NYFF 64: "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," William Greaves threw a party like no other

by Cláudio Alves

Here at The Film Experience, we love to celebrate centennials, and yesterday marked a big one. On October 8th, 1926, William Greaves was born in Harlem, and would go on to become one of the most important figures in 20th-century American non-fiction filmmaking. More specifically, his legacy rests on documenting African-American life, spanning from avant-garde exercises like the Symbiopsychotaxiplasm duology to more conventional fare like his Ida B. Wells profile for the American Experience series. And though he died in 2014, Greaves’ cinema lives on in ways that defy convention. Through the efforts of his son, director David Greaves, and granddaughter, producer Liani Greaves, the great cineaste is gifting us a new film from beyond the grave. 

Indeed, he is inviting you, the viewer, to a most exclusive cocktail party at the home of the one and only Duke Ellington. It’ll be a gathering of artists and intellectuals, the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s and 30s. Or it was, for this happened already, in August 1972, when said party took place and the director recorded it all. From that wealth of footage comes Once Upon a Time in Harlem, left unfinished for half a century before it was completed and premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Neon bought the rights then and will release it theatrically next week, on October 16. In the meantime, this ghostly party from a bygone era, remembering an even older day, has been doing the festival circuit, spellbinding audiences wherever it goes, including TIFF and the NYFF…

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Cannes at Home: “Moulin Rouge!” @25

by Cláudio Alves

The 79th Cannes Film Festival is upon us and, as ever, Elisa is on the ground to report directly from the Croisette. Sadly, most of us can only watch from afar. For years, I struggled with festival-related FOMO, but one little annual series here at The Film Experience has helped combat it. Obviously, I’m referring to “Cannes at Home,” the rubric I’m happy to revive once more, perusing past films from the various cineastes in the Main Competition that are widely available. Alas, it’s very rare for a title vying for the Palme to open celebrations at Cannes, and this year is no different. Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss marked the fest’s official start, but it’s playing Out of Competition so the director’s work won’t be showcased here, in “Cannes at Home.”

Instead, let’s rewind to 2001, when the Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 54th edition. A quarter century ago, the Opening Film was actually among the competition lineup. It was none other than Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!, the best movie musical yet produced since the millennium changed. Damn, 21st century cinema peaked early…

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Artist Tribute: Regina Hall in the Scary Movie Franchise

by Nick Taylor

We are ringing in the opening weekend for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new American epic One Battle After Another by celebrating a legend. While early reviews suggest an impressive performance likely to be overshadowed by the bigger challenges of her co-stars, I’m simply excited to see her kill it again on the big screen. Anything for this actress to keep building the goodwill necessary to one day swan across Oscar’s stage and receive the adulation she obviously deserves. I am, of course, talking about Regina Hall, one of the funniest people working in the pictures. With this year being the 25th anniversary of the very first Scary Movie (yes I know it was released in July, hush), we take this day to honor Hall’s superlative turns as Brenda Meeks across the first four films in the franchise . . . 

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Happy Cannesiversary to "Dancer in the Dark"!!

by Nick Taylor

Happy (belated) Mother’s Day, everybody!! I did not plan on watching Lars von Trier’s Palme-winning musical tragedy at the break of dawn on May 11th, but sometimes fate gives you a funny little coincidence to make a work of art even more resonant than it would already be. Dancer in the Dark ranked high on the list of films I should absolutely have seen by now, based on literally every aspect of my tastes and personality, and the 25th anniversary of its Cannes premiere made for the perfect excuse to finally check this out . . . .

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Happy Cannesiversary to "In the Mood for Love"!!

by Nick Taylor

We at TFE are wishing a Happy 25th Birthday to Wong Kar-Wai’s melancholic romantic drama In the Mood for Love, which debuted on this day at Cannes. It went home with the Best Actor award and the Technical Grand Prize for its cinematography and editing, and if you ask around there’s a good chance folks would say it still got short-shrifted by Luc Besson’s jury. Its stamp on the cinema firmament, an apex of the sumptuous mood and style Wong made his name on, is beyond reproach. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve almost certainly felt its reverberations in art house cinema writ large, on individual directors like Barry Jenkins, aesthetic blogs or photoshoots, and an entire chapter of Everything Everywhere All At Once. More importantly, if you haven’t seen it then go watch it! Right now! You’re back? Then let’s discuss this masterpiece . . . .

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