Movie Enthusiast Issue 37: The Festivals Are Coming, the Festivals Are Coming!
Brace yourselves—the fall film festival circuit is revving its engines! The big ones to be aware of this year:
Venice International Film Festival (8/30–9/9)
Telluride Film Festival (9/1–9/4)
Toronto International Film Festival (9/7–9/17)
New York Film Festival (9/28–10/15)
AFI Fest (11/9–11/16)
As with every year, the major fall festivals showcase more movies than any one person can keep track of (while keeping their sanity and holding down a day job outside of the film industry), though their offerings are generally of four types: feature films that premiered at festivals earlier in the year that are making the rounds again in advance of their theatrical releases, world premieres of not-yet-seen films (many of which are seeking distribution and will be competing for a prime awards-season release from buyers), restorations of old films that will only be of interest to the people who actually get to go to the festivals, and documentaries/student films/short films of niche interest that will quickly end up on streaming platforms after their festival premieres.
The faithful Movie Enthusiast reader will probably already know some of the titles from Cannes, Sundance, and Berlin to watch out for this fall (Mudbound, Call Me By Your Name, The Rider, Novitiate, The Square, etc.) so let me highlight 10 unseen movies I’m most excited for that will be premiering at one of the above 5 festivals soon.
1. Ex Libris – The New York Public Library
Directed by Frederick Wiseman
My man Fred has been making independently-financed fly-on-the-wall documentaries about institutions (covering everything from a Massachusetts insane asylum to UC Berkeley) for 50 years! This year he trains his camera on the New York Public Library, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what he discovers. As with all recent Wiseman docs, Ex Libris is slated to run to just over 3 hours long.
2. Zama
Directed by Lucrecia Martel
Someday I will stop telling readers of this newsletter about how anxious I am for Lucrecia Martel’s adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto’s lugubrious existentialist novel about a Spanish captain slowly losing his way and his mind in 18th-century Argentina. Zama is finally arriving (it premieres at Venice) this fall, so that day is…not today, but soon.
3. The Face of Water
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
I have avoided almost all details about Del Toro’s latest movie, so I can’t tell you anything about it other than that it’s, I think, a personal work for him and that it’s evidently his most beautiful movie in 10 years (so, a worthy successor to Pan’s Labyrinth, it sounds like). Count me in on opening day!
4. Mary Shelley
Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour
Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker moves overseas for her sophomore feature, a life of the Frankenstein author starring Elle Fanning.
5. mother!
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
True story: I’ve never seen a Darren Aronofsky movie! Maybe my curiosity about this film’s poster (an elaborate painting of Jennifer Lawrence holding her heart in her hands) will get me to cave. Maybe one of you will come after me with a pitchfork and force me to watch Black Swan/Pi/Requiem for a Dream/Noah first.
6. Les Gardiennes
Directed by Xavier Beauvois
The director of Of Gods and Men returns with a new film that “explores the lives of women who are left behind to work a family farm during the Great War.” I know, that’s not much to go off, but OG&M is good enough that I’ll buy whatever he’s selling.
7. The Death of Stalin
Directed by Armando Ianucci
Here is a comedy by the creator of Veep, adapted from a graphic novel, where Steve Buscemi plays Nikita Kruschev, so why wouldn’t you want to see it?
8. Lean on Pete
Directed by Andrew Haigh
Every couple of years we get a prestige horse movie. This year we get two! One from Weekend/45 Years director Andrew Haigh, one from Chloe Zhao (The Rider, discussed in our Cannes newsletter). As far as sentimental-sounding premises go (working-class teen seeking stability takes summer job at stable, befriends racehorse), this one sounds right up my alley.
9. Kings
Directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
It’s not that I think this movie will be good per se, but I am curious how Mustang director Deniz Gamze Ergüven will fare in her second feature film, her first in English. It stars Halle Berry and Daniel Craig and is about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which…does not seem like an intuitive subject for a Turkish director to take on? We’ll see.
10. Battle of the Sexes
Directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
and/or
Borg/McEnroe
Directed by Janus Metz
When was the last time we had a good tennis movie? Match Point? Well, this year we have two shots at it, one with Emma Stone and Steve Carrell as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, one with Shia LaBeouf and…some Swedish guy (Sverrir Gudnason) as John McEnroe and Björn Borg.
Other movies of note: another Boston Marathon bombing movie, James Franco’s movie about the making of Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, a new Alexander Payne joint (not a fan, sorry), George Clooney’s Suburbicon, a Richard Linklater movie I’ll go see out of auteur loyalty, Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding, and Andy Serkis’s first foray into directing with Breathe, this year’s entry into the time-honored tradition of primed-for-Oscars historical dramas about the Courageous Woman Who Fought for Her Suddenly-Saddled-With-Physical-Disability Husband’s Rights and Improved Mobility in the World (starring Andrew Garfield and The Crown lead actress Claire Foy).
Since my last newsletter, I’ve started a regular new writing gig at The Weekly Standard, where I’ll be doing a combination of film and book reviews. My first piece, which may be of interest to the handful of you who haven’t already seen me promote it elsewhere, is a review of David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (affectionately known around these parts as the Rooney Mara Eats a Pie All By Herself movie). Read it here, and skip the last paragraph if you want to avoid spoilers for how it ends.
(My second column, up last week, is a review of a book by a Korean philosopher. It is not related to film in any way, but the curious fan can read that one here.)
Last week I met Peter Labuza, film studies PhD candidate and podcast host extraordinaire, while he was visiting DC as part of a film-archivist fellowship. He’s every bit as wonderful in person as he is on his show, The Cinephiliacs, a long-running series of interviews with filmmakers, film historians, and film enthusiasts that covers a lot of excellent territory not usually discussed in the churn-and-burn of mainstream film reporting and criticism. Do check it out; I promise you’ll learn something new in every episode!