NYFF 51 Day 5: 'About Time' for 'Jimmy P.'

HEAD’S UP: The 51st New York Film Festival is off to the races, and so are we. This year, we borrow a page from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York coverage, which borrowed a page from Twitter (http://www.ow.ly/pmqvr). To that end, all film reviews / comments will be 100 words or less. Yes, 100. Or less. Ready? Lights. Camera. ACTION! ...

FOR the witty take on time travel at the heart of “About Time,” Richard Curtis gathers what audiences have come to expect in the form of offbeat, oddball characters, including Lindsay Duncan and Bill Nighy.

A newcomer to the RC stable is all-grownup “Harry Potter” alum, Domhnall Gleeson. The young man, who is looking very much like a younger Boris Becker, comports himself admirably in the lead role. (See video at top).

“About Time” has a similar tone of earlier RC works, “Love, Actually” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” but cannot be accused of being derivative. In its North American premiere this evening at The 51st New York Film Festival, “About Time” is universally well-acted and delightful.

Also in its North American premiere today is “Jimmy P: Pychotherapy of a Plains Indian.” Based on a book by Georges Devereux, the film stars Benecio Del Toro as the patient of the title, and Mathieu Amalric as his therapist. It is set in 1940’s at Texas’ Menninger Clinic.

More offbeat characters. One from the Blackfoot Nation; the other a Hungarian Jew passing for French. The outsiders – beatdown by life in very different, yet not-so different ways – break, bond and heal through the prism of taking therapy. Masterful, but understated performances from the leads in this psychological drama. “Jimmy P: Pychotherapy of a Plains Indian” is moody, romantic and tense.

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2013 to learn more about The 51st New York Film Festival, including tickets and showtimes.