There was a lot to learn at the New York Film Festival this year. We learned what it was like to be a struggling folk musician in the 1960s; we learned just how barbaric the antebellum south was in the United States; we learned that you should never, ever go sailing, whether on a cargo ship or a one-man yacht; we even learned how to paint a Vermeer. The education is over now, as the festival has come to an end. But the brilliance of many of these films will live on forever.
To celebrate these magnificent works of art, let's take a look and hand out some honors to the films of the 51st New York Film Festival.
The Coen Brothers are no strangers to great music-oriented movies, with the soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" winning the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002. Is it possible they topped themselves with "Inside Llewyn Davis"? Not only does all the folk music contribute to the woeful tale of Llewyn Davis, but it stands alone as magnificent performance art. Oscar Isaac may have been a hugely successful folk singer in the 60s, demonstrating remarkable talent in performing these songs live. His rendition of "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" sinks deep into your heart both times it's performed, and will make you find an appreciation for a genre you may not have considered before. Even the cheesy pop song Justin Timberlake wrote for the film, "Please Mr. Kennedy", is a delight.
Honorable Mention - "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
"12 Years A Slave" represents the third collaboration between director Steve McQueen and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, and is their strongest effort to date. Of all the movies I saw at NYFF (in fact, of all the movies I've seen this year), "12 Years A Slave" is the one whose imagery has stayed with me the most. The shot that I describe in the opening line of my review about a slave hanging from a tree is clearly vivid in my mind as though I were watching it right now. McQueen and Bobbitt are masters of layering, adroitly making use of every level of the visual field. Their magnificent composition becomes even more impressive when you discover that every shot, even the wide shots that linger for over 20 seconds, were done without any kind of coverage. That means that McQueen didn't have any backup cuts to edit to, just in case a shot became boring. Miraculously, there's not a single boring image to be found here.
Honorable Mentions - "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", "Nebraska"
These two Cannes' darlings continued proving their worth Stateside, as they pushed the boundaries of sex in feature films. Even though both movies are surrounded by controversy (and it was a hoot watching offended journalists stand up and leave halfway through both films) if you look closer you will find that beyond their graphic nature, "Stranger" is a delicious horror satire and "Blue" is simply put one of the greatest films about growing up ever made.
Honorable Mention - "Bastards"
Joaquim Pinto's harrowing chronicle of living with HIV could've been one of the most depressing films in the festival, but instead it was perhaps the most life affirming. Combining video journals with archival footage, Pinto creates an intoxicating concoction of a film that feels like Miguel Gomes by way of Chris Marker: a metaphysical exploration of life's worth and the need to survive despite all odds.
Honorable Mentions - "The Last of the Unjust", "Tim's Vermeer"
Lively, funny, and confident, June Squibb stole everyone's heart at the festival this year as the endearingly inappropriate matriarch of "Nebraska". In a movie full of deadpan humor, the 83-year-old actress is the most animated character, but still equally unaware of how funny she's actually behaving. But it's not all fun for June, who also has some scenes to showcase tenderness and fortitude.
Honorable Mention - Carey Mulligan - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
While Squibb may have stolen her scenes from those around her, the whole show belongs to Bruce Dern. As the frail, perpetually confused Woody Grant, the 77-year-old Dern brings a surprising amount of depth. Seen as a curmudgeon early, we eventually view Woody as a naive man who has just had the wool pulled over his eyes too many times. Dern's performance becomes even stronger in retrospect, once you acknowledge the shifting attitude that you feel towards the character.
Honorable Mentions - Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years A Slave"; Tom Hanks, "Captain Phillips"
Many people will look at "All is Lost" and talk about Robert Redford's powerful but restrained performance. The same people will sermonize about the film's ambiguity, and how they loved that the audience was allowed to create their own story about Our Man. But what those people enjoyed, others will likely despise. The lack of background information that some will say is "ambiguous", others (like myself) will call cheap and lazy. Some will think that piecing together the messages and themes hidden in the imagery is what makes the film rich; some will say those themes and messages are lost in the fact that with no story present, you can basically assign meaning to anything and everything, over-saturating the film with false meaning. Redford's performance, though remarkable, is itself washed away but the utter disinterest that many will have. "All is Lost" is a movie that film teachers will show in class, and all the students will hate it.
Honorable Mention - "Blue is the Warmest Color"
"12 Years A Slave" has a lot going for it. The cinematography is gorgeous, Chiwetel Ejiofor's performance as Solomon Northup is probably the best showing by an actor all year. (The only reason I gave Dern the edge over Ejiofor in the acting category above is because I based it on who is MOST LIKELY to get nominated, and I believe Dern is more of what the Academy is looking for). McQueen's direction of John Ridley's screenplay is powerful and provocative. But what makes this movie a shoo-in for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars is its subject matter.
Since 2008, the Oscars have always included at least one "civil rights" movie into its grandest category, even if the film is only received warmly by critics; 2008 nominated "The Reader", 2009 had "The Blind Side", 2010 had "The Kids Are All Right", 2011 had "The Help", and 2012 had "Lincoln". Of those movies, only one truly deserved its nomination, and that was "Lincoln". This year, "12 Years A Slave" actually does deserve a spot in the Best Picture race based on its filmmaking merits alone. Tack on the fact that it's about the atrocities of slavery, and you've got a good formula for a nominee. The only thing that may derail this movie's path to glory is the fact that the Academy may have it out for director Steve McQueen, as evidenced by the snubbing of the star of his last movie, Michael Fassbender.
Honorable Mention - "Captain Phillips"
