NYFF: "Drive My Car"

by Jason Adams

I've never owned a car or enjoyed driving one, and the supposed romantic allure of that particular activity has always eluded me. I know some people find it a meditative state, a vacuum-sealed trance of sorts where you're both static and in motion at once, simply floating down the road, but it's an experience that's always sent me personally hurtling into a panic. Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), the leading man of writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s new film Drive My Car screening at NYFF this weekend, would find my aversion nutty, and it's his love of long drives that ultimately forms the heart and deepest bond of this turns-out-to-be lovely and moving (in a multitude of ways) movie. It almost convinced me there's something to that whole driving thing! Almost.

Adapted from a short story from famed author Haruki Murakami Drive My Car is by no means a small road trip -- one minute shy of three hours Hamaguchi takes his time getting where he's taking us. And thankfully  the destination's worth the time...

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Gay Best Friend: Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson) in "Sex and the City" (1998 - 2010)

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Stanford (Willie Garson) and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) were an inseparable pair. Willie Garson will be dearly missed.Representation is always important, whether or not it is good or bad, strong or weak. I wanted to start this series because my first encounters with queer characters were in the “gay best friend” characters, both good and bad. Especially for those who grew up in the 90s and 00s, this was the experience of many people in the LGBTQ+ community. 

One of the most frequent and high profile gay best friends during this time was Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), Carrie’s gay best friend and fellow serial dater. Garson passed away last Tuesday at the age of 57 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. His work served as the template for a whole generation of gay characters in film and TV and his work will live on in television history. Stanford made his first appearance in the legendary pilot, which aired on June 6, 1998. From there, he appeared in all seasons, 27 episodes and both movies. Everyone always talks about the four women at the center, but Stanford is one of the most important supporting characters. Garson was an astounding talent that will be greatly missed. In celebration of his life and defining career work, let’s take a look back at the best moments of Stanford Blatch...

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Doc Corner: Emily Cohen Ibañez’s 'Fruits of Labor'

By Glenn Dunks

A movie like Emily Cohen Ibañez’s Fruits of Labor doesn’t need to explicitly say the quiet part out loud. But it does anyway. In its early moments, sitting side-by-side are a scene of a second-generation teenage child of immigrants working to help feed her family by picking strawberries in the Californian morning sun followed by a scene of that same child, a high school senior, in class listening to her teaching discuss ‘working the fields’ and the class/social inequalities that come from this poorly-paid, but essential work.

Furthermore, one doesn’t need to extrapolate very much to see the unavoidable illusions to modern day slavery as Ashley Solis lives in a house where up to 12 families share living spaces and one single bathroom.

It’s not surprising that Oakland-born director Ibañez of Colombian heritage has a history in anthropology. She shows an obvious flare in observing the Solis family, sometimes in uncomfortable close-up. It’s also not surprising that this is only her second feature, following on from her 2015 documentary Bodies at War.

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HollyShorts Pt 1. Riz Ahmed and more...

By Ben Miller

The 17th annual HollyShorts Film Festival is underway virtually and live in Los Angeles and will be running through Friday, October 1.  This festival features a wide array of talented filmmakers presenting films which are under 40 minutes in length. I covered the festival last year where Oscar-winning animated short If Anything Happens I Love You (and other Oscar prospects) premiered. 

The opening days cover a number interesting short films, so here are notes on 9 that I screened including films starring Riz Ahmed and Jovan Adepo...

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Yes No Maybe So: P.T. Anderson's "Licorice Pizza"

by Nathaniel R

Paul Thomas Anderson's ninth feature film is almost upon us. As one of America's most singular auteurs that's reason to celebrate whether or not this turns out to be top tier Anderson or his nadir. Licorice Pizza (which went by the equally odd title Soggy Bottom previously) is due to open on November 26th in select cities followed by a nationwide bow around Christmas. The trailer uses "Life on Mars" by David Bowie from 1971 as its primary soundtrack. The presence of hairdresser turned movie producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) in his Barbra Streisand phase places us even more specifically in the mid 1970s during the peak of Bab's movie stardom when practically every film was a smash hit (Peters and Streisand started dating in '73 and he helped produce A Star is Born in 1976) so on the timeline we're sandwiched directly inbetween Anderson's Inherent Vice and Boogie Nights if you want to rewatch his movies chronologically as they take place for kicks. 

Let's break down the trailer with our Yes No Maybe So system after the jump...

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