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New York Film Festival · 2008

New York Film Festival 2008

Main Slate

Showcase of films from around the world.

Programme

29 films · 25 reviews

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24 City (Er Si Si Cheng Ji, Er shi si cheng ji (24 city))

Review preview for 24 City

This blending of the truth and invention is a key plank of Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke's work, which skates so close to documentary it is hard to spot the join.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Blend of fiction and documentary looks at a Chinese munitions plant scheduled for conversion into luxury apartments.

(Country: China, Hong Kong, Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Jia Zhang-Ke; Writer: Jia Zhang-Ke, Zhai Yongming; Stars: Jianbin Chen, Joan Chen, Liping Lu, Zhao Tao)

Full review See: Jia Zhang-Ke press conference on 24 City

Afterschool

Review preview for Afterschool

'An effective and realistic examination of a world where intelligent and privileged characters have reached near-adulthood without having any real understanding of basic morality.'

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
A boy at an exclusive American private school becomes increasingly obsessed with watching video clips on his computer.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Antonio Campos; Writer: Antonio Campos; Stars: Ezra Miller, Addison Timlin, Jeremy Allen White, Emory Cohen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rosemarie Dewitt, Lee Wilkof, Paul Sparks, Bill Raymond, Gary Wilmes Christopher Mccann)

Full review

Ashes Of Time Redux

Review preview for Ashes Of Time Redux

Each of these storylines wash over one another, refusing to take on a fully-fledged shape and yet they have a surprisingly cohesive cumulative effect.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The director's rescored, re-cut and restored version of his 1994 tale of love and regret.

(Country: Hong Kong, China; Year: 2008; Director: Wong Kar Wai; Writer: Louis Cha, Wong Kar Wai; Stars: Leslie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau, Brigitte Lin, Charlie Yeung, Bai Li, Collin Chou)

Full review

Bullet In The Head (Tiro En La Cabeza)

Review preview for Bullet In The Head

What would have made an entertaining, if experimental, 20-minute short film has here been extended beyond sanity.

Amber Wilkinson · 1 out of 5
Avant-garde thriller invites audience to piece together the narrative.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Jaime Rosales; Writer: Jaime Rosales; Stars: Mikel Tello, Ion Arretxe, Iñigo Royo, Diego Gutiérrez, Manza Gebara, Ana Vila, Nerea Cobreros, Monique Durin-Noury, Gilles Vaxelaire, Iván Moreno, José Ángel Lopetegui)

Full review

Changeling

Review preview for Changeling

Straczynski's script is a masterpiece of understatement and restraint, and Angelina Jolie is riveting in the central role.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
True crime story about a mother whose problems are compounded when she is reunited with a boy police claim is her missing 10-year-old son.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Clint Eastwood; Writer: J Michael Straczynski; Stars: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Geoffrey Pierson, Denis O'Hare, Frank Wood, Peter Gerety) , Official site

Full review

Che: Guerilla (Che: Part Two)

Review preview for Che: Guerilla

Certainly Soderbergh gives you a sense of the boredom of war - as the days tick by on the screen, you feel your own will to live begin to falter.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
Second episode in Soderbergh's meditation on the Argentine-born revolutionary, focussing on his time in Bolivia.

(Country: France/Spain; Year: 2008; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Peter Buchman, Benjamin A. van der Veen; Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Franka Potente, Santiago Cabrera, Demián Bichir, Kahlil Mendez, Rodrigo Santoro, Yamil Adorno, Jorge Alberti, Marisé Alvarez, Ricardo Alvarez, Fernando Arroyo) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Steven Soderbergh New York Film Festival Press Conference on Che

Che: The Argentine (Che: Part One)

Review preview for Che: The Argentine

All the excitement of a wet weekend in Bognor.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
First part of Soderbergh's epic, sees the revolutionary take on Batista.

(Country: France, Spain, USA; Year: 2008; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Peter Buchman, based on writings by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara; Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Santiago Cabrera, Demián Bichir, Kahlil Mendez, Rodrigo Santoro, Yamil Adorno, Jorge Alberti, Marisé Alvarez, Ricardo Alvarez, Fernando Arroyo) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Steven Soderbergh New York Film Festival Press Conference on Che

The Class (Entre les murs)

Review preview for The Class

Teachers everywhere will give a smile of recognition as an experienced teacher takes a new colleague through his class list – “nice, nice, not nice, not nice at all…”

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
Quasi-documentary about a group of Parisian school kids.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Laurent Cantet; Writer: François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet; Stars: François Bégaudeau, Wei Huang, Esmeralda Ouertani, Franck Keita)

Full review

Chouga (Shuga)

Based on Anna Karenina, the story of a woman who leaves her callous husband for an equally dubious younger man.

(Country: France, Kazakhstan; Year: 2007; Director: Darezhan Omirbayev; Stars: Aidos Sagatov, Alnur Turgambayeva)

A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël)

Review preview for A Christmas Tale

A truly innovative piece of filmmaking which mixes cinema-verité style documentary with a knowing postmodern self-consciousness.

Adam Micklethwaite · 4.5 out of 5
Ensemble drama about a family brought together - and, possibility on course to be torn apart - by the illness of their matriarch.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Arnaud Desplechin; Writer: Emmanuel Bourdieu, Arnaud Desplechin; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Emile Berling, Emmanuelle Devos)

Full review

Four Nights With Anna (Cztery noce z Anna)

Review preview for Four Nights With Anna

Shyness has rarely had such a threatening undercurrent.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A crematorium worker becomes obssessed with a beautiful nurse.

(Country: Poland, France; Year: 2008; Director: Jerzy Skolimowski; Writer: Eva Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska; Stars: Artur Steranko, Kinga Preis, Jerzy Fedorowicz, Redbad Klijnstra, Jakub Snochowski)

Full review

Gomorrah (Gomorra, Gommorah)

Review preview for Gomorrah

In its style, its performances and its confident direction, this film is a triumph.

Val Kermode · 5 out of 5
Five interweaving stories paint a brutal portrait of organised crime in Naples.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2008; Director: Matteo Garrone; Writer: Roberto Saviano, Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano; Stars: Salvatore Abruzzese, Simone Sacchettino, Salvatore Ruocco, Vincenzo Fabricino, Vincenzo Altamura, Italo Renda, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Salvatore Striano, Carlo Del Sorbo, Vincenzo Bombolo) , Trailer

Full review

Happy-Go-Lucky (Happy Go Lucky)

Review preview for Happy-Go-Lucky

Shot through with Leigh’s trademark improv-based dialogue, constantly finding humour and truth in the mundane.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
Poppy, a young primary school teacher living in Camden Town, starts taking driving lessons with an instructor who is her opposite in every respect.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Mike Leigh; Writer: Mike Leigh; Stars: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Kate O'Flynn, Samuel Roukin)

Full review

The Headless Woman (La Mujer Sin Cabeza)

Review preview for The Headless Woman

Martel expertly compounds ambiguities without ever abandoning the apparent naturalism of her presentation.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
A woman's life goes off the rails after a mysterious car accident.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, France, Italy; Year: 2008; Director: Lucrecia Martel; Writer: Lucrecia Martel; Stars: María Onetto, Claudia Cantero, Inés Efron, César Bordón, Daniel Genoud, Guillermo Arengo, María Vaner, Alicia Muxo, Pía Uribelarrea)

Full review

Hunger

Review preview for Hunger

Despite the filth, the violence and the desolation, McQueen’s portrait is a thing of brutal beauty in terms of its composition.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Examination of the events leading up to and during Bobby Sands' 1981 hunger strike. Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes.

(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Steve McQueen; Writer: Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Liam McMahon, Brian Milligan) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Steve McQueen on Hunger at New York Film Festival Press Conference

I'm Gonna Explode (Voy A Explotar, I'm Going To Explode)

Review preview for I'm Gonna Explode

The issue of sex is carefully handled and the trajectory the pair take has a fumbling, teenage quality that makes it easy to believe.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A romance develops between two rebels without a cause.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2008; Director: Gerardo Naranjo; Writer: Gerardo Naranjo; Stars: Maria Deschamps, Juan Pablo de Santiago, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Rebecca Jones, Martha Claudia Moreno) , Official site

Full review

Let's Talk About The Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie, Let It Rain)

Review preview for Let's Talk About The Rain

Brimming with charm.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A self-centred politican has to deal with the politics of relationships when she returns to her home town.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Agnès Jaoui; Writer: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnès Jaoui; Stars: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jamel Debbouze, Agnès Jaoui, Pascale Arbillot, Guillaume De Tonquedec, Frédéric Pierrot, Mimouna Hadji, Florence Loiret, Laurent Jarroir, Anne Werner, Jean-Claude Baudracco) , Trailer

Full review

Lola Montes (Lola Montez, The Fall of Lola Montes, The Sins of Lola Montes)

Review preview for Lola Montes

Max Ophuls' most controversial, if not his greatest work.

Nicola Osborne · 4 out of 5
Colourful and genuinely revolutionary film, which shows off the considerable imagination and technical prowess of the director. Newly restored version is being show at NYFF 2008.

(Country: France/Germany; Year: 1955; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Annette Wademant, Max Ophuls, Jacques Natanson, Franz Geiger, Claude Heymann, Peter Ustinov, based on the novel La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montes by Cecil Saint-Laurent; Stars: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, Henri Guisol, Lise Delamare, Paulette Dubost, Oskar Werner, Jean Galland, Will Quadflieg)

Full review See: Max Who? -

Night And Day (Bam gua nat)

A fortysomething married man goes on the lam to Paris.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2008; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Writer: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Sabine Crossen, Ju-bong Gi, Cyril Hutteau, Su-jeong Hwang, Yeong-ho Kim, Seon-gyun Lee, Eun-hye Park, Min-jung Seo)

The Northern Land (A Corte Do Norte)

A woman searches for information about her ancestor in a sequence of interlocking stories, spanning centuries.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2008; Director: João Botelho; Writer: Agustina Bessa-Luís, João Botelho, José Álvaro Morais; Stars: Ana Moreira, Rogério Samora, Ricardo Aibéo, Marcello Urgeghe, Rita Blanco, Maya Booth, Margarida Vila-Nova, Virgílio Castelo, António Cerdeira, Miguel Monteiro, Joana de Verona)

Service (Serbis)

Review preview for Service

The very number of characters involved leaves the plotlines strung out and little emotion for the audience to cling to.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
Drama about a family's day-to-day struggle to survive in the Philippines.

(Country: Philippines, France; Year: 2008; Director: Brillante Mendoza; Writer: Armando Lao, Boots Agbayani Pastor; Stars: Gina Pareño, Dan Alvaro, Mercedes Cabral, Julio Diaz, Bobby Jerome Go, Roxanne Jordan, Jacklyn Jose, Kristoffer King, Coco Martin)

Full review

Summer Hours (L'Heure d'été)

Review preview for Summer Hours

Superficially Summer Hours is an examination of the emotional fallout from the death of a loved mother, but digging deeper reveals insightful comment on nostalgia, mortality, property and family.

George Williamson · 3.5 out of 5
Drama about a priceless art collection and a family's decision about how best to use it, for both memory and intrinsic worth.

(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Olivier Assayas; Writer: Olivier Assayas; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier, Edith Scob, Dominique Reymond, Valérie Bonneton, Isabelle Sadoyan, Kyle Eastwood, Alice de Lencquesaing, Emile Berling, Jean-Baptiste Malartre) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Tokyo Sonata (Tôkyô Sonata)

Review preview for Tokyo Sonata

Considering each aspect individually, this is a picture of outstanding quality, from the strong cast to the photography and haunting soundtrack to the acute character studies.

Emma Slawinski · 3.5 out of 5
A Tokyo salaryman loses his job and tries to conceal it from his already dysfunctional family.

(Country: Japan, Netherlands, Hong Kong; Year: 2008; Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka; Stars: Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Kai Inowaki, Yu Koyanagi, Koji Yakusho)

Full review

Tony Manero

Review preview for Tony Manero

The nature of delusion and fixation has been explored many times in cinema, but rarely with such grim and gripping intensity.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
The story of a psychotic fiftysomething and his obssession with John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever.

(Country: Chile, Brazil; Year: 2008; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Pablo Larraín, Alfredo Castro, Mateo Iribarren; Stars: Alfredo Castro, Amparo Noguera, Héctor Morales, Paola Lattus, Elsa Poblete) , Official site

Full review See: Pablo Larrain interview about Tony Manero

Tulpan

Review preview for Tulpan

Dvortsevoy shows us the fragility of life, through the birth and death of lambs, while also touching on the innate stoicism of families who live in this toughest of environments.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man dreams of becoming a shepherd in the Kazakhstan steppe, but is there room for such dreams in the modern world?

(Country: Germany, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Switzerland; Year: 2008; Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy; Writer: Sergei Dvortsevoy, Gennadi Ostrovsky; Stars: Askhat Kuchencherekov, Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Ondas Besikbasov, Samal Esljamova,) , Official site

Full review

Wendy And Lucy

Review preview for Wendy And Lucy

This quiet, unfussy film feels more important than a whole host of glossy blockbusters.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
Drama about a young woman's attempts to find her lost dog.

(Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Kelly Reichardt; Writer: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt; Stars: Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Will Oldham, John Robinson, Wally Dalton, Larry Fessenden, Brenna Beardsley, Ayanna Berkshire, M. Blash, John Breen, Michael Brophy) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

The Windmill Movie

A "moving and provocative work that straddles the lines between documentary and fiction, life and art" about the life of Richard P "Dick" Rogers.

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Alexander Olch; Writer: Alexander Olch; Stars: Richard P Rogers)

Waltz With Bashir

Review preview for Waltz With Bashir

Folman's use of animation permits an audience to engage with the events, such as they are recalled, in a way that the simple testimony of those involved could not achieve.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Animated documentary exploring the psychological aftermath of the First Lebanon War.

(Country: Israel, Germany, France; Year: 2008; Director: Ari Folman; Writer: Ari Folman; Stars: Voices of: Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman, Dror Harazi, Yehezkel Lazarov, Mickey Leon, Ori Sivan, Zahava Solomon) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

The Wrestler

Review preview for The Wrestler

Rourke brings a staggering amount of emotional weight to the role of Randy.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
An ageing wrestler tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, but can he get the ring out of his soul? Plus read what Aronofsky, Rourke and Tomei said about .

(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Darren Aronofsky; Writer: Robert D Siegel; Stars: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Rachel Evan Wood, Vale Anoai, Angelina Aucello, Todd Barry, Olivia Baseman, Gregg Bello, Alyssa Bresnahan, Vernon Campbell, E.J. Carroll, Felice Choi, Rebecca Darke, John D'Leo) , Official site

Full review See: The Wrestler: Press conference