NYFF63 Opening Weekend

Alice Tully Hall might be the best space that I have ever had the pleasure of watching a film in. The ceiling rises far above, making way for floor and balcony seating as if you were in an opera house. It is not technically IMAX, but it could have been with the size of the screen present in the theater. NYFF also announced that the space had been newly fitted with Dolby Atmos. The whole space feels like a concert hall, finely tuned purely for motion pictures. Every seat, all 1,085, was full, and unlike at AMC or Regal theaters, not a single phone lit up the dark. This hall truly belongs to the New York Film Festival. 

Friday night offered two screenings, 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM, and I went to the latter, overdressed in “smart cocktail” attire after taking the invitation too literally. The crowd was incredibly diverse, with some dressed in suits and others who opted for shorts, tees, and backpacks; truly a New York version of “formal wear.” Listing a dress code without enforcing it feels pointless, yet the eclectic outfits did not kill the mood. This year also marks the first New York Film Festival under a new partner, Rolex, which Film at Lincoln Center announced in January as its official partner (which the festival does not let you forget). 

The ceremony before After The Hunt saw NYFF executives welcome the crowd, followed by director Luca Guadagnino, who took the stage with the movie’s cast, including Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny, and Will Price. Film at Lincoln Center announced the film’s selection for Opening Night back in July and framed it as the North American premiere of the film. The prerelease buzz surrounding the movie cooled off after its showing at Venice. The world premiere received praise for its production quality, but still received doubts about the story itself, especially its handling of a campus #MeToo allegation. Some found the ambiguity at the end to be sharp, while others thought it seemed evasive of the main issue at hand. In this film, Roberts plays a celebrated Yale professor just on the brink of receiving tenure, whose pupil (Edibiri) launches an accusation against the professor's close colleague (Garfield). Themes of power dynamics, old relationships, and long-lasting grievances further confuse what the “truth” really is by the end of the film. 

The movie is finely made but is dramatically gaunt. Guadagnino controls his direction to the point of coolness; he clearly displays his skill as a director, but the script keeps promising a thematic explosion that it never quite delivers. The film seems to hover between certainty and doubt. While in theory that sounds interesting enough, in execution, the final movements lean on a sensitive ambiguity that feels less like the main characters bracing a challenge in life and more like them escaping. This choice essentially undercuts both Roberts and Edibiri’s characters’ perspectives on the central issue while dampening the moral tones the movie had been cultivating. I left missing the emotion I felt in Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name or the nuance of Challengers. Still, the performances are strong across the board. Roberts finds herself as a walled-off figure of authority who has stark moments of vulnerability while Garfield is at his best when his character’s mood violently sways. The young star Edibiri excels at delivering a particularly human performance that draws the viewer deeper into the question of ambiguity in the film’s central story. While critics have disagreed about the film’s message, most sources still credit the cast with their strong performances. Post screening, the afterparty at Tavern on the Green was a welcome decompressing space. While After The Hunt definitely grapples with some delicate themes, as the Roberts character says herself, “Not everything is supposed to be comfortable.”

Sunday’s Spotlight Gala is the NYFF screening reserved for “significant and anticipated” features outside the main slate of movies. The festival announced Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere as the Spotlight Gala in August. The crowd’s atmosphere certainly lived up to the hype of the name of the screening. Cooper came out to thank the crowd and introduce the movie before the lights dimmed. The Spotlight showcase is a moment that holds a film on a pedestal, as it is essentially a curated special presentation for movies that the festival wants to make sure to honor. Cooper’s film makes a daring choice by not doing the typical nobody-to-superstar pipeline biopic. Instead, the film focuses on a stretch in the early 1980s when Springsteen retreated from sold-out stadium shows into a four-track recorder in a secluded bedroom in his New Jersey home, recording what came to be known as the album Nebraska, while simultaneously battling depression, family drama, and questions of purpose. 

The film paints a picture of an artist stripping away any embellishments in order to discover what truly matters, all while confronting past experiences that have caused the most harm. Jeremy Allen White’s performance is the clear main attraction of the film. He represents Springsteen’s very essence—this is no mere surface-level impression. Every single small physical detail delivers, but the emotion in the face and eyes of White really sells his portrayal. The actor has talked about finding a personal connection to Springsteen, and you can feel that in his quieter moments. Stephen Graham, known for his recent Emmy-winning performance in Adolescence, adds a gritty, hurting weight to the movie as Springsteen’s father. In his cinematic debut, young actor Matthew Anthony Pellicano is a real standout. Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau mixes a hardworking manager with warmth, humor, and friendship. The filmmaking itself is confident. While there are some moments of the film that showcase hardcore rock and roll, highlighting Springsteen’s rockstar side of his persona, Cooper seemed to prefer the more intimate moments, as highlighted by the sound choice. He understands that a movie about an album like Nebraska must honor negative space as much as tempo. Each time one of Springsteen’s songs enters, it does so in a way that blends ever so smoothly and seems to emanate just the right feelings in that specific moment. Still, I think the film leans on some familiar biopic semantics. The overall effect is still good, but it just is not quite as original as its subject matter deserves. That said, however, choosing to make a studio-released biopic about the making of a record as sentimental as Nebraska is a bold but welcome ploy. 

After the credits rolled, Cooper returned to the stage for a standing ovation, followed by actors Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffman, and Matthew Pellicano. Following the star-studded cast came a welcome surprise as Jon Landau and Bruce Springsteen himself joined the stage. Springsteen spoke briefly, giving a poignant speech speaking on “dangerous times” and the current state of the government’s affairs amid controversies surrounding the president and media censorship. He then performed the song “Land of Hope and Dreams” live for the audience to enjoy and reflect upon. Going from watching a recreation of an artist’s voice and legacy to seeing the very artist and hearing the true voice in person was an incredible experience. The evening then moved into a reception/afterparty held at Ascent Lounge and Porter House in Columbus Circle, where the cast made brief appearances, mingled with guests, and then swiftly made their exits. 

Opening weekend at NYFF was an exceptional first-ever experience at a film festival. After The Hunt opens up a conversation being discussed everywhere. Its technical achievements as a movie certainly stand out, and its performances are powerful. Still, its ambiguous ending does not carry the weight that the director was aiming for. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, by contrast, works because it keeps its focus tight. Instead of running through the hits or turning Springsteen into a legendary figure right away, it centers in on a tough, defining period of the artist’s career. It isn’t perfect, but it feels human and lived in. It is especially driven by a lead performance that should convince people who only know Jeremy Allen White from television that he has what it takes to be a true movie star. Tying the weekend together is the venue itself. Alice Tully Hall really is as great as people claim it is. The new Rolex endorsement is hard to miss but does not get in the way of the films. Friday’s film left me unsettled and contemplative, while Sunday’s sent me out on an emotional high. The experience as a whole was remarkable; the atmosphere, the swarms of fellow cinephiles, the films, the speeches, the performances, and everything else in between truly demonstrate the value and importance of going to film festivals. 

Miles Conn is a staff writer at Double Exposure. He is a third year at Columbia College studying Film & Media. His top four favorite films are Metropolitan (1990), American Graffiti, A Summer’s Tale, and Rushmore. 

@milesdconn