By Roger Costa
THE BRUTALIST
One of the most ambitious films of our era, Brady Corbet’s epic American Dream saga brings an astounding performance by Adrien Brody as a Hungarian-Jewish architect re-building his legacy (and torment) after escaping the horrors of the Holocaust. While he awaits the arrival of his wife (Felicity Jones) he is entrusted by a wealthy investor (Guy Pearce) to build a mega center in the middle of the desert. Influenced by the great American classics exploring power and manipulation, Corbet is on path to collect many Awards this season. Cementing his A-list status in the industry, the result here is indeed visionary, it’s a miracle cinephiles have been longing for.
GRAND TOUR
Winner of the Best Director Award at this year’s Cannes, Miguel Gomes returns with another fascinating take on unrequited love, literature, history, colonialism and the connections that make us who we are. Following a Portuguese man as he travels across East Asia, mysteriously running away from his fiance, the beloved auteur creates a poetic, immersive adventure about the power of love and the turbulence surrounding the human condition. Gorgeously shot in B&W and often switching to color, graced by lovely performances and eccentric characters, this is one of the year’s most accomplished films- and features a memorable, unusual affecting laughter. One of the most affecting, original and precious films of the decade.
HARVEST
Structured as a baroque painting, strange and seductive, Award-winning Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s period drama is a unique cinematic experience about how violent humans can turn to protect their beliefs and belongings. It centers on the drastic transformations of a close-knit community facing adversity and moral dillemas when a few strangers come unannounced. That includes a trio of thieves and a Black man sent to explore the land and draw a map of it. They are all met with hostility. The great Caleb Landry Jones confirms himself among the best performers of his generation, delivering a harrowing, deeply complex and vulnerable turn as a widower on the edge with his efforts to maintain order in a medievel British village enranged by xenophobia, racism and carnal lust. Enriched by Sean Price Williams’ sumptuous natural-light cinematography, it is a remarkable tale about the bonds between men, land, lust and spirituality.
STRANGER EYES
In this intense and gripping thriller from Singapore, a young couple goes through hell after their child is abducted. As investigation intensifies, the only clues to find their daughter are the recordings left by someone who’s been watching them since that crucial day. Terrifying and alarming, writer-director Yeo Siew Hua delivers a master work in suspense that feels fresh and modern throughout teh entire narrative. While looking at the era of surveillance and voyeurism, offering a meditation on both sides of the effects, Hua also paints a canvas of this generation’s anxities and behavior (especially the lack of commitment and endurance). The unnerving editing, swinging in time, creates a claustrophobic puzzle-like atmosphere leaving the audience on the edge with its unpredictable twists. A work Hitchcock would be proud of.
I’M STILL HERE
Brazilian director Walter Salles’ Venice Award-winning adaptation of Marcelo Paiva’s autobiographical novel is a near perfect movie experience fueled by a top notch leading performance by Fernanda Torres. Through the story of perserverance and resilience of a woman fighting the Military Dictatorship regime that took her husband away while trying to protect her children from the tragic truth behind his disappearance, the film investigates and exposes the darker chapter in Brazilian history. However, it also mirrors the horrors of oppression in our era. A strong, finely crafted, thrilling political drama, and a heart-rending family survival saga.
(The 62nd New York Film Festival runs thru October 14 at Lincoln Center. Visit https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2024/ for details.)
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