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New York Film Festival · 2011

New York Film Festival 2011

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Programme

26 films · 21 reviews

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4:44 Last Day on Earth

The last day of a New York couple facing the last day of the planet.

(Year: 2011; Director: Abel Ferrara; Writer: Abel Ferrara; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Michael Sullivan, Paul Hipp, Shanyn Leigh, Anthony Perullo, Nicola Tranquillino, Dierdra McDowell)

The Artist

Review preview for The Artist

I cannot remember the last time a film made me cry and laugh out loud half a minute later, especially not in public. The Artist did that.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A silent film star fears the advent of the 'talkies' will end his career.

(Country: France, US, Belgium; Year: 2011; Director: Michel Hazanavicius; Writer: Michel Hazanavicius; Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Uggie, Malcolm McDowell, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller)

Full review See: New York Film Festival Diary - On cinematic and fairytale influences. , New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Five

Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel

Review preview for Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel

Captivating and informative.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Tracks the triumphant rise of Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director-producer, the godfather of independent filmmaking.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Alex Stapleton; Writer: Gregory Locklear, Alex Stapleton; Stars: Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Traci Lords, William Shatner, David Carradine, Talia Shire, Catherine Hardwicke, Clint Howard, Pam Grier, Paul W.S. Anderson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern) , Official site

Full review

Corpo Celeste

Review preview for Corpo Celeste

The two central performances – Vianello’s bewildered, sensitive, lonely young girl and Cantalupo’s harassed moral inadequate – are pitch-perfect.

Jeff Robson · 3.5 out of 5
A young girl struggles to cope with a family move, while preparing for her confirmation ceremony.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland, France; Year: 2011; Director: Alice Rohrwacher; Writer: Alice Rohrwacher; Stars: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Pasqualina Scuncia, Anita Caprioli)

Full review

Dreileben 1: Beats Being Dead

Review preview for Dreileben 1: Beats Being Dead

Petzold exposes the social machinations behind the seemingly simple love stories.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3 out of 5
A young couple's passionate relationship plays out against the backdrop of a manhunt.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold; Stars: Jacob Matschenz, Luna Mijovic, Vijessna Ferkic)

Full review

Dreileben 2: Don't Follow Me Around

Review preview for Dreileben 2: Don't Follow Me Around

The fantastic interrupts the profane.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
A police psychologist renews old acquaintances when she is drafted in to help small town police find an escaped convict.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Dominik Graf; Writer: Dominik Graf, Markus Busch; Stars: Jeanette Hain, Susanne Wolff, Misel Maticevic)

Full review

Dreileben 3: One Minute of Darkness

Review preview for Dreileben 3: One Minute of Darkness

After seeing three films in and around the small town of Dreileben, the landscape has become familiar and inescapable.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
A suspenseful cat-and-mouse search between police and an escaped convict.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Christoph Hochhäusler; Writer: Christoph Hochhäusler, Peer Klehmet; Stars: Stefan Kurt, Eberhard Kirchberg, Imogen Kogge)

Full review

Footnote

Review preview for Footnote

The initially breezy tone of the comedy gives way to a depiction of calculated cruelty monstrously vicious enough almost to qualify as horror, human enough to count as tragedy and nuanced enough to face viewers with a most unusual kind of dilemma, part in

Anton Bitel · 4.5 out of 5
Tale of father-son rivalries within the Israeli academic establishment.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2011; Director: Joseph Cedar; Writer: Joseph Cedar; Stars: Shlomo Bar Abe, Lior Ashkenazi, Aliza Rosen, Alma Zack, Micah Lewensohn, Yuval Scharf, Daniel Markovich)

Full review

George Harrison: Living In The Material World

Documentary about the Beatle.

(Year: 2011; Director: Martin Scorsese; Stars: Eric Idle, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Phil Spector, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison, George Martin, Olivia Harrison, Jeff Lynne)

Goodbye First Love (Un amour de jeunesse)

Review preview for Goodbye First Love

Perceptions make this film such a pleasure to watch. Everything feels believable, real, and thought through.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
The emotional journey of a teenager is traced when her boyfriend leaves to travel the world.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Mia Hansen-Løve; Writer: Mia Hansen-Løve; Stars: Lola Créton, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Magne-Håvard Brekke, Valérie Bonneton, Serge Renko, Özay Fecht, Max Ricat, Louis Dunbar, Philippe Paimblanc, Patrice Movermann, Arnaud Azoulay, Amélie Robin, Justine Dhouilly, Charlotte Faivre, François Buot)

Full review See: New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Five

Le Havre

Review preview for Le Havre

Director Aki Kaurismäki's latest is a humanist hug of a fable, which concludes that while big miracles may happen, it's the everyday 'miracles' people create for one another that really count.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A middle-aged shoe-shiner helps a young migrant.

(Country: Finland, France, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Aki Kaurismäki; Writer: Aki Kaurismäki; Stars: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Blondin Miguel, Elina Salo, Evelyne Didi, Quoc Dung Nguyen, Laïka, François Monnié, Roberto Piazza, Pierre Étaix, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Laika)

Full review

The Kid With A Bike (Le gamin au vélo)

Review preview for The Kid With A Bike

In a world where everyone seems so lost, The Kid With A Bike will help you find your humanity again.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A young boy searches for his father and his bike.

(Country: Belgium, France, Italy; Year: 2011; Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Writer: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Stars: Thomas Doret, Ccile de France, Jrmie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione) , Official site

Full review See: New York Film Festival Diary - On cinematic and fairytale influences. , New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Two

The Loneliest Planet

Review preview for The Loneliest Planet

The Loneliest Planet spins a carefully constructed net around your imagination.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
A young couple are taken by surprise on a trek deep into the Caucasus Mountains.

(Country: Germany, USA; Year: 2011; Director: Julia Loktev; Writer: Julia Loktev; Stars: Gael Garca Bernal, Hani Furstenberg, Bidzina Gujabidze)

Full review See: New York Film Festival: Diary piece - On Preparation with Fassbender, Cronenberg, Hampton, Williams, Redmayne, Farhadi, Loktev , New York Film Festival: Week One Photo Gallery

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Review preview for Martha Marcy May Marlene

As a moody, atmospheric study of paranoia, it is hard to beat.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman is traumatised after fleeing a cult.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: T Sean Durkin; Writer: T Sean Durkin; Stars: Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes, Brady Corbet, Elizabeth Olsen, Louisa Krause, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Diana Masi, Allen McCullough, Michael Chmiel)

Full review See: Keeping score: Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians talk about Last Days In The Desert, Enemy and Wolfpack , New York Film Festival: Diary piece - Fassbender, Cronenberg, Durkin, Olsen, Payne talk about clothes and authenticity , New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Three , Sundance 2011: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same and Restless City

Melancholia

Review preview for Melancholia

Lars von Trier's sublime invitation to the end of the world is a grand film by a master story teller who does not repeat himself.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Two sisters' relationship is examined as a planet threatens to bring about the apocalypse.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Lars von Trier; Writer: Lars von Trier; Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgård, Stellan Skarsgård, Brady Corbet, Udo Kier, James Cagnard, Jesper Christensen, Stefan Cronwall, Deborah Fronko, Cameron Spurr) , Official site

Full review See: New York Film Festival: Week One Photo Gallery

Miss Bala

Review preview for Miss Bala

Naranjo never lets the tension slip and finds ways to make the situation worse for his hapless heroine while still keeping the narrative firmly in the realms of fact not fantasy.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
An aspiring beauty queen finds herself mixed up with a drug lord.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2011; Director: Gerardo Naranjo; Writer: Mauricio Katz, Gerardo Naranjo; Stars: Stephanie Sigman, Irene Azuela, Miguel Couturier, Gabriel Heads, Noe Hernandez, James Russo, Jose Yenque) , Official site

Full review See: Interview with Gerardo Naranjo about Miss Bala , San Sebastian Film Festival: Intruders, Bonsai, No Rest For The Wicked, Miss Bala

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia

Review preview for Once Upon A Time In Anatolia

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia produces the most exciting boredom.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A group of men set out to investigate murder in the steppe.

(Country: Turkey, Bosnia, Herzegovina; Year: 2011; Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Writer: Ercan Kesal, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Stars: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel, Firat Tanis)

Full review See: New York Film Festival Diary - On cinematic and fairytale influences. , New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Four

Play

Thought-provoking and considered drama inspired by an elaborate scam developed by young teens in Gothenburg.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark, France; Year: 2011; Director: Ruben Ostlund; Writer: Ruben Ostlund; Stars: Kevin Vaz, Sebastian Blyckert, Anas Abdirahman, Sebastian Hegmar, Yannick Diakit)

Policeman

A member of an elite Israeli anti-terrorist unit finds his world turned upside down when he encounters an act of shocking violence by an extremist Jewish group.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2011; Director: Nadav Lapid; Writer: Nadav Lapid; Stars: Yiftach Klein, Yaara Pelzig, Michael Mushonov)

Pina

Review preview for Pina

If you see one dance film in your life, see this one with those 3D glasses.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
3D dance documentary.

(Year: 2011; Director: Wim Wenders; Writer: Wim Wenders; Stars: Regina Advento, Malou Airaudo, Ruth Amarante, Pina Bausch, Rainer Behr, Andrey Berezin, Damiano Ottavio Bigi, Bénédicte Billet, Ales Cucek, Clementine Deluy, Josephine Ann Endicott, Lutz Förster, Pablo Aran Gimeno, Mechthild Grossmann, Silvia Farias Heredía) , Official site

Full review See: New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Five

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader Az Simin, Nader And Simin: A Separation)

Review preview for A Separation

There is a sense that we are glimpsing a society in flux.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An Iranian couple's trial separation is complicated by their interactions with another troubled family.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2011; Director: Asghar Farhadi; Writer: Asghar Farhadi; Stars: Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi)

Full review See: New York Film Festival: Diary piece - On Preparation with Fassbender, Cronenberg, Hampton, Williams, Redmayne, Farhadi, Loktev

Shame

Review preview for Shame

Fassbender and Mulligan burn white hot in the central pairing, their emotional maelstrom magnetic even when no dialogue is used.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A thirtysomething finds his life spiral out of control after his sister moves into his apartment.

(Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Steve McQueen; Writer: Steve McQueen, Abi Morgan; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Hannah Ware, Elizabeth Masucci, Amy Hargreaves, Lucy Walters, Robert Montano, Jake Richard Siciliano, Anna Rose Hopkins, Alexandra Vino, Frank Harts, Briana Marin, Alex Manette)

Full review See: Article about Shame, sex addiction and psychology in films , New York Film Festival Diary - On cinematic and fairytale influences. , New York Film Festival: Diary piece - Fassbender, Cronenberg, Durkin, Olsen, Payne talk about clothes and authenticity , New York Film Festival: Photo Gallery Three

Sleeping Sickness (Schlafkrankheit)

Review preview for Sleeping Sickness

A lurching and uneven film, Sleeping Sickness resembles a dream.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Absorbing and boldly original drama revolving around a German doctor in present-day Cameroon.

(Country: Germany, France, Netherlands; Year: 2011; Director: Ulrich Kohler; Writer: Ulrich Kohler; Stars: Pierre Bokma, Jean-Christophe Folly, Jenny Schilly, Hippolyte Girardot)

Full review

The Student

An intriguing political allegory set in the wheeler-dealing world of Argentine student politics.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2011; Director: Santiago Mitre; Writer: Santiago Mitre, Mariano Llinas; Stars: Esteban Lamothe, Romina Paula, Ricardo Flix, Valeria Correa)

This Is Not A Film (In Film Nist)

Review preview for This Is Not A Film

There is a charm and grace to this 'not' film that mirrors all of Panahi's previous filmic masterpieces.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Jafar Panahi's postcard from Iran.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2011; Director: Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Jafar Panahi, Igi, Mrs. Gheirat, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Rakhsan, Sima, Micky, Hasan, Jafar Panahi, Igi, Mrs. Gheirat, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Rakhsan, Sima, Micky)

Full review

The Turin Horse (A torinói ló)

Review preview for The Turin Horse

This is a film where the absence of action is the point, as it plays out like a joke-shorn version of Beckett's Waiting For Godot.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
This Berlinale 2011 Silver Bear winner is rumoured to be the swansong from the Hungarian master.

(Country: Hungary, France, Germany, Switzerland, United States of America; Year: 2010; Director: Béla Tarr; Writer: László Krasznahorkai, Béla Tarr; Stars: János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos)

Full review See: Interview with Bela Tarr about Turin Horse