new York film festival – This Had Oscar Buzz

220 – The Lost City of Z (with Katey Rich)

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a little tradition, so naturally Vanity Fair’s Katey Rich makes her annual return to us this week to discuss James Gray’s The Lost City of Z. The film had a long pre-production history, including promises of Brad Pitt in the lead, that long positioned it as the film that might finally garner Gray some awards attention. Finally produced and with Charlie Hunnam replacing Pitt, the film made its world premiere at the 2016 New York Film Festival without distribution and received strong reviews. Though Amazon picked up the film, they held its release until the spring, effectively killing its awards chances.

This episode, we discuss our shared love for the film and talk about Gray’s Oscar-elusive approach to material and his chances this season with Armageddon Time. We also talk about Sienna Miller face blindness, Robert Pattinson’s move towards auteur directors post-Twilight, and Amazon’s auteur-heavy 2017 crop of films.

Topics also include renting VCRs, Darius Khondji’s luminous Lost City cinematography, and 2017 as the best Best Picture year post-expansion.

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BONUS – NYFF We Love You! We REJECT This BLASPHEMY!

We’re back stumping film festivals to bring you this bonus episode on our experience with this year’s New York Film Festival slate! Here Joe reflects on the Oscar potential of The Tragedy of Macbeth and The Power of the Dog, and Chris says Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers features one of Penélope Cruz’s very best performances. We discuss other films in the lineup like The French Dispatch, Titane, The Worst Person in the World, Red Rocket, The Velvet Underground, and C’Mon C’Mon. Topics also include catholic protestors, goings-on in the International Feature category, and the potential for a Picture/Director split coming this year.

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068 – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

In the fall festival season, a primo premiere status can assert a film as having major Oscar ambitions. This week’s title, 2013′s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, is a such a case – after debuting an eye-catching trailer, the film debuted as the centerpiece selection of that year’s New York Film Festival. But this typically very selective festival provided a major platform for the film that the film couldn’t measure up to, earning the film an underwhelming status it couldn’t overcome before its Christmas day release.

Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, the film struggles with the payoff of its character arc and its sense of magical realism, making for a disappointing modern remake. This week, we look at the film’s heavy-handed product placement and music cues, and the brief recent history of New York Film Festival’s world premiere gala selections.

We also discuss this year’s fascinating and defensible Golden Globe acting nominations, the film’s notoriously unruly first press screening, and we predict this year’s National Board of Review Top Ten.

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