First Look: Richard Linklater’s ‘Last Flag Flying,’ Will Open New York Film Festival

To be honest, the last thing I want to think about right now is the fall. Just let me bask in the summer heat while it’s here. But alas, the New York Film Festival is making cinephiles turn their attention to the latter part of the year, as they are the first major fest to announce an opening film.

Richard Linklater‘s “Last Flag Flying” has been selected to kick off NYFF on September 28th. Based on the novel by Daryl Ponicsan, this quasi-sequel to the Jack Nicholson classic “The Last Detail” stars Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne, and catches up with the characrters in post-9/11 America. Here’s the synopsis from NYFF:

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In Richard Linklater’s lyrical road movie, as funny as it is heartbreaking, three aging Vietnam-era Navy vets—soft-spoken Doc (Steve Carell), unhinged and unfiltered Sal (Bryan Cranston), and quietly measured Mueller (Laurence Fishburne)—reunite to perform a sacred task: the proper burial of Doc’s only child, who has been killed in the early days of the Iraqi Invasion. As this trio of old friends makes its way up the Eastern seaboard, Linklater gives us a rich rendering of friendship, a grand mosaic of common life in the USA during the Bush era, and a striking meditation on the passage of time and the nature of truth. To put it simply, Last Flag Flying is a great movie from one of America’s finest filmmakers.

The New York Film Festival runs from September 28th to October 15th. “Last Flag Flying” will be released in cinemas by Amazon.