By 
By Roger Costa
The most anticipated films of the year are coming to the 56th New York Film Festival, starting September 28. Audiences and movie lovers will have a chance to catch up with celebrated artists and witness their important new works, award-season buzz and celebrities, special screenings, as well as internationally-acclaimed discoveries, shorts and experimental. Here are just a glimpse of what to expect.
IN MY ROOM
After blowing away audiences at Cannes, where it was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Award, German director Ulrich Köhler’s surrealistic drama kicks off as a dysfunctional family affair centered on the final moments of a grandmother confined to a bed, and unexpectedly turns into a melancholic, futuristic fantasy as we follow the steps of a man left alone on Earth, possibly the last one existing. Meticulously crafted, ambiguously seductive, Köhler’s fourth film is a mind-bending analysis on human ego, individualism and solitude, seen through a male’s existential crisis perspective.
SORRY ANGEL
There’s an explosive sense of excitement, enthusiasm, feel-good desire and uplifting intellectualism throughout Writer-Director Christophe Honoré’s depiction of gay-living in early 90’s France. A writer meets up a younger man and they develop an intense relationship while both parts are dealing with different dilemmas, familiar and emotional. Pierre Deladonchamps is phenomenal as the writer, his performance has enough prestige to be among the Award contenders, especially with the topics of AIDS the screenplay provides. Honoré conceives one of this year’s best films (it feels like ecstasy), a deeply moving, superbly vibrant and realistic examination on the human condition.
TRANSIT
Accomplished director Christian Petzold has masterly crafted two female tales (Barbara, Phoenix) and now turns his lenses to a male’s journey with this enigmatic drama set in the 40’s and in current days. A man is sent on a dangerous task to deliver a letter to an exiled writer. When arriving, he finds the man dead, collects his last manuscript and forging his identity tries to escape war, while connecting to a mysterious lady and a diplomatic official. Structured over a seductive and elegant, vigorously insightful noir style, it subtly points to issues such as the refugees crisis and social intolerance with triumphant results. Plus, we’ve got Paula Beer as muse.
MEMPHIS BELLE + COLD BLUE
Two fantastic docs that complete each other. The first is director William Wyler’s rarely seen and restored 16mm shot of a group of war bombers in their activities atop of a B-17. The latest revolves around the same topic, but with strikingly emotional testimonies by nine war Veterans.
Comments