It’s business as usual at this year’s New York Film Festival, where eight of the 24 films in the main program are holdovers from Cannes, most notably Jean-Luc Godard’s Notre Musique and Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers. No Dogville-style polemic or drama of Mystic River-sized proportions figures into the program this year, but the difficult balancing act between commerce and high art is still evident. You know the drill: Entries like Lucretia Martel’s The Holy Girl, Pablo Trapero’s Rolling Family, and Ousmane Sembène’s Moolaadé are unlikely to pack the house, but with Flying Daggers and Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education on the menu, the Film Society of Lincoln Center doesn’t have to fear that it will be in the red after Alexander Payne’s Sideways closes the festival on October 17th. That Woman Is the Future of Man is on the program speaks to the collection committee’s ongoing dedication to giving films by little-known director’s a chance at distribution, but Hong Sang-soo’s film pales in comparison to his outstanding Turning Gate (one of three films that didn’t pick up a distributor after playing to glowing reviews during the festival’s 40th year), and as such makes the absence of films like Wong Kar-wai’s 2046, Clare Denis’s L’Intrus and Chantal Akerman’s Tomorrow We Move seem more conspicuous. But with the likes of Leigh, Rohmer, Bergman and Hou present, why complain?
Beginning September 27, please check back daily as a synopsis and full review of each festival film will be added to Slant Magazine’s ongoing coverage. The 42nd New York Film Festival will run from October 1 to October 17, 2004. For more information please check the festival’s main program . Ed Gonzalez
• 10th District Court (Raymond Depardon)
• Bad Education (Pedro Almodóvar)
• The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller)
• Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
• The Gate of the Sun (Yousry Nasrallah)
• The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel)
• House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou)
• In the Battlefields (Danielle Arbid)
• Keane (Lodge Kerrigan)
• Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)
• Look at Me (Agnès Jaoui)
• Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene)
• Notre Musique (Jean-Luc Godard)
• (Or) My Treasure (Keren Yedaya)
• Palindromes (Todd Solondz)
• Rolling Family (Pablo Trapero)
• Saraband (Ingmar Bergman)
• Sideways (Alexander Payne)
• Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette)
• Triple Agent (Eric Rohmer)
• Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
• Undertow (David Gordon Green)
• Vera Drake (Mike Leigh)
• Woman Is the Future of Man (Hong Sang-soo)
• The World (Jia Zhang-ke)
• Infernal Affairs Trilogy (Wai Keung and Siu Fai Mak)
• Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue (Murray Lerner)
• Unforgivable Blackness (Ken Burns)
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
