The New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) has been growing in stature and cultural notoriety for decades, and now, for its 36th year, it is offering its grandest presentation yet for movie lovers. This October 23 – 27, the Oscar®-qualifying festival is set to unleash over 133 films in competition, including some of the year’s most anticipated films, as well as showcase screenings from highly acclaimed auteurs like these:
JAY KELLY (Centerpiece Film)
Noah Baumbach writes and directs George Clooney in a role he seems born to play, as a legendary movie star in”Jay Kelly”. Traversing Europe on a soul-searching journey of self-discovery, Kelly is joined by loyal manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as he reckons with the nature of his own fame and tries to find a bit of humanity amidst the chaos.
It’s been a minute since Clooney has let himself be truly vulnerable on screen, and Baumbach (Writer/Director of “Frances Ha” and “A Marriage Story”) seems to be just the right excavator to pull the actor away from the movie star persona. As the centerpiece film of the festival, “Jay Kelly” hopes to be as crowd-pleasing as it is insightful, and a grand time at the movies.
IS THIS THING ON? (Spotlight Film)
Bradley Cooper has made more than a bit of a splash for himself with his first two directorial efforts, “A Star is Born” and “Maestro”, both grand musical dramas with himself in a central role. For “Is This Thing On?” Cooper settles further behind the camera, saving the lead role for Will Arnett (“Arrested Development”) as a recently divorced man trying to find meaning in his new life as a comic in New York City.
Decidedly more intimate than his previous work, Cooper seems to be unlocking the inherent melanchony that Arnett has previously only tapped into in voice work for “Bojack Horseman” and weaponizing it for cinematic gain. Whether “Is This Thing On?” is funnier than it is sad or sadder than it is funny is yet to be seen, but with Cooper’s directorial track record near perfect, this is certainly one to watch.
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (Closing Night Film)
Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” and follow-up “Glass Onion” represent the cultural coronation of one of our finest writer/directors. Johnson, who began his career with the Joseph Gordon Levitt-starring high school noir “Brick”, has been doing steady yeoman’s work in movies and TV for nearly two decades. Any episode you remember well from “Breaking Bad”, he probably directed it. The best Star Wars movie since “The Empire Strikes Back”, he wrote and directed that too. But it was in teaming up with Daniel Craig that Johnson finally received the flowers he’s most deserved, earning rampant critical and commercial acclaim for his improbable series of modern Agatha Christie homages.
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” features Craig’s Benoit Blanc tackling an impossible murder amongst a church congregation, with a star-studded cast filling out the potential suspects, including Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, and Andrew Scott. As the Closing Night film of the festival, the NOFF surely knows how to end the festivities with a bang.
This is just a small taste of what movie lovers can expect to enjoy at this year’s NOFF, not even including Hedda from director Nia DaCosta and starring Tessa Thompson in the titular role, and HIKARI’s Rental Family, starring recent Oscar winner Brendan Fraser.
Stretching across the city with venues including The Broad Theater, Contemporary Art Center, The Prytania Theatre, The Mahalia Jackson Theater, The Historic New Orleans Collection, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum, the NOFF is an artistic institution worth celebrating and a must-see staple of the New Orleans cultural calendar.
Let’s all go to the movies!
You’ll be glad you did.
All Access Passes, Six Film Passes, Student/Teacher Passes, and Virtual Passes are now available for purchase, with Individual tickets on sale to NOFS members September 25 (12 PM CST) and general public on October 2 (12 PM CST). To view the complete NOFF film guide, visit neworleansfilmsociety.org/lineup-events.
