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Analysis
The New York Film Festival is always a major highlight for me, and this year is no exception. It’s a vast showcase of some of the year’s best movies, and in many cases, the rare chance to see a streaming movie on the big screen.
Netflix has a major presence at NYFF between White Noise and the documentaries Descendant, Sr., and Is That Black Enough For You?!? MUBI brought three movies to the festival, including Decision to Leave after first making an appearance at Fantastic Fest. And HBO has the documentary All That Breathes, which will debut there in 2023.
There are still a few days of NYFF left (and plenty of great movies that New Yorkers can still check out). I still haven’t seen some of the festival’s biggest films—I’m planning to see Armageddon Time, She Said, and The Inspection this week, plus a few more this weekend—but here’s what I’ve enjoyed so far.
Aftersun
Charlotte Wells’ debut film follows a father and daughter who go on a holiday in Turkey at the end of the summer (and the daughter’s attempt to make sense of it 20 years later). It’s something of a slow burn and lingers in its ambiguity, but between affecting performances from Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio and a moment of pure catharsis toward the end, I’m still thinking about it.
All the Beauty and Bloodshed
Laura Poitras’ new documentary about photographer Nan Goldin’s fight to get institutions to remove the Sackler name from their buildings due to the family’s role in perpetuating the opioid crisis won the top prize at Venice, and easy to see why. A documentary that effortlessly ties together Goldin’s life, her art, and her activist fight against the Sacklers, it makes the personal political and the political personal.
Decision to Leave
Park Chan-wook’s latest thriller immediately made me want to dive into his backlog (I know). After the death of a hiking enthusiast, the detective investigating his death and the prime suspect (the man’s wife) are both caught in an intricate web that becomes increasingly entangled, paving the pathway for one of the most unexpected (as well as romantic) movies of the year. And given the subject matter, it’s also a lot funnier than you’d think, an unexpected surprise.
TÁR
TÁR is my Dune this year, purely in the sense that all I want to do is chant the film’s title repeatedly like the teeth tweet to illustrate how much I love it. Todd Field’s first film since Little Children is a brilliant distillation of a genius’ downfall of her own making, which is captured in a performance by Cate Blanchett so effectively that you might forget that the conductor she’s portraying is a fictional character. And while most of us might be unfamiliar with the conducting world, it’s accessible enough for the rest of us and includes plenty for those who will get the niche jokes. (It’s in limited release, but expanding to more cities soon.)
Women Talking
Sarah Polley’s new film—and the Miriam Toews book it’s based on—are rooted in a horrifying true story. But the conversations between a group of Mennonite women and girls who have to determine whether they should stay and forgive their rapists or leave the only community they’ve ever known offer a wealth of nuance (and relevancy) to much of what we’re experiencing now. With the intimacy of a play, it also features several acting masterclasses from the likes of Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley, just to name a couple.
