NYFF21
Parallel Mothers Review | NYFF 2021
Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsFilm Review, New York Film Festival, NYFF, NYFF21, Parallel Mothers, Pedro Almodóvar
Almodóvar's switched-at-birth story, Parallel Mothers, is one of his most subtle and less-extravagant outings yet; however, it has his usual dramatic punch and a duet of excellent performances by Milena Smit and Penelope Cruz. The stylish Spaniard, Pedro Almodóvar, is one of the top-tier international directors working today, delivering a consistent oeuvre throughout his years as an auteur. From Women Under the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), my favorite, to his first English-language Cocteau excursion, The Human Voice (2019), his works always have a colorful debonair and passion. However, his latest is slightly different, switching his gears and choosing…
The Worst Person in the World Review| NYFF 2021
Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsNYFF, NYFF21, The Worst Person in the World
The Worst Person in the World concludes Joachim Trier's Oslo trilogy in sheer delight with a clever, complex, and beguiling story about how our identity is attached to the relationships we make in life -- refined by both desire and heartache. Joachim Trier manages to surprise us with the way he approaches his films. All of them have a unique factor while capturing references in a new light in the background. However, it all goes back to one thing at its core: portraits of identity and intimacy. The only film of his that has gotten a bit of slack for…
Songs for Drella (1990) Revival Review | NYFF 2021
Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsNYFF, NYFF21, Songs for Drella
The 4K restoration of Songs for Drella, the classic album by Lou Reed and John Cale, reinvigorates the passion for the pioneering and ambitious life of the legendary Andy Warhol, to whom the album is dedicated. Lou Reed and John Cale, both ex-members of the prestigious art-rock band The Velvet Underground "(VU)," got their start thanks to the iconic Andy Warhol, their manager back in 1966. Warhol's art show, aka the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, had the VU front and center as its musical presentation along with Christa Päffgen, better known as Nico, adding backup vocals to their sets. Then, a…
The Velvet Underground Review | NYFF 2021
Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsNYFF, NYFF21, The Velvet Underground
With snappy editing and great insight on its background, Todd Haynes makes you listen carefully and appreciate The Velvet Underground's style, techniques, and artistry more-- engaging you with the film whether you are a fan of the band or not. To give a brief introduction on who The Velvet Underground are, we need to start in 1964. They were formed by bandmates Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Angus MacLise (who was replaced a year later by Moe Tucker). Their central genre is rock, but they blended and mashed many other ones in their music instrumentations and concoctions; avant-garde,…
BERGMAN ISLAND Review | NYFF 2021
Hector Gonzalez0 CommentsNYFF 2021, ReviewsBergman Island, Film Festivals, NYFF, NYFF21
Bergman Island is Mia Hansen-Løve's best and most intimate film; it takes a meta-textual route to deliver a brilliantly written and structured testimony of the cursed writer's block as well as slowly gnawing dysfunctional relationships. An American couple, Chris (Vicky Krieps) and Tony (Tim Roth), go on a trip to the famous Fårö island, which inspired Ingmar Bergman to write and direct many of his famous works. They are there for the summer to write the scripts for their subsequent films in the act of pilgrimage, seclusion, and the search for creativity. As they advance with their screenplays, fiction and…