NYFF Report #2

DE PALMA
Courtesy of A24 Films

NYFF REPORT #2

By Joshua Handler

During my second day at NYFF, I caught the afternoon screening of Nanni Moretti’s latest, Mia Madre, about a film director (Margherita Buy) who must cope with her mother’s failing health as she’s directing a new film starring a pompous American actor (John Turturro). A complex, funny, and sad film, Mia Madre is never boring, as it has enough material and explores enough topics for a miniseries.

I then went to screen Ridley Scott’s The Martian (which I will review in time for release tomorrow). In short, the film was a cinematic high note for the year that is one of Scott’s strongest films in years.

Tuesday, I screened Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson’s The Forbidden Room. There’s no way I could explain what the film was “about”, what it meant, or what I just saw, however, I will say that I didn't care about any of that, as it was a highly entertaining, audacious film that intrigued me and kept me invested for the vast majority of its running time.

Yesterday, I screened Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s De Palma, a documentary in which famed director Brian De Palma (Scarface, Carrie, Blow Out) discusses his entire career. In execution, it’s a very simple film, but as a film about filmmaking, it’s unbeatable and shows that Baumbach is as good a documentarian as he is a narrative filmmaker.

Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendor followed. That film certainly has and will have an audience, but that audience is not me. It’s simply not my cup of tea.

Stay tuned for another report and a few reviews.