Pablo Larraín, the writer/director of “No,” shyly introduced his work to the New York Film Festival audience by mumbling a few thanks into the microphone and quickly taking a seat. Having seen the filmmaker’s prior two efforts, “Tony Manero” and “Post Mortem,” which make up a spiritual trilogy with “No,” I was not surprised that […]
Despite the fact that my civilian ticket only earned me a back-row balcony seat in the Alice Tully Hall theater, my view of “Araf – Somewhere in Between” was still spectacular, thanks to the huge, crystal clear screen. The writer/director of the film, Yesim Ustaoglu, was present for this very first North American showing of
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Although the found footage format is hardly new, dating all the way back to 1980’s “Cannibal Holocaust,” the success of the “Paranormal Activity” series has ushered in its ubiquity in the horror genre. Most of the time, a movie’s use of this now tired style is a signal that the filmmakers don’t have anything original
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It is a beautiful morning in the Big Apple — a perfect way to start my two-day stint at the New York Film Festival. Held at the gorgeous and expansive Lincoln Center, this year’s festival has already been going on for two weeks, leading up to tomorrow’s closing night film, Robert Zemeckis’ drama, “Flight.” But
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“Frankenweenie,” Tim Burton’s stop-motion remake of his own 1984 live-action short, retains the macabre charm of the original while delivering the distinctive animated visuals that audiences have come to expect of the director. The film also, unfortunately, reflects Burton’s usual difficulties with pacing, but let’s save the bad news for later. “Frankenweenie” may be imperfect,
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The first film in Pablo Larraín’s Pinochet trilogy, 2008’s “Tony Manero,” took an inventive, circuitous approach in depicting the horrific oppression that Chileans suffered under the rule of a dictator. The second film, 2010’s “Post Mortem,” surpasses its predecessor in terms of bleakness and enigmatic acting, all the while raising compelling ideas about the role
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Unlikable characters are difficult to get right, because their personalities inherently repel the viewer. So when a movie features a protagonist that is, on paper, entirely unlikable, what is a filmmaker to do? The answer: hire a great actor to make the character so believable that the audience finds truth in them, even if they
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Horror movies are notorious magnets for unruly audience members. The common wisdom is that this is because they are generally made for the demographics most likely to disrupt the viewing experience with loud chatter, bright cell phone screens, and/or overly mobile children. But perhaps it is more a sign of the quality of the movies
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A typical documentary seeks to uncover truths about a given subject, be it the war in Iraq, a renegade graffiti artist, or the status of the American education system. “The Imposter” does exactly this, but not in the way that the viewer first expects. Director Bart Layton takes a traditional mystery premise and turns it
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Contemporary political films, especially those made in the United States, tend to overindulge in on-the-nose partisan messaging. Director Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” and “Lions for Lambs,” for instance, housed admirable statements about the corrosion of American politics, but Redford undermined these with a zealot’s sledgehammer. This is why Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s more nuanced approach
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