Category: Film Appreciation
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New York Film Festival Welcomes Comedies of All Kinds
The annual New York Film Festival has no shortage of exotic, esoteric, and demanding films. But some of the biggest highlights of this year’s event are comedies. Yes, comedies. Raucous comedies. Quirky comedies. Comedy-thrillers. Comedies that double as poignant character studies. But comedies nonetheless. Among the most popular and crowd-pleasing entries at NYFF 62 is…
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Profiles in Courage at the New York Film Festival
One of the most indelible and powerful films at the 62nd annual New York Film Festival is, in its very existence, an act of bravery. No Other Land, written, directed, produced, and edited by Palestinians Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, is the story of the Palestinian farming region known…
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Music of All Kinds Reigns at the Tribeca Festival
Music always plays a huge role at the Tribeca Festival, in the form of music-oriented documentaries and special post-film performances. Here’s a look at four new films that run the gamut from country to jazz, rock to Broadway. Francis Whately’s Rebel Country begins with the 2019 arrival of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” in which the…
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Tribeca Docs ‘Checkpoint Zoo’ and ‘Antidote’ Show Two Sides of Putin’s Evil Agenda
Two documentaries at the Tribeca Fest show different sides of the evil that Vladimir Putin has unleashed upon the world—one specifically about a singular consequence of his brutal attack on the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv; the other more generally about his campaign of lethal vengeance against his enemies. Each is essential viewing in these troubling…
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‘Firebrand’ Leads the Narrative Slate at Tribeca Festival
Debuting at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Firebrand has made the Tribeca Festival its final stop before opening in theaters on June 14. A distinct departure for Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, this is the latest in a long line of cinema portrayals of the notorious King Henry VIII of England. Onetime matinee idol Jude Law is surprisingly…
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Tribeca’s Doc Lineup Includes Liz Taylor’s Lost Tapes and a Cold Case Reopened
The Tribeca Festival, launched after the September 11 attack by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal to revitalize the neighborhood, continues to thrive in its 23rd year. With 114 feature films screening from June 5-16, it’s impossible to catch everything, but I’ve had relatively good luck with the selections I’ve chosen so far. The festival…
Kevin Lally on Film 