Michael Mann Ferrari disguises the fissures of masculinity in the typical rhythms of biographical fare, but the sheer amount of texture and feeling hidden between the lines — and within Adam Driver’s craggy, steely performance — is staggering. Intimate, somber failings juxtaposed with screeching banshee metal and spitfire ambition, their non-reconciliation a feature and not a bug: a full-blooded film years in the making. Minor spoilers ahead…

David Fincher’s The Killer — a deceptively layered hitman yarn — closes out this year’s New York Film Festival. With a minimalist veneer that belies its toothy takedown of capitalism, hustle culture, and our deteriorating gig economy, Fincher’s latest mines new tensions from the disciplined loner trope. Many will mistake The Killer’s stripped-down trappings for a minor work, but it’s every bit as incisive and wrinkled as Fight Club or The Social Network.

A thorny balancing act of different tones that drills straight into sordid psychodrama and the elusive nature of performance, Todd Haynes’ May December is a masterpiece of high wire cinema. As expected, Natalie Portman and Juliane Moore are tremendous, but it’s Charles Melton — as a boy stuck in time and a discomfiting stasis — who runs away with the entire thing. May December will make your head spin. Minor spoilers ahead…

“The closer you look, the harder you fall.” Park Chan-wook cross-pollinates a police procedural with a swooning, femme fatale romance and it’s every bit as good as you think it will be. Swirling around two lost souls navigating a web of murder, deceit, and desire to desperately cling to their perverse affair, Decision to Leave is a sensual puzzle box — and one of the year’s best films. Tang Wei is sensational. Minor spoilers ahead…

Director Todd Field’s first film in over 16 years, Tár follows a polymath maestro as her career implodes by her own hand. A stark, thorny confrontation of the ego and arrogance that come hand-in-hand with genius, the stunning devolution of Lydia Tár is abetted by one of the great director-actor pairings. Minor spoilers ahead…

Long-delayed and eagerly anticipated, Paul Verhoeven’s incisive take on “nunsploitation” is finally here. There will be many to point out Benedetta’s racy sex scenes and its high lesbian camp, but the film is so much more than that. A provocative clapback against Puritanism, Catholic hypocrisy, and the shackles we place upon women’s bodies, Benedetta once again proves Verhoeven’s directorial mettle as cinema’s resident satirist. Minor spoilers ahead…

After multiple COVID-related delays and years of anticipation, Dune is finally here. Capturing the majesty and scope of Frank Herbert’s tome of myth, Denis Villeneuve’s vision is faithfully immense, transportive, and most importantly, accessible. Like its title states, this is very much a Part One, so any review or evaluation rests upon provision, but it’s difficult to defy the gravitational pull of Dune’s meticulous world-building and gorgeous craft, even as it keeps its characters in the shadows of its sprawling grandeur. Minor spoilers ahead…

Jane Campion’s first film in over a decade, The Power of the Dog, is making waves at the New York Film Festival. A simmering domestic drama amidst the rolling mountains of cowboy country, Campion’s welcome return to cinema delivers poetry in motion and Benedict Cumberbatch’s career-best performance. Upending the rawhide masculinity of turn-of-the-century Montana, The Power of the Dog’s seeping venom sneaks up on you in an arresting slow burn. Minor spoilers ahead…

The New York Film Festival lineup is full of winners this year, but even in a field of remarkable cinema, Julia Ducournau’s Titane stands out. A film that contains multitudes, Ducournau’s followup to 2016’s Raw navigates the horrorscapes of the New Flesh, exploring gender, sex, violence, and the enveloping desire for human connection. Titane is shocking, sweet, and shockingly sweet - one of the year’s best films. Minor spoilers ahead…

My coverage of this year’s New York Film Festival begins with Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. An abridged, yet faithful, adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famed play, Coen’s black and white stunner gives captivating reason for its own existence. With stark, gorgeous visuals and dynamic performances, The Tragedy of Macbeth finds crevices and spaces unexplored in a familiar story. Minor spoilers ahead…

As hard as it might be to believe, 2021’s New York Film Festival marks my first ever in-person film festival as accredited press. After two years of covering film festivals virtually, it’ll be an exhilarating new experience to finally take in NYFF the way it was meant to be: with packed crowds at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. This year’s lineup is killer: the highly anticipated Dune, and new films from legends such as Jane Campion, Paul Verhoeven, Wes Anderson, and this year’s Palme d’Or Winner Julia Ducournau. Below, you can find my entire coverage - all the reviews and dispatches - from the festival…

Because of COVID-19 pandemic this year, it was impossible for me to write full-length reviews for everything I saw at NYFF. So, here’s a special edition of Strange Harbors Capsule Reviews, covering an epic philosophical debate, the premiere of director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, and new films from Jia Zhangke and Sofia Coppola.

Azazel Jacobs directs a memorably salty Michelle Pfeiffer in his adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s acclaimed novel, French Exit. The story of a wealthy heiress who moves to Paris with her son in the wake of financial insolvency, the film hews closely to its source material, but has difficulty accessing the text’s spirit. Even with Pfeiffer’s wickedly funny performance, an eclectic supporting cast, and deWitt’s own screenplay, French Exit wobbles in a scattered capriciousness that’s difficult to shake.

Acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar makes his English-language debut with The Human Voice. A raw and emotional one-hander starring Tilda Swinton, the short film expertly combines an exquisitely staged production with a fiery element, breathing cinematic life into Jean Cocteau’s stage play. A mesmerizing cross section of Almodóvar’s directorial style, Swinton’s artful performance, and Cocteau’s monodrama, The Human Voice is a tour de force on multiple levels.