NYFF Brings Cinema to Lincoln Center and Beyond

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Poster showcasing “White Noise”, “Decision to Leave”, and “Till”. (Courtesy of Caleb Stine/The Fordham Ram)

The 60th Annual New York Film Festival (NYFF) kicked off Sept. 30 and showcases an array of films from across the globe, welcoming new filmmakers to the prestigious festival along with familiar faces. 

   As most festival events are taking place at Lincoln Center, NYFF is holding events in all five boroughs. While Manhattan plays host to a second venue in the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Alamo Drafthouse in Staten Island are all included in festival proceedings this year. 

   NYFF’s “Main Slate,” one of five sections of the festival since 2020, includes 32 films from more than a dozen nations in 2022. The “Main Slate” acts as the staple program of the festival, while “Talks,” “Currents,” “Revivals” and  “Spotlight” are also included in this year’s programming.  

   Headlining this portion of the festival is Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise.” The film made its world premiere at Lincoln Center on Sept. 30. An adaptation of Don DeLillo’s dystopian novel, the cast includes Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver and Don Cheadle. 

   The former two are frequent collaborators with Baumbach, as Driver has featured in four of Baumbach’s films prior to “White Noise” and Gerwig has appeared in three. The two each appeared in Baumbach’s “Frances Ha,” which debuted during the 50th NYFF in 2012. 

   Participating in NYFF’s “Talks” portion at Lincoln Center, Noah Baumbach said in regards to casting such familiar faces, “I looked at it, in a sense, especially in regards to Greta and Adam … like a repertory company and we’re now doing this play.”

   Brooklyn-born Baumbach often produces films studying familial dynamics, and while “White Noise” is no different in that regard, it is a departure from his past work in other ways. 

    Baumbach’s portfolio has been almost exclusively realistic fiction, and this most recent endeavor adds a new element of dystopian fantasy that Baumbach has not explored as directly in his films until now. “White Noise” is also Baumbach’s first book-to-film adaptation done independently (he co-wrote “Fantastic Mr. Fox” with Wes Anderson in 2009). 

  Crime thriller “Decision to Leave” from Korean maverick Park Chan-wook opens at Lincoln Center on Oct. 19. While the premiere of the film was held in April during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where director Park took home the Best Director award. Many critics are considering this the greatest film of the year thus far; The Guardian calls it a “gorgeously and grippingly made picture.” 

   South Korea’s official entry into the 95th Academy Awards, “Decision to Leave” currently sits at an 85 out of 100 rating on the critic website, Metacritic. Adding to the allure of NYFF’s “Main Slate” are Joanna Hogg’s, “The Eternal Daughter” and Paul Schrader’s, “Master Gardener.” Both directors participated in “Talks” during the festival, with Schrader discussing his film on Oct. 1 and Hogg discussing her work on Oct. 9. 

   Hogg, known best for 2019’s “The Souvenir,” paints a mysterious picture of the English countryside in this drama starring Tilda Swinton. Exploring ideas of artistic creation and parent-daughter relationships, the film is produced by famed indie company A24 and opened at the Venice Film Festival last month. 

   “The Eternal Daughter” will play at Lincoln Center on Oct. 16, after hosting talks by both Swinton and Hogg on Oct. 10 and 11. 

  “Master Gardener” made its North American premiere at Lincoln Center on Oct. 1, and features acting veterans Sigourney Weaver and Joel Edgerton portraying an aristocrat and gardener, respectively. Elements of drama and crime are present in this film which also debuted in Venice.

  “Currents,” designed to be a “more complete picture of contemporary cinema with an emphasis on new and innovative forms and voices” according to the festival, includes feature films and shorts in 2022. Virtually all of them are submissions from outside the United States, including “Coma” from France and “Dry Ground Burning” from Brazil. 

   “Revivals” contains restorations of past work from acclaimed filmmakers past and present. This year’s slate includes a restored version of Claire Denis’ “No Fear No Die” in 4K. Denis, whose own film “Stars at Noon” made its North American premiere on Oct. 2 at NYFF, is known for such acclaimed works “High Life” and “Beau Travail.” Denis participated in a Q&A after the premiere at Lincoln Center. Late Taiwanese director Edward Yang had his film, “A Confucian Confusion” restored through a grant from his widow. 

   One of the standouts from NYFF’s “Spotlight” includes Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” starring Timothée Chalamet, which opened for NYFF this past Tuesday. “Bones” sets a love story against the backdrop of rural Virginia and features newcomer Taylor Russell opposite Chalamet, along with Mark Rylance, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny. 

   “Till,” not as much explores the tragic story of Emmett Till, as it does the heartbreak and anger of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, played by ​​Danielle Deadwyler. Directed by “Clemency” filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu, “Till” made its world premiere at NYFF, and has since opened with a perfect 100 score on Rotten Tomatoes, despite a 70 on Metacritic. 

  Perhaps the biggest film making its world premiere at NYFF during the festival’s final week is the much-anticipated, “She Said” starring Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, as well as Fordham alum Patricia Clarkson. The film tells the tale of The New York Times reporters, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who were instrumental in uncovering decades of sexual abuse in Hollywood. On Thursday, Oct. 13, the film premieres with a Q&A featuring director Maria Schrader, along with Mulligan, Kazan, Kantor and Twohey. 

   The festival concludes this coming Sunday with a full day of films, including encore screenings of “Bones and All,” “She Said” and “White Noise.”