I decided to sleep in (an actual seven hours!) and write this morning, and then start on the screenings this afternoon. I’m not a reviewing-machine-gun like Eric Kohn. I’m on the stick as much as anyone else (I’m certainly not lolling around), but at the same time I’m maintaining my standard samurai-jazz-cat mentality while allowing for occasional mood-pocket digressions.

I’m genuinely sorry for missing Mati Diop‘s Atlantique, but it goes like that every so often.

I’m going to politely bypass Bruno Damont‘s Jeanne, a re-telling of Joan of Arc saga, for the simple reason that casting the extremely young Lise Leplat Prudhomme (what is she, nine or ten?) as Jeanne strikes me as overly precious.

HE’s first film of the day (5 pm) is Diao Yinan‘s The Wild Goose Lake, a noir thriller about a gangster (Hu Ge) who crosses paths with a prostitute (Gwei Lun Mei) while seeking redemption on the run.

Next (at 7:45 pm) is Dannielle Lessovitz‘s Port Authority, an urban relationship drama between a straight white guy and a trans guy, has been described by Eric Kohn as “quietly progressive” and “Kids by way of Paris is Burning.”

The day’s third and final film (120 pm0 will be Corneliu Proumboiu‘s The Whistlers (aka La Gomera).