Festivals foretell better fall, winter films

There seems to have been a lot of chatter since the official Summer of Disappointment -- when the hottest months were stuffed to the gills with films that largely failed to move the needle -- that 2016 is a dismal year for cinema. Au contraire, mes amies! In fact, based on the films I've seen this year at festivals far and wide, we are about to experience a cascade of wonderful films during the last few months of the year.

The cinematic year begins in January at Sundance, which showcases many unsigned independent films; shoots over to the French Riviera for the unparalleled Cannes Festival; goes to the mountains of Telluride, then the cityscapes of Vienna and Toronto, before landing squarely in the middle of Manhattan. This year, the buzz from earlier festivals has proved to be fully founded: everyone is in for a treat.

As if to emphasize the (as yet tantalizingly unreleased) highlights of the year so far, the New York Film Festival, taking place Sept. 30-Sunday, is jammed with top-rate selections. Here are 10 we can either vouch for or are most eagerly anticipating.

Gimme Danger: Jim Jarmusch's much-awaited documentary about The Stooges follows their humble rise from the streets of Detroit in the late 1960s into a proto-punk power band that was largely unloved by the early '70s, only to be venerated some years later, and ever since, when their particular blend of grinding melodies and booming sonic exploration lead the way to an entire world of other bands. Interviewing Iggy Pop at his home (in the laundry room, which somehow is perfect), and as many of the other surviving members as possible (the years have not been kind), Jarmusch's camera captures the essence of the band in the etched faces of its members.

Paterson: Not content with one entry in this year's festival, Jarmusch also brings a new narrative film about a bus driver (Adam Driver) who drives his route in a fog of set routine, catching snippets of people's conversations and turning them into elements of his poetry. His wife (Golshifteh Farahani) has a different take on the world, but the two manage to be supportive of each other over the course of a single week. Sounds perfectly Jarmuschian.

I Am Not Your Negro: A poignant doc from Raoul Peck that takes the exquisite writings of James Baldwin -- along with clips from some of his many TV and public speaking appearances -- to craft a treatise on the issues of race in this country. Peck weaves in footage from recent protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., to bring his subject full circle. Given the current state of affairs and the forces tearing our nation apart, it should be required viewing for all Americans.

Manchester by the Sea: I got to see this magnificently complex drama from Kenneth Lonergan at Sundance, and it remains one of the very best films I have seen this year. Casey Affleck stars as a grief-stricken man who is forced to take care of his teenage nephew when his brother unexpectedly dies of a heart attack. Lonergan has said that he wanted to write a story about someone not able to place his suffering in the context of a "journey" of redemption. He has more than succeeded.

Certain Women: Another highlight of Sundance, Kelly Reichardt's triptych of stories -- based on the work of fiction writer Maile Meloy-- features excellent performances all around, but it is in its quiet last segment, starring Kristen Stewart and newcomer Lily Gladstone, that all the pieces really fit together. The film stands as a quietly powerful document of human frailty along the long, desolate roads of Montana.

A Quiet Passion: The subtle precision of British auteur Terence Davies and the melancholy meticulousness of the works of Emily Dickinson would appear to be a fine fit, and from the buzz at Berlin, where it premiered in February, and Toronto in early September, the film works in all the ways you might imagine. Cynthia Nixon -- coming off a devastating performance in last year's James White -- plays the reclusive poet, who lives in relative obscurity.

Personal Shopper: In Kristen Stewart's other performance at this year's festival, she plays a young medium still grieving over the loss of her twin brother who comes to Paris, where he lived, to try and communicate with his spirit. Along the way, writer/director Olivier Assayas also manages to fit in a broad commentary on high-fashion, a murder mystery, and, most surprisingly, a taut, dramatic dialogue between two characters using little but their back-and-forth text conversation.

20th Century Women: If nothing else, Diary of a Teenage Girl proved the emotional viability of the young female experience in the 1970s. Mike Mills' feature, set in 1979, follows the trajectory of three young women (Elle Fanning, Alia Shawkat and Laura Wiggins) along with the vastly more experienced Annette Bening, as they attempt to navigate the particularly treacherous waters of post-hippie culture in Southern California.

Aquarius: The genius of Sonia Braga is reportedly on full display in this drama about an older widow who is forced to combat a sleazy real-estate developer who very much wants to bump her out of her apartment so he can take over the entire complex. Who doesn't love a good real estate drama?

The Lost City of Z: The closing-night film comes to us from James Gray, whose film The Immigrant played to mostly raves in the 2013 festival. His new film is a fact-based mystery concerning the British explorer Percival Fawcett, who vanished along with his son and the rest of their party after embarking on a deep exploration of the Amazon while attempting to find the mythical El Dorado in the 1920s.

MovieStyle on 10/14/2016

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