46th New York Film Festival - "Happy-Go-Lucky" - Sept. 26, 2008

46th New York Film Festival
Happy-Go-Lucky – Press & Industry Screening & Conference
Monday, September 26, 2008
Walter Reader Theater – New York, NY

(L to R: Sally Hawkins, Mike Leigh & Lisa Schwarzbaum)

Photo by Brian Geldin

Happy-Go-Lucky is UK filmmaker Mike Leigh’s latest film, a comedy about a free-spirited 30-year-old British lass named Poppy played with great charm by Sally Hawkins who seems to view everything with rose-colored glasses. Happy-Go-Lucky is chock-filled with brilliant improvisational acting by its ensemble cast, a benchmark of all of Leigh’s films where he spends months in advance rehearsing the roles before the camera rolls. Miramax Films will release Happy-Go-Lucky on October 10.

Leigh and Hawkins sat down to chat with the press and industry after a screening last Friday moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum. Below are some highlights of that discussion.

Leigh began by sincerely expressing that a Q&A at the New York Film Festival is one of his favorite things in his life. “They’re always a million times more intelligent than any of the other Q&As anywhere else in the world,” he said referring to the time he brought his film Naked to the festival in 1993 when someone asked, “Do you think that Johnny will be dead within an hour of the end of the film?”

“That certainly is a challenge to whatever the first question is,” Schwarzbaum replied. Her first question to Leigh and Hawkins was if they know anyone this happy, referring to Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky. Hawkins said she knows a few people, but Poppy is on another level. Leigh said that we all do, but he doesn’t think the audience “should so easily be sidetracked by the title,” which he says is just an atmosphere. “It’s not really to understand her at all,” he said, “She’s got great depth of profundity.” Hawkins added that all of Leigh’s characters are complex human beings. “It’s her choice to be happy,” Hawkins said. “That’s the way she deals with life.”

Schwarzbaum said she thought Happy-Go-Lucky was a shift of the characters Leigh typically writes, in which Leigh responded that “she is different from lots of other characters…she is warm, generous, she has a sense of humor…that is absolutely the description of the character Vera Drake.” Leigh said he wanted to make “an anti-miserabilist film.” “Wait till you see how depressing the next film will be,” he said.

Schwarzbaum asked Hawkins where she went to find her sources for Poppy, to which Hawkins said when doing a Mike Leigh film, “the possibilities are endless. You’re creating so many different layers…it’s the most creative you’re ever asked to be in a film.” Leigh said the characters are drawn from lots of different people.

At the audience portion of the Q&A, Leigh was asked if there was anytime in his thought process if he wanted to kill happiness. In true moderator fashion, Schwarzbaum repeated the question so all could hear, but she added this very funny spin alluding to Leigh’s previous reference to the 1993 Q&A, “The question is whether Poppy will live an hour after the film is over.” The audience reacted with a loud chuckle. But to Leigh, he said it never occurred to him until it was just suggested to him. “I like Poppy,” he said. “There will be people she gets on there nerves.” Hawkins agreed and says there has been. Leigh doesn’t get why some people have said they wanted to strangle her. He alludes to that day’s New York Times which said Poppy was either endearing, irritating or possibly both. “I don’t get why anyone who would pay attention and go into the film and do anything other than fall in love with her,” he said.

And when asked what goes into the Mike Leigh six-month rehearsal process, Hawkins said that it was one-to-one with Leigh at the beginning. “They do get paid,” Leigh added with a hardy laugh from the audience. Hawkins said it involves talking, researching, thinking and interacting with the other characters. Leigh said “the deal is to be in a film, I can’t tell you what it’s going to be about. I can’t tell you who the characters is. You’re going to make the character up…and you will never ever know anything or any other aspect of it, except for your character will do.”

46th NYFF Press Screening: "Wendy and Lucy" - Sept. 15, 2008

46th New York Film Festival
Wendy and Lucy – Press Screening & Conference
Monday, September 15, 2008
Walter Reader Theater – New York, NY

(Wendy and Lucy director Kelly Reichardt.)

Monday I attended I my first press screening and conference at the New York Film Festival. I had always gone to the public screenings in the past where I would take notes at the Q&As, but this year I was finally able to make it to a press screening, so it was a new and fun and experience for me.

The film was Wendy and Lucy starring Michelle Williams, a great actress who could be taking parts in big blockbuster movies, but instead picks more quiet and understated roles such as this giving a bare bones performance of a young woman who’s down on her luck when her car breaks down in Oregon en route to Alaska. Thankfully, she has her trusty canine companion Lucy with her, until Lucy goes missing, and Wendy’s hardships deepen further as she meets every day people who are either completely humble and generous towards her or downright creepy and menacing. The film gives the feeling of what it’s like to be all alone in this world. Wendy and Lucy opens for a limited theatrical release at Film Forum in New York on December 10.

Film critic J. Hoberman moderated a discussion with Wendy and Lucy director Kelly Reichardt, and then took questions from the press in the audience. Here are some of the highlights from the discussion and Q&A.

Hoberman: Is it true Lucy is your dog?

Reichardt: Yes, she’s my dog. She’s a great dog. She can never be left alone.

Hoberman: Was she easy to direct?

Reichardt: It’s just about hiding the stick in the right place.

Hoberman: And your other star Michelle Williams?

Reichardt: Much harder.

Hoberman: She’s in virtually every scene. I couldn’t imagine her agent bringing her this project. How did you get her the script?

Reichardt: The producer on the film had just worked with Michelle on I’m Not There. He read the script and thought Michelle would be great for the part. She had seen Old Joy. She was looking to do something outside of L.A. or New York. She was really game. It’s a very scaled down way of making films where there’s not a lot of separation between the cast and the crew. She couldn’t wear any make up or wasn’t allowed to wash her hair for 20 days. She was down with all of it. You’d do a scene with her and ask her to grab a light, and she’d do it.

Hoberman: How long was the shoot?

Reichardt: It was a 20-day shoot, which was really not enough time. I lived in New York and we shot out in Portland, Oregon. I did drive home sort of knowing that I didn’t feel that I quite had the movie. It was sort of more intimate shots that I needed. I felt like I had the meat, but I didn’t have the potatoes sort of. Poor Michelle, she tried to go twice on vacation to Portland and we just put her back to work and she was game again. She and I and the DP, a local cinematographer went out and did the shots in the car and went around to some of the locations we’d been to got shots. I cut for six months in my apartment. As I went along, the local DP out there kept shooting for me like the trains and things that I needed. I made a few trips back. It kept building while I was editing.

Hoberman: Did you always intend to shoot the film in Oregon?

Reichardt: The writing that I’m working with John Raymond…the film comes from his stories. He writes of the great Northwest. He has a novel called The Half Life that takes place there. We always wanted he to be close to Alaska. It takes on a whole new meaning now. Back in August of last year, Alaska didn’t seem so hideous. I wanted to think about shooting somewhere else, because I made this other film in Portland. I left New York in January. I spent almost seven months driving around the country looking at parking lots and gas station bathrooms and at some point had an epiphany in Butte, Montana in a Safeway parking lot in the middle of this snow storm, I’m going to get killed looking around for these locations. Todd Haynes said the whole point is that all these places look the same. Just come back and make the film where you can afford to make it. We ended up shooting in the locations about a block away from John Raymond’s house.

Audience Question: Was it a problem to edit the film all by yourself?

Reichardt: No, I cut my last film Old Joy. Before that there was 13 years before my first feature and my second one and I was making shorts during that time. They were getting their form in the editing. I was sort of able during that time just working on other things got really into editing. I can’t picture giving it to someone else at this point. And now with Final Cut Pro, it’s not expensive. It runs up your electricity bill, that’s about it. There’s no good reason for me to hurry. For all my films, I found this process of driving around before shooting where you’re alone and had my dog with me and think about how the film is going to look like and how to shoot it. You have that alone time in writing. And then all of a sudden, there’s all these people involved in the production. In these last films, that drive back to New York after shooting, it was really a feeling like I’m looking forward to getting the film back to myself and being alone with it.

Audience Question: In the scene where there’s a powerful tracking shot of all the dogs in the pound, did that come from any personal experience?

Reichardt: No. We already had the script. At Christmas one year, I was up in Vermont visiting family. I was packing up the car and Lucy disappeared for two days. There was that thought where I thought, ‘I fucked myself over for writing this script. I jinxed myself. I’m never getting my dog back.’ I did have the experience of the dread of time passing and searching. Actually, what I got from that experience was a lot of people out in Vermont were saying, ‘leave your clothes out where you last saw your dog…leave a trail.’ That’s where the trail of clothing came. That was like a four-star pound. If you had to be in a pound, that’s a great pound.

46th New York Film Festival Announces Special Events

The New York Film Festival is quickly approaching, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center has sent me their announcement on all the various HBO Films Dialogues, panel discussions and other special screening events for its 46th annual festival. Last year, the NYFF made it into The Film Panel Notetaker's top 10 panels of 2007. Seems like they have a lot of great talks planned this year, so hopefully they'll be back on the list for 2008. Here's their announcement:

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2008––The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 46th New York Film Festival will host a variety of dialogues, panels, anniversary and special event screenings, and an inventive photographic exhibition during this year’s decisive look at contemporary cinema, Sept. 26 to Oct. 12. Events include festival filmmakers Jia Zhangke, Darren Aronofsky and Arnaud Desplechin at the annual HBO Films Dialogues, in-depth conversations with festival curators and audience members on the careers and current output of some of cinema’s most dynamic talents; Martin Scorsese introducing and discussing the Technicolor presentation of Albert Lewin’s simmering romance, “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman;” and Alloy Orchestra presenting the New York premiere of their newest score in accompaniment to a new print of the silent film classic, “The Last Command.” Additionally, prominent film critics from around the world will discuss both the current state and the future of film criticism, while a panel debating the nature and significance of the freedom of the press will follow a screening of the new documentary, “It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks.”

The popular HBO Films Dialogues return to the New York Film Festival to bring celebrated artists together with their audiences to discuss both their the stylistic and career distinctions and the issues raised by their new films. “24 City” director Jia Zhangke will join LA Weekly film critic and festival selection committee member Scott Foundas to talk about his influences at home and abroad and the changing face of China, his native country, fresh off hosting its first Olympic games, Sunday, Sept. 28, at 4:00 p.m. Festival favorite Wong Kar-wai will discuss his working methods and the evolution of the themes that run through his work with Village Voice film critic and festival selection committee member J. Hoberman, Sunday, Oct. 5, at 4:00 p.m. Brooklyn-native Darren Aronofsky is honored as this year’s Closing Night director for his film “The Wrestler.” He will be onstage with Film Society program director and festival selection committee chair Richard Peña, Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. “A Christmas Tale” director Arnaud Desplechin will talk about the themes and creative partnerships that continue to motivate him with Film Comment editor-at-large and festival selection committee member Kent Jones, Saturday, Oct. 11, at 4:30 p.m.

All HBO Films Dialogues will be held at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, on the 10th floor of Lincoln Center’s Samuel B. & David Rose Building, adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater.

The first special event at the Walter Reade Theater will be Film Criticism in Crisis?, a discussion hosted by Film Comment magazine, Saturday, Sept. 27, at 1:00 p.m. The panel brings together critics from around the world and close to home to discuss the current state and future of film criticism. Participants include critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cahiers du cinéma editor Emmanuel Burdeau, Film Comment editor-at-large Kent Jones, GreenCine Daily blog editor David Hudson, Argentine film critic Pablo Suarez, among others. A reception will follow the event. Film Criticism in Crisis? is sponsored by Sardinia Region Tourism.

The annual festival showcase Views from the Avant-Garde will host a 30th anniversary screening of Guy Debord’s “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” (France, 1978; 100m) on Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. With a palindrome title roughly translated as “we spin around the night consumed by fire,” the film “is not so much difficult as a pure act of negation from the founder of the Situationist International,” says Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society and a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee. The film uses images from magazines, comics and popular films to critique a media-dominated society, a process defined by Debord as “détournement.” Yet, says Jones, the work also affirms “our ability to build on the best rather than the worst in mankind, to create a true Utopia rather than a paltry counterfeit. Without exaggeration, this is one of the most provocative experiences you’ll ever have at the movies.”

On Monday, Oct. 6, at 6:00 and 8:30 p.m., the New York Film Festival offers music fans, silent film aficionados and movie lovers a unique treat: two chances to see a new 35mm print of Josef von Sternberg’s 1928 classic “The Last Command” (USA, 1928; 88m), accompanied by the New York premiere of Alloy Orchestra’s newest score. Emil Jannings stars in the film alongside Evelyn Brent and William Powell as a once-decorated Russian general who must relive the revolution that deposed him as an extra in a Hollywood film directed by a one-time opponent. Jannings’s performance contributed to his earning the first-ever Oscar for Best Actor, while the film was added to the National Film Registry in 2006. Alloy Orchestra works with untraditional objects to create unique and soulful music for silent film scores. The ensemble has performed live at celebrated arts venues throughout the world. These screenings are made possible through the generosity of the Ira M. Resnick Foundation. Tickets are $20.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese will be onstage to introduce and discuss the festival’s In Glorious Technicolor screening of “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” (Albert Lewin, UK, 1951; 122m) at the Walter Reade Theater, Friday, Oct. 10, at 6:15 p.m.The film, a reworking of the tale of the Flying Dutchman set on the Spanish coast, stars one of cinema’s most explosive onscreen couples, James Mason as Hendrik the Dutchman and Ava Gardner as Pandora. Directed by one of cinema’s most unusual talents, designed by director-to-be Clive Donner and shot by the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, it has been painstakingly restored to its original Technicolor glory by George Eastman House in cooperation with The Douris Corporation, with funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Franco-American Cultural Fund. This screening is made possible by The Film Foundation and American Express Preservation Screening Program.

The festival’s second anniversary screening remembers one of cinema history’s forgotten masterworks, “The Day Shall Dawn” (A.J. Kardar, Pakistan, 1959; 87m), on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. Fifty years ago, a group of film enthusiasts inspired by the example of Satyajit Ray in India banded together to make Pakistan’s first experiment with realist cinema. Walter Lassally, a key figure in Britain’s Free Cinema movement, handled the camera for director and screenwriter A.J. Kardar’s story of a family of fishermen working along the Padma River that attempts to break out of a vicious cycle of exploitation by acquiring a boat. The film was awarded a gold medal at the Moscow Film Festival and received several glowing reviews by international critics. Yet it was soon almost completely forgotten, as Pakistani cinema headed into another, very different direction. The Film Society thanks Anjum Taseer for making this screening possible.

On the festival’s final day, the Film Society hosts an expert panel following Daniel Leconte’s new documentary “It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks” (“C’est dur d’etre aimé par des cons,” France, 2008; 119m), investigating “the first major legal battle of the 21st century” and an issue all democratic societies will continue to face, at the Walter Reade Theater, Sunday, Oct. 12, at 1:00 p.m. In 2006, the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published 12 cartoons satirizing Islamic fundamentalism, including a rendering of a distraught Muhammad with a thought balloon lamenting, “It’s hard being loved by jerks.” Several Islamic organizations sued editor Philippe Val for slander. Leconte documents the trial, chronicling the various legal strategies and capturing an array of social commentators to remark on the event’s impact and long-term effects. After the screening, the filmmaker will join Carol Becker, writer, culture critic and dean of the School of the Arts, Columbia University; Marshall Cohen, professor of philosophy and provost emeritus of philosophy and law, University of Southern California; and others on stage to discuss the concerns raised by the film.

Finally, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 12, the Film Society’s Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery will host the photographic exhibitions Brief Histories Of… and Correspondence Course(s) by filmmaker, author and visual artist Mark Rappaport. Both photomontage essays gather frames from popular movies and re-assemble them in new juxtapositions. The stills refer to the old narrative from which the images were taken, but the viewer is invited to read them and the story they create with fresh eyes. As Mark Rappaport puts it, “It’s a leapfrogging, zigzagging, hopscotching, time-traveling, three-dimensional chess game through film history.” The Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery is adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater. It is free to the public, and open daily 1:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Except where noted, tickets for the HBO Films Dialogues and Walter Reade Theater special events are $16. They can be purchased online at filmlinc.com, at the Walter Reade Theater box office, at the Avery Fisher Hall box office, and over the phone via Centercharge (212.721.6500).

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 majority of the festival screenings will be held at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th St. (Please note: the Ziegfeld Theatre is not wheelchair accessible. For further information please call 212-875-5610). Opening and Closing Night screenings will be held at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, on the corner of Columbus Avenue and 65th St. Additional screenings and events will take place at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th St. close to Amsterdam Ave. More information is available at filmlinc.com.

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.
Please note: Due to construction work taking place around Lincoln Center, access to the Walter Reade Theater is at 165 West 65th Street close to Amsterdam Avenue. Once there, take the escalator, elevator or stairs to the upper leve

Falling For the New York Film Festival

I know we still have about a month and a half of summer left, but I was reminded today when I received the press release for the 46th New York Film Festival line-up that fall will soon be upon us, and I for one cannot wait! It's no secret that fall is The Film Panel Notetaker's favorite season for film festivals. There's one nearly every week in and around New York starting in late September and going through most of the rest of the season. But let's stick to the New York Film Festival for now. I started going in 2001 with my friend Marissa (my first film festival experience ever being David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and a panel on Making Movies that Matter right after 9/11 with Oliver Stone and Christine Vachon), but didn't officially start notetaking there till 2006. Last year, I took to the ticket line at Jazz at Lincoln Center for my annual sojourn of sitting for hours in line for tickets as they go on sale to the public. Even though I now go as press, I still make my way to the box office (this year at Avery Fisher Hall) for nostalgic purposes and to see the same people I see every year (only in that line and at the festival and never anywhere else). Here's a quick glance (here, here, and here) at some notes I've taken at the festival since 2006.

This year's opening night film is the Cannes Golden Palm winner The Class (Entre Les Murs) from France by Laurent Cantent. The centerpiece is Clint Eastwood's Changeling starring Angelina Jolie and featuring Eddie Alderson (Matthew Buchanan of TV's One Life to Live). Finally, closing night is Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale Sunday, Sept. 7, at 12:00 noon at Avery Fisher Hall, corner of Columbus Avenue and 65th St.; Monday, Sept. 8, online at filmlinc.com; and on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Ziegfeld Theater, 141 West 54th St. For all other details and further information, please visit filmlinc.com.

Without further adieu, here is the entire lineup for the 46th New York Film Festival taking place Sept. 26 - Oct. 12.

Main slate, screening at the Ziegfeld Theatre, 141 West 54th St., except where noted

OPENING NIGHT (AVERY FISHER HALL / ZIEGFELD THEATRE)
The Class / Entre les murs
Laurent Cantet, France, 2008; 128m
A tough, lively and altogether revelatory look inside a high school classroom, enacted by
real teachers and students.

CENTERPIECE
Changeling
Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008; 140m
Angelina Jolie is a single mother whose troubles are just beginning when her son goes
missing in Clint Eastwood’s majestic fact-based period drama.

CLOSING NIGHT (AVERY FISHER HALL)
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2008; 109m
Mickey Rourke gives the performance of a lifetime in Darren Aronofsky’s raw and raucous new movie.

24 City / Er shi si cheng ji
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m
The rise and fall of a Chinese factory town is chronicled in this film, straddling the border
between fiction and documentary.

Afterschool
Antonio Campos, USA, 2008; 122m
When two students at a posh prep school accidentally overdose, a student filmmaker
struggles to create an appropriate tribute for them.

Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong, 2008; 93m
The final, definitive version of Wong Kar Wai’s modernist take on the classic Chinese
martial arts tale.

Bullet in the Head / Trio en la cabeza
Jaime Rosales, Spain/France, 2008; 85m
A powerful, engrossing meditation on politics and the contemporary cult of surveillance.

Che
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m
Steven Soderbergh’s two-part Spanish-language epic about Che Guevara’s revolutionary
military campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia features a brilliant lead performance by Benicio del Toro.

Chouga / Shuga
Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan, 2007; 91m
A Kazakh, minimalist adaptation of Anna Karenina.

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2008; 150m
Arnaud Desplechin’s grand banquet of a movie brims with life, as Catherine Deneuve,
Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos and the other members of a marvelous ensemble
cast come home for Christmas.

Four Nights with Anna / Cztery noce z Anna
Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008; 87m
This visually mesmerizing tale of a shy man and his obsession with the woman across the
way marks the triumphant return of Polish maestro Jerzy Skolimowski.

Gomorrah / Gomorra
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2008; 137m
A blistering version of Roberto Saviano’s modern true crime classic about the modern-day
Neapolitan mafia.

Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, UK, 2008; 118m
An affectionate portrait of an unattached, 30-something London schoolteacher coming to
terms with the fact that she’s no longer young.

The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2008; 87m
Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s powerful third feature takes us into an altered
perceptual state with a woman who hits something with her car.

Hunger
Steve McQueen, UK, 2008; 96m
British visual artist Steve McQueen’s feature film debut is an uncompromising look at the
hunger strike led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands in 1974.

I’m Going to Explode / Voy a explotar
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2008; 103m
Two Mexican teenagers go into hiding to see the reactions their disappearance will get
from relatives and friends.

Let It Rain / Parlez-moi de la pluie
Agnès Jaoui, France, 2008; 110m
A portrait of a rising feminist politician may be the ticket to fame and jobs for two aspiring
filmmakers.

RETROSPECTIVE
Lola Montès
Max Ophuls, France/West Germany, 1955; 115m
The life of the legendary courtesan and circus performer—lover of kings, knaves and
Franz Liszt—is presented in its definitive, restored version.

Night and Day / Bam guan nat
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008; 144m
When his life in Seoul becomes too complicated, an artist hightails it to Paris—but things
don’t get any easier.

The Northern Land / A Corte do Norte
João Botelho, Portugal, 2008; 101m
A woman searches for the truth about her life in the stories of ancestors and the distant
manor house they inhabited.

Serbis
Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France, 2008; 90m
A family tries to quell the tensions tearing it apart while it struggles to keep the family
business—a porn movie theater—afloat

Summer Hours / L’heure d’eté
Olivier Assayas, France, 2008; 103m
Juliette Binoche is one of three siblings brought face-to-face with time and mortality by the
sudden death of her mother in this moving new film from Olivier Assayas.

Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands, 2008; 85m
A Japanese family struggles to re-define itself after the father loses his corporate job.

Tony Manero
Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil, 2008; 98m
In the dark days of the Pinochet dictatorship, a John Travolta wannabe blazes a
murderous trail through the back alleys of Chile.

Tulpan
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland, 2008; 100m
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Tulpan charts
an aspiring herdsman’s efforts to win the attention of his intended.

Waltz with Bashir / Vals in Bashir
Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France, 2008; 90m
Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman’s haunting autobiographical memory piece about his
experiences as a soldier during the 1982 war in Lebanon are given a hyper-real spin by
state-of-the-art animation.

Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008; 80m
In Kelly Reichardt’s follow-up to her acclaimed Old Joy, Wendy (Michelle Williams)
searches for her dog Lucy. The troubled spirit of modern America is beautifully evoked
along the way.

The Windmill Movie
Alexander Olch, USA, 2008; 80m
Filmmaker Alexander Olch, using material left by the late filmmaker Richard Rogers for a never completed film autobiography, attempts to make sense of the life of his former
teacher and friend.

45th NYFF- "Redacted" - October 11, 2007

45th New York Film Festival
Redacted
October 11, 2007

Press conference with De Palma for RedactedPhoto Credit: GODLIS

Last night at the New York Film Festival, I saw Brian DePalma’s latest film Redacted, which has been met with controversy, not only for its dark, unsettling portrait of a fictionalized account of an actual incident that occurred during the Iraq War where U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman, but also for a dispute that occurred a few days ago at a NYFF press conference where DePalma charged the film’s distributor, Magnolia Pictures, with censoring, or “redacting” if you will, the film’s final moments where pictures of actual wounded and dead Iraqis faces were covered with black bars. Magnolia’s Eamonn Bowles spoke out during the conference to defend the distributor’s rights to make that decision. Not 24 hours later, DePalma gives up his fight. Karina Longworth of SpoutBlog has been all over this story like white on rice. Read her latest coverage here.

There was no Q&A after the screening last night, but DePalma did speak briefly before the film began saying, “Normally, I don’t do this because you’re supposed to think these guys are real.” He was referring to the cast of Redacted. DePalma did a “role call.” Present from the cast were Patrick Carroll (Reno Flake), Ty Jones (Master Sergeant Sweet), Mike Figueroa (Sargeant Jim Vasquez), Kel O’Neill (Gabe Blix) and Izzy Diaz (Angel Salazar).

DePalma concluded by saying Redacted was a very exciting movie to make. It’s similar to his 1989 film Casualties of War, but he found a whole new way to tell the story by using the Internet.

HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Wes Anderson - October 10, 2007

45th New York Film Festival
HBO Films Directors Dialogues: Wes Anderson
October 10, 2007

NYFF screening of The Darjeeling Limited. (L to R) Jason Schwartzman, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola. Photo Credit: GODLIS

Wednesday at the New York Film Festival, Kent Jones (KJ), Associate Director of Programming of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, conducted the HBO Film Directors Dialogue with filmmaker Wes Anderson (WA) at the Times Center. After the discussion, a reception was held for the Young Friends of Film. What follows are highlights of that conversation and questions and answers from the audience.

(KJ) You referred once that your latest film Darjeeling Limited (that opened the 45th New York Film Festival) is a dark movie. Your films have always balanced between happiness and sadness. Can you elaborate?

(WA) My friend told me the other day that Darjeeling Limited is about the war. I don’t see myself doing a movie where we can’t try to be funny. I made an unusual, conscience choice to be as personal as we possible can. I hate to think that takes us to a dark place.

(KJ) Was Darjeeling Limited darker than your other films?

(WA) I don’t think of it that way. The film led us somewhere else.

(KJ) What were some of your personal choices on making this film? Why was it set in India?

(WA) We (Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, and I) went to India mainly to write. We took very specific things from our own lives. Jason took things in his life and fictionalized and romanticized them.

(KJ) Is this true in all of your films?

(WA) It’s a natural thing, but in this case, we articulated it together. It was a real adventure for us.

(KJ) Is the way your films are made just as important as the finished product?

(WA) I like to work with friends. That theory finds its way on film. I contract my approach with William Friedkin, who I admire, who creates friction and tension on the set.

(KJ) In an interview, once you said you want to work in a way that the narrative reflects novels. Is that something you began with?

(WA) The way a novel unfolds unlike a movie. Try to overtly stimulate. For example, The Royal Tenenbaums is not based on a book, but I suggested it to be. The movie is the book. I have a filmmaker friend who questions the value of making something original. I hope to do something different. I’m drawn to that.

(KJ) Is there a feeling you go for when constructing a movie? Did you cultivate this idea over a long time?

(WA) It’s a kind of thing I don’t decide. I usually start with locations, even before the characters. It’s an odd thing. It invents a movie that’s different from other movies.

(KJ) How old were you when you’re love of movies began?

(WA) The earliest films I enjoyed were of Spielberg and Hitchcock. Loved the color of Hitchcock’s movies. Watched these movies on Beta.

(KJ) The tagline for your first feature, Bottle Rocket, was “Reservoir Geeks.”

(WA) Anything “geeks” is not wildly flattering. It set up the audience with more violence than we had in store. We would have liked “As good as Reservoir Dogs.”

(KJ) A turn was taken between Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. How do you account for that?

(WA) I was most confident when making Bottle Rocket, but our first test screening was one of the worst in modern history. That night, I had a very different feeling about my talent. My trusted cohorts didn’t even attend. After the screening, Owen Wilson said we should try to go into advertising, but first move into an efficiency apartment. When shooting Rushmore, I gained some confidence back. I was figuring out how I really wanted to do it. Bottle Rocket was more spare. Rushmore goes into more lush places.

(KJ) Since developing your confidence back, you’ve been working with bigger productions.

(WA) People were surprised at how much the budget for Bottle Rocket was. It could have been made cheaper. Rushmore needed the amount of money we spent.

(KJ) Music costs a lot of money, too.

(WA) In Darjeeling Limited, my inspiration for making the film in India was watching Satyajit Ray’s films. He composed most of the music himself.

(KJ) When the NYFF committee first screened Darjeeling Limited, it had different music.

(WA) There was Beatles music. We used the Kinks instead. They were much better. I had used one Kinks song already in Rushmore. My first plan in Rushmore was to use all music of the Kinks. I sometimes worry about repeating myself. If my movies have these links and similarities, you can put them on a DVD shelf together, and that’s ok with me.

(KJ) Your relationship with Bill Murray began with Rushmore.

(WA) In Bottle Rocket, we had James Caan who was great, but at a certain point, we had wanted Bill Murray. We couldn’t locate him. For Rushmore, we thought of someone else. At the last minute, we called Bill’s agent and had a conversation with Bill who told me how Rushmore related to Akira Kurosawa’s Red Beard. It’s never been that easy to get him for another roll since. Not sure he’s even read the scripts for the other films we’ve done together. In Darjeeling Limited, he had a small part. He’s at the beginning of the film chasing a train for a moment. We likened it to Karl Malden in the American Express commercials. Bill’s role is not even a cameo. It’s more like a symbol. He said he’s never played a symbol before. He took this symbol and made it into a character you can feel for.

(KJ) You mentioned at the NYFF press conference for Darjeeling Limited how good it was to work with Jason Schwartzman again.

(WA) He had his own way to prepare for his role. He was also a co-writer, giving him a completely different dynamic. We were better suited to work together than ever before. In Rushmore, he had never acted before. Now he has a precise way as an actor.

(KJ) Tell us about how you shape a frame.

(WA) I stage scenes without lots of cutting. I move the actors around in the frame. The way the anamorphic lens distorts the image has a peculiar property. It has a homemade feeling to it.

Audience Q&A

Q: Within your creative process, where does visual imagery come into play?

(WA) The idea of setting. In Bottle Rocket, the look of the movie came out of places we were living. In Darjeeling Limited, we went to India to discover it and it became the subject matter of the movie. In The Royal Tenenbaums it had all the things I loved about New York.

Q: Why did you choose India? Did you know it would be the setting?

(WA) I wanted to make a movie about three brothers on a train in India. I had Sajat Ray’s films in mind. Martin Scorsese also showed me a print of The River that made a strong impression on me.

Q: How do you collaborate with other writers?

(WA) I’m the stenographer. Owen and I had many years to figure out how to write. Our mentor was James L. Brooks. Noah Baumbach (co-screenwriter of The Life Aquatic) and I started writing together without planning to. Jason, Roman, and I have been friends for a long time. There was something more focused about it. It was a more emotional enterprise for us. More intense.

Q: Most of your films feature prominently male lead character, but women do have poignant things to say.

(WA) Owen and I talked about making some very strong female characters for a movie. I would like to do better. I want to write a movie with bigger female characters. I liked Natalie Portman’s character in my short Hotel Chavalier.

Q: How long is your process of making a movie?

(WA) Usually three year. Don’t know why. There’s never a script till after at least a year. I’m starting a new film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, that’s planned for release in November 2009. It took eight years to get where it is now. I do like to spend a lot of time on the scripts.

Q: What do you say for people who criticize your films for being too smart?

(WA) People might think I’m too smart, but I don’t. You can’t focus on people’s reactions. I think about how I’m going to get a scene to work.

Q: The Fantastic Mr. Fox is an adaptation. How is to adapt a book into a film, as opposed to working off an original script?

(WA) It’s nice to have something where somebody already has it mapped out. The source material is only 33 pages long. A lot of it’s set in tunnels. I wouldn’t say my films have been accused of being too plotty. This one has some more plot.

Q: How do you relate to the characters you write for? How do you take personal experiences and fictionalize them?

(WA) When you’re writing, you get very attached to the characters. More or less, every character is a little bit of someone. Draw inspiration from someone I know. Ex) Jacques Cousteau of The Life Aquatic.

Q: How important is the rehearsal process?

(WA) It can be very important. Jason, Roman, and I rehearsed the script for months. We all lived in a house together and rehearsed at night. Work shopping a script is so rarely feasible.

Q: What’s the significance of Jason Schwartzman’s scene in Hotel Chavalier where he’s watching Stalag 17?

(WA) I liked that movie. His character is in a funk. It seemed like a depressing movie to watch alone in a hotel room in Paris. I actually first heard of Stalag 17 from an episode of Magnum PI, so it was more of an homage to Magnum PI than Stalag 17.

NYFF- HBO Directors Dialogue: Todd Haynes - October 6, 2007

45th New York Film Festival
HBO Directors Dialogue: Todd Haynes
October 6, 2007

Todd Haynes in New York Film Fesival's Green Room for I'm Not There. Photo Credit: C.J.Contino

Saturday at the New York Film Festival, Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman conducted an HBO Directors Dialogues with filmmaker Todd Haynes whose new film, I’m Not There, premiered at the festival a few days earlier. I was at the premiere and took notes at the Q&A, and thought it would be a good complement to take additional notes at the Directors Dialogue to get further insights from Haynes on his directing styles and choices for I’m Not There and his other bodies of work. What follows are highlights of the discussion and questions and answers from the audience.

Hoberman opened by saying “the greatest pleasure a film journalist can have is to come across a movie you never heard of from someone unknown and to have the privilege to write about it first 20 years ago.” The film refers to was Haynes’ 1987 super 8mm movie Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Hoberman called it a completely brilliant and original movie. He then went through the laundry list of Haynes’ other film including Poison (1991), Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Far From Heaven (2002), and finally I’m Not There (2007). Hoberman pointed out that most of these films have multiple stories and address certain pop culture text. In each case, there is a certainty of irony. He asks Haynes if these films were made with love, and what he’s a fan of.

Haynes responded that he’s an intense, wild fan of movies, music, and even of Hoberman’s work, referring back to Hoberman’s original review of Superstar, a film that would never have been shown commercially. This review launched Haynes’ career. Many theatrical venues wanted to show the film.

Hoberman moves the discussion over to Haynes interest in Bob Dylan.

Haynes recollected his high school days. He attended Oakwood, an artsy school in Los Angeles that had a radical, mythical history founded by progressive actors in the 1950s. It was in this environment, he first encountered Dylan’s music. After graduating in 1979, he moved to the East Coast for college at Brown University, where he studied semiotics, and became interested in glam and punk rock. It was not till the end of his 30s (he had begun his film career already) when he got back into Dylan. He finished making Velvet Goldmine and took a few years off. Most of his friends were starting their lives already, having families. He didn’t have any of those things in his life. Something was missing. He wanted to enrich himself. Since he was a creative person, he had the opportunity to externalize his troubles, and was very grateful for it. At the time, he was interested in 1950s melodramas (ala Douglas Sirk) and wanted to work again with Julianne Moore (who he worked previously with on Safe).

At the end of the 1990s, Haynes drove across country to Portland, Oregon, to live with his sister. He listened to tapes of Dylan in the car. Half way there, he bought some more folk music to listen to . When he got to Portland, he read a bunch of Dylan biographies. It became inevitable that his obsession would result in making something creative.

Hoberman mentions that Haynes started writing the screenplay for I’m Not There in 2000. During this time, Dylan published an anthology, ’s documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan came out, and Twyla Tharp’s ballet based on Dylan’s songs, The Times They Are A-Changin’, played on Broadway. But Haynes focuses most of the film on Dylan’s life in the 1960s up until the 70s, the end of the Vietnam War.

Haynes said he couldn’t commit to Dylan’s entire life. He wanted to focus on the core elements and roots of his origins in the 60s era. That was enough. Dylan ultimately created his own escape at the end of the 60s until he had his motorcycle accident in 1966. Then he went to Woodstock and raised a family. In many ways, he never really came back. Dylan’s access and visibility have been under his own terms ever since. That’s what the whole last story with Richard Gere’s Dylan character, Billy, is all about. Billy is the most metaphorical character.

Given how protective Dylan is, Hoberman asked Haynes how he got permission to use Dylan’s music in the film and what Dylan thought of the film.

Haynes said he’s not sure Dylan has seen it yet. He sent the DVD to Dylan’s son Jesse, because he knew that Dylan didn’t want to come to any public screenings. Before even making the film, Haynes called up producer Christine Vachon. He was very bashful about it, because he knew it would be hard to get Dylan’s permission to use the songs. There was no way he could make the movie without the music. Prior to making the film, Haynes met with Jesse, who is also a filmmaker, in Los Angeles. It’s so hard to be the kid of a famous person. One thing Dylan has been able to do all along is keep his family protected.

At that point in the script (which was then titled I’m Not There: Suppositions On a Film Concerning Dylan), Haynes had seven Dylan characters, one of which eventually got absorbed into the Woody character, making the final amount six. Dylan had been opposed to every dramatic version of his life before, until that moment. If there was ever something Dylan wanted done about his life, it would have to be something this open and unconventional.

Audience Q&A

Q: Do you see parallels between I’m Not There and Velvet Goldmine? Did you get David Bowie’s blessing for Velvet Goldmine?

TH: Artists are always changing themselves. The first person you might think of is David Bowie. I wanted the rights to Bowie’s songs, but he wasn’t interested in having his story on film. Bowie’s version of self-transformation was about dressing up and applying make up. Androgyny. I’m Not There and Velvet Goldmine are very different films. Different music genres and traditions. Velvet Goldmine is a British story, whereas I’m Not There is American story.

Q: Why do you choose Cate Blanchett for the role of Jude in I’m Not There?

TH: I was obsessed about different actresses in their age range. I looked at pictures of actresses and put them in Dylan’s hair. Saw Cate on stage in Heda Gabler in Brooklyn. Saw her scale and proportions. She’s beautiful. On a physical level, I was stunned by her proportions.

Q: How do you work with such a large body of music?

TH: It was an embarrassment of riches. The selection of cinematic references started in the script stage. Music would be telling the story, built into the film’s concept. For example, the song “Ballad of a Thin Man” had such an important historical meaning. It expressed the inside/outside dichotomy. Another song, “Goin’ to Acapulco,” was a personal favorite. It’s absurdly melodramatic.

Q: You started the script in 2000 with seven Dylan characters. What are other changes were made?

TH: I did stop everything on the script when going into production on Far From Heaven in 2001, which occupied me completely till about 2003, but at that point, I had gotten the rights from Dylan to use the music. Then started researching and starting over from scratch. The process of being a pure fan was changed. The missing seventh character was called Charlie, a Chaplin-esque figure.

Q: Did you study of semiotics at Brown influence your filmmaking?

TH: It has. The semiotics courses are now part of the modern culture and media departments. Semiotics studies post-culturalism. It’s a post-humanist look at pop culture and media.

I Was There - Notes from Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There" At 45th New York Film Festival

45th New York Film Festival
I’m Not There
October 4, 2007

Cate Blanchett as Jude in I'm Not There. Directed by Todd Haynes, US, 2007; 136m. Photo Credit: Jonathan Wenk/TWC 2007

I'm Not There opens in limited release at Film Forum in New York on Nov. 21.

Last night at the New York Film Festival, I saw Todd Haynes’ extraordinary narrative/mockumentary/experimental/biopic I’m Not There. The film beautifully and strangely yet effectively, weaves the tales of six different versions of legendary folk/rock singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, each played by different actors of varying ages (and gender ala Cate Blanchett’s terrific performance) at various stages or incarnations or dreamlike moments of Dylan’s life. I’m Not There was the most challenging, engaging and artistic film I have seen so far this year. There are definitely elements of Haynes’ earlier works here, which I’ve always been intrigued by, yet he presents us with fresh and new ideas, that to some may seem a bit jarring, but well worth the experience.

Richard Peña, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, introduced the film along with its director Todd Haynes. Haynes told the audience that it meant a tremendous amount to him to have his film there. “This is a city Dylan so loved,” he said. He also mentioned how difficult it was to get the project financed and gave a big thanks to Harvey Weinstein (who was in attendance) for being someone who stepped in. “He is a courageous guy,” Haynes said.

Haynes then went on to introduce a lot of people from the film who all got up on stage. They included: Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Michelle Williams, co-screenwriter Oren Moverman, producers Christine Vachon (Killer Films), John Sloss and Jim Stern, executive producers John Wells and Wendy Japhet, music supervisors Randy Poster and Jim Dunbar, casting director Laura Rosenthal, production designer Judy Becker, titlist Marlene McCarty, assistant Tonya Smith, and last but not least, director of photography Ed Lachman. Also in the cast, but not present to my awareness was Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Ben Wishaw, all who round out the rest of the Dylan avatars in the film.

After the screening, Richard Pena (RP) moderated a Q&A with Haynes (TH), Blanchett (CB), Marcus Carl Franklin (MCF), and Michelle Williams (MW).

(RP) Can you tell us about the structure of the film?

(TH) The script tried to suggest the ways the stories would be intercut, told in a linear order. I created a dialogue with my subject’s lives. The only way the film could work was that the stories had to fill each other in. One fills in the past of the other. The characters were dreaming each other’s stories. The motifs and ideas came from Dylan’s songs.

(RP) How did you all prepare for your roles?

(CB) By talking to Todd. The script was like a logarithm or algebra. Todd put together a song for each character. I had also read Bob Dylan’s Playboy interview.

(MCF) I’m not as experienced as these actors are. I listened to Dylan’s music. Basically, I did my homework.

Audience Questions

Q: How did it feel interpreting Bob Dylan as a woman?

(CB) I didn’t really think about it too much. It was incredibly genius to cast a woman.

Q: Why did the six Bob Dylan characters in the film have different names other than Bob Dylan?

(TH) To really play out the idea of him occupying different psychic places in his life, it would have been too difficult to make him one character. Most biopics blend fact and fiction. Dylan gave himself different names over the years.

Q: How do you deal with the people who would rather see a more direct version of Dylan’s life?

(TH) People don’t have to like the film. Dylan was received by an incredibly popular audience in the 1960s. This was my subject. I didn’t want to dumb it down. I tried to be true to the story.

Q: Has Bob Dylan seen the film yet?

(TH) We don’t know yet. He hasn’t come to any public screenings. We gave his son Jesse the DVD. Heard that Dylan saw Martin Scorsese’s documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, on TV when he was traveling in Spain.

Q: Were all the performances in the film song by Dylan? Did any of the actors do their own singing?

(CB) I had guitar lessons, but Todd wanted my character to have a male voice come out of my mouth during the singing scenes.

(TH) There was one actor who’s here today who did do his own singing. (Haynes is referring to young Marcus Carl Franklin. The audience applauds.)

Q: What was your relationship with the editor in terms of choices you made to tell the story?

(TH) This was my first time working with Jay Rabinowitz? We started out very closely following the script. It’s a long, big film. It was a challenge to make it work. For example, Richard Gere’s character comes last in the story, but we put little pieces of him earlier in the film.

Q: The film encompasses stages of Dylan’s life up until the late 1970s. Why doesn’t it go further into the present?

(TH) I was paralleling a lot of different events that took place in the film. For example, when Dylan had his motorcycle accident, he eventually goes to the Woodstock in 1969, but he was as far away from the psychedelics of that movement. He went into the past with his music. He never fully returned.

(RP) The turning point was the motorcycle accident. Could you talk more about that?

(TH) I didn’t want to make this film just for Dylan fanatics. Didn’t want to overplay the motorcycle accident, but wanted to make it clear enough. It kind of book ends the films.

Q: What inspired you to make this film?

(TH) I got into Dylan’s music in my late 30s and read a lot of his biographies. I was looking for excitement of change in my life. I associated Dylan with adolescence and the excitement of the future and the unknown. The idea of changing was something I was confronting. These are huge changes and they cause huge repercussions. I dramatized that.

Q: The core of Dylan is identity. Is there a huge question for you about human identity in your thinking?

(TH) The single thing I see in my films is about identity. Dylan found expectations of identity stifling. I found this to be a beautiful model.

Q: Did you have the actors in mind when writing the script?

(TH) I don’t usually think of actors in my mind. Only one actor came to mind, that being the wife character played in the film by Charlotte Gainsbourg. I was so indelibly blessed with these actors. They don’t have to risk everything for a movie like this.