Voice of the Day

“Capitalists can buy themselves out of any crisis, so long as they make the workers pay.”

– Vladimir Lenin

Cartoon of the Day

New York Film Festival 2008

NY Film Festival Website

——————–

villagevoice.com

New York Film Festival 2008
By J. Hoberman

What’s the story with the 2008 New York Film Festival? I’ll cop to being co-conspirator. I helped pick the films, as did my colleague Scott Foundas. For better or worse, two of the festival’s five-member selection committee work for Village Voice Media. (For the record, the other three are Richard Peña—marking his 20th year as NYFF program director—Kent Jones, also of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and critic Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly.)

Anybody who has ever done this sort of thing will tell you that a festival can only be as good as what’s out there and, this year, there was plenty of action. Cannes, as usual, was the prospector’s mother lode.

Sixteen NYFF features premiered on La Croisette, including a number of winners: Laurent Cantet’s opening night The Class (Palme d’Or), Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah (Grand Prix), Steven Soderbergh’s Che (Best Actor for Benicio Del Toro), Steve McQueen’s Hunger (Caméra d’Or for best first film), and Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan (Prix Un Certain Regard).

Other festival winners include Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, for which actress Sally Hawkins was awarded a Silver Bear at Berlin, and Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, which won the Golden Lion at Venice and—speaking as someone who found Aronofsky’s previous film, The Fountain, ludicrous—my admiration as well.

The NYFF has an understandable interest in showcasing the highlights of the big three international festivals but, to my mind, a greater mission in showcasing those movies yet to land U.S. distribution—and this year, there are many.

Both Che and The Wrestler have been acquired since the NYFF slate was announced, but the remaining orphans include such notable auteur films as 24 City, the latest docu-fictional conundrum (showing but once) by China’s vanguard indie Jia Zhangke, and the dark comedy Four Nights With Anna, a terrific comeback by the onetime prince of the Polish new wave, Jerzy Skolimowski.

The Headless Woman, the third feature by Lucrecia Martel, leading director of the Argentine renaissance, is her strongest to date—at the very least, this brilliantly edited, purposefully disorienting comedy about a middle-aged woman’s post-car-accident confusion is the movie I’m most looking forward to revisiting.

Among the other undistributed films, this cinephile would like to direct your attention to the following: For the first time in its history, the NYFF has not one but two—and two very different—movies from Kazakhstan. Chouga, directed with characteristic precision by Central Asia’s leading Bressonian, Darezhan Omirbaev, is an austere and affecting adaptation of Anna Karenina (showing only once, for you cognoscenti); Tulpan, a first feature by the poetic ethno-documentarian Dvortsevoy, is a spectacular, unclassifiable immersion in the daily life of nomad sheepherders working the awesome emptiness of the Kazakh steppe.

Nearly as exotic and no less predictable, Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s Tony Manero is a portrait of the Pinochet dictatorship, taking one nut’s obsession with Saturday Night Fever for its ruling metaphor. Another eccentric political thriller by a director without local name recognition, Catalan filmmaker Jaime Rosales’s Bullet in the Head is the NYFF’s main section’s most experimental movie (think last year’s In the City of Sylvia—but different). It’s showing only once in the capacious Ziegfeld—and is highly unlikely to ever receive such a magnificent projection again.

On the other hand, Afterschool, a strong first feature by 25-year-old Antonio Campos unaccountably overlooked by Sundance, seems destined for distribution—the backstory is intriguing (more on that in next week’s issue), as is the movie’s exposé of privileged preppies whose truth is in the iPhone of the beholder. I have a hunch that the festival’s Mexican equivalent, Gerardo Naranjo’s self-consciously neo–new wave and triumphantly tragicomic I’m Gonna Explode, involving two dissolute high-school students on the road to nowhere, will also attract some discerning distributor. I didn’t much care for Naranjo’s previous Drama/Mex, but for my money, I’m Gonna Explode is this year’s sleeper. Let the games begin!

———————-

amny.com

New York Film Festival’s 12 best bets

By Mina Hochberg | amNewYork movie critic

Last year’s New York Film Festival gave us ‘No Country For Old Men’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.’ This year, the festival, now in its 46th year, offers a crop of equally enticing and sobering movies. On the slate are 28 films from 18 countries, helmed by veteran and first-time directors.

Headquartered at Lincoln Center, the festival is usually an Upper West Side affair. But due to construction, most films will be playing at the venerable (and gigantic) Ziegfeld Theatre on 54th Street and Sixth Avenue. Here are a dozen picks you may want to check out.

The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky’s last film, ‘The Fountain,’ was a box-office bomb, but it sounds like redemption is on the horizon. ‘The Wrestler’ has been reaping all sorts of praise on the festival circuit. Much of the talk has been directed at Mickey Rourke, who stars as a pro wrestler forced to work at a deli counter after suffering a heart attack. There¹s even talk of Oscar nominations, which would be a first for Rourke.

Changeling
Clint Eastwood directs and Angelina Jolie stars in this film about a mother whose son disappears from her Los Angeles home one day. A manhunt ensues until, a few months later, the police find her child and send him home. Except for one thing: The kid’s not her son. Oops. It’s based on a true story, which makes it all the more compelling.

Che
Steven Soderbergh’s biopic of Che Guevara traces the revolutionary leader’s military career from the Cuban Revolution to his final chapter in Bolivia.

Benicio Del Toro won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Che. Warning: You may want to skip this one if you’ve got a short attention span. The running time is four hours, plus a 30-minute intermission.

The Class
Winner of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Laurent Cantet’s ‘The Class’ adapts a teacher’s autobiography about working at an inner-city school in Paris. The book’s author, François Bégaudeau, plays himself in the film, and the kids are played by non-professional actors. If you’ve been craving a good inspirational-teacher movie, this is it.

Wendy and Lucy
Wendy ( Michelle Williams) sets out from Oregon to Alaska in the hopes of finding a job at a fish cannery. With her dog, Lucy, at her side, Wendy quickly runs into hardships and relies on the generosity of strangers to get by — that is, when strangers are willing to be generous. Kelly Reichardt directs with her trademark nuance and minimalism.

Hunger
In his first film, director Steve McQueen (no, not the dead actor) reenacts the hunger strike waged by IRA member Bobby Sands in 1981. Sands’ mission? Improving conditions for political prisoners like himself. McQueen is a prize-winning visual artist, so you can expect some exceptional imagery.

Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar Wai has given his 1994 martial arts film, ‘Ashes of Time,’ a makeover with new music, new edits and a longer running time. He has also restored the color. The story centers on a bitter man who exiles imself after his one true love rejects him. From his lonely desert outpost, he contracts out assassinations. Luckily for him, there’s hope for his broken heart.

A Christmas Tale
Holiday movies usually come out around Thanksgiving, but here’s a teaser to get you in the mood. Catherine Deneuve stars in this French comedy about a Christmas family reunion. She plays the matriarch of your typical dysfunctional brood: There’s the black sheep and his Jewish girlfriend, a sensitive son and the level-headed dad.

Gomorrah
Based on Roberto Saviano¹s bestselling book, ‘Gomarrah’ is an epic movie about the Camorra crime family, which dominates the area around Naples. Italian director Matteo Garrone weaves five stories together, each demonstrating how deeply the Camorras are entrenched in Neapolitan life. This one made a big splash at Cannes.

Let It Rain
Agnes Jaoui explores family issues and class conflict in her third film, ‘Let It Rain.’ When a feminist author decides to run for political office, she pays a visit to her hometown, where she plans to announce her candidacy.

While there, the son of her family’s housekeeper tries to jumpstart his film career by shooting her for a documentary about successful women. What will prevail — his ineptitude or his efforts?

Summer Hours
Three siblings living all over the world: Paris, New York and Shanghai — are brought together when their mother passes away, leaving them with a large estate and a collection of precious art from a renowned uncle. As they debate whether to put the art in a museum, the siblings come to grips with being motherless and revisiting the country they once called home. It is directed by Olivier Assayas.

Bullet in the Head
No festival would be complete without a voyeur movie. In ‘Bullet in the Head,’ the audience gets to watch a Spanish man of middle age as he goes about his normal life — listening to music, talking on the phone, going to parties, having sex. Director Jaime Rosales withholds details about our mystery man, letting viewers piece his story together.

Che

Hunger


The Class

Changeling

Happy-Go-Lucky

Missing from last night’s debate

New Dylan album to stream on NPR

New Dylan album to stream on NPR.com for a week

NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Dylan’s new album shall be released one week early as a free online stream on National Public Radio’s Web site. NPR Music will stream the entire two-CD, “Tell Tale Signs,” beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday. It will be available for listening until Oct. 7, when the album is officially released by Columbia Records.

“Tell Tale Signs” is the eighth volume of Dylan’s ongoing rarities compilations, titled the “Bootleg Series.” This edition includes out-takes and rare cuts from the last two decades. An alternate version of “Mississippi” — a song from 2001’s “Love and Theft” — was earlier made available as a free download at Amazon.com.

The early album stream is a first for NPR Music, which often provides live concerts for free as podcasts.

The American Ream

Voice of the Day

“Art is a powerful weapon that society, or the powers that be, use to control or direct the way people think. Culture is used to perpetuate the status quo of a society. Even though I’m involved in music for the sake of entertainment, I always hope to offer some kind of enlightenment.”

– Max Roach

Troy Davis Update

The stay of execution granted is of course important but the struggle to save Troy Davis’ life goes on.

The stay was granted only until September 29. On this day the Supreme Court will hear Troy’s appeal for new evidence of his innocence to be considered. If the court decides to hear this appeal, the stay will be extended but if they reject it, the stay will be lifted and the execution will be carried out.

All actions of support and solidarity for Troy must continue. The pressure needs to be kept on.

An innocent man’s life hangs in the balance.

To find out more about Troy’s case and how you can get involved please visit the Troy Anthony Davis Web site.

Click on the link below

Troy Anthony Davis Website

TROY DAVIS GRANTED LAST MINUTE STAY OF EXECUTION!

cnn.com

By Rusty Dornin

JACKSON, Georgia (CNN) — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a last-minute reprieve to a Georgia man fewer than two hours before he was to be executed for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty police officer.
Troy Anthony Davis, 39, has his execution stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Troy Anthony Davis learned that his execution had been stayed when he saw it on television, he told CNN via telephone in his first interview after the stay was announced.

He said he was “thankful to God” for the news that came during an emergency session the U.S. Supreme Court convened.

Davis said “everyone should pray” for the slain officer’s family.

The 39-year-old also said that he is “very grateful for everything that everyone is doing” for him and that he would “accept” whatever decision the Supreme Court rendered in the coming days about his case.

At the Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, a crowd of Davis’ supporters, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, erupted in cheers when Sharpton announced the stay. Some shouted “Hallelujah!”

Davis has long said he didn’t kill Mark MacPhail, a Savannah, Georgia, police officer, and the U.S. Supreme Court was the last option for Davis to have his execution postponed. It was scheduled to move forward at 7 p.m. ET.

Seven of the nine witnesses who initially testified that Davis was the killer have recanted. There was no physical evidence presented at his trial, and no weapon was found. But Davis’ petitions for a new trial have been denied. Learn more about capital punishment in the United States »

The MacPhail family said they were angry about the stay.

“I am angry as can be. I’m disgusted. It should have been over by now,” MacPhail’s mother, Anneliese MacPhail, told CNN. “Nobody thinks about what the victims’ family has gone through again and again.

“I was hoping it would be over today,” she said.

Earlier, she said, “There is no possibility he’s innocent, not according to what’s been said in court.”

MacPhail’s sister Anneli Reaves was outside the prison. She said that if witnesses now say that they lied when they testified that Davis was the killer, they should be charged with perjury.

“It should have happened today,” she said of the execution.

Davis, 39, was convicted in 1991 of killing the officer as he responded to an altercation in a Burger King parking lot.

Earlier Tuesday, Davis refused his last meal, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections, which will still provide him with macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, green beans, lettuce and tomato salad, corn bread, fruit cobbler and tea.

Prison officials said that he was offered ativan, a mild sedative. But Davis refused to take the drug, he said.

Many had asked Georgia to grant Davis a new trial: celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and the Indigo Girls; world leaders such as former President Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI; and former and current U.S. lawmakers like Bob Barr, Carolyn Moseley Braun and John Lewis.

Amnesty International has issued a 39-page report questioning his conviction, and protesters have been gathering at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta this week. .

Davis’ sister, Martina Correia, said she was sleepless Monday night and was spending Tuesday at his side. She said she planned to stay until prison officials told her to leave at 3 p.m.

Before the stay was announced, she said, “We still hope the U.S. Supreme Court will look into my brother’s case and give some relief. We will have a lot of family time with him and recall old times and pray together.”

The Georgia Supreme Court turned down the plea for a stay in Davis’ execution Monday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court “properly has jurisdiction over Davis’ pending petition.”

Troy Davis Case – What’s the Rush?

nytimes.com

What’s the Rush?
By BOB HERBERT

Troy Davis, who was convicted of shooting a police officer to death in the parking lot of a Burger King in Savannah, Ga., is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.

There is some question as to his guilt (even the pope has weighed in on this case), but the odds of Mr. Davis escaping the death penalty are very slim. Putting someone to death whose guilt is uncertain is always perverted, but there*s an extra dose of perversion in this case.

The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on whether to hear a last-ditch appeal by Mr. Davis on Sept. 29. That’s six days after the state of Georgia plans to kill him.

Mr. Davis’s lawyers have tried desperately to have the execution postponed for those few days, but so far to no avail. Georgia is among the most cold-blooded of states when it comes to dispatching prisoners into eternity.

So the lawyers are now trying to get the Supreme Court to issue a stay, or decide before Tuesday on whether it will consider the appeal.

No one anywhere would benefit from killing Mr. Davis on Tuesday, as opposed to waiting a week to see how the Supreme Court rules. So why the rush? The murder happened in 1989, and Mr. Davis has been on death row for 17 years. Six or seven more days will hardly matter.

Most of the time, the court declines to hear such cases.

If that’s the decision this time, Georgia can get on with the dirty business of taking a human life. If the court agrees to hear the appeal, it would have an opportunity to get a little closer to the truth of what actually happened on the terrible night of Aug. 19, 1989, when Officer Mark Allen MacPhail was murdered.

He was shot as he went to the aid of a homeless man who was being pistol-whipped in the parking lot.

Nine witnesses testified against Mr. Davis at his trial in 1991, but seven of the nine have since changed their stories. One of the recanting witnesses, Dorothy Ferrell, said she was on parole when she testified and was afraid that she*d be sent back to prison if she didn*t agree to finger Mr. Davis.

She said in an affidavit: “I told the detective that Troy Davis was the shooter, even though the truth was that I didn’t know who shot the officer.”

Another witness, Darrell Collins, a teenager at the time of the murder, said the police had ‘scared’ him into falsely testifying by threatening to charge him as an accessory to the crime. He said they told him that he might never get out of prison.

“I didn’t want to go to jail because I didn’t do nothing wrong,” he said.

At least three witnesses who testified against Mr. Davis (and a number of others who were not part of the trial) have since said that a man named Sylvester “Redd” Coles admitted that he was the one who had killed the officer.

Mr. Coles, who was at the scene, and who, according to authorities, later ditched a gun of the same caliber as the murder weapon, is one of the two witnesses who have not recanted.

The other is a man who initially told investigators that he could not identify the killer. Nearly two years later, at the trial, he testified that the killer was Mr. Davis.

So we have here a mess that is difficult, perhaps impossible, to sort through in a way that will yield reliable answers. (The jury also convicted Mr. Davis of a nonfatal shooting earlier that same evening on testimony that was even more dubious.)

There was no physical evidence against Mr. Davis, and the murder weapon was never found. As for the witnesses, their testimony was obviously shaky in the extreme, not the sort of evidence you want to rely upon when putting someone to death.

In March, the State Supreme Court in Georgia, in a 4-to-3 decision, denied Mr. Davis’s request for a new trial. The chief justice, Leah Ward Sears, writing for the minority, said: “In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably.”

Amnesty International conducted an extensive examination of the case, documenting the many recantations, inconsistencies, contradictions and unanswered questions. Its report on the case drew widespread attention, both in the U.S. and overseas.

William Sessions, a former director of the F.B.I., has said that a closer look at the case is warranted. And Pope Benedict XVI has urged authorities in Georgia to re-sentence Mr. Davis to life in prison.

Rushing to execute Mr. Davis on Tuesday makes no sense at all.