SO FAR, SO GOOD: THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL IS HERE

So tonight is the beginning of the 43rd New York Film Festival, an annual event that I usually spend hundreds of dollars on, probably needlessly. Thankfully, this year, I don’t really have to because, say it with me, Yay for press screenings. So far I’ve seen eight of the 11 films screened, and I have to say that I’ve at least liked most of them. Two of them — George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck and Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale both have a great shot at making my 2005 Top 10. Unfortunately, scheduling issues caused me to miss the Polish film I Am (which Filmbrain told me was great, the drug addiction documentary Methadonia, and, most upsettingly, Philippe Garrel’s Regular Lovers, of which I’ve also heard great things. Unfortunately, I had a pretty major job interview today at 4 PM for a position I’m kind of dying to get, and the screening wasn’t going to be over until 4:30. I may try to go tomorrow morning to the public screening, but I have a ton of apartment hunting to still do, so maybe now.

I hope to not miss anymore press screenings, though, and don’t plan to unless a job comes through which would obviously preclude me from attending anything during the day. I’m trying to provide thorough and complete coverage of this year’s NYFF for Gothamist, and that started today with this post in which you’ll find reviews of Good Night, and Good Luck, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, L’Enfant and Avenge But One of My Two Eyes, all which screen this weekend. I’ve actually also already seen Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble as well, but I simply didn’t have time to write about it yet. Other films screening this weekend include Regular Lovers and Methadonia, along with the fantastic Shochiku Company sidebar series. On Monday, I’ll have more reviews at Gothamist including for The Squid and the Whale and Capote.

I haven’t been too enamored with most of the short films I’ve seen so far, although Stop! screening tonight with Good Night, and Good Luck is a very fun and clever six minute piece from The Netherlands, and I was on the fence about Columbia MFA student Talal Hadid’s Your Dark Hair Ihsan which screens with Avenge But One of My Two Eyes. However, Joan Stein’s Solidarity (which screens with Paradise Now) was a big bore and relatively awful.