New Directors/New Films (New York City festival) help...

[NickGlass]

http://newdirectors.org/

Hey all,

To those of you who are lucky enough to have seen any of these films already, or to those of you who are brilliant enough at research to know which of these films are supposedly great (or, perhaps, suited most to my tastes), can you please tell me what I should not miss?

I guess this e-mail is pretty much just for Boner M (Hey Ian!), but I'm sure there are others on this board who go to dozens of film festivals around the world.

I've heard positive feedback regarding Curling, Pariah, Incendies, and Attenberg. Oh, and I know the director of The Destiny of Lesser Animals, so I'll have to see that. Any other suggestions?

Much appreciated,
An overwhelmed Nick

[Derek]

Unfortunately, Curling and Attenberg are the only two I've heard of. The first is supposedly great and the latter I don't remember what I read. [/being of no help whatsoever]

But I do look forward to your thoughts on more of these.

[number8]

Got my press cred for this, too. I am so not going to miss Tyrannosaur. That's my must see of the fest.

[NickGlass]

Got my press cred for this, too. I am so not going to miss Tyrannosaur.

Ah, yes, I meant to include Tyrannosaur in that list! Considine is such a confident actor, I bet he gets superb performances out of his actors.

The one I'm really looking forward to in this line-up is Pariah.

[baby doll]

Definitely see Winter Vacation. Routine Holiday was pretty hilarious, and supposedly this is even better.

It's surprising how many of these aren't actually new directors. Denis Villeneuve directed his first feature in 1998.

[Boner M]

Curling's great; art film 101 but beautifully done. Incendies is a pretty compelling melodrama for most of its duration, though I had problems with the ending. Dying to see Attenberg and Tyrannosaur; the latter looks like a Nil by Mouth/War Zone deal.

[Raiders]

Whoa. I was unaware of the existence of Tyrannosaur. I must see it.

[NickGlass]

It's surprising how many of these aren't actually new directors. Denis Villeneuve directed his first feature in 1998.

Yeah, the festival is quite notorious for its loose interpretation of "new directors." For one, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy played at ND/NF, despite it being her third film.

[number8]

Also, a festival celebrating New Directors should theoretically be celebrating homespun movies, so even if it's technically correct, I still smirk when a first time director has his first movie at a festival like this, featuring a cast of no-name up and coming actors like Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci and Jeremy Irons.

[number8]

I see that Focus picked up Pariah. It'd be really annoying if this doesn't get the attention Precious did.