NYFF '24: "bluish" paints post-COVID malaise in many shades

by Nick Taylor

A quick note of appreciation: I am so excited to have received press accreditation to digitally cover this year’s New York Film Festival. This is pretty amazing! Even if I’m sitting at home, nestling with my man and our cats for a good movie rather than sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Payal Kapadia and Mati Diop, this is a version of a dream fulfilled. Honestly, being able to appreciate a film festival without being separated from the kids might even be the preferable option? Much to consider.

But enough about me! Instead let’s talk about bluish, the very first film I watched as part of this NYFF coverage. Directed by Milena Czernovsky and Lilith Kraxner, bluish follows two unnamed young women played by Leonie Bramberger and Natasha Goncharova, navigating life in an Austrian metropolis that should feel more lively than it is. The city and the protagonists are stumbling through a post-lockdown balance of intimacy and isolation. There’s still noise and color and motion, but it all feels so fragile now, so much harder to participate in. bluish is a sad film, but it’s also one of the most evocative portraits of trying to reintegrate into society and full personhood in the wake of COVID (which is still happening, by the way!!) I’ve seen yet...

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TIFF '24: "I'm Still Here" is a staggering piece of political cinema

by Cláudio Alves

An absence is a scar. You might not see it like you would scarred flesh, but deep down, you feel it. Memories are both a salve and a burning touch that keeps the tissue raised, red and angry. Memories are all that's left in the absence, so they define it as much as they soothe the pain. People are covered in such scars, littered all over their spirit. Places have them, too, like the ghosts of paintings and photographs taken down from the wall, leaving faded patches within a home that is no more. Countries bear them, their history a story of scars. We can learn from them. We have to, for the alternative is forgetting and forgetting is the death of history, of justice. If a country forgets, new scars will come to pass, torn with impunity in a vicious cycle without end. So, treasure the memory and learn to acknowledge the pain of absence. For absence is a scar, and we are our scars.

In his latest film, I'm Still Here, Brazillian director Walter Salles weaves these notions into every frame, articulating a passionate plea. His is a cinema that fights for the national memory and cries, bloody and furious, against forgetting…

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Halfway Honors: The Gold Digger's 2024 Mid-Year Awards Have Been Announced!

by Nick Taylor

DUNE: PART TWO leads with 16 nominations, though CHALLENGERS is swaggering right behind it into that sauna with 15

As some of you may remember from last year, guest contributor Patrick Gratton has been spearheading a group known as the Gold Diggers Awards since 2018. Comprised of critics, cinephiles, festival circuit regulars and trusted besties around the globe, the organization is once again back with their Mid-Year Awards slate. As is tradition, these nominations are solely cultivated from films that received a US release in the first half of 2024. Also in keeping with tradition, these lineups are an eccentric mix of mainstream, arthouse, underground, and international cinema. Where else will you see Dune: Part Two duke it out with the likes of The People's Joker for Best Effects, or held up against Lea Seydoux's other sci-fi thrill The Beast? I love these nominations, and not just cuz I'm a member.

For the best of the best in 24 categories, follow me below the cut . . . .

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The People's Joker Is A Woman of Her Word

by Nick Taylor

That’s right folks: It’s time. The review you’ve all been waiting for. It’s me, talking about The People’s Joker, one of the year’s best films. You’ve had over a week now to see this magnificence in your own homes, to treasure its weird earnestness barely submerged amidst so much scuzzy kitsch, to marvel at such ingenuity despite palpably limited assets, to bemoan the lack of international release or festival screenings even though this would kill at a queer film festival. My two trips to see this in a packed theater, flanked on all sides by queers who were so ready for the madness Vera Drew promised them, rank among the best crowd experiences I’ve ever had, and it’s a genuine bummer more people won’t get to experience The People’s Joker in that environment.

It’s not the release this film deserves, but being even this accessible to a wide audience is what it needs. For those wondering what The People’s Joker is, or need an extra push to check it out, follow me below the cut and learn all about it . . . . 

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Another Todd Haynes Film Bites the Dust

by Nick Taylor

Julianne wouldn't do this to him

Tragedy has struck this afternoon. Todd Haynes' would-be next film is officially dead in the water, two weeks after Joaquin Phoenix stormed off set from Mexico. No reason has been stated yet for why Phoenix has left the production, or why his departure has killed the film outright. Danny Ramirez is still ready to go. Todd Haynes is still ready! Why can't we have nice things?

The pity party continues under the cut . . . .

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