Last Day NYFF50: 'Flight’ Brings It to a Close

“YOU’LL never have to buy another drink for the rest of your life,” a friend (John Goodman) assures “Whit” (Denzel Washington).

For about 15 minutes that looks to be true for commercial pilot William “Whit” Whitaker who safely lands a malfunctioning airplane, saving many lives in the process. He’s an immediate hero with all of the media buzz and other trappings – that is until an investigation begins into a part of his past that calls into question his judgment.

Not only are those drinks drying up – and drinking is the last thing Whit wishes to do at the moment – prison may be in his future unless his innocence can be proved. Once praised, he is now being pilloried, until such time that an “all clear” from a review board can restore his good name and hero status. (See trailer above)

This is the premise of “Flight.” It makes its world premiere tonight as the closing film of the 50th New York Film Festival. It opens in wide release in North America on 2 Nov. and continues to rollout across the world through late February 2013.

“Flight” has been getting notice for a few reasons. First, it is the first collaboration between DW and director Robert Zemeckis. Second, it is RZ’s return to the action-thriller format since “What Lies Beneath” and “Cast Away,” both from 2000.

Around NYFF50, “Flight” has produced quiet grumbles. For purists, it and others are further evidence of how commercial the festival is becoming, particularly with the departure this year of the Film Society of Lincoln Center programming director Richard Pena. The society organizes NYFF.

“Are you kidding – “Not Fade Away,” sneered one critic who did not wish to be identified in referencing the festival centerpiece directed by David Chase. He is best known for the HBO series, “The Sopranos.” Festival-opener NYFF “Life of Pi,” received tepid reviews from many, especially those who accused it of having religious undertones. That latter assertion, notwithstanding, the film is plodding. The sequences set in the present have an unreal quality and wasted the talents of Irrfan Khan.

For better or worse, “Flight” is a competent-enough film. It will likely do good business at the world box office, pleasing its producers and proving to detractors its unsuitability for certain venues on the film festival circuit.

… Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.

Day 15 NYFF50: Old Scores/New Alliances in 'Outrage Beyond'

IN Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage Beyond,” the feud among the yakuzas (Japanese good fellas) heats to a rolling boil when a cop and nightclub hostess are killed.

Someone has to pay, and the police begin the shakedown to get those responsible or any convenient scapegoat to make it look good. Betrayals and backstabbing abound. At the center of all of the machinations setting, off this one and that one against the other in this sequel to “Outrage” is rogue cop and yakuza-hatter, Kataoka (Fumiyo Kohinata).

The film premieres tonight at the 50th New York Film Festival as part of the new "Midnight Movies” series. It also screens tomorrow night at 9:15. (See trailer above.)

Takeshi Kitano and Fumiyo Kohinata in “Outrage Beyond.” Photo courtesy of Time Warner Company.

“Outrage Beyond” is stylish and only slightly cheeky. The violence quotient, however, is so high that it is numbing.

“Outrage Beyond” is in Japanese with English subtitltes … Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.

Day 8 NYFF50: Brilliant, Beautiful, Unflinching 'Amour'

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour." Photo courtesy of 50th New York Film Festival.

HERE is LOVE, folks, and Michael Haneke presents it beautifully, tenderly, frankly and masterfully.

In "Amour," which debuts at the 50th New York Film Festival tonight, Anne and Georges Laurent (French film veterans Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant) are music teachers who are in love with their craft and each other. Theirs is a full, vibrant existence until Anne suffers a stroke. Both are now confined mostly to their Paris apartment with its many creature comforts. Georges becomes caretaker and in doing so shows the world what it means to love in sickness. (See trailer below.)

There are uncomfortable moments in "Amour," making it all the more powerful. This is real life played out on the big screen. In fact, "Amour" is inspired in part by the experiences of a sick aunt of MH's. During a press conference after the press and industry screening, the director – through a translator– took pains to point out that the film is not the story of his relative. Regardless, the performances are nuanced and stellar. As difficult as things becomes at moments, viewers should not look away. Indeed, they should face them bravely, as one endeavors to do in life.

"Amour" won the Palme d'Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

"Amour," which is in French with English subtitles, has an additional screening on Saturday (6 Oct) ... Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.

Lee Daniels Puts His Stamp on 'The Paperboy'

Nicole Kidman as an alluring and ultimately troubled Southern Belle in "The Paperboy." Photo courtesy of Millennium Entertainment.

DIRECTOR Lee Daniels ("Precious") inserted aspects of himself in "The Paperboy" at almost every turn.

He's in the characters, music and general ambiance of the film, which he co-adapted with Pete Dexter from the novel by the latter. To invoke an apt cliche, "The Paperboy" delivers.

The film opens in limited release today after making its U.S. premiere at the 50th New York Film Festival (http://www.filmlinc.com/) on Wednesday as part of a tribute to Nicole Kidman. The actress stars in "The Paperboy" as a woman engaged to a man on Florida's death row ... More shortly.

Day 4 NYFF50: High-Wattage Star Power in 'Final Cut ...'

HERE is a film with the mother of all all-star casts.

Consider: Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Brad Pitt, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, Jackie Chan, Sopia Loren, Charlie Chaplin, Jean-Paul-Belmondo, Brigitte Bardo and on and on and on …

Several years in the making, the film in question is “Final Cut - Ladies and Gentlemen” (Final Cut - Hölgyeim és uraim. It is Hungarian director’s György Pàlfi (“Taxidermy”) love letter to film and it makes its North American premiere tonight at 9 at the 50th New York Film Festival.

The product of budgetary constraints at the Hungarian state film office, “Final Cut is a classic Hollywood-style love story told through a near seamless montage of close to 500 films – from “Gone With the Wind” to “Indiana Jones” to “Casablanca” to “Once Upon A Time In The West” to the opener, “Avatar.” For good measure, a few TV shows are included. It has been one of the most talked about entries everywhere it has shown, including Hungarian Film Week where it had its world premiere in February and the 65th Cannes Film Festival.(See video above from Cannes in which the director discusses this latest work and challenges facing Hungarian filmmakers.)

Part of the talk also concerns the rights issues that may confine “Final Cut” to the film festival circuit and other noncommercial milieux. Word is that people are working on this immense undertaking. It would be a pity if this film, which by its very nature provokes myriad questions, answers and quizarama moments, is denied the wider world, or at least, the film buff parts of it.

In “Final Cut,” action unfolds quick, fast and in a hurry. Very often it is the same or similar action from at least a score of films. In these clips, some perhaps downloaded from the Internet, familiar folk like Elizabeth Taylor and Gerard Depardieu fall in and out of love; go to war, the beach. Unfathomable beginnings and happy endings figure into the nearly 90 minutes, which may try the patience of some who will no doubt grow clip-weary, the patchwork story notwithstanding. Life is presented in b&w, technicolor color, HD, various language and a propulsive soundtrack.

The first tune is "Put the Blame On Mame," defiantly belted by RH in “Gilda.” Also moving the narrative is “Singin’ in the Rain.”

I've a smile on my face!

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.

Day 2 NYFF50: Captivating Actors in ‘Caesar Must Die’

DRAMA, humor and danger ensue when prisoners stage a production of “Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar” in “Caesar Must Die.” (Cesare deve morire)

The film, from siblings Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, makes its North American debut this evening at the 50th New York Film Festival.

Not only is this production challenged by disparate accents, its survival is sometimes complicated by the underlying tension that exists within the prison population. Filmed at Rome's Rebibbia Prison, “Caesar Must Die” is shot mainly in b&w and has the feel of a documentary.

These are not simply actors with nothing in common with the characters they are portraying. Quite the contrary – honor, loyalty and betrayal figure prominently in their code of behavior. They may very well be portraying or auditioning for the part of a character who is much like themselves. They may also be at odds with a character in the play portrayed by the very inmate with whom they have history. (See trailer above.)

In case it is not yet obvious, the "actors" in “Caesar Must Die ” are actual prisoners. Many have been imprisoned for acts connected to organized crime; others are serving life sentences. It takes on a “Victor Victoria”-type quality in that prisoners are portraying actors portraying Brutus&Co.

“Caesar Must Die” – which has additional NYFF50 showings on 30 Sept., 1 Oct. and 8 Oct. – is Italy’s entry into the Best Foreign Language film category for Oscar nomination consideration. It also won the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February. During his acceptance speech, PT is quoted as saying, "We hope that when the film is released to the general public that cinemagoers will say to themselves or even those around them ... that even a prisoner with a dreadful sentence, even a life sentence, is and remains a human being."

“Caesar Must Die” is in Italian with English subtitles … Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.

50th NYFF Opens With Ang Lee's ‘Life of Pi’

YOU’RE literally in the middle of nowhere. You are lost a sea, the only survivor of a shipwreck.

Well, not exactly. There is another, that would just as soon have you for dinner as look at you. Not a cannibal, but a Bengal tiger. Somehow – rather surprisingly – you become allies on a whirlwind adventure. It is “Life of Pi.”

Based on the best-selling novel and directed by Ang Lee, “Life of Pi” opens the 50th New York Film Festival today. (See trailer above.) NYFF50 funs through 14 Oct. and closes with Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight.”

In “Flight,” Denzel Washington heads an ensemble cast as a pilot who does not have a Chesley Sullenberger experience after he safely lands his plane. He is accused of having alcohol in his system and faces jail time if the charges stick. (See trailer below.)


NYFF50 is an an ambitious (and uncharacteristically commercial) program, including 32 films in its “Main Slate,” a good number of which arrive at New York award winners from other festivals. On tap, too, are returning features such as “HBO Films Directors Dialogues, which is “Inside the Actors Studio,” except with directors.

Rival gangs prove to be a challenge for a bad cop in "Outrage Beyond." Photo courtesy of Celluloid Dreams.

Among those talking about process and inspiration are Abbas Kiarostami (“Like Someone in Love”) and David Chase of “The Sopranos” fame, whose feature film debut, “Not Fade Away,” is NYFF50’s “Centerpiece” selection. The film follows a group of friends in 1964 New Jersey that forms a rock band.

A good companion piece to "Directors Dialogues" is “On Cinema,” described as NYFF’s master class. For the first time, two directors, Brian De Palma and Noah Baumbach, share the stage. In addition to shoptalk will be film clips and an audience Q&A.


Always a popular feature of NYFF is the “Masterworks” series. This latest installment boasts a restored version of Laurence Olivier’s “Richard III” (1965), a screening of Pierre Chenal’s “Native Son” (1951). The “Native Son” screening will be followed by a discussion with Edgardo Krebs and journalist Stanley Crouch. Also among the 17 films in the series is the world premiere of a new version of “The Rolling Stones – Charlie Is my Darling – Ireland 1965” (1966/2012) from Peter Whitehead.

Richard Wright and Gloria Madison in "Native Son." Photo courtesy of Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Among new stuff is the Midnight Movies” series of three suspense-thrillers. “The Bay” from Barry Levinson and Oren Peli involves giant insects. In Peter Strickland’s “Berberian Sound Studio,” a sound engineer is not certain whether the horror he hears is real or make-believe. A rogue cop and his intervention in clan warfare continues in Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage Beyond,” a sequel to “Outrage.”

Another newbie is NYFF Convergence, a two-day (29 and 30 Sept.) transmedia conference that will bring together practitioners that employ multiple mediums simultaneously to tell a lone story. NYFF Convergence Panels include “Novels in New Forms (30 Sept.). Here, authors discuss the tablet computer as yet another storyteller. The audience as a character is the subject of the Workshop, “You’re Such a Character:  New Roles for Audiences in Storytelling" (30 Sept.).

In the Immersive Experiences component of NYFF Convergence, hipsters and dinosaurs are at odds on phones, the Internet and a card game in the film, McCarren Park, Parts 1 and 2. The conversation also turns to how to create a film for very little and getting noticed without a huge outlay of marketing cash (29 Sept.).

In the Film Society of Lincoln Center's ongoing effort to make NYFF as open as possible, it also offers a number of events – mainly talks and panel discussions – that are free and open to the public. Likely to attract a crowd will be Lee Daniels (“The Paperboy,” “Precious”) when he holds court at the Apple Store in Soho.

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com/ to learn more about the 50th New York Film Festival, including show times and ticket information.