10 Must-See Films At The New York Film Festival 2017
Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC), the New York Film Festival (NYFF) is back for its 55th round. Boasting an interesting lineup closely put together into sections – Main Slate, Spotlight on Documentary, Explorations, Projections, Revivals and Retrospectives, Special Events & Convergence, the NYFF has been a home for some really important films every year. The following is a list of 10 films out of the Main Slate section. The films that look the most exciting:
Wonder Wheel
Director: Woody Allen
Country: USA | Language: English
Cast: Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake.
“Wonder Wheel” tells the story of four characters whose lives intertwine amid the hustle and bustle of the Coney Island amusement park in the 1950s: Ginny (Kate Winslet), an emotionally volatile former actress now working as a waitress in a clam house; Humpty (Jim Belushi), Ginny’s rough-hewn carousel operator husband; Mickey (Justin Timberlake), a handsome young lifeguard who dreams of becoming a playwright; and Carolina (Juno Temple), Humpty’s long-estranged daughter, who is now hiding out from gangsters at her father’s apartment.
Félicité
Director: Alain Gomis
Country: France, Belgium, Senegal, Germany, Lebanon | Language: Lingala | French
Cast: Véro Tshanda Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia, Papi Mpaka.
Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in Kinshasa. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son falls victim to an accident. To save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa–a world of music and dreams where she’ll cross paths with Tabu.
Wonderstruck
Director: Todd Haynes
Country: USA | Language: English
Cast: Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams.
Based on Brian Selznick’s critically acclaimed novel Ben and Rose are children from two different eras who secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known, while Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his home and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out on quests to find what they are missing that unfold with mesmerizing symmetry.
Western
Director: Valeska Grisebach
Country: Germany, Bulgaria, Austria | Language: German, Bulgarian, English
Cast: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov.
A group of German construction workers starts a tough job at a remote building site in the Bulgarian countryside. The foreign land awakens the men’s sense of adventure, but they are also confronted with their own prejudice and mistrust due to the language barrier and cultural differences. The stage is quickly set for a showdown when two men begin to compete for recognition and favor from the local villagers.
Last Flag Flying
Director: Richard Linklater
Country: USA | Language: English
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne
In 2003, 30 years after they served together in the Vietnam War, former Navy Corps medic Richard “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) reunites with Former Marines Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne) on a different type of mission: to bury Doc’s son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War. Doc decides to forgo a burial at Arlington Cemetery and, with the help of his old buddies, takes the casket on a bittersweet trip up the East Coast to his home in suburban New Hampshire. Along the way, Doc, Sal and Mueller reminisce and come to terms with shared memories of the war that continues to shape their lives. Director Richard Linklater and author Darryl Ponicsan collaborated on the screenplay which follows the trio as they wrestle with the pangs of war both past and present.
Ismael’s Ghosts
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Country: France | Language: French
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg
“Ismael’s Ghosts” tells the tale of a widowed film director who is in the middle of making a film about an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother. While he has started a new life with Sylvia, he still mourns the death of a former lover, Carlotta, who passed away 20 years earlier; then Carlotta returns from the dead, causing Sylvia to run away.
The Meyerowitz Stories
Director: Noah Baumbach
Country: USA | Language: English
Cast: Adam Sandler, Grace Van Patten, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiler
Starring a powerhouse ensemble, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) is s the intergenerational tale of adult siblings contending with the influence of their aging father whose artistic work they all have come to celebrate in New York.
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
Director: Robin Campillo
Country: France | Language: French
Cast: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haene.
In the early 1990s wWith AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly ten years, Act Up-Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference. Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant.
The Rider
Director: Chloé Zhao
Country: USA | Language: English
Cast: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau.
After suffering a near-fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
The Square
Director: Ruben Östlund
Country: Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark | Language: English, Swedish, Danish.
Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West.
Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is “The Square”, an installation which invites passersby to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes, it is difficult to live up to your own ideals: Christian’s foolish response to the theft of his phone drags him into shameful situations. Meanwhile, the museum’s PR agency has created an unexpected campaign for “The Square”. The response is overblown and sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis.
Buy Tickets for the 55th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL Here.
Source: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes.
