Many of the world’s most prestigious film festivals happen elsewhere — Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, SXSW — but BAMCinematek always has your cinephile back every summer with their BAMcinemaFest festival. Carefully curating the highlights of festivals earlier in the year for indie treasures and dumpster-diving for deep cuts that might have been lost along the way, BAMcinemaFest puts a terrific spotlight on worthy films for Brooklyners and New Yorkers.
Filmmaker driven — young auteurs like Alex Ross Perry, David Lowery, Gillian Robespierre and many more are featured — BAMcinemaFest is perfect for the movie lover who’s not quite graduated to world traveler who can fly to every festival abroad. BAMcinemaFest kicks off tonight with “Gemini.” And that’s the tip of the iceberg of cinematic treats to come.
“Gemini”
Director: Aaron Katz
Cast: Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz, John Cho, Greta Lee, Michelle Forbes, Nelson Franklin, Ricki Lake
Synopsis: One of the finest independent filmmakers working today, Aaron Katz (“Cold Weather,” BAMcinemaFest 2010) returns to BAMcinemaFest with this stylishly seductive, LA-set murder mystery. Jill (Kirke) is the unflappable personal assistant to Heather (Kravitz), a volatile Hollywood starlet, whom Jill protects from the unforgiving glare of the media. When Heather is found dead and suspicion falls on Jill, the young assistant embarks on a labyrinthine investigation to uncover the killer and prove her innocence. Bathed in a moody, noir atmosphere, “Gemini” is both a sleek guessing-game thriller and a canny dissection of image, identity, celebrity, and the city of Los Angeles.
Why It’s Anticipated: This absolutely terrific film is a triumph of programming. No offense to SXSW where it premiered, but this movie should have debuted at a bigger film festival like Sundance or even the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. “Gemini” has been overlooked, but, as the opening night selection, BAMcinemaFest clearly knows the value of the film. Here’s our SXSW review.
“A Ghost Story”
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo
Synopsis: Director David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” BAMcinemaFest 2013) reteams with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara in this hypnotic drift through time and eternity. After his sudden death in a car accident, a man (Affleck) returns as a ghost — enrobed in a classic white bed sheet — to the Texas home he shared with his wife (Mara). It’s the beginning of a vigil that stretches through centuries past and present as he bears silent witness to the home’s changing inhabitants and transformations wrought by time. Rendered in spectral, gorgeously gauzy imagery, “A Ghost Story” grows into a profound and, yes, haunting rumination on mortality, impermanence, and life after death.
Why It’s Anticipated: Well, beyond the cast and director being tantalizing enough prospectus, we saw it at Sundance this year and absolutely loved it. Consider it not just a must-see of BAMcinemaFest, but of 2017, period. Here’s our review from Sundance.
“Golden Exits”
Director: Alex Ross Perry
Cast: Emily Browning, Adam Horovitz, Mary-Louise Parker, Lily Rabe, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Sevigny
Synopsis: Wunderkind director Alex Ross Perry (“Listen Up Philip,” “Queen Of Earth“) returns with another biting comedy of unease built around a dynamic ensemble cast. Lovingly shot in 16mm by cinematographer extraordinaire Sean Price Williams, “Golden Exits” trains its sights on a bevy of Brooklyners whose innermost insecurities are unleashed by the destabilizing presence of a young Australian woman (Browning). As is his specialty, Perry creates a fully realized micro-universe of compellingly prickly, complex characters in the midst of quiet upheavals.
Why It’s Anticipated: Playing in a Woody Allen-esque, Roman Polanski or Philip Roth-like milieu along with a heavily astringent bite, Perry has become that rarified indie filmmaker whose every release is worth checking out. Here’s our Sundance review.
“Ingrid Goes West”
Director: Matt Spicer
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Wyatt Russell, Billy Magnussen
Synopsis: Ingrid Thorburn (Plaza) is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing cyber “Likes” for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane (Olsen) is an Instagram famous “influencer” whose perfectly curated, boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid’s latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to Los Angeles and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star’s life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF. Built around a brilliantly disarming performance from Aubrey Plaza, “Ingrid Goes West” is a caustically funny journey into the dark side of our obsessively on-brand, Insta-perfect age.
Why It’s Anticipated: Well, beyond the fact that it won the big screenwriting award at Sundance earlier this year, Spicer’s film is a hilarious meditation on social media obsessiveness and FOMO with the cool kids. Here’s our review from Sundance.
