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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
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-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
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Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
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At Long Last Love
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Brewster McCloud
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Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

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1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
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Sh! The Octopus
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Bad for Each Other
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The Phenix City Story
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Run of the Arrow
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House of Secrets
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Saint Joan
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Macabre
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The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
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1960's
Key Witness
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Summer and Smoke
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The Chapman Report
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Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
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Dark of the Sun
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Skidoo
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Last Summer
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The Comic
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1970-1974
The Revolutionary
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The Landlord
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Diary of a Mad Housewife
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Tropic of Cancer
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I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
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Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
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The Last Movie
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Made For Each Other
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The Day the Clown Cried
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Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
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The Carey Treatment
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Pete 'n' Tillie
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Slither
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Man on a Swing
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Open Season
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The Tamarind Seed
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Law and Disorder
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Homebodies
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Stardust
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Celine and Julie Go Boating
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1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
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At Long Last Love
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Hearts of the West
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Welcome to L.A.
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W.C. Fields and Me
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Citizens Band
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Twilight's Last Gleaming
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar
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Girlfriends
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Movie Movie
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The Medusa Touch
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American Hot Wax
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Hot Stuff
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Scavenger Hunt
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Players
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Rich Kids
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Nightwing
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Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
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The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
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God's Angry Man
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Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
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When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

NYFF Dweeb Values

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A little over a month ago the selections for the forthcoming New York Film Festival (9.25 through 10.11) were revealed. Many noted that the slate seemed to reflect the tastes of a rather hermetic, esoteric, film-dweeby selection panel with an aversion to anything that smacked of accessibility and across-the-board engagement. But I didn't know how dweeby until just a little while ago when I was told by an excellent source that the NYFF committee turned down the Coen Bros.' A Serious Man, Lone Scherfig's An Education and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet. To which I said, "What?"

On 8.11 Film Society of Lincoln Center programmer Richard Pena tried to explain the dweeb slate to the Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Zeitchik as follows: "Two years ago, we had the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson and Julian Schnabel and Noah Baumbach and Sidney Lumet. Last year, there was less, and this year there is much less."

Except the NYFF selection committee did have the Coens this year in the form of A Serious Man, which, in the view of many who've seen this film in Toronto, is arguably one of the best they've ever made. And yet the NYFF selection committee -- Pena and critics Dennis Lim, Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman and Melissa Anderson -- for the most part disliked it and declined to show it.

I don't know who specifically voted against it except for a vague understanding that Foundas is not a fan. (Apparently Foundas and Hoberman gave A Serious Man a "bomb" rating in the Critic's Choice chart in the new issue of Film Comment.) But having seen A Serious Man myself and given the large Upper West Side Jewish audience that attends this festival, I can say with absolute authority that the NYFF committee is imbedded way too deeply inside its own posterior cavity. I mean, they're really nuts not to show this film. As they are in having also turned down An Education and A Prophet.

These are three movies with serious critical cred that also play to an audience. Each would be a huge hit, trust me, with the NYFF crowd that attends each and every year. The NYFF selection committee has become a gathering of Trappist monks who've been slurping too much goat's milk with their granola. I'm not the only one who thinks this, trust me.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 16, 2009 at 11:25 AM

comment #1

Yer says ...

The film comes out during the time of the festival. What would be the point of adding it?

Posted by Yer at September 16, 2009 11:31 AM

comment #2

Krazy Eyes says ...

There are tons of factors that go into whether or not a selection committee picks a specific film. It often has very little to do with how well liked the film is or how it's perceived as playing to an audience. These things certainly can matter but there are very often overriding factors.

Posted by Krazy Eyes at September 16, 2009 11:45 AM

comment #3

Floyd Thursby says ...

"The film comes out during the time of the festival. What would be the point of adding it?"

For years some films have opened a day after appearing at the NYFF.

Have seen Pena in action several times and never been impressed by anything about him. He speaks to audiences as if there's an invisible buffer between him and us.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at September 16, 2009 11:54 AM

comment #4

mutinyco says ...

A lot of October movies at the NYFF use their public screening as their NY red carpet. Gives the premiere an extra bump. That's why they show there.

Posted by mutinyco at September 16, 2009 12:00 PM

comment #5

candidate says ...

Because really, who knows more about what the Jews want to see than the man who never heard of a dreidel?

Posted by candidate at September 16, 2009 12:09 PM

comment #6

Floyd Thursby says ...

NYFF to Coens: The rabbi is busy.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at September 16, 2009 12:14 PM

comment #7

anonymous2 says ...

I like Richard Pena a lot. Always a great moderator during Q and A's.

Also, I'd rather not see those films since they are getting released around the time of the Festival.

If anyone is interested I bought a bunch of tickets and now I have to go out of town. They are all ideal seats. I have two tickets to each film.

Friday, October 9th: White Material - 9:15pm
Saturday, October 10th: Mother - 12pm
Saturday, October 10th: Almodovar's History of Cinema - 3:30pm
Sunday, October 11th: Bluebeard - 2pm

Posted by anonymous2 at September 16, 2009 12:37 PM

comment #8

anonymous2 says ...

I guess I should clarify that I'm selling them for face value. NYFF doesn't allow any refunds.

Posted by anonymous2 at September 16, 2009 12:38 PM

comment #9

Muscle McGurk says ...

I recall reading a previous comment that mentioned Hoberman bombed A Serious Man in the current Film Comment. Considering what's already been said about the film's streak of Jewish self-loathing that kinda makes sense.

Overall it's still a pretty strong lineup. I'd be going if I still lived in NYC.

Posted by Muscle McGurk at September 16, 2009 1:09 PM

comment #10

George Prager says ...

R.I.P. Henry Gibson

http://gawker.com/5361105/nashville-laugh-in-star-henry-gibson-passes-on

Posted by George Prager at September 16, 2009 2:12 PM

comment #11

matt cousens says ...

Unfortunately most people will just watch him in the Academy Award's dead celebrity montage and say "Oh, yeah, he was one of the Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers."

Posted by matt cousens at September 16, 2009 2:21 PM

comment #12

George Prager says ...

I don't think most people remember much about The Blues Brothers, I saw The Blues Brothers and I don't remember Henry Gibson at all.

Posted by George Prager at September 16, 2009 2:27 PM

comment #13

Carl Kolchak says ...

George Prager, I know peopel who have been quoting dialog from the Blues Brothers since 1980.

Posted by Carl Kolchak at September 16, 2009 2:53 PM

comment #14

Carl Kolchak says ...

"people" that was supposed to be.....

Posted by Carl Kolchak at September 16, 2009 2:59 PM

comment #15

George Prager says ...

Someone should write an Onion story about those peopel.
The headline should read:

"Area man still quoting lines from the Blues Brothers movie"

Posted by George Prager at September 16, 2009 3:08 PM

comment #16

701 says ...

Agree with you 100% with you on this, Jeff.

I've been going to the NYFF for years, and it used to be thrilling and eclectic -- some of the best movie-going experiences of my life. Miller's Crossing, Pulp Fiction, Hoop Dreams, Cyclo, My Own Private Idaho, The Puppetmaster, In The Mood For Love... Having an Ed Wood, or a Rushmore, or even an unfinished Beauty and the Beast in the mix added some goofy fun and glam to the whole thing. It felt like a party with everyone invited.

I like Richard Pena a lot, though I sense his tastes tend towards the esoteric and Francophile. I don't know anything about Melissa Anderson. But Lim, Foundas, and (to a lesser degree) Hoberman really are hermetic, esoteric, film-dweeby types who have become imbedded way too deeply inside its own posterior cavity. They're Puritans of cinema.

Over the years, the NYFF has come to feel less and less essential -- less adventurous, less exciting, less central to NYC culture. There's an eat-your-vegetables quality to many of the choices that make the whole thing feel like a chore. I understand they're competing with Toronto, Telluride, Tribeca in a way that they weren't before, but passing over A Serious Man and An Education just seems perverse and willfully self-destructive.

Why in God's name are they opening the festival with Wild Grass? Okay -- I haven't seen it yet, but shouldn't opening night be your big, sexy, must-see movie that you make a big splash with? Something with crossover appeal?

Of course, The Puritans could never allow that, since they've dedicated themselves to leeching anything fun, or funny, or sexy, or glamorous out of the movies. Money-changers, out of our temple!

I'll be out of town for the duration of the fest and -- I'm sorry to say this -- I won't really regret it. What I do regret is the hijacking of a once-great festival by a cabal of joyless film nerds.

Posted by 701 at September 16, 2009 3:11 PM

comment #17

BurmaShave says ...

They are commited to not being a respected film festival, it's understandable.

Posted by BurmaShave at September 16, 2009 3:53 PM

comment #18

plastiqueelephant says ...

I can see both sides of this. While it is pretty positive for a festival to be audience friendly at play the popular prestige films, at the same time a top-tier festival shouldn't screen too many third round re-runs from Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto if it wants to matter. The highlights of a festival are always the discoveries and if they think they have some, well we should probably wait till after the festival to critique their program too rigorously. For instance, this years Venice looked a wee bit lightweight on paper but was by most accounts the best in years.

Posted by plastiqueelephant at September 16, 2009 5:30 PM

comment #19

Glenn Kenny says ...

Ah, the old "validate my sensibility or I'll tar you as irrelevant, or, worse yet, NERDY" gambit. Because, in this case, the whole world has to fall in line with Wells and 701 on "An Education."

As "quality" a movie as "An Education" is, it's also middlebrow pussy product of the first order. So refined, so civilized. Just the sort of movie certain folks live to pat themselves on the back for liking. So how many film festivals do you actually need to see it at, finally?

Posted by Glenn Kenny at September 16, 2009 7:53 PM

comment #20

JD says ...

An Education is not and never will be NYFF material. It's fine, but it's totally disposable middlebrow entertainment, not art.

Posted by JD at September 16, 2009 8:40 PM

comment #21

Carl Kolchak says ...

Sorry, Prager, if it's not good enough for you. yawn.

Posted by Carl Kolchak at September 16, 2009 10:20 PM

comment #22

701 says ...

Mr. Kenny -- I believe you are skirting my point by misrepresenting my argument. It's not about validating my own sensibility which, I understand, no one cares about. It's about the NYFF's engagement with the broader culture of NYC, and its centrality as a cultural institution.

Maybe Wild Grass is a better film than A Serious Man, or An Education, or Bright Star, or Up In The Air. We can argue sensibilities until the cows come home. But I think it's hard to deny that any of those films would have generated more media interest in the NYFF (and, by extension, more sponsor support and donor dollars) than WG. Perhaps the NYFF can afford to ignore such crass considerations, and concern itself only with the refined sensibilities of a handful of increasingly irrelevant and self-marginalized critics. Perhaps.

But, frankly, sometimes crassness and hoopla and hucksterism and glam -- however middlebrow -- is just more fun than reading FILM COMMENT. At least on opening night.

Your final line, "How many film festivals do you actually need to see it at...?" is astoundingly obtuse and dismayingly self-incriminating. Like most NYFF goers, I attend one film festival a year -- the NYFF. How many do you attend, Mr. Kenny?

Posted by 701 at September 17, 2009 6:57 AM

comment #23

Strangeways says ...

Film festivals, especially the big ones, like to be leaders and not followers. An Education has already played at several big festivals and showing the latest Coen brothers movie days before it opens does not lead to cutting edge status. I'm not very surprised they passed on both of them...

And, NYFF has basically been screwed ever since Toronto became such a behemoth in the last 10 years...Venice is glamorous, Telluride is scenic and Toronto is the kingmaker; doesn't leave much for humdrum NYC.

Posted by Strangeways at September 17, 2009 4:12 PM

comment #24

Glenn Kenny says ...

701: You are write to call me out on my last line, which was directed more at our gracious host than at you, but was ill-advised in any event. My apologies.

Your other arguments, outside the realm of sensibility as you say, are interesting and worth engaging. Not to pull a Jonah Goldberg, but I haven't time to do so here. But I commend you for making actual arguments, as opposed to our host, who just likes to throw around derogatory terms like "dweeb" and monk" and so on. Just so you know, Jeff, half the guys at the press screenings for the NYFF today were exchanging notes on how much goat's milk they had to drink this morning. Thanks for the laughs.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at September 17, 2009 6:41 PM

comment #25

701 says ...

Mr. Kenny,

I logged in tonight expecting to be flamed up the wazoo.

To have an HE thread devoted to the NYFF -- something I care deeply about -- not devolve into the usual snark and ad hominem attacks is a great relief, and I am grateful -- really -- for your gracious apology and your courteous response. I am merely a distant observer to the workings of the NYFF, so any insight you might offer on the process of jury selection or the program selection -- or any thoughts on the evolution of the NYFF over the last few years -- would be welcomed avidly.

Again, thanks.

Posted by 701 at September 17, 2009 8:59 PM

comment #26

Glenn Kenny says ...

@701: i'm writing a longer defense of this year's lineup for the website The Auteur's Notebook and researching the history even as we speak. Obviously the recent shakeups at the Lincoln Center Film Society (the appointment on new head Mara Manus, the departure of Kent Jones from both the LCFS and the selection committee, and so on) come into play, but I think there's also a question of tradition, how Richard Roud's tenure during an era when New York and the art film were nearly synonymous (the early '60s) , is still having an impact on the festival. It's kind of too complicated to get into on a thread such as this one!

Posted by Glenn Kenny at September 18, 2009 5:16 AM

comment #27

badpete says ...

Im a great fan of the NYFF, i never missed any of the shows. . .

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Posted by badpete at December 5, 2009 9:31 AM

comment #28

badpete says ...

Over the years, the NYFF has come to feel less and less essential -- less adventurous, less exciting, less central to NYC culture

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Posted by badpete at December 7, 2009 9:52 AM

comment #29

badpete says ...

Dennis LIm is the greatest critic i have ever known, cheers!

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Posted by badpete at December 7, 2009 9:40 PM

comment #30

badpete says ...

To have an HE thread devoted to the NYFF -- something I care deeply about -- not devolve into the usual snark and ad hominem attacks is a great relief, and I am grateful

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Posted by badpete at December 8, 2009 2:50 AM

comment #31

badpete says ...

The Puritans could never allow that, since they've dedicated themselves to leeching anything fun, or funny, or sexy, or glamorous out of the movies. Money-changers, out of our temple!

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Posted by badpete at December 11, 2009 12:17 AM

comment #32

badpete says ...

To have an HE thread devoted to the NYFF -- something I care deeply about -- not devolve into the usual snark and ad hominem attacks is a great relief, and I am gratefu

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comment #33

badpete says ...

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comment #34

badpete says ...

I don't think most people remember much about The Blues Brothers, I saw The Blues Brothers and I don't remember Henry Gibson at all.

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comment #35

badpete says ...

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comment #36

badpete says ...

I don't think most people remember much about The Blues Brothers, I saw The Blues Brothers and I don't remember Henry Gibson at all.

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Posted by badpete at December 21, 2009 9:43 AM

comment #37

badpete says ...

I guess I should clarify that I'm selling them for face value. NYFF doesn't allow any refunds.

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Posted by badpete at December 21, 2009 10:48 PM

comment #38

badpete says ...

Unfortunately most people will just watch him in the Academy Award's dead celebrity montage and say "Oh, yeah, he was one of the Illinois Nazis in The Blues Brothers."

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Posted by badpete at December 28, 2009 9:48 AM

comment #39