The 62nd New York Film Festival kicks off today, bringing some of the most heralded movies from preceding fests — like Cannes, Venice, Telluride, and TIFF — to the United States, ahead of their much-anticipated theatrical releases. With so many fascinating features and shorts to consider, NYFF’s slate can be overwhelming. But whether you’re a cinephile or simply seeking an early edge on your Oscar picks, we’ve got you covered.
This year, NYFF has on display a dazzling array of comedies, dramas, and documentaries from around the world. Keep an eye out for the latest features from Steve McQueen, Mike Leigh, Pablo Larrain, Pedro Almodovar, and Luca Guadagnino, just to name a few. Their movies, ranging from heart-warming to heart-breaking, are studded with the likes of Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, Zoe Saldaña, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Angelina Jolie, and Daniel Craig.
What are you most excited to see? Sound off in comments.
Anora
This summer Anora took home the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the illustrious Cannes International Film Festival. But don’t let its posh pedigree have you mistaking Sean Baker’s latest with some stuffy art house drama. The writer/director behind such deeply poignant yet brightly funny films as Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket has done it again, delivering a drama that is lusty and alive.
Mikey Madison (Scream 5) stars as Anora, a Brooklyn sex worker whose fling with a Russian playboy swiftly leads to wedding bells. But the fantasy of wealth and wonder comes crashing down when the cronies for her new oligarch in-laws come banging at the mansion door. You might think you know how this story goes. You’d be wrong.*
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Aleksei Serebryakov
Blitz
Writer/director Steve McQueen has awed critics with hard-hitting dramas like Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows, and his anthology Small Axe. Now the acclaimed British filmmaker has turned his lens on World War II for this historical drama about a young boy in London who sets out for adventure but instead finds himself in the middle of a blitzkrieg.
Between McQueen’s sterling oeuvre, a stacked cast, and this stirring first trailer from Apple TV+, Blitz looks primed to knock us out and lift us up.
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, and Elliot Heffernan
The Brutalist
Actor-turned-director Brady Corbet polarized critics in 2018 with his daring pop star drama Vox Lux, but his latest film is drawing wild praise. In Mashable’s review, Siddhant Adlakha writes, “The Brutalist is a towering paean to the American dream, in all its force and folly. Set over several decades, Brady Corbet’s post-World War II immigrant saga is — like the architectural achievements of its protagonist — constructed with meticulous consideration, resulting in a work of multifaceted technique and piercing humanity.”
Adrien Brody stars as László Tóth, a Jewish architect from Hungary who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to the U.S. with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). Set over 30 years, the film is boldly ambitious and — per Siddhant — “a modern American masterpiece.”
Starring: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Alessandro Nivola, Jonathan Hyde, and Guy Pearce
Emilia Pérez
Per Siddhant Adlakha’s review out of Cannes, “The tale of a vicious cartel boss who undergoes gender-affirming surgery, Emilia Pérez places women front and center in a traditionally male-led gangster genre. But rather than subverting its visual and tonal hallmarks, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard compliments them with a liberating sense of expression through song and dance.”
That’s right, a gangster musical. We’ve gotten a taste of what Audiard has in store for us with the Cannes Jury Prize–winning film’s tantalizing teaser. But we can’t wait to see what leading ladies Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz deliver to this intriguing crime movie, as all four collectively won Cannes’ Best Actress honor.*
Starring: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Édgar Ramírez
Hard Truths
English writer/director Mike Leigh reunites with Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste for a new social drama about a misanthrope waging war in suburbia. Jean-Baptiste stars as Pansy, a very vexed wife and mother always ready with a rant. Could reconnecting with her joyful sister Chantal (Michele Austin) change things for Pansy?
In Mashable’s review, Siddhant Adlakha writes, “Hard Truths becomes a complex showreel for humanity at its most bitter and pained, with characters forced to turn inward and at least recognize (if not introspect and improve upon) the worst corners of themselves. Through long, unbroken close-ups and scenes of familial interaction in which tensions subtly build, Leigh’s stark naturalism is brought slowly and fiercely to the fore by an accomplished actress at the height of her power, and at the height of her vulnerability. Scene by scene, she slowly chips away at Pansy’s armor until all that’s left is sinew, blood, and bone, leaving her exposed to the world in all its cruelty and kindness and indifference. It’s harrowing to watch, but Jean-Baptiste makes it impossible to look away.”
Starring: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Michele Austin, Ani Nelson, and Sophia Brown
Maria
Credit: NYFF
Chilean director Pablo Larraín has previously helmed such breathtakingly bold biopics as Spencer and Jackie, which offered fresh looks at the lives of Princess Diana and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. This time around he’s teamed with Angelina Jolie to re-examine the last days of opera legend Maria Callas. Together, Larrain and screenwriter Steven Knight build what Mashable critic Siddhant Adlakha called “a platform to craft what is perhaps the most complex performance of [Jolie’s] illustrious career.”
From his review: “Not just a famous actress, but arguably one of the world’s most famous people in the mid-2000s, Jolie has achieved a level of global stardom of which few can even dream….In a recent press junket for the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere, Jolie was asked about the degree to which she drew on her personal life for her performance, though she refused to elaborate. However, seeing the degree to which she places her most vulnerable self on screen in Maria, it’s clear she doesn’t need to. Everything she has to say on the subject is contained within the four corners of the frame.”
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Alba Rohrwacher, Valeria Golino, and Kodi Smit-McPhee
Nickel Boys
NYFF’s opening night film comes from Oscar–winning documentarian RaMell Ross (Hale Country This Morning, This Evening), who makes the leap to feature-length narrative film for this promising adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel.
Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson star as Elwood and Turner, two Black teenagers who become friends while under the thumb of a grim reformatory school in Jim Crow-era Florida. Out of its world premiere at Telluride, Nickel Boys generated big buzz, with some critics declaring it a “masterpiece,” as quoted in the trailer above. This seems certain to be one of the year’s major award season contenders.
Starring: Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, and Daveed Diggs
Pavements
Credit: NYFF
From Alex Ross Perry, the director of Her Smell and Listen Up Philip, comes an odd and enchanting documentary about the Californian band known as Pavement.
In Mashable’s review, Siddhant Adlakha writes, “Every band has its biggest fans. The ’90s slacker/alt rock group Pavement is probably the greatest, most vital musical group in existence to someone, but right from its opening frames, Alex Ross Perry’s Pavements deflates the grandeur of this idea, sarcastically overstating the band’s stature in its opening text. In an age of musical biopic plenty, this semi-ironic, postmodern take — which runs through Perry’s part drama, part documentary, and part mockumentary — may be just what the doctor ordered.”
Starring: Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kannberg, Joe Keery, Jason Schwartzman, Fred Hechinger, Nat Wolff, Tim Heidecker, and Logan Miller
Queer
Credit: NYFF
Director Luca Guadagnino has awed critics and audiences with his distinctive romances, from the gay drama Call Me By Your Name to the coming-of-age cannibal tale Bones and All and the love-triangle thriller Challengers. Now, he re-teams with Challengers scribe Justin Kuritzkes for this adaptation of American author William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel.*
Queer stars Daniel Craig as an American expat wandering around the gay bars of postwar Mexico City seeking thrills — and maybe himself. There, he’ll yuck it up with friends (Jason Schwartzman and Drew Droege), find a young new lover (Drew Starkey), and throw himself into booze and drugs in a chaotic quest for love. A challenging adaptation, a crackling cast, and a heralded filmmaker make Queer a must-see.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Drew Droege, Lesley Manville, and Jason Schwartzman
The Room Next Door
Boundary-pushing Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar has bestowed upon us such wondrous films as All About My Mother, The Skin I Live in, Talk to Her, and most recently, the queer Western short Strange Way of Life. Now he’s tackling his first English-language feature with a cast that has us absolutely screaming in excitement.*
Based on Sigrid Nunez’s acclaimed novel What Are You Going Through, The Room Next Door stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as two longtime friends who face a rough final chapter. Ingrid (Moore) is a novelist who finds inspiration in her life. Martha (Swinton) is a war journalist suffering from a terminal illness that makes her death imminent. Before she goes, she’d like to spend some time in a lovely retreat with her dear friend, and then she wants to go out on her own terms. What does this mean for Martha and Ingrid? You’ll have to enter The Room Next Door to find out.
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, and Alessandro Nivola
The New York Film Festival runs Sept. 27 – Oct. 14.
