NYFF: Preview

The time has come and naturally I'm very excited. Tonight I'll be heading straight to the airport after work to catch my flight, set to arrive at JFK around midnight. I therefore won't get much sleep, as I need to get up bright and early to collect my press credential, followed by a full day of press screenings. It promises to be a great film festival and I've got some interesting films lined up. So without further ado, here's my schedule for the long weekend. All are from the Official Selection unless otherwise stated.

Friday, October 4th

THE IMMIGRANT

Director: James Gray
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix
Plot: On the mean streets of Manhattan, Sonya falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution.

BASTARDS

Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Vincent London, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille
Plot: Claire Denis’s jagged, daringly fragmented and deeply unsettling film inspired by recent French sex ring scandals is the rarest of cinematic narratives—a contemporary film noir, perfect in substance as well as style.

GLORIA

Director: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Paulina García, Sergio Hernández, Diego Fontecilla
Plot: A story set in Santiago and centered on Gloria, a free-spirited older woman, and the realities of her whirlwind relationship with a former naval officer whom she meets out in the clubs.


Saturday, October 5th

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine
Plot: An office worker who lives inside fantasy worlds where he gets to live an adventurous life while romancing his co-worker sets off a global journey to fix things when both of their jobs are threatened.


Sunday, October 6th

ABOUT TIME

Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy
Plot: At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life.

*JIMMY P.: PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN

Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Mathieu Amalric, Gina McKee
Plot: In Arnaud Desplechin’s intelligent and moving depiction of a successful "Talking Cure", the encounters between patient (Benecio del Toro) and therapist (Mathieu Amalric) are electric with discovery.

ABUSE OF WEAKNESS

Director: Catherine Breillat
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Kool Shen, Laurence Ursino
Plot: A stroke-afflicted filmmaker is manipulated by a notorious con man.


Monday, October 7th

12 YEARS A SLAVE (Film Comment Magazine Presents)

Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard
Plot: In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

JEALOUSY

Director: Philippe Garrel
Starring: Louis Garrel, Anna Mouglalis, Emanuela Ponzano
Plot: Another intimate, handcrafted work of poetic autobiographical cinema from French director Philippe Garrel, in which his son Louis and Anna Mouglalis star as actors and lovers trying to reconcile their professional and personal lives.

LE WEEK-END

Director: Roger Michell
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan
Plot: A British couple return to Paris many years after their honeymoon there in an attempt to rejuvenate their marriage.

*To be confirmed. Will I be able to catch a secret screening instead?

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