Nitrate Stock @NYFF53 - Final Thoughts

Apologies, Stockahz, for this late missive, but I needed a contemplative spell in order to organize my thoughts and feelings regarding this recently passed NYFF53, even if just to jot down some brief closing thoughts. It was my priviledge to attend for a second straight year, to be granted access to those unspoolings, whether on sturdy new celluloid or inmates of a hard drive, and to interact with my fellow Cinegeek, old and young, optimistic and jaded, ingorant or less ignorant. It was a magic fortnight once more, and here are some closing observations regarding the annual bash.

I began not with the 4K resto of De Palma's BLOW OUT, and perhaps that was for the best. Me and Bri, oil and kerosene. I did, however, make it to Day Two of the Revivals portion of the Fest, the unsooling, literally, of a newly restored 35mm print of Ernst Lubitsch's HEAVEN CAN WAIT. It struck me as almost an altogether different film on this reviewing, not only due to its Technicolor glow revived, but becuase I'm not accustomed to this sentimental a side of Lubitsch. He shines his usual love upon those characters most amoral, not immoral, yet there remains a presiding affection for Don Ameche's gadfly that I don't feel for his other social code ignorers; Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins in TROUBLE IN PARADISE, Hopkins and Gary Copper and Frederic March in DESIGN FOR LIVING, Melvyn Douglas and Greta Garbo in NINOTCHKA, all might stir a sort of kinship within you to join them at their individual poker tables. Ameche, however, implores a hug. Perhaps that's a slight difference, but it's a glaring one.

We who attended were the lucky recipients of a follow-up Q&A betwixt Head Programmer of the NYFF, Kent Jones, and the principal force behind the Film Foundation, one Martin Scorsese, whose preservation institution was chiefly responsible for this new print. Jones asked a question, and Scorsese responded, explaining in great deatil the creation of his Foundation and its growth, and the role it's played in the preservation of deteriorating film prints over the last 25 years. 30 minutes later Jones thanked the diminutive director for his eloquent, read: lengthy response, and our night was ended. You can find my video wrap-up here.

Next up was a brand-spankin' new 4K DCP resto of Akira Kurosawa's RAN, arguably the man's last masterpiece, undertaken by StudioCanal and Kadokawa Pictures. We were treated to an intro by one Michael Barker, co-prez and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics, who back in 1985 was co-founder of Orion Pictures Classics, the North American distributor of Kurosawa's King Lear adap. He graced the hurricane-beaten sell-out crowd that evening with a series of anecdotes regarding the film that was about to unfold. The best, bar none, recounted the 1985 NYFF, as Kurosawa's film, not highly reagrded in his native Japan, was set to open that year's fest. Except an extinction-level-event named Hurricane Gloria was bearing down on the Tri-State, and the premiere was in question. When approached about the possibilty of postponing the screening, Barker recounted the maestro's response, and I paraphrase; "You know, I've seen many storms in my time. This doesn't seem like much." The screening commenced, and a masterpiece was introduced to the American filmgoing populace. You can watch my Bronx recap of the whole mishegas here.

I returned to the Walter Reade the following Sunday for their unveiling of a new DCP resto of Luchino Visconti's ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS. I'd only been exposed to Visconti, not in the shower-towel sense, through his 1963 epic THE LEOPARD and his later sumtpuous masterwork of darkness THE DAMNED. So this epic 180m work of fist-wrung angst came as slight but welcome surprise. No less a master than Sidney Lumet oncve remarked, and he may have not been first, that drama is when the plot drives the characters, and melodrama is when characters drive the plot. Should that be true Visconti's piece surely stands as one of the greatest melodramas in cinematic history, a sure source of inspiration for Coppola's GODFATHER, De Palma's SCARFACE, and my mother-in-law's ragu. I'm joking about one of those. Alain Delon is the ostensible lead, yet the film is neatly divided by the 5 brothers, if only by intertitle. The actual unfolding is far more complicated and messy, as is the actual world. The film's ultimate brilliance is in its ability to make the interaction between its proceedings and principals wholly preposterous, and then upon reflection wholly everyday. The resto was produced by Cineteca Di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata, in association with Titanus and The Film Foundation, and was funded by Gucci and The Film Foundation.

Monday night we were treated by an intro from longtime Village Voice film sensei Amy Taubin, as she intro'd a newly restored print of what is widely considered King Hu's masterwork, 1971's A TOUCH OF ZEN. I'd only seen Hu's initial groundbreaks, COME DRINK WITH ME and DRAGON INN, seminal works that evolved the wuxia, or swordplay genre, by integrating the balletic feats of the Peking Opera, the artistic arena that had always held the director's sway. Not previously aware of the film's length, I felt a natural point of closure around the 2-hr mark, which Hu displayed blatant disregard for and pushed fully forward with the full tale he set out to tell.And thank Buddah he obeyed those instincts. Initially the film was released in a truncated form when the production ran a few epochs over, and was released in a Part One version, slightly similar to the fate of Donner's SUPERMAN, which also combined finished elements in order to meet a release date, though Hu's film was never intened to be released as two parts. The version I witnessed was awe-inspiring, extendeding its reach to nearly every cinematic genre, from period piece, to comedy, to horror film, to surrealist cinema. All that, plus a crowd-pleaser. Hu's work, from what I've seen of it, greatly straddles the line between cinematic tropes Western & Eastern, whilst maintaining a secure individual signature. The film was restored by L'Immagine Ritrovata, with original materials provided by the Taiwan Film Institute.

Wednesday afternoon found me perfectly planted in a seat at the Howard Gillman theater for a screening of John Ford's THE LONG VOYAGE HOME. Brilliantly cobbled together from four Eugene O'Neill one-acts, the film, one I'd seen previously on multiple occasions, seemed to summon a new spark in me on this occasion. Perhaps it was its pre-war nudge affiliations, maybe it was my witness of Greg Toland's ace-DP work, and the camera-experimentation he'd fully employ a year later on Welles' CITIZEN KANE. Or perhaps it was a greater appreciation for the Ford Stock Company, the perfs from Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, John Qualen, brothers Barry Fitzgerald and Arthur Shields, and a little unknown by the monicker of John Wayne. Either way, I fell into a deeper love with this flick, and also a deeper understanding, of how its director chose it a runner-up projct to full propaganda filmmaking. Or, in his case, direct entry into the war. It looks beautiful, and it holds up. In other words, John Ford.

My final trip to the fest was one of the final presentations of the Revivals section of the NYFF: a newly restored version of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI. Chief selling point regarding this screening, aside from the fact that we were about to watch the first masterpiece of the Taiwan New Wave of the 80's? Master Hsiao-Hsien was to be in attendance, unclear whther it wad to be an intro or a post-Q&A. No matter, I arrived with great expectations. And sadly, they were almost instantly dashed. HHH took the stage and pretty much announced that he wouldn't be involved in any audience interaction. And fair enough. And I'd like to think that didn't affect my evaluation of the film, the first by Hsaio-Hsien I'd ever seen. In all honesty I'd never heard of the guy, I think anyway, until the full-on retrospective at Moving Image last year. Once seen I have this sincere appraial of the film; I found the first 40 or so minutes incredibly engaging, succesfully capturing the anarchic irreverence of youth, unbounded by enthnicity. However, the following two acts fall into the same pitfalls awaiting all coming-of-age cinema. I still wanna delve into the director's CV, but gotta admit I'm underwhelmed going in. His newest, THE ASSASSIN, premiered at the NYFF53 this year, and is currently screening at the Walter Reade Theater. I'm going.

My thanks onc again to Austin Kennedy at Lincoln Center, and George Nicholis and Stephanie Friedman at the publicity firm of PMK-BNC. It was a special time, and I hope I helped fill some seats. Lord knows, I filled mine. And getch'yer mind outta the gutter.

-Joe Walsh

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