12/15/2015New York Film Festival 2014 #1: Starting With a Bang | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=021bea0a-ee05-405f-8ffd-d93bd3deb651&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/3New York Film Festival 2014 #1: Starting With aBangNew York Film Festival 2014 #1: Starting With a BangI love the New York Film Festival.</p><p> Unlike most film festivals which seem to be about the market or the industry orthe press, the New York Film Festival is really and truly for New Yorkers.</p><p> If -- like me -- you can't afford to go toSundance and Telluride and Cannes and Venice and Toronto, why the people at the NYFF do it for you, spotthe best films and then bring as many as they can to New York.</p><p> I want that job! This year is no exception andlooks to be the strongest in memory.While NYFF has always been a curating gem, it hasn't always thrown its weight around for world premieres andexclusives.</p><p> That wasn't the game they played, though of course everyone needs a flashy opening night andclosing film.</p><p> Still, just as Toronto worried it was being overshadowed by Telluride, NYFF stepped up with aclutch of big titles.</p><p> They've got Gone Girl, the new film by David Fincher based on the massive bestsellingthriller.</p><p> They've got Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice (I'm reading the loopy Thomas Pynchon novel it'sbased on to prepare).</p><p> And now out of the blue they've added CitizenFour, a super secret documentary aboutEdward Snowden that's directed by oscar nominee and MacArthur genius grant winner Laura Poitras.</p><p> Nowwho's got the buzz?All well and good, but I'm immune to online hype that thinks movies that have already been "discovered" is oldnews.</p><p> Heck, they haven't played in movie theaters yet, so I'm really eager to see Mr.</p><p> Turner and Whiplash andFoxcatcher and Heaven Knows What and The Look Of Silence and Two Days One Night (the new Dardennes!the best filmmakers in the world at the moment!) and about a dozen other movies by major stars and risingtalent.</p><p> You can have your buzz.</p><p> I just want great movies.</p><p> And this year it looks like NYFF has a bumper crop.'71 *** out of ****Here's a good example of the sort of movie I love to stumble on at a film festival.</p><p> It's a tense, gripping drama,marks the film debut of UK director Yann Demange who's had good success on TV and features a strongcentral performance from a very talented young actor named Jack O'Connell.</p><p> Will it get Oscar buzz? No.</p><p> Will ittear it up at the box office? Unlikely.</p><p> But '71 is worth any avid filmgoer's time.The story is set in 1971 Belfast during the Troubles.</p><p> From the very first shot, director Demange is in full control,creating dynamic visuals, building characters despite minimal dialogue and racheting up the suspense.</p><p> A knotforms in your stomach as danger mounts and it almost never goes away.</p><p> Think Paul Greengrass's Bourne filmsas a template, though in fact his excellent film Bloody Sunday is a better comparison, one that '71 matchesmuch of the way.Gary Hook is a new recruit in the military.</p><p> We soon realize he and his little brother are alone in the world.</p><p> Thekid is in some government facility/detention center while Hook has joined the army as the only way out.</p><p> Much tohis dismay, their unit isn't sent to Germany but to Belfast and that's where the nightmare begins.A "simple" house to house search in a Catholic neighborhood quickly escalates into a full-scale riot.</p><p> Hook and abuddy are separated from the rest when trying to retrieve a stolen weapon.</p><p> In the blink of an eye, his buddy iskilled, Hook is being pummeled to death and the rest of the soldiers pull out, accidentally leaving him behind.Through sheer happenstance, Hook is momentarily spared.</p><p> But he's hiding in a bombed out toilet, wearing the12/15/2015New York Film Festival 2014 #1: Starting With a Bang | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=021bea0a-ee05-405f-8ffd-d93bd3deb651&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/3hated uniform of a British soldier and deep in "enemy" territory.</p><p> On the run and desperate to survive, Hook isplunged into a frenzy of running and hiding, stealing clothes, warily befriending a little boy and stumbling uponmore violence in one night than most people see in a lifetime.In essence, '71 is a modern companion piece to Carol Reed's Odd Man Out.</p><p> That 1947 film starred JamesMason as the leader of an IRA-like group who was on the lam after escaping from prison.</p><p> In both films, anyoneexpressing an interest in negotiation and finding common ground is a traitor not to be trusted.</p><p> And both filmswork on the simple level of a cat-and-mouse game.Demange and his excellent technical team never let us catch our breath.</p><p> An early training scene is nicelyechoed by Hook's desperate attempt to outrun two gunmen chasing him through back alleys and dilapidatedhomes.</p><p> The escalating tension when the troops pull up in front of some homes, from children being usheredaway to women pounding on the pavement with trash can lids to raise the alarm to crowds milling angrily aboutand screaming at the soldiers is masterfully done.And throughout O'Connell does a very good job of creating a believable, sympathetic character.</p><p> Hook is no saintnor is he particularly political.</p><p> But watching a fellow soldier assault civilians, seeing undercover agents workingon homemade bombs just to sow dissent and having to kill someone face to face unnerve and change him, as itwould change anyone.The film stumbles in its script which frankly offers too many shades of grey. (Fifty shades would have shownrestraint.) Literally every scene piles on the complexity.</p><p> What at first seems an admirable attempt to reflect thepainful reality of Northern Ireland ultimately becomes self-defeating.</p><p> This movie features so many plot twists itwould make Downton Abbey blush with shame.</p><p> And that's a pity since so much of it is so very good.Even the finale is botched.</p><p> In case we had any doubt, the many unconscionable actions taken during the raidand search for Hook are of course swept under the rug.</p><p> And then despite its desire to emphasize the bleak, thefilm tries to end on an unconvincing note of uplift.</p><p> But put this in context: these are modest failings in a film thatfor most of its 99 minute running time delivers a taut, engaging thriller.</p><p> Denange and O'Connell areunquestionably two talents we'll be hearing more from.MOVIES I'VE SEEN SO FAR IN 2014 (not a good year for movie-going for me) All ratings out of four stars.1.</p><p> Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) ** 2. 20 Feet From Stardom ** 3.</p><p> The Wolf Of Wall Street ** 1/2 4.</p><p> In The House (Ozon) *** 5.</p><p> Laurence Anyways *** 1/2 6.</p><p> The Angels' Share *** 7.</p><p> Philomena ** 8.</p><p> Mad Love (1935 w Peter Lorre) * 9.</p><p> Women In The Wind (1939 w Kay Francis) ** 10.</p><p> The Hunt *** 1/2 11.</p><p> Happy People: A Year In The Taiga *** 12.</p><p> The Painting ** 1/2 13.</p><p> The Spectacular Now *** 1/2 14.</p><p> Dallas Buyers Club * 1/2 15.</p><p> Blue Jasmine ** 1/2 16.</p><p> The Story Of The Last Chrysanthemum (1939) *** 17.</p><p> The Harvey Girls (1946) * 1/2
