The 52nd annual New York Film Festival is underway, running September 26 through October 12. Within those days is a lifetime of films, from the massive main slate — this year better than ever — to the entire sidebar of documentaries, a reimagined experimental film program, all the trans-media work, as well as revivals and an entire retrospective dedicated to the work of classical Hollywood filmmaker Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Trust me, I’m winded just writing that.
With that breathlessly said, a complete rundown of everything happening at the NYFF is nearly impossible. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be providing many dispatches from the event in the form of reviews and previews. Here is the first one, a summary of the festival’s opening week.
Before we begin, we want to make note of a few things: First, we’ve not included here, as you may notice, the bigger films premiering this year. There will be no mention of David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” based on the mystery novel by Gillian Flynn, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Thomas Pynchon-adaptation “Inherent Vice,” or the Michael Keaton-starring “Birdman,” which closes out the festival. There will be more on those films and others soon. For this preview we’ve focused on some of the lesser-known films, work that might have slipped into the shadows under the glare of the bigger names in the program. We have films from French masters, American actors, provocateurs, and more. All are worth seeing.
Click on the slideshow to see our complete guide to week one at the New York Film Festival.
