinced that her son has been wrongly accused of murder, a widow throws herself body and soul into proving his innocence. Kim Hye-ja in the title role gives perhaps the performance of the year.
Ne Change Rien
Pedro Costa, France/Portugal, 2009, 103m
A shimmering valentine, Costa's latest is less a portrait than a kind of visual homage, to the artistry of actor and singer Jeanne Balibar.
Police Adjective / Politist, adj.
Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2009, 115m
Discovering a teenager with hashish, a young policeman hesitates about turning him in. But his supervisor has other ideas in this beautifully acted, provocative modern morality play. An IFC Films release.
Room and a Half / Poltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoe puteshtvie na rodinu
Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Russia, 2009, 131m
Former animator Andrey Khrzhanovsky combines scripted scenes, archival footage, several types of animation, and surrealist flights of fancy to create this stirring portrait of poet Josef Brodsky and the postwar Soviet cultural scene. A Seagull Films release.
Sweetgrass
Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, USA, 2009, 105m
This breathtaking chronicle follows an ever-surprising group of modern-day cowboys as they lead an enormous herd of sheep up and then down the slopes of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana on their way to market.
Sweet Rush / Tatarak
Andrzej Wajda, Poland/France, 2009, 85m
Celebrated master Andrzej Wajda returns with a bold, experimental work that juxtaposes a story about a terminally doctor's wife rediscovering romance thanks with a heart-rending monologue written and performed by actress Krystyna Janda about the death of her husband.
To Die Like a Man / Morrer como um homen
João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, 2009, 138m
This touching, finely-etched portrait follows Tonia, a veteran drag performer confronting younger competition and her boyfriend's demands that she undergo a sex change.
Vincere
Marco Bellocchio, Italy, 2009, 129m
Mussolini's "secret" marriage to Ida Dalser, afterwards completely denied by Il Duce, along with the son born from the relationship, becomes the springboard for this visually ravishing meditation on the fascist manipulation of history. An IFC Films release.
White Material
Claire Denis, France, 2009, 100m
A handful of Europeans try to make sense of-and survive-the chaos happening all around them in an African country torn apart by civil war.
The White Ribbon / Das weisse band
Michael Haneke, Austria/France, 2009, 144m
The Palme d'Or winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival, this is a starkly beautiful meditation on the consequences of violence-physical, emotional, spiritual-in a northern German town on the eve of World War I. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
The Wizard of Oz
Victor Fleming, 1939, USA, 103m
The 70th Anniversary of the timeless classic, presented in a spectacular newly-restored edition makes the film a new experience even for those who practically have it memorized. A Warner Bros. release.