“Grass”
Cast: Min-hee Kim, Joobong Kee
“Hotel by the River”
Cast: Joo-Bong Ki, Min-hee Kim, Hae-hyo Kwon, Seon-mi Song, Joon-Sang Yoo
Synopsis: “Grass” – In a small Café, Min-hee Kim plays a guest who prefers to observe but not interact with the other guests herself. “Hotel by the River”- Two tales intersect at a riverside hotel: an elderly poet (Ki Joo-bong), invited to stay there for free by the owner, summons his two estranged sons, sensing his life drawing to a close; and a young woman (Kim Min-hee) nursing a recently broken heart is visited by a friend who tries to console her. At times these threads overlap, at others, they run tantalizingly close to each other. (via 2018 NYFF)
What You Need To Know: The intensely prolific South Korean filmmaker Sang-soo Hong has two films expected to delight and spellbind New York Film Festival viewers this year. Having directed a whopping four films in 2017 with “Grass” and “Hotel By The River” being released in 2018, Sang-soo is a consistently busy filmmaker and needless to say, audiences are eager for his latest and greatest [our review of “Grass” from Berlin].
Release Date: TBD
“Shoplifters”
Cast: Lily Franky, Kirin Kiki, Sôsuke Ikematsu, Sakura Andô, Mayu Matsuoka
Synopsis: A Japanese couple stuck with part-time jobs and hence inadequate incomes avail themselves of the fruits of shoplifting to make ends meet. They are not alone in this behavior. The younger and the older of the household are in on the act. The unusual routine is about to change from care-free and matter-of-fact to something more dramatic, however, as the couple opens their doors to a beleaguered teenager. The reasons for the family and friends’ habit and their motivations come under the microscope.
What You Need To Know: This film is a force to be reckoned with following a history-making win at the Cannes Film Festival this year, winning the coveted Palme d’Or as well as being one of Japan’s highest grossing domestic films this year, earning more than $37 million in the box office. Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, already known for his focus on humanism in film, delves that much deeper into the genre with his latest incantation. Having blown away critics and judges at both Cannes and the Munich Film Festival, one can expect that this film will definitely have a strong presence during awards season this year and undoubtedly have an impact at the New York Film Festival as well [our review from Cannes].
Release Date: November 23.
“Burning”
Cast: Yoo Ah-In, Steven Yeun, Jun Jong-Seo
Synopsis: A frustrated introvert’s already-difficult life is complicated by the appearance of two people into his orbit: a woman, who is a romantic possibility and a wealthy sophisticate who may be a rival suitor.
What You Need To Know: Based on a story by Haruki Murakami (“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” “1Q84,” “Burning is the searing examination of alienation from South-Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. Heralded at the Cannes Film Festival — as many expected it to win the Palme d’Or, but the competition was fierce — it was given the FIPRESCI Prize and critical adoration of the film during the festival and at TIFF where it also screened, was electric. Many already consider it the film of the year, so many of us are dying to finally catch up with it [our review from Cannes].
Release Date: October 26. – Rodrigo Perez
“The Other Side Of The Wind”
Cast: John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Cameron Mitchell, Paul Mazursky, Henry Jaglom, Claude Chabrol
Synopsis: A Hollywood director emerges from semi-exile with plans to complete work on an innovative motion picture.
What You Need To Know: Almost 50 years after he started shooting and 35 years after his death, legendary director Orson Welles‘ “The Other Side Of The Wind” is finally finished. Unfinished, unedited and in legal limbo for decades, how that was made possible is its own amazing tale told in the crucial companion viewing is Morgan Neville‘s doc “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead” which also screens at NYFF and is must-see. Back to ‘Wind,’ itself. It’s an autobiographically meta-like tale of an old-guard macho Hollywood director (played by director John Huston) at the end of his tether and trying to make a film that marries the sensibilities of the incoming cinematic EuroArt wave (Michelangelo Antonioni) and American sensibilities [our review from Telluride].
Release Date: In select theaters and on Netflix November 2. – RP
“Non-Fiction”
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Guillaume Canet, Vincent Macaigne, Nora Hamzawi
Synopsis: Set within the world of publishing, two hopelessly intertwined couples, a troubled book executive and a weary actress obsess with the state of things, and how (or when) they will (or might) change.
What You Need To Know: Is print dying? Has blogging replaced writing? Is fiction over? These are the kind of questions Olivier Assayas considers in “Non-Fiction,” a rare sort-of dramedy by the well-regarded French filmmaker. It’s been equated a little bit to his “Clouds of Sils Maria” movie, a talky drama where not a lot happens, only with more charm and sense of humor. That film divided some critics, but it was still incredibly captivating. And we always expect no less from Assayas [our review from Telluride].
Release Date: TBD, but Sundance Selects has already acquired the film for the U.S. – RP
Honorable Mention
Of course, there’s lots more. There’s several films that already premiered at Cannes that look great including, Pawel Pawlikowski‘s black and white drama “Cold War,” Alice Rohrwacher‘s “Happy as Lazzaro,” Jia Zhangke‘s “Ash Is Purest White,” Ali Abbasi‘s Un Certain Regard section winner “Border,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s “The Wild Pear Tree” and Jean-Luc Godard‘s “The Image Book.” Documentaries look strong as usual including Frederick Wiseman‘s “Monrovia, Indiana,” Errol Morris‘ controversial “American Dharma” which spotlights conservative extremist Steve Bannon, “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes” Charles Ferguson‘s “Watergate” doc, “The Waldheim Waltz” “The Times of Bill Cunningham.” The always well-chosen Revivals and Retrospectives sections are great (Mikhail Kalatozov‘s “I Am Cuba” and classics by Wim Wender, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Godard), and the Talks include appearances by Clarie Denis, Alfonso Cuaron and more. There’s so much to see and experience. The New York Film Festival runs September 28-October 14.
Check out all our coverage from the 2018 New York Film Festival here.