The 47th New York Film Festival ends on Sunday. But part of the reason I came this week was because it is thick with films and events that I consider to be especially noteworthy.
First up, I caught tonight's film this morning, Souleymane Cissé's Min Yè... (Tell Me Who You Are...), an engaging melodrama that peers into the tradition of polygamous marriages in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Sokana Gakou plays Mimi, a shrewish doctor whose higher education has contributed to her desire to rebel against the primitive custom. Her way of coping is to cheat on her husband, Issa (Assane Kouyate). Some who've seen this movie have trouble embracing the exaggerated emotions (which truthfully, often borders on camp), particularly in Gakou's performance. Maybe it's the Cuban in me who had no trouble looking past it since I grew up with telenovelas. The film is quick-paced, and a bit repetitive like those Spanish-language soaps, but like any soap, it's never boring.
As for the rest of the offerings this week, the NYFF Masterworks series, (Re)Inventing China, wraps up on Tuesday and segues into the next series on the films of Indian director Guru Dutt, running Wednesday on through the end of the festival. There are more special events, like the restoration of what is considered by many to be one of the best Egyptian films of all time, 1969's The Night of Counting the Years (Al-Momia), playing on Friday evening. Directors continue to discuss their entries in the festival, including Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon) and Claire Denis (White Material), in the HBO Director's Dialogues series.
Two special treats are on deck for the penultimate day of the festival. The first is a lecture by one of my favorites, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, on the history of cinema. And the second is a sneak preview of a British miniseries that will screen in America later this year, The Red Riding Trilogy. This trio of films is about the "Yorkshire Ripper," an English serial killer of the seventies and eighties. We hope to bring you a review of that one soon.
And on the closing night, Pedro Almodóvar again collaborates with his most charming muse, Penelope Cruz, for their new film, Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos). I should have a review of that one up before it screens.
Here's a detailed schedule of this final week's NYFF events:
EVENT TITLES
NYFF – Festival main slate film
CHN – NYFF MASTERWORKS: (Re)Inventing China
DUT - NYFF MASTERWORKS: The Films of Guru Dutt
SE – Festival special event
SCREENING LOCATIONS
ATH – Alice Tully Hall, Broadway and 65th Street
WRT – Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, upper level
KP – Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 65th St. between Amsterdam and Broadway, 10th Floor
Monday, Oct. 5
4:15 Woman Hairdresser, 100m (CHN/WRT)
6:00 Everyone Else, 120m (NYFF/ATH)
6:15 Seventy-Two Tenants, 90m (CHN/WRT)
8:15 Living Forever in Burning Flames, 138m (CHN/WRT)
9:00 Min Yè... (Tell Me Who You Are...), 135m (NYFF/ATH)
Tuesday, Oct. 6
2:00 The Art of the Steal, 101m (NYFF/WRT)
4:45 Keep the Red Flag Flying, 107m (CHN/WRT)
6:00 Min Yè... (Tell Me Who You Are...), 135m (NYFF/ATH)
7:00 Big Li, Little Li and Old Li, 100m (CHN/WRT)
9:00 Two Stage Sisters, 112m (CHN/WRT)
9:15 Hadewijch, 105m (NYFF/ATH)
Wednesday, Oct. 7
6:00 The White Ribbon, 144m (NYFF/ATH)
6:00 Thirst/Pyaasa, 146m (DUT/WRT)
9:15 The Gamble/Baazi, 143m (DUT/WRT)
9:30 Around a Small Mountain, 85m (NYFF/ATH)
Thursday, Oct. 8
6:00 Ne Change Rien, 103m (NYFF/ATH)
6:00 The Hawk/Baaz, 145m (DUT/WRT)
7:00 HBO FILMS DIRECTOR'S DIALOGUES: Michael Haneke (SE/KP)
8:50 Heads or Tails/Aar-Paar, 146m (DUT/WRT)
9:00 The White Ribbon, 144m (NYFF/ATH)
Friday, Oct. 9
12:00pm Master, Mistress and Servant, 152m (DUT/WRT)
3:00 Paper Flowers/Kaagaz Ke Phool, 153m (DUT/WRT)
6:00 Mother, 129m (NYFF/ATH)
6:15 The Night of Counting the Years, 102m (SE/ATH)
9:15 White Material, 100m (NYFF/ATH)
9:15 Mr. & Mrs. '55, 157m (DUT/WRT)
Saturday, Oct. 10
12:30pm Full Moon/Chaudhvin Ka Chand, 168m (DUT/WRT)
3:30 LECTURE: Pedro Almodóvar’s History of Cinema: A Conversation (SE/ATH)
4:00 Red Riding: 1974, 105m (SE/WRT)
6:15 Red Riding: 1980, 96m (SE/WRT)
6:00 White Material, 100m (NYFF/ATH)
8:45 Red Riding: 1983, 104m (SE/WRT)
9:00 Life During Wartime, 96m (NYFF/ATH)
Sunday, Oct. 11
11:00am Life During Wartime, 96m (NYFF/ATH)
12:30pm In Search of Guru Dutt, 85m (DUT/WRT)
2:00 Bluebeard, 78m (NYFF/ATH)
2:00 HBO FILMS DIRECTOR'S DIALOGUES: Claire Denis (SE/KP)
2:30 Thirst/Pyaasa, 146m (DUT/WRT)
5:00 CLOSING NIGHT: Broken Embraces, 128m (NYFF/ATH)
5:30 Paper Flowers/Kaagaz Ke Phool, 153m (DUT/WRT)
8:00 CLOSING NIGHT: Broken Embraces, 128m (NYFF/ATH)
8:20 Master, Mistress and Servant, 152m (DUT/WRT)
Min Yè is playing at the 47th New York Film Festival, at 9 p.m. tonight and 6 p.m. tomorrow night, at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway (at 65th Street), New York, NY 10023. For more ticket information go online here, or call (212) 875-5050
Photo Credit: Film Society of Lincoln Center/Les Films Cissé
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