NYFF, 10/6.

"While the proliferation of film festivals and the atmosphere of hype and hucksterism that afflicts so many can be a cause for wariness or even cynicism, festivals nonetheless uphold an ideal of cultural cosmopolitanism that seems more embattled and more vital than ever," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "That ideal is of course central to the modern history and self-image of New York. One of the few places with an older and greater claim to it is France, and some of the most interesting films in this festival have a decidedly Gallic flavor, even as they challenge and complicate conventional assumptions about what constitutes a French film."

The NYFF revives the cinephile in Dana Stevens, who explains that "a professional reviewer is, as it were, married to the movies: We wake up with them every day, we expect something from the films we see and owe them something in return. A cinephile, on the other hand, is a romancer of movies, driven by passion and curiosity from one infatuation to the next, free to abandon, excoriate, outgrow, or rediscover whatever drifts her way."

Howard Feinstein surveys the festival's second half for indieWIRE, noting that many of the films "are about women; four (all foreign) are directed by females. Odd, given that most of the films in the first batch were marked by male bravado and bonding (with only one made by a woman, whose co-director is a man)."

Posted by dwhudson at October 6, 2007 12:47 PM