Okay, this again. As with previous editions, this consists mainly of shots of actors and directors caught in off-camera moments during the making of a movie, sometimes off-set, at home and elsewhere. Some are candid while others are obviously posed for promotional purposes. I’ve indicated photographer credits when I know who took the shot.
Dennis Hopper and David Lynch while making Blue Velvet (1986).
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Marcello Mastroianni and Federico Fellini
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Fellini and Magali Noël while making Amarcord (1973).
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Bill Murray and director Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation (2003).
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Director Brian De Palma with Al Pacino on Scarface (1983), and with Michael Caine on Dreessed to Kill (1980).
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François Truffaut
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Truffaut with Julie Christie on Fahrenheit 451 (1966), followed by Isabelle Adjani on The Story of Adèle H. (1975), Jacqueline Bisset on Day for Night (1973), and Fanny Ardant on The Woman Next Door (1981).
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Cinematographer Karl Freund behind the camera for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927).
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Cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose credits include Seconds (1966), Hud (1963), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Thin Man (1934), and many others from 1923 to 1975.
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Jean-Luc Godard and cinematographer Raoul Coutard.
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Giancarlo Giannini and director Lina Wertmüller, probably on Seven Beauties (1975).
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Marlon Brando during Last Tango in Paris (1972).
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Cinematographer Gordon Willis and Woody Allen while shooting Annie Hall (1977).
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John Huston in 1967 with daughter Angelica, age 16.
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Steven Spielberg, Roy Scheider, and Robert Shaw while making Jaws (1975).
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Charlton Heston and Senta Berger during Sam Peckinpah’s Major Dundee (1965).
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Warren Beatty and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond with Robert Altman during McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971).
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Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese while shooting Taxi Driver (1976).
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Cybill Shepherd and Scorsese, Taxi Driver.
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De Niro with Scorsese’s mother, Catherine.
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Shutterbugs
Sofia Coppola
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Romi Schneider, with Luchino Visconti in background.
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Liv Ullmann
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Julia Roberts
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Charlotte Rampling
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Brigitte Bardot
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Photographer Richard Avedon with Sophia Loren, New York City 1966.
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Stanley Kubrick with Shelley Duvall and the Grady Twins while making The Shining (1980).
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The Grady Twins just before their scene (and probably a million takes). Below this, the actual twins, Lisa and Louise Bruns.
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Kubrick with Jack Nicholson shooting The Shining.
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Kubrick on set: Spartacus (1960), Barry Lyndon (1975), Full Metal Jacket (1987).
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Rather disturbing selfie before selfies, a prototype of the “Kubrick Stare.”
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Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer
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Audrey
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Marlon Brando, touching up his makeup for On the Waterfront (1954).
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Brando and Al Pacino while doing The Godfather (1972).
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John Wayne does some touch up.
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Boris Karloff being made up as the Frankenstein monster by Jack Pierce.
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Behind the Scenes
The War of the Worlds (1953)
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This Island Earth (1955)
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Ben-Hur (1959)
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North by Northwest (1959) – photo by Kenny Ball
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The Hunt for Red October (1980)
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Titanic (1997)
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
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The Fabelmans (2022)
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Charlotte Rampling
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Diane Keaton
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James Dean
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Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren
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Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo
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Jean Paul Belmondo
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Belmondo with Ursula Andress
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Alain Delon and Belmondo
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Alain Delon
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Delon while making The Leopard (1963)
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Delon and Romi Schneider
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Isabella Rossellini
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Ingrid Bergman and Isabella Rossellini
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Two great shots of Ingrid Bergman.
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Director Wim Wenders in Cannes, 1987 – photo by Fulvia Farassino.
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Pier Paolo Pasolini, directing The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964).
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Director Robert Bresson
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Jean-Luc Godard
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Russian director Sergei Eisenstein
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Director Luis Buñuel, photographed by Salvador Dali, 1930.
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Jean Cocteau, 1922
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Arthur Miller and John Huston while shooting The Misfits (1961).
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Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Ernest Haas while making of The Misfits
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Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Milton Greene, 1954.
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Another view of Marilyn, photographed by Bert Stern.
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Jean Seberg, Isabelle Adjani, Isabell Huppert
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Jim Jarmusch and Tom Waits
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John Cassavetes and Mia Farrow while making Rosemary’s Baby (1968).
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Gina Rowlands and John Adames on set for Cassavetes’ Gloria (1980).
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Breakfast in bed with Roger Vadim and Brigitte Bardot, 1960s.
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Godard and Anna Karina
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Cary Grant and Doris Day while making That Touch of Mink (1962).
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Dustin Hoffman photographed by director John Schlesinger while making Midnight Cowboy (1969).
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Paul Newman and Robert Redford on set for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
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I think this is more than enough for now. Too much? I have many more of these, and find new ones everyday, so you can expect more posts like this down the road. Okay, see you next time. — Ted Hicks
2025 turned out to be a good year for films, especially in the last six months. The filmmakers included here are either contenders for Academy Awards this year or represent exceptional films, even if not nominated. This is a lot of material. Pick and choose what looks interesting to you. Running times are indicated.
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The Hollywood Reporter Actress Roundtable: Amanda Seyfried, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Lawrence, Jesse Buckley, Laura Dern, Renate Reinsve (53:14)
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The Los Angeles Times Actress Roundtable: Sidney Sweeney, Tessa Thompson, Emily Blunt, Elle Fanning, Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow (46:49)
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The Los Angeles Times Actors Roundtable: Jesse Plemons, Stellan Skarsgard, Will Arnett, Benicio Del Toro, Jacob Elordi, Wagner Moura (47:04)
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The Hollywood Reporter Actor Roundtable: Adam Sandler, Dwayne Johnson, Jacob Elordi, Jeremy Allen White, Mark Hamill, Michael B. Jordan, Wagner Moura (57:11)
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The Hollywood Reporter Directors Roundtable: Chloé Zhao, James Cameron,Joachim Trier, Kathryn Bigelow, Ryan Coogler, Yorgos Lanthimos (57:31)
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The Hollywood Reporter European Cinema Roundtable: Jafar Panahi, Joachim Trier, Mascha Schilinski, Oliver Laxe (1:00:36)
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The Hollywood Reporter Writers Roundtable: Bradley Cooper, Clint Bentley, Guillermo del Toro, Hikari, Noah Oppenheim, Will Tracy (50:41)
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The Hollywood Reporter Cinematographers Roundtable: Adolpho Veloso, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Claudio Miranda, Lukasz Zal, Michael Bauman, Robbie Ryan (49:02)
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The Hollywood Reporter Producers Roundtable: David Heyman, Joseph Kosinski, Nia DaCosta, Marc Platt, Sara Murphy, Sev Ohanian (51:06)
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Next up in a day or so, Actors on Actors, a selection of pairs of actors/actresses talking to each other about what they do and how they do it. Stay tuned. — Ted Hicks
I saw a total of 309 films last year, both new and old, 218 in theaters and 91 streaming or on video discs. I’ve come up with 29 films that are the best of what I saw, or at least my favorites. I don’t claim that all of these are great films, though some of them are. They got my attention and engaged me in one way or another. Most of these films were written or co-written by their directors. I think this makes a difference in the result. Below are my picks for the top five films of the year, with Sirāt and Train Dreams at the very top. The rest are listed in alphabetical order.
In the interest of economy and attention spans (mine included), I’ll try to keep my comments to a minimum..
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Sirāt (Oliver Laxe, director & co-writer)
I saw this at the start of a week-long Academy Awards qualifying run in December and was so knocked out that I saw it again before it left. The second time was, if anything, an even richer experience. From the opening scene, with a huge wall of speakers being set up in a large, outdoor location with hundreds of people milling about, it feels like something immense is about to happen. When pounding techno music began pouring from the stacks of speakers and the crowds started dancing, I realized this was a rave. A father (Sergi López), along with his young son, is searching rave sites in the deserts of southern Morroco for his daughter, who has disappeared. They hook up with four ravers to continue the search. This is an amazing film that reveals itself in continually unexpected ways. There are frequent jolts along the way. At times it has echos of The Wages of Fear (1953) and L’Aventurra (1960), but it’s definitely its own thing.
Sirāt opens for a regular run on February 6. I’ll be there.
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Train Dreams (Clint Bentley, director & co-writer)
I’d bought the Denis Johnson novella when it was published in 2011, but didn’t get around to reading it until sometime last spring. I was deeply moved by the story and the direct, uncluttered way it was written. It was after reading book that I was excited to learn that a film adaptation was in the works. I’ve seen it twice now, and was not disappointed either time. This is probably Joel Edgerton’s best performance so far, quiet and understated. If Train Dreams has a message, it’s that everything’s connected, from the smallest to the largest.
Train Dreams is available for streaming on Netflix.
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The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho, director & writer)
I first saw Wagner Moura in Elite Squad (2007), and liked him very much in that. He’s the heart of The Secret Agent. This is a heavily layered narrative, with a framing device that I only really understood at the end. Very strong movie with a lot of weight.
Not yet available for streaming, but continuing to play at Film at Lincoln Center.
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Sinners (Ryan Coogler, director & writer)
This is the first film I saw last year that really seemed like something. I’d heard that it had to do with vampires, but the marketing before it opened was very cagey about that. And yes, Sinners has vampires in it, but it’s not a vampire movie, if you get the difference. For a large-scale, costly IMAX production that became as popular as it did, it’s unusual that it’s not a sequel, not part of a franchise, and not based on a novel or TV show. This is original content. Okay, From Dusk till Dawn(1996) is an influence, along with nods to conventions of the vampire genre, but it’s more about race in the South in the 1930s. This film has many layers.
The following clip is truly amazing. This quote from voice-over heard during the sequence sets the stage: “There are legends of people with the gift of music so true, it can conjure spirits of the past and of the future.” Indeed.
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One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, director & writer)
I first saw this in 70mm IMAX at the AMC Lincoln Square multiplex. Then I learned that it was showing in Vista Vision at a theater near Union Square, one of only four theaters in the world, as unlikely as that seems, that can project a true Vista Vision print. Well, I couldn’t pass that up. It was well worth it. Excellent cast. I especially liked Benicio del Toro and Chase Infiniti, but found Sean Penn’s character and performance a little hard to take. I don’t know if this is a great film, but it’s one hell of a ride.
The following clip is really great. The rolling roads remind me of strips of film. Unfortunately, the clip ends before the sequence is over, but you’ll get the idea.
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Here are the rest of the best.
Anemone (Ronan Day-Lewis, director & co-writer)
Excellent film with Daniel Day-Lewis in his first film after an eight-year “retirement,” co-written with his son Ronan, who also directs. Anemone was shown at the New York Film Festival and opened in theaters even before the festival was over. Curiously, it was in theaters only for a very brief time, blink and you missed it. Hard to understand, considering some of the films that stick around for weeks. Strong performances, including Samantha Morton as his Day-Lewis’ wife, Samuel Bottomley as his son, and especially Sean Bean as his brother.
Available for streaming on Prime.
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Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, director)
Wonderfully bonkers, if not quite up to the epic level of Lanthimos’ Poor Things. I remember thinking during the movie that it would be great if they would end it in a way you’d think they wouldn’t have the nerve to, and then they did it! Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are great, they really go for it.
Available for streaming on Prime and Peacock.
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Caught Stealing (Darren Aronofsky, director)
I loved this, it had me all the way. It’s like a Coen Bros. movie on speed.
Available for streaming on Prime and Netflix.
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Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Embeth Davidtz, director & co-writer)
Available for streaming on Prime.
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Dreams (Dag Johan Haugerud, director & writer)
Third film in a trilogy set in Oslo, Norway. The first two I saw earlier in the year are Love and Sex. They’re both very good, but Dreams is my favorite. Engaging characters and an abundance of conversation in all three.
Not yet available for streaming.
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Familiar Touch (Sarah Friedland, director & writer)
With Kathleen Chalfont as a woman experiencing cognitive decline whose son has just moved her into a care facility. She’s a great actress, always authentic. I’ve liked seeing her work for many years, notably as Dominic West’s mother in the HBO series The Affair. She’s excellent here. It’s refreshing that there are no villains, but as with many of the films on this list, a lot of humanity.
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Mark Shakman, director)
When I first saw trailers for this, I thought there was no way I wanted to see it. I’d become turned off to most of the Marvel/DC superhero blowouts. Plus I still had a bad memory of the first Fantastic Four film twenty years ago in 2005. Then the way a friend who’d seen the film described it got me interested. I saw it the next day in IMAX and loved it. It has a lightness in tone, but I didn’t find it silly. Actually reminded me the excellent Incredibles movies. It’s satirical, but not a joke.
Available for streaming on Prime and Disney+.
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Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch, director & writer)
Not yet available for streaming.
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Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, director & writer)
It’s been pointed out in several publications that this the film del Toro was born to make. Given his interests and statements over the years, I’d have to agree. Frankenstein has an excellent cast and production values. While I wasn’t quite as transported as I’d hoped to be, this makes a worthy addition to the long list of Frankenstein films. No one does the Gothic thing quite like del Toro. The trailers below are different enough that I wanted to include both.
Available for streaming on Netflix.
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Hamnet (Chloé Zhao, director & co-writer)
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A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow, director)
The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing A House of Dynamite at the New York Film Festival last year.
If the purpose of Kathryn Bigelow’s film is to scare the hell out of an audience, mission accomplished. An unidentified missile is detected coming over the Pacific from an unknown source, its trajectory indicating it will strike somewhere in the continental United States, most likely Chicago. Once this kicks off, it never lets up, as various governmental agencies race to figure out what’s going on and how to respond. The film gets seconds away from point of impact at least twice, then rewinds to start the clock over in different locations and agencies. The cast is excellent. Not a lot of laughs. It’s especially unnerving, in light of our president’s plans to resume nuclear testing.
Available for streaming on Netflix.
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Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper, director & co-writer)
Not yet available for streaming.
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It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi, director & writer)
Not yet available for streaming.
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The Life of Chuck (Mike Flanagan, director & co-writer)
I loved this the first time I saw it, and wanted my wife to see it. It was only during my second viewing that I got what was going on. Duh. The first time was great, but now it all clicked in. Maybe if I’d read the Stephen King story first.
There are several set pieces involving dance. I think the one below is the best. It certainly raises hopes that the film is going to deliver, which I think it does.
Available for streaming on Prime and Hulu.
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Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie, director & co-writer)
Not yet available for streaming.
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Predator: Badlands (Dan Trachtenberg, director & co-writer)
Terrific sequel to the director’s Prey (2022), which was about as high concept as one could get, with a Predator landing in the Northern Great Plains in 1719 and hunting a tribe of Comanches. It was fresh and inventive and I loved it. The new one is just as good, shaking things up a bit by having a Predator as the protagonist, the “hero.” This is made more viewer-friendly by having Elle Fanning as a wisecracking damaged android who helps the Predator. An odd couple pairing that’s oddly charming at times. Very satisfying ending.
Available for pricey rental on Prime. Cost will go down later.
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Resurrection (Bi Gan, director & writer)
The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Resurrection at the New York Film Festival last year.
I loved this film, but am unable to describe it in a way that makes much sense. It’s a shapeshifting mashup of many different elements. I’d need to see it again, which I intend to do. Or maybe a dozen times, to get a better handle on what’s going on and how it all goes together. A few years ago I saw Bi Gan’s Long Days Journey into Night (nothing to do with Eugene O’Neill), which is similar to Resurrection in style and structure. I was drawn in and became quite disoriented, at one point not sure what theater I was in or what day it was. With both films I gave up trying to make sense of what was going on and just went with it.
Not yet available for streaming.
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Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Quay Brothers, directors & writers)
From notes I made after seeing this film at Film Forum on September 11: “Unique, mysterious, what the fuck?” And then again on September 18: “Second viewing in a week. Today was the last day of its run and wanted to see it again. Could see it a dozen times and get new stuff each time. Today it seemed rather frightening, felt some anxiety watching it.”
Here’s Film Forum’s description: “The first feature in 20 years by animation masters The Quay Brothers is inspired by stories by Polish author Bruno Schulz (Street of Crocodiles). In a mixture of live action and breathtakingly intricate stop-motion puppetry, the Quays follow the journey of Josef, who arrives at a labyrinthine sanatorium in search of his dying father. Told in seven chapters corresponding with seven prophetic, mystical viewing lenses, the film bends objects, time, and dimensions as Josef navigates the realm between dreams and reality.”
The disorienting effect of this film is very similar to what I wrote about Resurrection above. I think Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass has the logic of a dream. Once I was able to be open to that, to surrender and let go of the need for things to make sense, I was able to just go with it. Still not sure what was going on, and that’s okay.
Not yet available for streaming.
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Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier, director & co-writer)
The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing Sentimental Value at the New York Film Festival last year.
Loved it!!! Probably my favorite film of those I saw in the festival. Stellan Skarsgård is especially good as famous director who wants to make an autobiographical film with his estranged daughter Renate Reinsve, previously seen in Trier’s The Worst Person in the World. With Elle Fanning as an American actress also cast in the film Skarsgård is directing. Lots of deep feeling in this.
Available for streaming on Prime.
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Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor, director & co-writer)
Available for streaming on Prime and HBO Max.
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Splitsville (Michael Angelo Covino, director & co-writer)
Very funny. The extended clumsy fight between the two guys near the beginning is a complete hoot.
Available for streaming on Prime.
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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (Scott Cooper, director & writer)
The following is edited from what I wrote after seeing this at the New York Film Festival last year.
Scott Cooper is a strong director. I love his first film, Crazy Heart (2009) and later Hostiles (2017). His being the director/writer here is what got me past my initial ambivalent feelings when I first heard about it. Jeremy Alan White had the almost impossible job of recreating Bruce Springsteen, made more challenging by the fact that Bruce is still here. That it centers around the making of the Nebraska album was significant. I love that record. Knowing now that it came out of Springsteen’s deep depression at the time makes it more meaningful to me. I have some reservations, mainly about the fictional girlfriend, but the movie works much more than it doesn’t. It’s its own thing.
Available for streaming on Prime.
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The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold, director & co-writer)
Here’s what I wrote on FaceBook after seeing this film: “Saw The Testament of Ann Lee yesterday. Felt like walking out several times during the first hour, but glad I stayed with it. Amanda Seyfried is totally committed in her portrayal of the founder of the Shakers and their efforts to establish a utopian community in this country at time of the Revolutionary War. She and her followers seem like bonkers fanatics, but the film doesn’t judge them at all. Very strange movie. Don’t know if I liked it, but was impressed. And then there are the musical numbers. You had to be there.”
I still don’t know what to do with this film, where to put it. I just know, in ways I don’t understand yet, it’s really different, very serious, and definitely worth the time.
Not yet availabe for streaming.
Not yet available for streaming.
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The Virgin of the Quarry Lake (Laura Casabé, director)
Set in Argentina in 2001, this is a very unusual coming-of-age story that becomes a horror movie, with scenes and feelings that me think of David Lynch’s films and the Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton I Walked with a Zombie. It has moments of lyrical beauty as well as intense violence and a dark Voodoo magic that suggests ancient ways. I’ve seen it twice, and it has really stayed with me.
No theatrical release date as yet.
The following clip gives a sense of the ominous tone that runs through the film.
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Other films of note from last year
April (Dea Kulumbegashvili, director & writer)
Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach, director & co-writer)
Koln 75 (Ido Fluk, director & writer)
Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho, director & co-writer)
An Officer and a Spy(Roman Polanski, director & co-writer)
The Phonecian Scheme (Wes Anderson, director & co-writer)
Souleymane’s Story (Boris Lojkine, director & co-writer)
Weapons (Zach Cregger, director & writer)
Where to Land (Hal Hartley, director & writer)
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Okay, that wraps it up for now. Stay tuned for the next one. — Ted Hicks
I’d like to close out 2025 with some random images that are about as appropriate as anything else for the year we’ve just been through. If any of this ends up making any sense, it’s only by accident, believe me. Here we go.
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Jean Cocteau, New York City, 1949.
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And to end on a positive note.
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Well, that does it for another year. Keep calm and carry on, fingers crossed. See you in 2026. — Ted Hicks
P.S. The “Trump Promises Kept” photo was taken by my friend Alvis Upitis, to give credit where credit is due.
As with previous Face Time posts, there’s no theme or organizing principle to these photos of actors, other than that they all have the Look, faces that hold the screen and our attention, then and now. Looking at these images today, much of their power comes from our shared history of seeing these people on the screen and the roles they played, the films they made, and the associations that come with that. I’ve included a few directors as well. Some shots are candid, most are posed. In many of these shots, it’s about their eyes, looking directly into the camera, and at us, making contact. I’ve indicated photographer credits when I know who took the shot.
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Yul Brynner, displaying his trademark intensity as Rameses in The Ten Commandments (1956).
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Gena Rowlands
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Boris Karloff, in the 1920s, and later.
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Vincent Price and Anna May Wong, 1937.
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Anna Magnani
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Sofia Coppola
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Marilyn Monroe, top photo by Carl Perutz, 1958. Showing something more vulnerable below that.
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Robert Redford
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Two Dames – Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
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Michael and Shakira Caine. Below, with Candace Bergen for The Magus (196).
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Isabella Rossellin, photographed by Mikael Jansson, 1998.
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Rachel Weisz, photographed by Alasdair McLellan.
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Charlotte Rampling
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Jeanne Moreau
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Oskar Werner
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Harry Dean Stanton, photographed by Gabriel Olson.
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Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces (1970).
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Ben Gazzara and Alain Delon
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Buster Keaton, photographed by Richard Avedon, 1952. Below, David Bowie with Keaton biography.
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Sterling Hayden
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Jenny Agutter, then (1976), and now, Call the Midwife.
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William Shatner
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Tallulah Bankhead
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Monica Vitti
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Dennis Hopper, Polaroid by Andy Warhol, 1977.
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David Lynch
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Natalie Wood
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Elizabeth Taylor
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Juliette Binoche
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Julie Christie, Fahrenheit 451 (1966).
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Two views of Catherine Deneuve.
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Audrey Hepburn
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Natasha Kinski
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Peter Cushing, photographed by Terry Fincher, 1983.
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Claudia Cardinale
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Tuesday Weld
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Isabelle Adjani
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Okay, that’s enough for now. See you next time, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! – Ted Hicks
Previous editions of this series consist mainly of shots of actors and directors caught in off-camera moments during the making of a movie, sometimes off-set, at home and elsewhere. This special edition focuses on filmmakers and actors smoking. Some shots are candid, while some are obviously posed for promotional purposes.These come from a time when smoking was endemic in our culture. I grew up in the 1950s when it seemed like everybody smoked — my parents, their friends, people in movies and on TV. No-smoking bans were years in the future. Health concerns about smoking got little if any attention. Cigarettes were props, a way of shaping an image. Being photographed holding a cigarette or having one hanging out of the mouth could add a sense of glamor, sexiness, or mystery. I think that’s at work in many of these photographs, though in the more candid shots, the person just happened to be smoking at the time.
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David Lynch and Jean-Luc Godard.
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Stanley Kubrick, shooting Dr. Strangelove (1964).
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Jacqueline Bisset
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Natalie Wood blowing smoke with Michael Caine.
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Bette Davis, photo by Ron Galella.
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Brigitte Bardot, photo by Terry O’Neill.
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François Truffaut, shooting Fahrenheit 451 (1966).
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Akira Kurosawa, elegant as ever.
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Marcello Mastroianni, photo by Bert Stern 1963.
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Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.
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James Dean at a lunch counter. Lonely photo.
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Jacques Tati, Paris 1955.
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Romy Schneider
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Romy Schneider and Alain Delon, who looks like he just went a few rounds.
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Anouk Aimée
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Ingrid Bergman
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Catharine Deneuve and Luis Buñuel.
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Federico Fellini
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Jean-Pierre Léaud
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Julie Delphy and Charlotte Gainsbourg, maybe not so glamorous in these shots.
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Sophia Loren
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Shelley Duvall
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Peter O’Toole
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Gena Rowlands. I don’t know, this might be from a film, which would bend the rules, but I really like the shot for this post. Besides, it’s a great shot, isn’t it?
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Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn, photo by Annie Leibovitz.
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Okay, I think that’s enough smoking for now. See you next time. — Ted Hicks
More Q&As, and discussions for NYFF films I saw during the festival and one (Jay Kelly) I have yet to see. Check out what looks interesting to you. I’ve indicated running times.
NYFF Spotlight Gala screening introduction (8:45), followed by Q&A (18:01), then Bruce Springsteen singing “Land of Hope and Dreams” (3:51) at the Gala.
Following are interviews, Q&As, and discussions for NYFF films I saw during the festival itself, some since and some I have yet to see. It’s a lot of material. Too much really, so this will be in two parts. Check out what looks interesting to you. I’ve indicated running times.
The New York Film Festival has grown a lot over the years. I started attending in 1977, the year I moved to the city, when the only venue was Alice Tully Hall (which remains the main venue to this day). At that time, it was possible to see everything being shown, if you were so inclined. This changed with the opening of the Walter Reade Theater in 1991, and then the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in 2011, which has two screens, plus an amphitheater for in-person events. These additional screens allow more films to be shown. Today it would be logistically impossible to see everything in any given year. An embarrassment of riches, so to speak.
By my count, this year’s festival included a total of seventy-four features plus thirty-two shorts. I managed to see seventeen features in the Main Slate, Spotlight, and Revivals categories. Not that many, perhaps, but I think they’re a good sampling that reflects the overall quality of the films shown.
I could be wrong, but it seemed that this year more films than usual were scheduled to open commercially in movie theaters shortly after their festival screenings, in some cases even before the festival ended. I’ve counted nineteen films that have either already opened in theaters or will between now and Christmas. Some of these will be streaming after short runs in theaters. This includes higher profile titles such as After the Hunt (Opening Night), Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (Spotlight Centerpiece), and Is This Thing On? (Closing Night). When I was making my initial picks of films to see, if I knew which ones would open within the next couple months, I elected to wait rather than pay the higher ticket price. Though there’s something to be said for seeing a film at the festival with a festival audience, and being there for Q&As with filmmakers after the screenings. This feels different from seeing the films in a multiplex. Probably because it is different. In a way, having so many of the festival films available so soon somewhat undercuts the “exclusivity” of seeing them at the festival. I guess paying more for tickets and being lucky enough to get them before they sell out is part of that exclusivity. But not as much as it once was. I remember in earlier years when a lot of films (mostly foreign) were shown that if you didn’t see them at the festival, you might not be able to see them at all. Not everything got distributed in this country. Things change, right? I don’t know, maybe it’s more democratic now.
Following are notes on the films I saw, in the order I saw them.
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Saturday, September 27. Peter Hujar’s Day(Ira Sachs, director/co-writer).
Per the NYFF description: “Ira Sachs’s mesmerizing latest film is based on rediscovered transcripts from an unused 1974 interview by nonfiction writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall), in which photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) narrates the events of the previous day in minute detail…about a difficult shoot with Allen Ginsberg, a confusing visit from a Vogue editor, a call from Susan Sontag, financial and health worries—and set entirely in Rosenkrantz’s apartment, PETER HUJAR’S DAY vividly renders a unique and moving window on an evolving artist at a specific place and time.”
You might think that a film about two people in an apartment with one of them describing everything he did the previous day would be boring. This is anything but, thanks largely to Ben Wishaw, an actor who is immensely engaging and appealing. Multiplex audiences probably know him better as Q in the Daniel Craig Bond films.
Opens on November 7 at Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center.
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Monday, September 29. A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow, director).
If the purpose of Kathryn Bigelow’s film is to scare the hell out of an audience, mission accomplished. An unidentified missile is detected coming over the Pacific from an unknown source, its trajectory indicating it will strike somewhere in the continental United States, most likely Chicago. Once this kicks off, it never lets up, as various governmental agencies race to figure out what’s going on, how to deal with it and how to respond. The film gets seconds away from point of impact at least twice, then rewinds to start the clock over in different locations and agencies. The cast is excellent. Not a lot of laughs. It’s especially unnerving, in light of our president’s plans to resume nuclear testing.
Opened at the Paris Theater on October 10, began streaming October 24 on Netflix.
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Monday, September 29. Blue Moon (Richard Linklater, director).
Per the NYFF description: A portrait of one crucial night in the melancholy life of legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke, in a tour de force), Blue Moon is a surprising yet entirely fitting addition to the Richard Linklater canon.
Ethan Hawke radically transformed his appearance for this part. I found his look a little hard to get used to, but his performance is outstanding. Also excellent are Andrew Scott as Hart’s songwriting partner Richard Rogers, and Bobby Canavale as a bartender at Sardi’s, where the film is set over the course of one eventful, strung-out night.
Opened in New York City on October 17.
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Tuesday, September 30. Queen Kelly(1929 — Erich von Stroheim, Richard Boleslawski, directors).
This film was part of the Revivals section of the festival. I’d not seen it before, but was interested because of the history behind it. It’s Erich von Stroheim’s uncompleted final film, with Gloria Swanson starring. Their connection to Sunset Boulevard (1950) resonates. I doubt I could have been more disappointed. The acting seems absurd and overdone, even for the period. It’s crude and often incoherent, pasted together, though that may be partly because Von Stroheim wasn’t allowed to finish it. I guess I’m glad I saw it, so I can check that box, but got nothing from it. Though the poster below is pretty cool.
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Thursday, October 2. Days and Nights in the Forest(1970 — Satyajit Ray, director/writer).
Per IMDb: Four carefree, jaded middle-class bachelors from Calcutta head out for a holiday in the wilderness. Before long, each man undergoes their own journey of self-discovery.
I’d seen Satyajit Ray’s famed Apu Trilogy (1955-1959) and several of his other films. He was a major film director. This film was in the Festival’s Revivals section and I wanted to see it. The relationships between the four men and their personalities are quite engaging. I need to see more of his films.
Satyajit Ray
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Saturday, October 4. Mr. Scorsese(Rebecca Miller, director).
Well, hell, Martin Scorsese, right? Made as a five-part series for Apple TV, the festival was screening all five episodes together on Saturday, October 4. This would mean 4 hours and 45 minutes with one 30 minute break after the third episode. Initially, I didn’t plan to see it. The running time seemed a little daunting, and I could wait to stream it like a more rational person. But the thought of seeing it all in one go on a theater screen proved too tempting. These immersive experiences usually pay off. Rebecca Miller’s documentary is a pretty deep dive. Scorsese is always incredibly informative and entertaining when he speaks; he gets a lot of time here. Interviews, archival footage and home movies, plus an abundance of great clips from his many films are skillfully edited in a way that feels very lively. During the end credits of the final episode, a light came up in a box seat section on one side of the auditorium to reveal Rebecca Miller, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese standing there. After spending nearly five hours with them onscreen, this felt like a real bonus, the cherry on top.
Currently streaming on Apple TV.
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Sunday, October 5. Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost (Ben Stiller, director).
This is great. Ben Stiller’s extremely personal documentary about his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, their lives and careers. Stiller and Meara were a very successful comedy team in the 1960s and ’70s, kind of a rowdier Nichols and May. After his parents deaths – Anne in 2015 and Jerry in 2020 – Ben and his sister Amy began going through possessions in their apartment on Riverside Drive. Jerry had made hundreds of cassette recordings of the family and carefully labelled every one. These, plus home movies, letters, and much else, including interviews with their friends and colleagues, provided the material that Ben would use in putting the documentary together. I especially liked the interview with Christopher Walken. He’s funny and entertaining in that off-kilter way of his.
Opened on October 17 at the IFC Center, now streaming on Apple TV.
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Sunday, October 5. A Private Life (Rebecca Zlotowski, director/co-writer).
Per the NYFF description: Rebecca Zlotowski’s unpredictable and playful murder mystery stars an entrancing Jodie Foster, in her first French-language performance, as an American psychoanalyst in Paris whose tightly knit world begins to unravel after the sudden death of a patient.
Jodie Foster stars in this psychological murder mystery/thriller from French director Rebecca Zlotowski. Foster is fluent in French, so the fact that she speaks it in this film isn’t quite the big deal some people seem to think it is, though it takes some getting used to. I didn’t like the film, found it scattered, disconnected, increasingly illogical and almost farcical at times. Though it occurs to me now that I may have misread it. Seeing the film as a straightforward, realistic narrative, as I tried to do, doesn’t work. At least, not for me. Maybe it’s a satire, a comedy of sorts playing with genre elements. Or it’s something else. In any case, I missed it. That makes more sense, because there was too much talent involved for the film to be as off as I thought it was.
A Private Life has a strong cast, which includes Daniel Auteuil, Virginia Efire, Matthieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste, Irene Jacob (blink and you’ll miss her), and Aurore Clement. In an odd bit of casting, the great documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman appears in a scene as “Dr. Goldstein.” I can’t remember why his character was there. Have to wonder how this came about.
Here’s a clip out of context that gives a sense of the visual approach.
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Wednesday, October 8. Resurrection (Bi Gan, director/writer).
Per the NYFF description: This phantasmagoric dream machine from visionary Chinese director Bi Gan is an elusive yet monumental love letter to a century of cinema, unfolding over five chapters that feature a dazzling array of styles and genres.
I loved this film, but am unable to describe it in a way that makes much sense. It’s a shapeshifting mashup of many different elements. I’d need to see it again, which I intend to do. Or maybe a dozen times, to get a better handle on what’s going on and how it all goes together. A few years ago I saw Bi Gan’s Long Days Journey into Night (nothing to do with Eugene O’Neill), which is similar to Resurrection in style and structure. I was drawn in and became quite disoriented, at one point not sure what theater I was in or what day it was. With both films I gave up trying to make sense of what was going on and just went with it.
Opens December 12 at Film at Lincoln Center.
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Wednesday, October 8. Cover-Up(Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, directors).
Per the NYFF description: For the past six decades, Seymour Hersh has been at the front lines of political journalism in the United States. Hersh’s breakthrough reportage has brought to the public’s attention many of the most damning constitutional wrongdoings and cover-ups, from the My Lai massacre in South Vietnam to the CIA’s involvement in plots to assassinate foreign leaders to the Iraq invasion and systematic tortures at Abu Ghraib. In many cases, the revelations of his work have led to governmental reckonings and legal ramifications, yet Hersh, now 88 and surrounded by boxes of files from decades of tireless work, sees himself not as a crusader but as a citizen just doing his job.
Terrific documentary. Hersh is dedicated to getting at the truth of things. He’s relentless about that. Not a warm and fuzzy guy, he calls things as they are. In an excellent Q&A after the screening we saw, he was not hopeful about the current state of our democracy. This is an important film.
Opens December 19 at Film Forum.
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Thursday, October 9. Late Fame(Kent Jones, director).
Per the NYFF description: In Kent Jones’s marvelously witty second feature, a once-upon-a-time New York poet (Willem Dafoe) gets an ego boost when he is welcomed into the world of an emerging literary salon, but must reckon with the authenticity of his newfound circle of twentysomething admirers.
Very good film that concerns literary life in New York City and a poet (Willem Dafoe), who had some renown years back but stopped writing and has worked in the post office for the last thirty years. A group of aspiring writers might provide a second chance. Dafoe is, as always, excellent and authentic. The cast also features Greta Lee, who seems to be everywhere these days — Past Lives , Tron: Ares, A House of Dynamite, and The Morning Show. I really liked Jones’ previous feature, Diane (2018). His résumé includes film criticism, screenwriting, programmer, and directin. On top of that, he was director of the New York Film Festival from 2012-2019, which is when I was most aware of him.
No release date as yet.
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Thursday, October 9. Miroirs No. 3 (Christian Petzold, director/writer).
Per the NYFF description: Christian Petzold’s haunting, beautifully crafted new film stars Paula Beer as a pianist from Berlin who’s taken in by a mysterious woman in an isolated country house after surviving a violent car crash.
Petzold is an excellent director. Films of his I’ve seen and liked include Jerichow (2008), Barbara (2012), Phoenix (2014), Transit (2018), and Afire (2023). His films feature strong female characters, usually played by Nina Hoss or Paula Beer, and are not predictable; they reveal themselves slowly.
No release date as yet.
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Friday, October 10. No Other Choice(Park Chan-wook, director/co-writer).
Per the NFF description: In his diabolical new thriller, Park Chan-wook crafts a dark fable about the cutthroat nature of contemporary work culture, starring Lee Byung Hun as a husband and father who takes violent action after being laid off.
Didn’t care for this, which was a disappointment for me, since I’ve liked his earlier films, especially his amazing Old Boy (2003). Just couldn’t hook into it. I suspect this was my problem, since it seemed like the audience at Alice Tully Hall loved it. I’ll mark this as one to see again.
To be released January 2026 in this country.
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Saturday, October 11. The Fence(Claire Denis, director/co-writer).
Per NYFF description: In Claire Denis’s absorbing and intimate film, set at a white-run construction site in West Africa, Albouny (Isaach de Bankolé) demands the return of his brother’s body, killed in a mysterious work accident, but the site’s foreman (Matt Dillon) is clearly hiding the truth.
Didn’t like this very much. It’s based on a stage play and feels like it. Isaach de Bankolé, a frequent presence in Denis’ films, is a very strong actor, but his role here is very static. It was interesting to see Matt Dillon in this. The film didn’t feel very real to me; it seemed stiff and guarded. I guess I prefer more naturalism in acting and filmmaking. Though not always, just depends.
No release date as yet.
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Saturday, October 11. Sentimental Value(Joachim Trier, director/co-writer).
Per the NYFF description: In Joachim Trier’s Cannes Grand Prix–winning follow-up to The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve burrows to the steely core of an acclaimed stage actress reconnecting with her estranged movie director father (Stellan Skarsgård).
Loved it!!! Probably my favorite film of those I saw in this year’s festival. Stellan Skarsgård is especially good. With Elle Fanning as an American actress cast in the film Skarsgård is directing. Lots of deep feeling in this.
Opens November 7.
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Monday, October 13. Magellan(Lav Diaz, director/writer).
Per NYFF description: Every astonishing visual composition carries historical and political weight in the monumental new film from singular Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (Norte, The End of History, NYFF51). Gael García Bernal brilliantly subordinates his stardom to Diaz’s discerning camera, disappearing into the role of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who, at the start of the 16th century, navigated a crew to Southeast Asia after convincing the Spanish crown to fund his journey. Rather than retell the mythical, received narratives of the Age of Discovery, Diaz mounts an impressive and absorbing story of colonial conquest and obsession, depicting Magellan’s charted course to the Malayan Archipelago as a pitiless reckoning with human frailty and brutal violence as much as an evocation of overwhelming natural beauty. A Janus Films release.
I had a very hard time with this film. I was expecting something more traditional, a more conventional narrative. My fault. I didn’t know the director’s previous work, so I didn’t know what I was in for and was unprepared. This is a style of filmmaking that seems to hold everything back — camera, actors, story. There are many scenes where apparently nothing is happening, and the camera will hold on that seemingly forever. I’m not saying this is bad, but it’s just not for me, not in this particular case anyway. I like the films of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, for example, films like Solaris (1972) or Stalker (1979), with their very measured (e.g.. slow) rhythms. But Magellan didn’t work for me. As someone once told me, “Sometimes you get on the ride, and sometimes you don’t.”
No release date as yet.
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Monday, October 13. The Last One for the Road (Francesco Sossai, director/co-writer).
Per NYFF description: Two best friends, who can never seem to make that “one last drink” truly the last, aimlessly if coolly navigate the absurdities of middle age in Italian director Francesco Sossai’s genial, wistful hangout movie. Aimlessly if coolly navigating the absurdities of middle age, Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) and Carlo (Sergio Romano) make for delightful company in Italian director Francesco Sossai’s genial, wistful hangout movie. The two best friends, who can never seem to make that “one last drink” truly the last, imbibe and bicker and trade anecdotes as they traverse the Venetian countryside, befriending an anxious architecture student, Giulio (Filippo Scotti), who’s cramming for an upcoming design exam. Imparting their screwball wisdom to Giulio, and even roping the younger man into some of their half-baked capers
This film about two alcoholic friends and the young student they take hostage as they drift through a long night is very shaggy and quite wonderful. Reminded me of Withnail and I (1987), though more upbeat. This was a great film for Nancy and me to end the festival on. Below are two clips that will give you a sense of The Last One for the Road.
No release date as yet.
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I’ve since seen the following four festival films.
Anenome (Ronan Day-Lewis, director/co-writer). Co-written with Daniel Day-Lewis, who also stars in his son’s film in his return to screen acting after an eight-year “retirement.” Excellent film, very serious, reveals itself slowly, with a couple moments of almost magical realism.
Has opened in theaters here, but no longer seems to be showing, which is unfortunate.
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt, director/writer). Josh O’Connor as a hapless art thief in 1970, with Vietnam hanging heavy in the background. Typical of Reichardt’s alt-narrative approach, but I didn’t find it nearly as satisfying as Showing Up (2022), First Cow (2019), Wendy and Lucy (2008).
– Opened October 17 at Film at Lincoln Center. Currently showing.
It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi, director/writer). Another excellent film from this Iranian director, it received the Palm d’Or at Cannes this year. He’s the real deal, continued to make films while officially forbidden to do so by his government. Great example of resistance and creation.
Opened October 15 at Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center. Currently showing..
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere(Scott Cooper, director/writer).
Very good. Scott Cooper is a strong director. I love his first film, Crazy Heart (2009) and later Hostiles (2017). His being the director/writer here is what got me past my initial ambivalent feelings about this film when I first heard about it. Jeremy Alan White had the almost impossible job of recreating Bruce Springsteen, made more challenging by the fact that Bruce is still here. That it centers around the making of the Nebraska album was significant. I love that record. Knowing now that it came out of Springsteen’s deep depression at the time makes it more meaningful to me. I have some reservations, mainly about the fictional girlfriend, but the movie works much more than it doesn’t.
That’s all for now. Next up in a few days is a selection of interviews, discussions, and Q&As from the festival. Stay tuned. Happy Halloween! — Ted Hicks
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Films etc. 