Movie Review: Jersey Boys (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Clint Eastwood, a usually reliable filmmaker, is virtually invisible while directing Jersey Boys, an adaptation of the Broadway musical depicting the rise and ultimate dissolution of the rock/doo-wop icons, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Instead, Eastwood stands aside in deference to the material, a by-the-numbers biopic that would be merely serviceable were it not for the group's memorable music. Thanks to the Internet, though, you can queue up "Rag Doll", "Dawn", "December, 1963", or any other Four Seasons song on iTunes or YouTube any old time. So what's left is a mildly interesting story that isn't unique enough to stand above your typical Lifetime TV movie.

Movie Review: Hereafter (2010)

by Tony Dayoub

So after a nice little run of films by everyone's—or at least most film writers'—favorite actor-director to dump on, Clint Eastwood returns with Hereafter, his muddled attempt at a New Age suspense thriller. As someone once said, fault with Eastwood's films can usually be traced back to the script, here by Peter Morgan (The Queen), as if to exonerate the filmmaker who generally avoids substantial rewrites. And Hereafter, as naive and inept as it often is, is not without its charm. But its structure, a three-pronged storyline which slowly converges as it approaches the climax, has long past worn out any profundity it may (with emphasis) had ever possessed in cinema.

Blu-ray Roundup: The Touchstones of Character

by Tony Dayoub

A couple of last week's Blu-ray releases explore their central characters in relation to the dream world they reside in. The more obvious one of course is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010). But another one—a trilogy of westerns by Sergio Leone—surveys its respective protagonists against a subtler dreamscape. More on that one in a moment.

Blu-ray Review: Invictus (2009)

by Tony Dayoub

Widely dismissed as a sketchy biopic of Nelson Mandela, Clint Eastwood's Invictus is actually a better than average sports film which only uses Mandela's new age of reconciliation in South Africa as a backdrop. Ironically, between its original theatrical release and its home release yesterday (on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand, and for Download) the issues surrounding apartheid and reconciliation have once again come to the fore in that country.

Movie Review: Invictus (2009)

by Tony Dayoub

Outside of the racial turmoil that still embroils South Africa in Clint Eastwood's Invictus stand Madiba, one-time South African activist and former president of that country, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman); and Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), captain of the South African Springboks, the national rugby union team that won the World Cup in 1995—kindred spirits in their respect for the power of sports to unite people of all colors, creeds, and social classes. The politics and personalities that Eastwood (Gran Torino) introduces in the first third of the film, the details of life in post-apartheid South Africa that populate its second third, all seem to revolve around Mandela at first. But Eastwood, whose attempts at structural unconventionality often backfire as his movies wrap up in the last third, creates a satisfying sports film by using the preceding details to set-up an emotional release in a climactic rugby sequence led by Damon's Pienaar.


Invictus begins with Mandela taking office, all too conscious of residual racism on both sides of the South African divide even as he seems to blithely pursue his goal of racial harmony. He sees the strife even within his own staff, Eastwood illustrating it a little too earnestly in the internal discord between Madiba's black and white bodyguards (their chief played with scene-stealing charisma by Tony Kgoroge—who nearly reframes the film's cast hierarchy as a third lead). Springbok captain Pienaar sees the effects of Mandela's changes played out in his own home, where his father has little hesitation in criticizing the disappearance of apartheid in front of the family's black servant. And he is all too aware of the disdain the blacks have for the Springbok team and their colors, remnants of South Africa's former white dominance. They openly deride the team at their rugby tournaments. But Pienaar knows that Chester Williams (McNeil Hendricks) the team's only black player is accepted by his teammates without reluctance. So he knows the potential for reconciliation exists and understands why Mandela meets with him, inspires him to push his teammates to their maximum as South Africa hosts the 1995 World Cup. And it is here, where Eastwood's (nearly too) straightforward style and the grand nobility of the movie's themes collide giving us a powerful release in the third act's climactic rugby game.

The game sequence is where Eastwood closes the circle on all the dramatic tension he has been setting up. Madiba's bodyguards finally seem to be working together well enough to be attuned to their chief's concern that the rugby match is the perfect place for an assassination attempt. A black child that the film has been following for some time—too poor to get into the game—loiters near the stadium's police presence to listen to the match as it plays out over the radio. Pienaar rallies his players to withstand the expected rout by New Zealand's All-Blacks (in a film full of nice moments, Eastwood uses one to include the All-Blacks' traditional Maori war dance used to intimidate opponents before international matches). He then pays off what little knowledge the viewer has accumulated about the confounding game of rugby to unfurl a sports sequence—strike that—an action sequence that is never once confusing; devoid of the close-up quick cutting that usually leaves today's audiences unsure of what just happened. One never loses the grip on the stadium or playing field's geography as Eastwood follows up on all the parallel plot developments.

Meanwhile, Mandela presides over the game from his private box, a messianic presence not unlike Freeman's portrayal of God in Bruce Almighty. Many are mistaking Eastwood's Invictus to be a sort of biopic, a look at a critical moment in the life of Madiba. It's no wonder considering the scenery-chewing perfomance by Freeman, who acts like he took Mandela's assertion that only he could play the leader a little too seriously. Freeman's performance is writ so large on the screen, that it almost eclipses the key central development on which the film hinges.

The only time one gets a true sense of the man behind the public persona is when Pienaar visits Mandela's prison cell at Robben Island, where he spent a good deal of his sentence after he was arrested for his activism. Damon really sells the impact of Mandela's movement on his generation of Afrikaners. The deference he exudes in Freeman's presence gives way to a stirring cocktail of regret, contempt, guilt, and respect in the scene where Pienaar stretches his arms across the length and breadth of the tiny cell measuring the small space while acknowledging the grandeur of the spirit that resided within its walls.

No, the performance at the center of Invictus is actually a quiet but visceral one by Damon as Pienaar. Pienaar is, after all, the character most affected by the changes in South Africa after Mandela helps bring an end to apartheid and ascends to the presidency. Within the story, Mandela is simply the agent of change that advances the story. So those maligning Invictus for its simplistic depiction of Madiba are failing to comprehend why this film works. At its heart, this sports drama is inspired by Mandela rather than about him.

Movie Review: Gran Torino - Eastwood's Elegiac Rebirth

There is something sublime about Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. Maybe it's seeing Eastwood return in front of the camera for a role that goes beyond our meager expectations into more nuanced territory. Or it might be how the film recalls much of his career in some surprising ways that perfectly sum up Eastwood's outlook on life and his career. Either way, Gran Torino is a beautiful Christmas gift from a prolific filmmaker (it's his second film in 3 months) that will prove to be one of the more important benchmarks in his filmography as both an actor and director. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, retired, a recent widower, veteran of the Korean War. All indications at the start of the movie are that only his late wife understood him. He is alienated from his two sons and their families. A young priest, Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) is the only one reaching out to him, and that only because of a deathbed promise to Kowalski's wife. Kowalski, an apparently stereotypical "cranky old man", rebuffs him, preferring to rail against the decline of our country, wallowing in his racism, seething at his neighborhood's ghettoization by the influx of Hmong "barbarians". The one thing that seems to inspire pride in Kowalski is a 1972 mint-condition Ford Gran Torino. When Thao (Bee Vang), the Hmong boy next door, attempts to steal it as part of a gang initiation, this sets off a series of events that lead Kowalski to reexamine his hardened attitudes. Eastwood smartly dances around his tough-guy image to lure us into Torino's story. When he finds Thao breaking in, he corners the boy with his shotgun aimed squarely at him. Confronting the hopeless gang, who are so determined to prove to Thao that he has little chance of escaping his neighborhood that they'll kill to have him join the gang, Kowalski tells them that in Korea he used to stack up bodies of guys like them; use them as sandbags. You can be forgiven for expecting some Dirty Harry-type heroics at this point, except that Eastwood is smarter than that. Kowalski is lonely, seeking human contact, which he finds from Thao's sister, Sue (Ahney Her), a precocious teen who sees through his gruffness. In fact, an unspoken reason he connects with Sue is a repeated tendency to be more demanding of males than females, so you could add a bit of reverse-sexism to his list of faults. In a sense, Kowalski sees himself in many of the young males in this movie, and either finds them weak and wanting, as he does Thao and Father Janovich, or he punishes them when he sees his own failings magnified and manifested in them, as he does in the Hmong gang members. After the gang strikes out against his neighbors, Kowalski is unexpectedly cautious for an Eastwood character, waiting for his anger to subside in order to think clearly in calculating the correct degree of retaliation. Like in some of his earlier films, Eastwood explores the pitfalls of using violence to resolve conflicts. He again approaches it through the conduit of a violent man who stands in sharp relief to the weaker folks he must defend. Like Unforgiven's William Munny, Walt Kowalski is haunted by his killing in the past. Like Butch (Kevin Costner) in A Perfect World (1993), Kowalski is conscious of protecting the innocent from harm. And like Jimmy (Sean Penn) in Mystic River (2003), Harry Callahan, and any number of protagonists in Eastwood's films, Kowalski is not above taking matters into his own hands to avenge those in his care. The difference is that Kowalski and Eastwood are older, wiser, nearer to the end of their lives. They realize the consequences both moral and societal of committing murder. Eastwood plays on our expectations surrounding his vigilante persona, and inverts the outcome of the film to great effect. Gran Torino is an elegy to the gun-toting avenger of Eastwood's past, an exorcism of a persona that, at nearly 80 years of age, marks a rebirth for the actor-director. Gran Torino is in limited release, and opens across the country on January 9th.

Movie Review: Changeling - Good Performances Elevate Eastwood's Latest Film

If I hadn’t been made aware before I saw Clint Eastwood’s Changeling that it was based on a true story, I would have thought it was another fantasy from the fertile imagination of screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5). The unlikely story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), and her search for her missing son, is packed with real-life reversals that are truly stranger than fiction. Jolie’s typically fine performance grounds the story as much as anything can. But the film loses its focus as the plot twists pile up. Much of the reason for that lies in the propensity for multiple climaxes in Eastwood’s films. Straczynski conceived the screenplay after months of research into this little-known L.A. crime story. Collins reported her son Walter missing to the L.A. police hours after his disappearance. The overworked and corrupt L.A.P.D. didn’t act until after the customary first 24 hours. After frustrating weeks of searching, they find the boy, reuniting mother and son, except… the boy is not her son. Pleading to the cops about the mistake, police captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) denies any error. The last thing the embattled police force needs is another instance of bad publicity. So he tries to convince Mrs. Collins she simply doesn’t recognize her son after the ordeal he’s gone through. She goes to the press armed with proof of the boy’s mistaken identity, leading Capt. Jones to have her secretly committed to a psychopathic ward, promptly silencing her accusations. Eastwood directs the entire cast to fine performances. Jolie is sympathetic as the put-upon Mrs. Collins, but appropriately stubborn in pursuing the truth about her missing son. Half-convinced that she might not be recognizing the boy as her son, she displays equal parts horror and anger at the impostor’s deception when she discovers him to be circumcised after the boy slips in the bathtub and calls out to her. Also strong is Michael Kelly (Broken English) as the honest Detective Ybarra, who indefatigably searches for Walter, and other missing boys who are linked to a dust-bowl farm in the California desert. He brings a noirish touch to the character befitting its period L.A. setting. Jason Butler Harner (The Good Shepherd) is a mixture of twitchy politeness and soulless perversion as the accused serial killer, Gordon Northcott, who may be the sociopath responsible for Walter’s disappearance. John Malkovich as Gustav Briegleb, a reverend who allies himself with Mrs. Collins, Colm Feore (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) as the Police Chief James E. Davis, and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) as Mrs. Collins’s fellow hospital patient, Carol Dexter, round out the cast. The film starts running into trouble when the subplots and story reversals start to overwhelm the central story of Walter’s disappearance. For instance, Mrs. Collins’s incarceration and the pre-feminist ramifications connected to it take center stage for a long time. She discovers that other women who have inconveniently spoken out against the police have also been confined to her ward under a provision called Code 12. Then, for a time, the film becomes a neo-noir like tale of a black-hearted man forcing a boy to be an accomplice in child murders, in scenes that are evocative of Ulu Grosbard’s True Confessions. Then it’s a courtroom drama, when the police are finally forced to confront their follies. Like in other films by Eastwood, the climax becomes a bit messy. Mystic River comes to mind, where once vigilante justice had been carried out on what may have been the wrong criminal, the film takes an additional 20 to 30 minutes to wrap up. In Changeling, each subplot is allowed to build so grandly, that when they arrive to their respective dramatic payoffs it has a strange effect. That is, each successive climax eclipses the previous one, so that the end of the film starts feeling interminable. Every time you start getting up from your seat, you realize you’re anticipating the finale before it’s arrived. This has the effect of elevating each subplot melodramatically, undercutting the power of the central storyline of a boy’s disappearance. Ultimately, I was disappointed with Eastwood’s melodramatic presentation of a story that is sensational unto itself. Changeling is worth a look for its performances, but it is a deeply flawed film. Changeling is the Centerpiece of the 46th New York Film Festival, and is playing at 9:15 p.m. tonight, and 11:15 a.m. tomorrow, at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 307-1862 Photo Credit: Tony Rivetti Jr., Property of Universal Studios / Film Society of Lincoln Center

NYFF Day 7 thru 10: Notes on Lola Montès and Ashes of Time Redux

Well, I'm back from New York, but that doesn't mean Cinema Viewfinder is. We've still got lots of coverage to take us through the end of the festival, including reviews of two incredible films, Che and The Wrestler. I also have some Q & A's with director Steven Soderbergh, and Mickey Rourke coming your way. And I'll try to keep up with the Film Festival schedule, highlighting special events when appropriate. Director Wong Kar Wai is in town to discuss Ashes of Time Redux. I caught the screening and it's a nice version of the film. But honestly, I was a bit under the weather when I saw it, and don't feel like I can give it a proper critique. So I still recommend you catch it. Apparently it's only screening twice today (times are below). Then go listen to the always very cool Wong at the HBO Films Dialogues discussion tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. For my part, I promise to have a review up soon, when it opens nationwide. This weekend brings the start of the 12th Annual Views from the Avant-Garde series, which actually started last night, and continues through tomorrow. This morning, at 11:15 a.m. is the Spotlight Retrospective of Max Ophuls's Lola Montès (1955), starring Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, and Oskar Werner. The new restoration is a sight to behold. For more information, here's a link. And tonight is the first screening of the festival Centerpiece, Clint Eastwood's Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie. My review is posted above. Despite my problems with it, it's worth your time. Below is a schedule of this weekend's festival events. More information can be found at the festival's web site. EVENT TITLES NYFF – Festival main slate film VAG – Views from the Avant-Garde SE – Festival special event SCREENING LOCATIONS ZT – Ziegfeld Theatre, 54th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues WRT – Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, upper level KP – Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, 10th Floor Saturday, Oct 4 11:15am Lola Montès (NYFF/ZT) 12:00 The Warmth of the Sun (VAG/WRT) 2:30 Night and Day (NYFF/ZT) 3:30 Andrew Noren (VAG/WRT) 6:15 Ashes of Time Redux, with Dust (NYFF/ZT) 6:30 Nathaniel Dorsky (VAG/WRT) 8:45 Bruce Conner tribute (VAG/WRT) 9:15 CENTERPIECE: Changeling, with Wait For Me, (NYFF/ZT) midnight Ashes of Time Redux, with Dust (NYFF/WRT) Sunday, Oct. 5 11:15am CENTERPIECE: Changeling, with Wait For Me (NYFF/ZT) 12:00 Time of the Signs (VAG/WRT) 3:00 Four Nights with Anna, with Pal Secam (NYFF/ZT) 3:00 Craig Baldwin (VAG/WRT) 4:00 HBO FILMS DIALOGUES: Wong Kar-wai (SE/KP) 6:00 The Windmill Movie, with Quarry (NYFF/ZT) 6:00 still wave (VAG/WRT) 9:00 Gomorrah (NYFF/ZT) 9:00 James Benning (VAG/WRT) Lola Montès Photo Credit: Rialto Pictures / Film Society of Lincoln Center Ashes of Time Redux Photo Credit: Lau Wai Keung and Chan Yuen Kai © 1994, 2008 Block 2 Pictures Inc., Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics / Film Society of Lincoln Center

NYFF Update

by Tony Dayoub



I apologize for being absent from these pages these past few days, but I've been coordinating my trip to New York for the film festival, which starts tomorrow. As some of you know, Denise and I have a 2-year-old son, and we're expecting another one in early November. So leaving her alone was not really an option. My mom graciously agreed to fly in and help (who am I kidding.... she'd give anything to spend time with her grandson). So in addition to coordinating all my activities in NYC, I was busy leaving everything ready for the rest of my family.


Unfortunately, this also means I won't be able to catch every movie at the festival, since I had to limit my time up there to 8 days. As you saw in the post last week, what a wonderful line-up they have this year. So I'm endeavoring to concentrate on films that my site would normally focus on, and hope to include some surprises.

Here's a list of some films I'll hopefully get into:

Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler
Clint Eastwood's Changeling
Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky
Steven Soderbergh's Che
Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time Redux

Of course, these are the notable ones from mainstream directors, I also hope to bring you some other lesser known but no less important film coverage in the days ahead. There's a panel entitled Film Criticism in Crisis? that I will be covering, and a sidebar on Japanese director Nagisa Oshima that should also prove interesting.

The coverage should include some atypical weekend posts, as well as multiple daily posts. Otherwise, you might see the odd non-festival review pop up should there be any down-time for me. There should be plenty of coverage to see here in the next two weeks, so keep coming to the site often.

Gotta get to the airport. See you soon.

The 46th New York Film Festival: Schedule for September 26th - October 12th

by Tony Dayoub



The 46th New York Film Festival opens Friday, September 26th. It has an interesting slate of films, and I'll be in the Big Apple next week to cover it. For more information, click on the links I provided. Feel free to ask me about anything more specific in the comments section below.


Otherwise, here's a schedule and a press release:

46TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL, SEPT. 26 - OCT. 12Complete public schedule announced

NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2008––The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the complete public schedule for the 46th New York Film Festival today. The Film Society’s annual showcase of the current state of contemporary filmmaking will run Sept. 26 to Oct. 12, while the official sidebar, In the Realm of Oshima, continues to Oct. 13. The majority of festival screenings will be at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 54th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues. Opening and Closing Night screenings will take place at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, while several special events, panels and the popular HBO Films Dialogues will be at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater and in the adjacent Samuel B. & David Rose Building at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

As previously announced, the festival with open with Laurent Cantet’s The Class and close with Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. Clint Eastwood’s Changeling is honored as the festival’s Centerpiece. The HBO Films Dialogues will recognize the remarkable careers and skills of festival favorites Aronofsky, Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai and Arnaud Desplechin. Special events include filmmaking Martin Scorsese presenting a Technicolor screening of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman; Alloy Orchestra on stage with the New York premiere of their newest score, accompanying The Last Command; a variety of special panels that will examine current film criticism and discuss issues raised by the films It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks and Guy Debord’s In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni; and other events.

Presented by the Film Society, the annual New York Film Festival showcases new works by both emerging talents and internationally recognized artists, including numerous New York, U.S., and world premieres.

The 46th New York Film Festival is sponsored by Chopard, The New York Times and Sardinia Region Tourism. Additional support from illy caffè; HBO Films; 42 Below Vodka, Maxell; and Wines from Spain. Participating sponsors include Stella Artois, Technicolor, agnes b., the Film Foundation and American Express Preservation Screening Program, and Kodak. Special thanks to Cineric; Dolby; CTS; Josephina; O'Neals; The Park Lane Hotel. Trailer courtesy of Bunker New York and Nuncle. The 46th New York Film Festival is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals. The New York Film Festival annually premieres films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States. New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972, when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin, the annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.

46th New York Film Festival, Sept. 26 – Oct. 12Complete public screening schedule

EVENT TITLES
NYFF – Festival main slate film
OSH – NYFF Sidebar: In the Realm of Oshima
VAG – Views from the Avant-Garde
SE – Festival special event

SCREENING LOCATIONS
ZT – Ziegfeld Theatre, 54th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues
AFH – Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway and 65th Street
WRT – Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, upper level
KP – Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, 10th Floor

Friday, Sept. 268:00 OPENING NIGHT: The Class, 128m (NYFF/AFH)
9:00 OPENING NIGHT: The Class (NYFF/ZT)

Saturday, Sept. 2711:00am Cruel Story of Youth, 96m (OSH/WRT)
12:00 Hunger, 96m (NYFF/ZT)
1:00 PANEL: Film Criticism in Crisis? (SE/WRT)
3:00 24 City, 112m (NYFF/ZT)
3:00 A Town of Love and Hope, 62m, with Diary of a Yunbogi Boy, 24m (OSH/WRT)
4:45 Night and Fog in Japan, 107m (OSH/WRT)
6:15 Happy-Go-Lucky, 118m (NYFF/ZT)
7:00 Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, 94m (OSH/WRT)
9:00 Pleasures of the Flesh, 90m (OSH/WRT)
9:30 Wendy and Lucy, 80m, with Cry Me a River, 19m (NYFF/ZT)
midnight In the Realm of the Senses, 110m (OSH/WRT)

Sunday, Sept. 2812:00 Happy-Go-Lucky (NYFF/ZT)
12:30 The Man Who Left His Will on Film, 94m (OSH/WRT)
2:30 The Sun’s Burial, 87m (OSH/WRT)
3:15 Wendy and Lucy, with Cry Me a River (NYFF/ZT)
4:00 HBO FILMS DIALOGUES: Jia Zhangke (SE/KP)
4:30 Empire of Passion, 106m (OSH/WRT)
6:15 Hunger (NYFF/ZT)
6:45 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, 122m (OSH/WRT)
9:00 I’m Gonna Explode, 106m, with This is Her, 12m (NYFF/ZT)
9:15 Taboo, 100m (OSH/WRT)

Monday, Sept. 294:30 A Town of Love and Hope, with Diary of a Yunbogi Boy (OSH/WRT)
6:00 I’m Gonna Explode, with This is Her (NYFF/ZT)
6:15 Cruel Story of Youth (OSH/WRT)
8:15 A Town of Love and Hope, with Diary of a Yunbogi Boy (OSH/WRT)
9:15 Tony Manero, 98m, with Love You More, 15m (NYFF/ZT)

Tuesday, Sept. 304:30 The Sun’s Burial (OSH/WRT)
6:00 Tony Manero, with Love You More (NYFF/ZT)
6:20 The Catch, 105m (OSH/WRT)
8:30 Night and Fog in Japan (OSH/WRT)
9:15 The Northern Land, 122m, with Surprise!, 18m (NYFF/ZT)

Wednesday, Oct. 16:00 A Summer Hours, 103m, with Ralph, 14m (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 FREE PANEL: The Place of Oshima (OSH/WRT)
9:00 Shiro of Amakusa, The Christian Rebel, 100m (OSH/WRT)
9:15 Waltz with Bashir, 90m, with I Don’t Feel Like Dancing, 7m (NYFF/ZT)

Thursday, Oct. 24:30 Shiro of Amakusa, The Christian Rebel (OSH/WRT)
6:00 Waltz with Bashir, with I Don’t Feel Like Dancing (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 Pleasures of the Flesh (OSH/WRT)
8:40 Band of Ninja, 100m (OSH/WRT)
9:00 Summer Hours, with Ralph (NYFF/ZT)

Friday, Oct. 34:30 Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, 98m (OSH/WRT)
6:00 Gomorrah, 137m (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni, 100m (VAG/WRT)
9:30 Four Nights with Anna, 87m, with Pal Secam, 14m (NYFF/ZT)
10:00 In the Realm of the Senses (OSH/WRT)

Saturday, Oct 411:15am Lola Montès, 115m (NYFF/ZT)
12:00 The Warmth of the Sun, 100m (VAG/WRT)
2:30 Night and Day, 144m (NYFF/ZT)
3:30 Andrew Noren, 101m (VAG/WRT)
6:15 Ashes of Time Redux, 93m, with Dust, 7m (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 Nathaniel Dorsky, 70m (VAG/WRT)
8:45 Bruce Conner tribute, 89.5m (VAG/WRT)
9:15 CENTERPIECE: Changeling, 140m, with Wait For Me, 3m (NYFF/ZT)
midnight Ashes of Time Redux, with Dust (NYFF/WRT)

Sunday, Oct. 511:15am CENTERPIECE: Changeling, with Wait For Me (NYFF/ZT)
12:00 Time of the Signs, 84m (VAG/WRT)
3:00 Four Nights with Anna, with Pal Secam (NYFF/ZT)
3:00 Craig Baldwin, 123m (VAG/WRT)
4:00 HBO FILMS DIALOGUES: Wong Kar-wai (SE/KP)
6:00 The Windmill Movie, 80m, with Quarry, 12m (NYFF/ZT)
6:00 still wave, 102.5m (VAG/WRT)
9:00 Gomorrah (NYFF/ZT)
9:00 James Benning, 112m (VAG/WRT)

Monday, Oct. 66:00 Afterschool, 106m (NYFF/ZT)
6:00 The Last Command, 88m (SE/WRT)
8:30 The Last Command (SE/WRT)
9:15 The Headless Woman, 87m, with I Hear Your Scream, 11m (NYFF/ZT)

Tuesday, Oct. 74:30 Sing a Song of Sex, 103m (OSH/WRT)
6:00 Che, 268m (NYFF/ZT)
6:40 Violence at Noon, 99m (OSH/WRT)
8:45 Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (OSH/WRT)

Wednesday, Oct. 84:30 Death by Hanging, 117m (OSH/WRT)
6:00 The Headless Woman, with I Hear Your Scream (NYFF/ZT)
7:00 Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (OSH/WRT)
9:00 Afterschool (NYFF/ZT)
9:00 Sing a Song of Sex (OSH/WRT)

Thursday, Oct. 94:30 Dear Summer Sister, 96m (OSH/WRT)
6:00 Tokyo Sonata, 119m, with Love is Dead, 17m (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 Boy, 97m (OSH/WRT)
8:30 Three Resurrected Drunkards, 80m (OSH/WRT)
9:00 Tulpan, 100m, with Deweneti, 15m (NYFF/ZT)

Friday, Oct. 102:00 Three Resurrected Drunkards (OSH/WRT)
3:45 Kyoto, My Mothers Place, 50m, with 100 Years of Japanese Cinema, 52m (OSH/WRT)
6:00 A Christmas Tale, 150m (NYFF/ZT)
6:15 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, 122m (SE/WRT)
9:00 Max mon amour, 98m (OSH/WRT)
9:45 Let It Rain, 110m, with Unpredictable Behaviour, 5m (NYFF/ZT)

Saturday, Oct. 1111:15am A Christmas Tale (NYFF/ZT)
1:30 HBO FILMS DIALOGUES: Darren Aronofsky (SE/KP)
3:00 Chouga, 91m, with Gauge, 9m (NYFF/ZT)
4:00 Death by Hanging (OSH/WRT)
4:30 HBO FILMS DIALOGUES: Arnaud Desplechin (SE/KP)
6:00 Tulpan, with Deweneti (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 The Day Shall Dawn, 87m (SE/WRT)
9:00 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (OSH/WRT)
9:15 Tokyo Sonata, with Love is Dead (NYFF/ZT)

Sunday, Oct. 1211:15am Let It Rain, with Unpredictable Behaviour (NYFF/ZT)
1:00 It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks, 119m (SE/WRT)
2:30 Bullet in the Head, 85m (NYFF/ZT)
4:30 The Man Who Left His Will on Film (OSH/WRT)
5:15 Serbis, 90m, with Maybe Tomorrow, 12m (NYFF/ZT)
6:30 The Ceremony, 122m (OSH/WRT)
8:30 CLOSING NIGHT: The Wrestler, 109m, with Security, 13m (NYFF/AFH)
9:00 Dear Summer Sister (OSH/WRT)

Monday, Oct. 132:00 Taboo (OSH/WRT)
4:00 Kyoto, My Mothers Place, with 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (OSH/WRT)
6:30 Empire of Passion (OSH/WRT)
8:45 Taboo (OSH/WRT)

All times p.m. except where noted

The 46th New York Film Festival

by Tony Dayoub



The Film Society of Lincoln Center, publisher of Film Comment, has invited me to cover the 46th New York Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world.


The films will be screening at the Ziegfeld Theatre, in New York City, Sept. 26th - Oct. 12th. Making its North American premiere at the festival is Clint Eastwood's The Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, featured as Centerpiece of the Festival. The Closing Night selection is The Wrestler, a Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For a Dream) film, starring Mickey Rourke. Updates on the details regarding the films and coverage will be posted in the coming weeks.

Press accreditation is extended by invitation only, so I'm very proud of this landmark opportunity for the site. I thank all of you for supporting Cinema Viewfinder, and hope you'll keep tuned in through my coverage of these films which will likely be among the best movies of this year.

French Cannes-Cannes

by Tony Dayoub

Just checked out Richard Schickel's wonderful new documentary Bienvenue a Cannes on TCM. It is highly recommended. This film is a wonderful primer to the behind-the-scenes work, tensions, and camaraderie that occur every year at the Cannes Film Festival.

But best of all, it is a wonderful launching point for the neophyte interested in foreign film. It has anecdotes about such films as The Cranes Are Flying, Roma, Citta Aperta, and Farewell My Concubine.

And guess what... be proud that you are an American because you have been well represented in Cannes by such films as Pulp Fiction, M*A*S*H, and The Brown Bunny (just kidding about that last one... sorry Chloe).

With a wonderful breadth of interview subjects, from noted film critic Richard Corliss, to director Wim Wenders, to Clint Eastwood, and even down to the concierge of the Hotel Majestic... this documentary proves to be a fascinating look into the machinations at the most famous film festival in the world.