From the Mouths of Filmmakers: John Wildman

John Wildman (left) and co-writer/wife Justina Walford (right)(Photo by Rasheda Beebs Valdez)

FROM THE MOUTHS OF FILMMAKERS:

JOHN WILDMAN
By John Wildman and Joshua Handler 

Recently I've been disturbed by the amount of people who don't seek out independent films, non-English-language films, and classics.  So, I asked some of the most distinctive voices in independent and world cinema to submit responses to a few questions about why/if they think indies/non-English-language films/classics are important to view, and how those films have been influential on their careers.

The response below is from John Wildman, senior publicist for the Film Society of Lincoln Center and director/co-writer of the film The Ladies of the House.

Do you feel that it is important for aspiring filmmakers and filmgoers to view independent and world cinema and why?

I think it’s important for the obvious reasons – to know what has been done before and to see what is being done currently and to be inspired to do something yourself in the future. When I was younger and doing what used to be a young aspiring filmmaker’s rite of passage – working at a video rental place – I thought I needed to see EVERYTHING. I watched the stuff I loved or was excited to see but also watched stuff I just knew would suck. And I would watch the stuff I thought would suck because I wanted to have a point of reference to be able to articulate why it sucked.  

Of course, I’m very old now (in Hollywood terms) and I’m more jealous of my time so I steer clear of a lot of films that I simply have no interest in checking out. I also have to watch a lot of films due to my job (Senior Publicist at the Film Society of Lincoln Center) and often they are not films that I would ever gravitate to on my own, so I haven’t really gotten completely away from that balance of seeing stuff that isn’t in your “comfort zone” along with the films that are totally in my personal wheelhouse. But the distinction with independent and world cinema is that one (in a general sense) was made because the filmmaker(s) had such a strong desire, a need even, to make that film, to get that idea or vision on a big screen that they moved heaven and earth and spent all their relatives' and friends' money to do so. That’s somewhat of a cliché, I know, but one that still has a shit-ton of truth to it. And foreign or world cinema will frequently force you to make that connection to universal stories and emotions, etc. through the prism of vastly different cultures, via viewpoints that can be diametrically opposed to your own, etc. And that can be invigorating and reassuring at the same time.

Do you feel that it is important for aspiring filmmakers and filmgoers to view classics and why?

Absolutely. There is very little that is new under the sun. So, you should be educated as to how the best told stories, mastered the camera, and manipulated the image long before you got the idea into your head that you could do it too.

How has viewing indies and films from around the world helped you as a filmmaker/publicist?

THE LADIES OF THE HOUSE poster

As a publicist, the only way it helps is to have a firmer grasp on what I am pitching and talking about and why I am doing so. What helps me specifically as a publicist is having gone through the ordeal to make a film myself, so I can understand the filmmaker’s desire to speak to serious journalists about their work and to have a much better affinity and empathy for the filmmaker going through the press and public relations process on behalf of yourself and something you created and hold dear to you.

As a filmmaker, all of the responses above apply.

What's one American indie and one film not in English that you would recommend that film-lovers or young/aspiring filmmakers see? 

I respond to films that excite me with their desire to do something different and that have a “joy” about them. “Joy” doesn’t mean they are necessarily “happy” but you can tell there is a joyful energy about filmmaking going on. It isn’t just a job. It isn’t a studio or a big-budget “indie” making “product”.

On the indie front, BELLFLOWER, THE COLOR WHEEL, GREEN, SHORT TERM 12, SIGHTSEERS, YOU AND ME AND EVERYONE WE KNOW come to mind. On the foreign front, AMÉLIE, BAND OF OUTSIDERS, OLDBOY (the original, not the unfortunate remake), and CITY OF GOD would be required viewing.

From the Mouths of Filmmakers continues on Monday.

THE KILL TEAM Review

Adam Winfield at Fort Lewis, August 2011. Photo by Dan Krauss.

THE KILL TEAM
2013, 79 minutes

Not Rated

Review by Joshua Handler

This review was originally published during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.  The Kill Team went on to win the Best Documentary award.

One of the best films showing at the Tribeca Film Festival, Dan Krauss’ documentary The Kill Team tells the story of a group of a group of American soldiers who form a “kill team” and set up innocent Afghan civilians as an excuse to kill them.  This documentary is surprisingly unbiased and is extremely unsettling.

Through interviews with many of the soldiers who participated in these murders, Krauss crafts a disturbing investigation into how these murders happened and why they did.  Private Adam Winfield is the main interviewee in The Kill Team.  He wanted to report the murders that he had witnessed, but was threatened with death.  He talked to his parents who tried everything they could to help him, but nothing worked.  Eventually, he was pressured into participating in a killing.  Because he didn’t report the killings, he was charged with premeditated murder. 

This incendiary documentary is truly infuriating.  It takes a deep, hard look at the United States army and exposes much of what is wrong with its hierarchy.  This film is a sort-of companion to the equally infuriating and powerful documentary The Tillman Story, about a military cover-up, and 2012 Oscar-nominee The Invisible War about sexual assault in the military.  In the past few years since the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has quieted down some, there have been some riveting exposés on the military, making us question how good this seemingly heroic group of Americans really are.  These people are supposedly protecting our country, but when looking at a film such as The Kill Team, it makes one question their heroism and bravery. 

The Kill Team also raises some other disturbing questions about the hierarchy of nations.  The United States is frequently after other nations for committing heinous war crimes or crimes against humanity, yet U.S. soldiers are committing heinous war crimes overseas and covering it up, showing a large double standard.  As said in The Kill Team, the group portrayed is not the only group committing the crimes that were described in the film, meaning that there may be countless other groups going out and covering up murders of innocent people.  The soldiers interviewed also discussed how the Afghan people to them are lower than dirt when they are off at war, showing the twisted mindset of these men.  This is not to say that the military is bad and that everyone in it is either.  That is not the point.  The point is that documentaries like The Kill Team are so important because they call for change in a largely corrupted organization originally intended to do good.

The Kill Team is smartly assembled, and oddly depoliticized.  While it is certainly a critical look at the army, this is not because the filmmakers put a political slant on it.  They simply showed surprisingly detailed interviews with the soldiers involved with the killings and let them tell the story.

Overall, The Kill Team is a masterful documentary that should be seen by everyone.  The general public needs to see a film like this, however I am concerned that it will only be seen by those that do not need to see it: those that agree with the critical views of the military expressed in the film. 

4/4

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Review

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

2014, 121 minutes

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language

Review by Joshua Handler

With the exception of Iron Man, I've never loved a Marvel movie.  I certainly enjoy them (even though they're all essentially the same thing), though I've always wished that they would just be a bit more daring.  They usually play it so safe, so when one comes along that takes a major risk and has a unique voice (like Iron Man), it's a welcome thing.

Iron Man was released in 2008, six years ago.  The Avengers was quite good and had Whedon's mark on it, but it wasn't outstanding.  I've been craving something as great as Iron Man and got it with Guardians of the Galaxy which is hands-down the most original, entertaining, and bizarre blockbuster to come along in a very long time.  It isn't just a great Marvel movie, it's a great movie, period.  Director James Gunn perfectly meshes together his own style and sensibilities with those of Marvel to create a movie that left me with a gaping grin on my face.

I'll save you a plot synopsis because that would take away from the space in which I can gush about this movie.  James Gunn and Nicole Perlman wrote the wickedly funny screenplay for this film.  It never takes itself too seriously and makes the characters relatable, something that other Marvel films don't do.  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is the best lead character anyone could ask for because he's just a regular human being.  He doesn't have any superpowers and is just like any lovable loser you'd meet at a party.  Even characters like Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), a human-like raccoon and Groot (voice of Vin Diesel), a walking tree-like creature who says only three words ("I am Groot"), are relatable on a human level.

The ensemble of characters in this film works beautifully.  There's something about each one of them that I love and connect to, and that's something I don't say everyday about Marvel characters.  Their interactions and the way that they eventually learn to love and accept each other is wonderfully entertaining and, most of all, touching.

This movie has such a big heart and Gunn shows how much he loves and cares about it every second that this movie runs.  During some points in the first hour I wasn't sure if I was sold on Guardians, but in the second hour, Gunn really pulls out the stops and mixes in some real emotions and stunning action sequences.

Gunn's use of '60s and '70s music is a stroke of genius.  This music starts during the insanely amusing opening credits sequence in which Chris Pratt is dancing around with his headphones on.  These opening credits perfectly set the tone for the rest of the film.

With Guardians, it seems as if everyone knew that they were making something special.  Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and Dave Bautista are the "Guardians" and give this film their all.  They all ooze charisma and do everything they can to add complexity to their already well-written characters.

Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy is a complete success.  It's such an exciting film that's a huge breath of fresh air.  Unlike other Marvel films, it is never stale and even the 3D is quite good.  It's amazing to see what happens when a director is allowed to write his own screenplay for a blockbuster.  This movie is James Gunn's vision - he has a very bright career as an action director.

4/4

10.000KM Review: Rooftop Films Summer Series

Natalia Tena (left) and David Verdaguer (right)
Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

10.000KM (LONG DISTANCE)

2014, 99 minutes

Rated R for some strong sexual content including dialogue, language and brief graphic nudity

Review by Joshua Handler

This film was shown through the Rooftop Films Summer Series on Saturday, July 19. Director Carlos Marques-Marcet was in attendance for a Q&A.

The opening shot of Carlos Marques-Marcet's 10.000KM is over 20 minutes long and it's so beautifully-executed that it took a few minutes for me to notice that there had been no cuts.  It is (literally and figuratively) seamless.  The same could be said for the rest of the movie.  While there aren't any 20-minute takes in the rest of the film, it is a beautifully-directed, achingly honest piece that won me over in minutes.

10.000KM tells the story of Alex and Sergi (Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer, respectively), a couple who lives in Barcelona.  Alex is offered a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity in Los Angeles and decides to move there for the year, while Sergi stays in Barcelona.  Every few days that they're apart, we are given glimpses of their lives mostly through their video chat conversations.  The use of video chatting could've been a gimmicky device, but instead provides a lens through which we can view this distinctly modern romance.

The film explores the role of technology in 21st Century romance.  It has been compared to Her since they're thematically very similar.  Though they're similar in that respect, their explorations of those themes are very different.  10.000KM shows how technology can be good for short-term long distance relationships, but not long-term long distance relationships.  What initially may seem like a way to keep a relationship going turns out to be a relationship killer.  Her taught us that nothing was more powerful than the human touch.  While Alex and Sergi may be video chatting frequently, they can't physically be with one another and this begins to drive them apart.

The opening of the film is a long sex scene.  Alex and Sergi are very much in love and want to have a baby.  They're as close as they could possibly be physically.  When Alex goes to Los Angeles, she and Sergi try to have some form of sex through their video chat though that ends with Sergi being pleasured and Alex getting nothing out of the experience.  This is in stark contrast to the opening sex scene in which they pleasure each other equally.  Over video chat, they tried to perform a natural act in an unnatural manner, which ended up creating an unfortunate situation.

The naturalness of the opening sex scene is furthered by the incredible 20+-minute take that it begins.  Cinematographer Dagmar Weaver-Madsen, director Carlos Marques-Marcet, and Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer work perfectly in sync as this scene rolls along.  The shot is so ambitious, yet so understated that I didn't even notice that there hadn't been a cut until many minutes into the take.  This opening take captures the natural rhythms of Alex and Sergi's life in real time to show us how beautifully everything flows when they're together.  The rest of the film is fragmented to show us how the rhythm is broken.

Tena and Verdaguer (the only two actors in the film) won the acting prize at the SXSW Film Festival this year.  They deserve every award and every piece of praise.  Their performances go beyond acting.  The opening and closing scenes are the best showcases of the pair's acting.  During the closing scene, little needs to be said since everything is displayed on Tena and Verdaguer's faces.  These are raw, starkly emotional performances that aren't showy, but are more effective than just about any other performances out there.

Overall, 10.000KM is an impressive debut feature for Marques-Marcet and an unmatched acting showcase.  10.000KM isn't always pleasant to watch, particularly in its latter half, but it is a moving romance for the Digital Age that will speak to anyone who has been in a long distance relationship.  As mentioned above, I fell in love with this movie in minutes and would view it again in a heartbeat.

4/4

From the Mouths of Filmmakers: Alain Guiraudie

Alain Guiraudie
Photo by John Parra - © 2014 John Parra - Image courtesy gettyimages.com

FROM THE MOUTHS OF FILMMAKERS:

ALAIN GUIRAUDIE
By Alain Guiraudie and Joshua Handler 

Recently I've been disturbed by the amount of people who don't seek out independent films, non-English-language films, and classics.  So, I asked some of the most distinctive voices in independent and world cinema to submit responses to a few questions about why/if they think indies/non-English-language films/classics are important to view, and how those films have been influential on their careers.

The response below is from French director Alain Guiraudie, best known for his 2013 film, Stranger by the Lake.  He won the Un Certain Regard Directing Prize and the Queer Palm for the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for Stranger.  Stranger was named the best film of 2013 by Cahiers du Cinéma and one of the top 10 films of 2013 by Sight & Sound Magazine.  Alain has also directed such films as The King of Escape and Du soleil pour les gueux. 

Do you feel that it is important for people to view independent and world cinema and why?

I think it is important to see all the kind of cinemas. I think it is important to be curious as a filmmaker...as a human being as well.

Do you feel that it is important for aspiring filmmakers and filmgoers to view films of the past and why (if you don't feel that it is important, please tell why)? 

Film of the past are part of our history. For me it is necessary to know what the previous directors did... What kind of film the humanity produced before us... And I think that the desire to make one's film comes from watching films.

How did viewing indies and films from around the world help you when making STRANGER BY THE LAKE or any of your other films?

I don't really know how other films influence me. But I think that since my very first film, I have had a kind of dialogue through films with others directors. When I see some films, I can feel that I must go in one direction or sometimes, against [the other director's] proposition. In a certain way, I think that I did STRANGER BY THE LAKE against QUERELLE (the film by Fassbinder and the novel by Genet) even though I like them both.

What is one French film and one non-French film you'd recommend that filmgoers or aspiring filmmakers view? 

HAPPINESS by Todd Solondz

FLANDRES by Bruno Dumont

From the Mouths of Filmmakers will continue on Friday. 

An Interview with Kelly Masterson

Source: Angela Weiss/Getty Images North America

AN INTERVIEW WITH 

KELLY MASTERSON

By Joshua Handler

Screenwriter Kelly Masterson started as a banker.  He wrote on the side, but never really had much success until his first screenplay got turned into a film.  That screenplay was Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, the highly acclaimed final film by Sidney Lumet.  His second screenplay (co-written with director Bong Joon-ho) is now the movie Snowpiercer, one of this year's most spectacular achievements.

Masterson and Director Bong (as Bong Joon-ho is so affectionately called) met by chance.  "It was totally like being struck by lightening," said Masterson.  "I had never met Director Bong.  He had never met me.  He saw a movie that I wrote called Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, picked up the phone, called me."

"I never talked to a producer, I never talked to money people, I never talked to stars...the only person I ever talked to, begin to end, was Director Bong," said Masterson.  "There was one vision: his, one person to please: him, and it was just a terrific experience to work with him."

I asked Kelly what the draw of working on this film was.  "[I]t really was Director Bong. I had seen Mother.  I had not seen his other films.  I just wanted to work with him.  What appealed to me about the story is it's so linear.  Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is the least linear thing in the world. This [Snowpiercer] is so linear it is in a straight line.  I like dark, twisted, fucked-up people.  I don't know that I like them, I wouldn't want them in my life.  I like them in my mind, I like them in my computer.  Those are the kind of characters I love to write and this had them even more so than the graphic novel.  When we started inventing what we needed for our film, those were meaty kinds of characters that I like..."

Masterson explained that the graphic novel and the film are very different.  "Certainly the premise and the idea [are the same]," he said.  "But that's really pretty much [all] Director Bong wanted from that. But he wanted to create his own characters."  So, Director Bong brought Masterson in to flesh out the characters and to write dialogue since Kelly is a native English-speaker.  Masterson added, "I always say that the vision is 80%, maybe even 90 % Director Bong.  The writing I think we're pretty equal."

One thing that amazed me about Snowpiercer is how brilliantly crafted its screenplay is.  Every piece fits into the narrative puzzle beautifully, and I asked Kelly how one goes about planning out a screenplay like that.  He replied, referencing a scene in which protein blocks are used to show people what the train looks like, "At our very first meeting, Director Bong and I were having breakfast at a hotel in Beverly Hills and he took potatoes off of his plate and lined them up like the train.  It was like the building blocks of the film and you see that scene...and what's interesting too to me is all the potato pieces looked alike and then when you see it in the movie, all of the protein bars look alike because they [the people revolting] don't know, they don't know what each car is going to look like.  They don't know that each one's going to be different, that each one's going to be a whole new world that all looks like just piece of potato to them until they start that journey.  And you open those doors and you're in a whole new world.  [T]he real building blocks of writing that script was knowing that each one was going to be different."

When I asked him about how a sci-fi film like Snowpiercer came about in the middle of two crime films, Masterson said, "As I was writing it [Snowpiercer], I wasn't thinking genre, I wasn't thinking sci-fi, I was just thinking about the characters, but what a great opportunity for me to get to do that. That's going to be on my resume for the rest of my life!"

When I asked whether the film was close to Kelly's original vision in the screenplay, he told me, "It's greater.  My mind was limited, Director Bong's wasn't limited."

Masterson obviously has an enormous respect for the two directors he's worked with: Bong Joon-ho and Sidney Lumet: "The other thing that's wonderful, and Sidney Lumet was the same way, was we worked really hard on the script and we made sure the script was exactly what he [Director Bong] wanted, what he needed, so he then shot that script, he didn't do a lot of invention on set.  Visually he did things that blew my mind, but in terms of what the building blocks are, he shot his script.  I'm really lucky as a writer because...I say this about my two major movies, that the directors actually made better movies than the scripts.  The scripts were good...but the movies are even better."

Kelly and I discussed his career as a writer and he said the following about his work: "I stopped writing myself, and that's when I knew I was a real writer because I realized it wasn't ego, it was really stories I wanted to tell, it was characters I wanted to bring to life.

"I always want my characters to make sense to themselves, maybe not to others, but they have to make sense to themselves, and I really like to love them.  I wrote Killing Kennedy and I had to write Lee Harvey Oswald, who was a man who I absolutely hated...for 50 years, and I had to find something in him that I loved so I could write him so that I could feel for him and that he would make sense to me..."

My personal favorite story that Kelly told me was about how Tilda Swinton was cast: "Do you know the Tilda Swinton story?" Kelly asked.  "Do you know how she got cast? We wrote it [the role] as a man...and she wanted to do something with director Bong, and he said, 'Well i don't have anything in this movie for you.'  And so she said, 'Can I read the script?'  She read the script, and she said, 'I want to play that part,' and he went 'Okay.'  That's as simple as it was.  We wrote it and we didn't change the pronouns...other people call her 'sir', so we didn't change anything. She just played it."

Throughout this interview, Masterson kept reiterating how thrilled he was to have worked with Bong Joon-ho on a project like Snowpiercer.  This speaks to what a phenomenal director Bong Joon-ho is and to how humble Masterson is.  "To have in your whole filmography films like these two that I'm so proud of, that's pretty great."

SNOWPIERCER is now in theaters and on VOD.  It's one of the best films of the year.

From the Mouths of Filmmakers: Joseph Cedar

Joseph Cedar© 2011 Movie Plus

FROM THE MOUTHS OF FILMMAKERS:

JOSEPH CEDAR
By Joseph Cedar and Joshua Handler 

Recently I've been disturbed by the amount of people who don't seek out independent films, non-English-language films, and classics.  So, I asked some of the most distinctive voices in independent and world cinema to submit responses to a few questions about why/if they think indies/non-English-language films/classics are important to view, and how those films have been influential on their careers.

The response below is from Joseph Cedar.  Joseph is best-known for his films BEAUFORT and FOOTNOTE, both of which were Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.  FOOTNOTE also won the Best Screenplay prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.  Additionally, Joseph directed the award-winning films TIME OF FAVOR and CAMPFIRE and will be contributing to the new anthology film JERUSALEM, I LOVE YOU.

Note: I asked Joseph the usual questions, but he responded in a slightly different manner, which I hope you find as fascinating as I do. He used my questions as a prompt to write a mini-essay.

At some point in preproduction, on every film I've made, someone around me, a DP, a designer, sometimes a producer or financier, or perhaps an elderly neighbor I meet by the mailbox, would suggest I see a certain film in the context of what I am working on. I make a point of at least writing down the title in those instances when I'm not familiar with the film so that I can check it out when I have time. In this way, films like PORK CHOP HILL, directed by Lewis Milestone in 1959, became a tremendous influence on me and our team while making BEAUFORT. Bergman's WILD STRAWBERRIES, a film I was obviously familiar with, but had never actually seen in its entirety, inspired some of our decisions in FOOTNOTE and became one of my favorite films. Currently, IKIRU, Kurosawa's film from 1952, has become a reference in our work on my next film after an actor suggested I see it again. 

It is obviously good to have a thorough knowledge of film history, but there are thousands and thousands of films and it is impossible to see them all, which is why I like the coincidence that brings certain films to my attention. As if there is some mysterious force that pushes certain films into my radar at a specific time in my life. 

For a while I was dealing with a Nazi propaganda film called JEW SUESS, which made me interested in its director, Viet Harlan, which introduced me to some of his less known films, one of them called PEDRO MUST HANG, produced in 1939, an obscure German film that almost no one had seen because it was banned by Goebbels. This film and its storyline helped me formulate an idea I was struggling with and became a significant reference for me. He also directed a film called THE TRIP TO TILSIT which is a talking remake, or rather a retelling of SUNRISE, Murnau's silent masterpiece from 1927, based on a short story by Hermann Sudermann. SUNRISE is probably the most beautiful film I've seen in my life, and if I had to recommend one classic film, this would be the one. 

Having so many old films available online now makes it much easier to be exposed to work created in different countries and different eras, and it has become a primary tool in my process to open myself to this kind of associative research before I begin shooting. Classics should be seen and studied, but there are many hidden treasures out there that should be found at the right time by the right person.

From the Mouths of Filmmakers will continue on Wednesday.

BREAKING: BIRDMAN to Close NYFF52

David Fincher's GONE GIRL is opening NYFF52 and Paul Thomas Anderson's INHERENT VICE is the centerpiece.  Now...

THE FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE FROM THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCED TODAY
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU’S BIRDMAN AS THE CLOSING NIGHT
SELECTION FOR THE 52^ND NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

New York, NY (July 21, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance as the Closing Night selection for the upcoming 52nd New York Film Festival (September 26 – October 12). The black comedy stars Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. This marks Iñárritu’s third time at the festival, having previously screened Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003). The Fox Searchlight Pictures and New Regency release is slated to open in select theaters on October 17, 2014.

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair, Kent Jones said: “Birdman is a knockout. It’s consistently surprising and inventive – you think the movie is going in one direction and then Iñárritu shifts gears and takes you somewhere else completely unexpected: the movie is like an intricate machine generating greater and greater amounts of beautiful radiant energy. The entire cast is amazing and they mesh perfectly, but I have to say that Michael Keaton is astonishing. He’s always been a terrific and, in my opinion, underrated actor. Here he gets the role he deserves, and he makes the most of it. And, it’s a great Broadway movie.”

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s big, bold, and beautifully brash new movie, where one-time action hero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, in a jaw-dropping performance), in an effort to be taken seriously as an artist, is staging his own adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. As Thomson tries to get his perilous undertaking in shape for the opening, he has to cope with a resentful daughter (Emma Stone), a scene-hogging narcissist (Edward Norton), a vulnerable actress (Naomi Watts) and an unhinged girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) for co-stars, a manager who’s about to come undone (Zach Galifianikis), and the inner demon of the superhero that made him famous, Birdman. Iñárritu’s camera magically prowls, careens and soars in and around the theater, yet remains alive to the most precious subtleties and surprises between his formidable actors. Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is an extravagant dream of a movie, alternately hilarious and terrifying, powered by a deep love of acting, theater, and Broadway – a real New York experience.

Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a presentation of Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises, a New Regency/M Productions/Le Grisbi production.

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 Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

NYFF previously announced the Opening Night selection Gone Girl, Centerpiece selection Inherent Vice, retrospective Joseph L. Mankiewicz: The Essential Iconoclast, as well as initial selections in the Revivals section of the festival to includeBurroughs: The Movie, The Color of Pomegranates, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and Once Upon a Time in America. 

Tickets for the 52^nd New York Film Festival will go on sale to the general public at noon on Sunday, September 7. Becoming a Film Society member before July 31 provides access to a pre-sale period for single tickets to festival screenings and events ahead of the general public on-sale date.

Subscription Packages and VIP Passes to NYFF52 give the buyer the earliest access to tickets and are on sale through July 31. Depending on the level purchased, packages and passes provide access to Main Slate and Special Event screenings including those on the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing nights of the festival. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.com/NYFF. To find out how to become a Film Society member, visit filmlinc.com/support/home.


FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Latinbeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Commentmagazine, The Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, HBO®, the Kobal Collection, Trump International Hotel and Tower, Row NYC Hotel, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Support for the New York Film Festival is also generously provided by KIND Bars, Portage World Wide Inc., WABC-7, and WNET New York Public Media.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

THE NEWBURGH STING Review

FBI Explodes a Car BombPhoto Credit: FBI

THE NEWBURGH STING

2014, 80 minutes

Not Rated

Review by Joshua Handler

This movie made me mad that four people were convicted of terrorism.  Why?  Go watch The Newburgh Sting, which premieres on HBO tonight.  The Newburgh Sting isn't the greatest piece of documentary filmmaking ever, but is certainly a necessary one, as it presents a very relevant news story from a very different point of view.

In 2009, four men were convicted of attempting to blow up a synagogue and shoot down military planes flying out of a base in New York in an FBI sting operation.  These men were not the best guys around, but not terrorists.  Not even close.  They were all Muslim and they were led into this "terror plot" by an FBI informant who was posing as a jihadist.  Watch the movie to find out what happened after.

Directors Kate Davis and David Heilbroner (also co-editors of the film) do an excellent job at keeping this movie moving.  At 80 minutes it's the perfect length and the pace rarely ever sags.  They provide a very compelling case for why this FBI sting operation was entrapment and include some wonderful footage and photographs from the FBI's investigation.  We get to see quite a bit of footage of the FBI informant setting the "terrorists" up, which really brings this story to life.

I can't fault The Newburgh Sting for much, but I am not giving it a perfect score because there's nothing really extraordinary about it.  It is essentially a long-form news piece that's unusually interesting.  While compelling and well-made, it didn't have a large impact on me.

Overall, The Newburgh Sting is a good film that I believe many will find fascinating.  It provides some much-needed criticism of the FBI's informant program and reminded me of Joe Berlinger's recently-released film Whitey in many ways.  If you have 80 minutes to spare tonight, I'd certainly recommend spending them on The Newburgh Sting.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  You could do a lot worse than this.

3/4

BREAKING: INHERENT VICE to be NYFF52 Centerpiece

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, Inherent Vice, opens limited on December 12, wide on January 9, 2015, but will be having its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 4 as the centerpiece selection.  NYFF has been landing some of the highest profile world premieres of any festival over the past few years.  2012 opened with Life of Pi (11 Oscar nominations) and closed with Flight (2 Oscar nominations, 2013 opened with Captain Phillips (6 Oscar nominations), centerpiece was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and closing was Her (5 Oscar nominations - are you seeing a trend?).  2014 will open with David Fincher's Gone Girl.

I think studios use the New York Film Festival as the launching point for some of their awards films because the movies chosen for the opening, centerpiece, and closing night spots are the only world premieres, which allows those films to stand out.  In a festival like Toronto where many studios world premiere their big awards films, there are so many movies competing for attention that it's harder for one or two to truly stand out.  At New York, there are three slots and that's it.  Though it is a major festival, it only programs a select number of films, which makes the world premieres huge showcases.

The closing night film is the only large slot that's not been announced, but I assume it'll be announced any day since the opening night and centerpiece selections were announced within days of one another.  I believe the following could close: A24 with J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year, Universal with Angelina Jolie's Unbroken, Paramount with Selma (though highly unlikely), or Columbia with David Ayres' Fury.  We will get the answer soon enough.  

The following is the press release from the Film Society of Lincoln Center:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCED TODAY
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON’S INHERENT VICE
AS THE CENTERPIECE SELECTION FOR THE 52^ND NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

New York, NY (July 18, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Paul Thomas Anderson’sInherent Vice will make its World Premiere as the Centerpiece selection for the upcoming 52nd New York Film Festival (September 26 – October 12) on Saturday, October 4. The first feature film adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel, Inherent Vice stars Oscar nominees Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin; Academy Award winners Reese Witherspoon and Benicio Del Toro; Owen Wilson, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, and newcomer Katherine Waterston. This marks Anderson’s third time at the festival, having previously screened Boogie Nights (1997) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). The Warner Bros. Pictures release is slated to open in limited release on December 12, 2014 and wide on January 9, 2015.

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair, Kent Jones said: “Every new Paul Thomas Anderson movie is an event, an experience – when the lights come up, you feel like you’ve been somewhere, and come back with your mind altered. Inherent Vice is a journey through the past, bringing the texture of the early 70s SoCal counterculture back to full blown life. It’s a wildly funny, deeply soulful, richly detailed, and altogether stunning movie.”

Inherent Vice is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures in association with IAC Films, a JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production.  Anderson directed from his own screenplay, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.  JoAnne Sellar, Daniel Lupi and Anderson produced the film, with Scott Rudin and Adam Somner serving as executive producers.

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 Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

NYFF previously announced the Opening Night selection Gone Girl, retrospective Joseph L. Mankiewicz: The Essential Iconoclast, as well as initial selections in the Revivals section of the festival to include Burroughs: The Movie, The Color of Pomegranates, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and Once Upon a Time in America. 

Tickets for the 52^nd New York Film Festival will go on sale to the general public at noon on Sunday, September 7. Becoming a Film Society member before July 31 provides access to a pre-sale period for single tickets to festival screenings and events ahead of the general public on-sale date.

Subscription Packages and VIP Passes to NYFF52 give the buyer the earliest access to tickets and are on sale through July 31. Depending on the level purchased, packages and passes provide access to Main Slate and Special Event screenings including those on the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing nights of the festival. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.com/NYFF. To find out how to become a Film Society member, visit filmlinc.com/support/home.


FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year’s most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Latinbeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Commentmagazine, The Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award. The Film Society’s state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, HBO®, the Kobal Collection, Trump International Hotel and Tower, Row NYC Hotel, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Support for the New York Film Festival is also generously provided by KIND Bars, Portage World Wide Inc., WABC-7, and WNET New York Public Media.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.