I went to a private party to
celebrate the launch of DTR
Styles, New York's Newest Personal Shopping & Styling
Service. Celebrity fashion stylist Dana
Tycher Reisman held
the party at a new elegant restaurant B & Co. 14 East 58th St,
where cocktails and delicious hors d'oeuvres were served.
The press screenings of the 51st
New York Film Festival September 27 - October 13 continue. My
Name is Hmmm..., by Agnes
b., France, 2013,
is an interesting film about an 11-year-old girl , who is
affected by being sexually abused by her father. She runs away
and finds refuge in a truck, where the truck driver befriends
her. They spend a few days happily together traveling in the
Southwest of France, until captured by the police with tragic
consequences. For a first film by a dress designer, it is an
impressive achievement.
Omar, by Hany
Abu-Assad, Palestinian Territories, 2013, is a convoluted
story about three childhood friends, who want to be freedom
fighters in the West Bank. It is a harsh look at life for
Palestinians, with many brutal scenes. There is also a love
story between the titled character and the sister of his friend.
However, much of the story is unbelievable and hard to follow.
Hail Mary, by Jean-Luc
Godard, France/Switzerland/UK, 1985, caused a scandal when
it first appeared, condemned by the Vatican. It is a modern tale
of a virgin, who becomes pregnant without engaging in sex. Of
course, today, this seems innocuous and is just fantasy. Since
the film is largely incoherent, with pretty actresses, who are
sometimes naked, it hardly deserves the reputation it achieved.
From October 9-30, there is a retrospective of the director's
films during the festival.
The Chase, by Arthur
Ripley, USA, 1946 is one of the revivals being shown in the
festival. Starring Robert
Cummings and Michele
Morgan, it is an unconvincing "film noir". A World War II
veteran is hired as a chauffeur by a gangster and gets involved
with his wife. The plot is creaky and defies belief.
Real, by Kiyoshi
Kurosawa, Japan, 2013, is an overlong, confusing film, about
a young couple in modern day Tokyo. The woman falls into a coma,
and after one year, the husband tries to reach her unconscious
mind through "sensing". Then we learn, the man is actually in a
coma, and it is the wife who tries to reach his unconscious
mind. Then, a dinosaur appears, and by then, I was ready to go
into a coma. The photography, however, is beautiful.
The Immigrant, by James
Gray, USA, 2013, creates an authentic atmosphere of the
arrival of immigrants to Ellis Island in 1921 and their
miserable lives on the lower East Side.Marion
Cotillard is the
Polish immigrant, who is helped by Joaquin
Phoenix as a
burlesque house manager, who recruits young women for the
theatre and prostitution. His cousin (Jeremy
Renner) is a magician, who is also interested in Cotillard,
leading to a bitter and tragic rivalry. It is a grim,
depressing film.
Bastards, by Claire
Denis, France,
2013, is a disjointed film, purporting to be about a sex scandal
in France. However, most of the film deals with a lust affair
between a glumVincent Lindon as
a neighbor to the mistress of a wealthy man. a colorless Chiara
Mastroianni. Most scenes made no sense, including the
unbelievable conclusion.
Gloria, by Sebastian
Lelio, Chile/Spain, 2013, is a film about a divorced,
middle-aged woman, who smokes and drinks too much, and who meets
a divorced man at a dance club, with whom she conducts an
unsatisfactory relationship. It is a view of a frustrated,
lonely life for a woman of a certain age in modern day Chile. In
the title role, Paulina
Garcia gives a
fearless performance, displaying total frontal nudity throughout
many scenes in the film.
MoMA has a wonderful exhibition of
the great Italian film scenic designer Dante Ferretti, and is
screening films under the title, Dante
Ferretti: Designing for the Big Screen until
February 9, 2014. Salo
or 120 Days of Sodom, by Pier
Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1975, is based on the writings of the Marquis
de Sade. Four powerful aristocrats in Nazi-occupied Northern
Italy, during the final year of World War II, hold a number of
young men and women captive in a mansion and indulge in sexual
perversion. It is an unpleasant film to watch, and at the end of
the screening, half the audience had, luckily, left. The scenic
design by Ferretti is good to look at. The film is not.