NYFF

NYFF

Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2016: I CALLED HIM MORGAN BY KASPER COLLIN

By Tanner Tafelski

Lee Morgan had talent. He was a hard bop jazz trumpeter who told stories in songs like “The Sidewinder,”  “Ceora,” and “Search for the New Land.” At 18, he was a young master and a snappy dresser. All eyes were on him. He knew he had talent, and he made it known. It was at that age Morgan joined Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra. A year and a half later, in 1958, he signed up with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers.

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2016: PATERSON BY JIM JARMUSCH

By Tanner Tafelski

A living poet is the protagonist of Jim Jarmusch’s new film. Paterson (Adam Driver) the man lives in Paterson the city—Paterson, New Jersey that is. He also happens to be a bus driver, transporting passengers here and there throughout the town. He is the town. The town is filtered through Paterson, who in turn idealizes it. Through the poet, who is aware of his surroundings, Jarmusch characteristically captures the nuance and intensity of moments.

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2016: NERUDA BY PABLO LARRAÍN

By Tanner Tafelski

Pablo Larraín returns to the past. Along with Jackie, Neruda makes a pair of films Larraín made this year that could be considered historical dramas. I haven’t seen Jackie yet, but Neruda demolishes whatever assumptions tied to that label (exposition, a reverence to illustrating facts in the most ho-hum style).

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2015. THE FORBIDDEN ROOM BY GUY MADDIN

By Tanner Tafel?ski

Now is the time for excess, for mania, for Guy Maddin has made a new film, The Forbidden Room. If you were skeptical before, The Forbidden Room erases any lingering doubts: Maddin is a hauntologist of old and lost films.

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2015. RAMONA BY ANDREI CRETULESCU

By Tanner Tafelski

Ramona has a slim suggestion of a story with the relief that there’s no dialogue in the short at all. The focus is on Cre?ulescu’s controlled aesthetic. Unlike Bad Penny or Kowalski, which exclusively feature men, this film has a female protagonist, a blonde in a beige trench coat and red heels who executes methodical, calculated murders—all of whom are men—over the course of a night and a morning.

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2015: MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART BY JIA ZHANGKE

By Tristan Teshigahara Pollack

Tao (in a career-defining performance by the director’s longtime muse Zhao Tao) and a group of young 20-somethings ring in the turn of the millennium as they cheerfully dance in synchronized form to the Pet Shop Boys’ rendition of «Go West»: a lyrical pun on China’s progress – or is it cultural disintegration?

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Film Festival Reports

NYFF 2015. ARABIAN NIGHTS BY MIGUEL GOMES

By Tanner Tafelski

Sprayed on a wall near the end of the first part of Gomes’ epic film is the graffiti message: “Chaos is my life.” Shortly, after a countdown, that cryptic statement blasts on the soundtrack. It’s the title of a song by the Scottish punk band, The Exploited, which could work as both a characterization of this film and the state of Portugal during its economic crisis in 2013 and 2014.

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