From Venice to Toronto; New York City to Mill Valley, California, the prestigious fall film festivals are overlapping and the season is in full swing. Making up the largest portion of each of the festival’s selections are those expected to land at a theater (or streaming platform) near you, and/or vying for awards season consideration. Other films making up the film festival roster are those films that actually do not yet have distribution. For filmmakers aligned with the latter, the hope is that the festival venues could put them closer to getting picked up. What all that means for you the casual movie goers or hardcore cinephiles and festival goers, is it’s your favorite time of year and theoretically, this year’s best movies are here.
Reporting from the New York Film Festival 64 (NYFF) known for getting much of its selections from the earlier European festivals, there is an abundance of high quality options represented in every genre. Which ones are worth the high cost of a festival ticket versus waiting for the wide theatrical release or even more affordable option for streaming? Below is part one of two collections highlighting he Best of the Fest… so far (in alphabetical order):
All of a Sudden – From Academy Award director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”), this is an emotionally captivating film navigating through friendship, professional passions and issues of social urgency. A newly appointed director of an elder care facility in Paris, Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira) is ardent about incorporating a new radical program that prioritizes respect and empathy over profits while focusing on mental and emotional connections between staff and their dementia patients. The resistance she encounters from staff and board members is offset by making an unexpected but welcomed connection with Mari (Tao Okamoto), a theater director from Kyoto who is facing her own personal and medical challenges. Bonded by artistry and moral clarity, the women forge a new and beautiful friendship, helping one another navigate through unique challenges of this particular time in both of their lives.
“All of a Sudden”, although longer than necessary, is never not engaging. It is slow-paced, quiet and effective. No surprise it is Japan’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2027 Academy Awards.
Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Writers: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Maho Isono, Lea Le Dimna
Stars: Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto
Country of origin: France, Japan, Germany
Languages: French, Japanese
Production companies: Cinefrance Studios, Bitters End
Runtime: 3h 16m
MPAA rating: PG-13
Club Kid – Just as I was looking for something to wow me amidst all the initial press screenings and losing hope, along came “Club Kid.” What a wonderful, unexpected jolt of joy this impressive debut by actor-turned-director, Jordan Firstman delivers. It is a deft mix of comedy and drama, with more emphasis on the comedy. Peter (Firstman) has made somewhat of a career of hard partying in the gay nightclubs of NYC, working with a club manager and the favorite scenester about town after hours. Now in his thirties, still in a party rut, with little to show for it and facing unemployment, Peter gets an unexpected delivery in the form of 10-year-old British son (Reggie Absolom) he never knew he had. Soon the sobriety, laughs and ahdulting begin.
Director/Writer: Jordan Firstman
Stars: Jordan Firstman, Cara Delevingne, Kirby Howell-Baptiste
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Production companies: A24
Runtime: 122m
MPAA rating: R
Everything Else is Noise – Here is another heart stopping and unexpected delight that cannot be recommended enough. Minimal, absurdist comedy about three women music composers from Mexico who end up as the subject of an interview series. The camera crew come to interview one middle aged female musicians, Rosa (Rosa Estela Juárez Vargas) at her fellow composer friend, Tere’s apartment. Once there and the crew realize Tere (Teresita Sánchez) is the former lover of a legendary composer, they insist she and her adult daughter, Luisa (Luisa Pardo) who also is a musician/composer. Unfortunately, things do not run smoothly, with a host of tech glitches humorously interrupting the process. This unique blend of subtle humor and feminist messaging, packed into just over an hour, is exactly the type of film magic you hope to run into at an international festival. Since there is no guarantee a foreign indie film like this will get distribution, accessing it through a festival like NYFF may be your best hope.
Director: Nicolas Pereda
Writers: Juan Francisco Maldonado, Nicolas Pereda
Stars: Francisco Barrero, Rosa Estela Juarez, Luisa Pardo
Country of origin: Germany, Canada, Mexico
Language: Spanish
Production company: n/a
Runtime: 70m
Misty Green – Almost 20 years since his feature film directorial debut and only two others to speak of, “Misty Green” shows solid artistic growth in Chris Rock as a writer-director. Following up “I Think I Love My Wife” and “Top Five,” “Misty Green” is also his first time leaving the security of comedy, and instead venturing into drama. The film focuses on its central character, Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar), an award-winning former actress now struggling for work, relevance and to make ends meet in an unforgiving Hollywood. Compounding matters, she has been given notice by her ex-boyfriend’s wife, leaving her just seven days to vacate her condo. Misty embarks on frantic, yet pivotal week. Can she change the trajectory of her life or will she maintain the same self-sabotaging patterns?
While the writing and editing of “Misty Green” are notable, the elements that stand out, actually making it as good as it is, are first and foremost, the performance by the lead, and secondly, the supporting cast. Rosalind Eleazar, known for her part in the “Slow Horses” TV series ensemble, gives a wholly captivating, star-making delivery as Misty. She is smartly surrounded by more established supporting cast that helps her shine. This includes Adam Driver as a former colleague with questionable connections, Anna Kendrick as her burnt out wanna-be-actress best friend, Daniel Kaluuya as her troubled and problematic half brother, and lastly Chris Rock himself as a struggling director from her past.
Director/Writer: Chris Rock
Stars: Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluya
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Production company: A24
MPAA rating: R
NAZA – Drawing both praise and protests, the documentary, NAZA proves how the genre can both draw support and divide. From two of the co-directors of the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary, “No Other Land,” comes a piercing look into Israel’s bombing campaign/genocide in Gaza. Fresh off its Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, NAZA is rightfully generating a lot of buzz among festival goers and critics alike. The documentary takes place almost entirely at night, with the film shoots and interviews set up on various rooftops in Tel Aviv. This, in large part, to effectively hide the faces of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers as they reveal military tactics and ideology behind the ongoing mass killings. Among the military, the term NAZA denotes “collateral damage,” as in the target to civilian ratio as a result of bombings.
Although stringing together a series of interviews, this is not exactly strictly talking heads type of format. The style here is less storytelling-like or following a character(s), and more capitalizing on incredible access with alarming information. Incorporated with the interviews are shots of the inside residents’ homes in Tel Aviv as they watch news of the bombings and get “updates” from Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu while actually hearing the bombs in the not-so-far distance. What NAZA may lack in any cohesive storyline or traditional format, it more than makes up for in timeliness, access and information, securing it as one of the most important films. It is A MUST SEE and thanks to the recent decision by the filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, it will be available online for free after its theatrical release.
Directors/Writers: Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Countries of origin: United Kingdom, United States
Languages: Hebrew, English
Production companies: The Guardian, JW Films
Runtime: 1h 20m
Paper Tiger – Festival OPENER – In this, longtime and acclaimed filmmaker, James Gray (“The Immigrant” “Lost City of Z”) delivers both a somewhat autobiographical family drama, and a gripping crime thriller. Set in Queens and Brooklyn in 1986, the story follows a series of unfortunate events that follow when Irwin (Miles Teller), a hard-working engineer and family man blindly goes along with his shady brother, Gary’s (Adam Driver) plan to do contract work with a group of Russian entrepreneurs tasked to excavate the toxic Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Unbeknownst to well-meaning Irwin, the Russians are more mob than legit businessmen raining down threats and terror on Irwin and his family, made up of two teen sons, and his strident wife played by Scarlett Johansson who is going through her own secret crisis.
Although Gray admitted during the post, press screening Q&A that he embraces the traditional film script format because it helps him navigate multi-layered sub-plots, there is nothing traditional or typical about the results. “Paper Tiger” brilliantly captures a specific time and sense of place while weaving together complex characters.
Director/Writer: James Gray
Stars: Adam Driver, Miles Teller, Scarlett Johansson
Country: United States
Language: English
Production companies: Ak Productions
Runtime: 1h 55m
MPAA Rating: R
