“Personal Shopper”
Olivier Assayas has found a muse in Kristen Stewart, and their second consecutive collaboration — along with the talented foreign actor Lars Eidenger (“Everyone Else“)— surely attests to that. An actor vehicle if there ever was any, “Personal Shopper” certainly gives Stewart the chance to show the full capacity of her talent by often forcing her to share the screen with invisible threats. After playing assistant to a Juliette Binoche’s once-famous actress in 2014’s “Clouds of Sils Maria,” she once again returns to the outskirts of glamour and fame, a familiar theme in Assayas’ latest work. This time, she portrays the eponymous role to a fashion model while still reeling from the death of her twin brother, in an extremely cosmopolitan ghost story set in the high-stakes Parisian fashion world. If its fascinating premise and genre-amalgamating is any indicator, the film defies easy explanation; the extremely polarizing reception— which seems to run the gamut from masterpiece to flat out mess —invites speculation which in turn should stir anticipation. While our own review out of Cannes was not particularly impressed by the film, other Playlisters and cinephiles are surely still curious, about both the performance at the film’s core, as well as the extreme creativity and genre-bending at play.
“Neruda”
Pablo Larrain is 40-years old and already (arguably) Chile’s greatest film director. After a brief hiatus following 2012’s Oscar-nominated political period-piece “No,” he returns to defend his title and lands himself right in the spotlight with three more extremely well-received films, all in a single year, all extremely far-flung from each other. The religious piece on disgraced priests and nuns, “The Club” was nominated for a Golden Globe earlier in the year. The Jacqueline Kennedy biopic “Jackie” starring Natalie Portman recently made a grandiose debut at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festival, winning best screenplay at the former. And “Neruda,” after playing the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes to expected levels of acclaim just like the rest of his work, looks to continue its critical success at the New York Film Festival. The film sends “No” star Gael Garcia Bernal to another era of political unrest, where he portrays an inspector tasked with hunting the titular Nobel Prize winning poet. Shooting a script from Guillermo Calderon, who also co-wrote “The Club,” Larrain furthers his streak of successes with an unprecedented prolificness. Has any other director in the industry ever shot this many films in a year with such a consistency that deems every film a must-watch?
“Certain Women”
Kelly Reichardt (“Wendy and Lucy, “Meek’s Cutoff”) is no stranger to directing films featuring strong women, but for “Certain Women”, she has gathered a murderess’ row of talent in Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, returning collaborator Michelle Williams, and newcomer Lily Gladstone. Drawn from the short stories of Maile Meloy (“Liars and Saints,” “A Family Daughter”), the lives of the quartet of women intersect to create a nesting doll of life as a woman in contemporary American West. Supported by critical raves across the board, one can confidently bank on “Certain Women” being one of 2016’s most buzzed about art-house films, anchored by a nuanced and revelatory powerhouse debut by Gladstone.
“Things to Come”
It is the mark of a true legend to casually mic drop two powerhouse performances in one year, and that is exactly what Isabelle Huppert (“The Piano Teacher,” “Louder Than Bombs”) has done. While the attention of most cinephiles has been on the controversial and thought-provoking drama “Elle,” and deservedly so (it’s worth a watch too) Huppert brings an equally impressive performance to the table as a philosophy teacher attempting to maneuver through and balance a series of seismic events that threaten to upend her life. “Things to Come” further cements the directorial talent and prowess of Mia Hansen-Løve following her previous film “Eden,” considered by many to be one of 2014’s best films, while proving without a doubt that 2016 has turned into the year of Huppert.
“Julieta”
In “Julieta,” Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar (“Volver,” “The Skin I Live In”) dives headfirst back into the “cinema of women.” Based on Canadian author Alice Munro’s series of short stories “Runaway,” a chance encounter with the childhood friend of her estranged daughter Anita (Priscilla Delgado as an adolescent, Blanca Parés at eighteen) forces Julieta (Emma Suarez) to take stock of the moments in her life that defined and destroyed her relationship with her daughter. After a brief detour into comedy with “I’m So Excited,” met with mixed critical reception, it is reassuring to see Almodóvar return to bringing the lives of real women, in all their flawed, selfish, and loving glory, to the silver screen.
“Jackie”
Just when we thought we’ve seen everything from Natalie Portman — who was Oscar nominated for “Closer,” and won for “Black Swan” — the actress has turned heads with her turn in “Jackie.” The new film from Pablo Larrain (“No,” “The Club”) is an intimate look at the former First Lady during the most trying time of her life, following the assassination of her husband JFK, and the result is a truly singular performance from Portman, who will once again be in the thick of the Best Actress race. After receiving raves at Venice and Toronto, it speaks the film’s quality that the high selective curators of NYFF have made this one a last minute addition.
And More…
It’s not a New York Film Festival without the presence of the Belgian auteurs, the Dardenne brothers, and they continue their exploration of adding subtle genre elements to their social realists dramas that now include stars. And so, “The Unknown Girl,” starring Adèle Haenel, as a doctor with a particularly compelling sense of morality —the film significantly recut since its Cannes premiere— is definitely worth the watch. As mentioned earlier, Jim Jarmusch has a double bill at NYFF with his rock documentary on the seminal proto-punk rockers Iggy Pop & The Stooges called “Gimmie Danger.” Riotously capturing the nihilistic slash and burn attack of the Stooges, it also acts as a love letter; clearly the influential Stooges are one of Jarmusch’s all-time favorite rock bands. Paul Verhoeven’s been lost in the woods for several years, but by all account “Elle” starring the great Isabelle Huppert — who evidently delivers an amazing turn — is a gigantic return to form and must-see cinema. Also worth keeping an eye on is Kleber Mendonça Filho‘s critically regarded “Aquarius,” Cristian Mungiu‘s “Graduation,” and Alison Maclean‘s belated return to cinema with “The Rehearsal.” There’s also a spectacular revivals section which includes Robert Bresson‘s “L’Argent,” “The Battle of Algiers,” little-seen shorts by Jacques Rivette and Kenji Mizoguchi‘s masterwork of cinema, “Ugetsu” to name a few. This is to say nothing about the fascinating Convergence, Retrospective and Documentary sections, plus Director Dialogue talks with Jim Jarmusch, Kenneth Longergan, Mike Mills, Paul Verhoeven and more. NYFF is packed with riches. If you’re in New York over the next three week, you literally have zero excuse. Enjoy!
— Rodrigo Perez, Elizabeth Macleod, Stephanie Ashe, Jason Ooi, and Kevin Jagernauth