By Diana Cheng
AAP Film Review
The 55th New York Film Festival hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center takes place Sept. 28 to Oct. 15, with 18 days to celebrate cinematic art while offering great entertainment.
The Festival will kick off with the world premiere of acclaimed director Richard Linklater’s (“Boyhood,” 2014) newest work “Last Flag Flying” and wraps with NYC’s staple Woody Allen’s 2017 production “Wonder Wheel”.
Among the 25 films of noted caliber in the Main Slate lineup are three from Asia. For the past few years, the works by acclaimed Korean director Hong Sang-soo (“Yourself and Yours,” 2016; “Right Now, Wrong Then,” 2015) have been screened at every NYFF. This time, two will be offered to cinephiles. They are the director’s newest works: “The Day After,” an intriguing story with multiple timelines, and “On the Beach at Night Alone,” a personal response to the tabloid frenzy in Korea over his affairs with actress Kim Min-hee.
The third Asian feature selected for the Main Slate is “Before We Vanish”, helmed by Japan’s multiple Cannes-winning director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“Journey to the Shore,” 2015, “Tokyo Sonata,” 2008). It’s a more mainstream, sci-fi production. Kurosawa imagines the scenario wherein aliens arrive planet Earth and steal the essence that make up humanity: memories, beliefs, values. A cinematic parable for today.
A notable U.S. feature with an Asian connection is Beijing-born director Chloé Zhao’s “The Rider.” The Chinese-American director was honored at the Cannes Film Festival this year as “The Rider” was screened in the ‘Directors Fortnight’ and won the Art Cinema Award there. Zhao’s feature gives insights into the identity of the rodeo cowboy in America today.
For details on the lineups of the NYFF55, screening dates and tickets, visit the NYFF55 website.
Contact Diana Cheng at [email protected] or visit at Twitter @Arti_Ripples or her blog Ripple Effects, rippleeffects.wordpress.com.
