NYFF 63: Guadagnino opens, Cooper closes, DDL returns

by Cláudio Alves

As the summer's end comes ever closer, it's that time of the year when cinephiles worldwide vibrate with anticipation and ready themselves for what's to come – the fall festival season. Venice is almost here, TIFF comes after, and the NYFF after that, world premieres as far as the eye can see. And for those who concern themselves with awards, this is the point when the race starts to take some definite shape after months of amorphous speculation. Here, at The Film Experience, we'll be covering all these incredible events, one way or another, with countless reviews coming your way. With that in mind, let's consider some of the festival selections that have been announced lately. Just earlier today, Toronto and New York closed their programs, and there's much to discuss.

Starting with Luca Guadagnino's latest star-studded creation blessing the 63rd NYFF with glamour, provocation, maybe even some controversy…

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Oscar Actor Hierarchy 2024 Edition

by Nathaniel R

Just one more nomination and the Poor Things men will make the list!

When we last updated the male version of this list Anthony Hopkins had yet to win his second Oscar for The Father (2021). Also moving up the list since then are Denzel Washington (who forced an expansion of the throne room itself with his 9th acting nod via Tragedy of Macbeth) and Robert De Niro with his 8th nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon. Despite a few moves up the latter the only "new" entry is Bradley Cooper, scoring his 5th acting nod for Maestro though that poor things duo Mark Ruffalo (just nominated) and Willem Dafoe (just missed)  both feel likely to enter in the next year or three given how often they work and the plum roles that come there way. They have identical Oscar stats with 4 nominations and 0 wins each.   

What follows is a list of Oscar's 35 All Time Favorite Actors. As with the women this royal club is restricted to men with 5 or more nominations. Only the acting statistics are accounted for so George Clooney, for example, is not (yet) ranked...

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Split Decision: “Maestro”

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Nathaniel Rogers and Cláudio Alves on Maestro...

NATHANIEL: Being on the defensive about a movie you love is always confusing. The internet has been throwing darts at Bradley Cooper's compelling and curious Maestro for months now and I will say that I'm glad to not be 'perpetually online' as I once was. For the most part I've been able to enjoy Maestro in piece. Until now in the "split decision" series. Haha. I first saw Maestro at the Paris Theater which is a famous old single-screen theater in Manhattan (the last of its kind here!) and located roughly in between Bernstein's two main NYC residences (The Dakota to the west and Park Avenue to the East). The theater was packed with older folks who knew who Leonard Bernstein was. I went with a group of friends who were visiting for Thanksgiving, two of whom are classical music-obsessed. It was the ideal venue and situation in which to see a flamboyant handsome old-school biopic about a 20th century giant who I was already an enormous fan of. I consider West Side Story the greatest musical ever written and Candide, Wonderful Town, and On the Town, all hold distinct pleasant memories for me from multiple periods in my life as a musical theater aficionado.

I bring this up because personal history and context of the moviegoing experience totally affects people's opinions on movies whether they'll admit to it or not. So, before this conversation I watched the first half of Maestro again as a refresher to make sure I wasn't overly influenced by that very memorable happy first viewing. I still love it on second viewing at home in a far less ideal setting…

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Oscar Volley - Best Actor

For today's Oscar volley, Lynn Lee and Glenn Dunks discuss the Best Actor race.

LYNN: Glenn, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this strongly about the Best Actor race, so I’ll just lay my cards on the table: I really, really want both Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) to be nominated, would love Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) to join them --though I think he’s a long shot-- and really DON’T want Leonardo DiCaprio to get in for Killers of the Flower Moon.

It’s extra personal for me because I saw American Fiction, All of Us Strangers, and The Holdovers back to back at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this year and loved all of them. More to the point, while all three films have their flaws, each one worked like gangbusters largely because of the fantastic acting --especially the outstanding male lead performance...

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Actor-Actress Joint Wins and Nominations: An Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

Since it premiered in Venice, Maestro has had critics and awards pundits abuzz. After its screenings at NYFF, BFI London, and the AFI Fest, the movie's status as one of the season's major contenders only grew. Right now, some are even speculating that with their double act as Leonard and Felicia Bernstein, Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan may be about to accomplish an Oscar feat unrepeated since 1997, when Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt took home the two lead acting prizes for As Good As It Gets. Before that, the only other instances occurred in 1934, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1981, and 1991. Let's dig deeper into this history…

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