floating heads

I’ve been attending the New York Film Festival since I moved to NYC in 2005 and have had a somewhat tumultuous (one-sided) relationship with it. Their lineup, culled mainly from Cannes, is usually light on American films and sometimes the inclusions (“Hereafter”? “The Tempest”?) are just as puzzling as the ommisions (No “There Will Be Blood”? No “Black Swan”?) But this year I have to give them credit, the lineup was damn good. I had seen quite a few films before the fest even started (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel at Sundance, Shame, The Descendants, The Skin I Live In at TIFF and Melancholia in Paris) and still managed to see 8 films over the 2+ weeks of the festival. I have ranked them here from most to least favorite.

1. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) My favorite film of the fest is also one of my favorite films of the year. Charming, hilarious and surprisingly moving, this ode to silent film will be making a lot of noise during awards season. Read My Full Review

2. George Harrison: Living In A Material World (dir: Martin Scorsese) Scorsese’s epic 3 1/2 hour documentary about the life of George Harrison has all the punch of the directors fiction work and should more than satisfy any Beatles fanatic. Read My Full Review

3. Miss Bala (dir: Gerardo Naranjo) This sparse, gripping thriller about Mexican beauty pageant contestant who gets kidnapped by a drug cartel avoids cliches and utter bleakness by being thrilling cinematically. Read My Full Review

4. Hugo (dir: Martin Scorsese) Scorsese is still putting the finishing touches on this childhood fantasia but he may not be able to solve the films fundamental problem: it’s narratively leaden for the first hour until the actual story kicks in. Read My Full Review

5. Carnage (dir: Roman Polanski) Adaptation of the popular play has a great cast (Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz) but is too stagey for film. Occasionally funny but mildly grating at times. Read My Full Review

6. A Dangerous Method (dir: David Cronenberg) Disappointingly tame pairing of great actors (Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley )+ director (David Cronenberg) in static material. Nicely shot but forgettable. Read My Full Review

7. My Week With Marilyn (dir: Simon Curtis) Made-for-TV movie about a 23 year old Brit who spent a few days with Monroe. Williams is miscast but does her best. All Oscar talk is completely puzzling. Read My Full Review

n/a. The Royal Tenenbaums (dir: Wes Anderson) The 10th Anniversary screening of one of my all time favorites isn’t really eligible to be ranked but was still one of the highlights of the fest. Read My Q&A Recap