The 2024 edition of the New York Film Festival continues to offer the best of cinema from around the world. Here are some of our favorites so far.
‘Misericordia’
It seems the concept of a chaotic bisexual crosses cultural boundaries. French director Alain Guiraudie, best known for 2013’s erotic thriller Stranger by the Lake, returns with another sexy, sharp and darkly comedic exploration of lust and desire with a raucous romp through the French mountainside. When Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) returns to his small hometown to attend the funeral of his former boss, it causes quite a stir among the small population. Not least of all Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand), the macho-posturing son of the recently departed, who seems to detest the very presence of Jérémie. His interactions with the townsfolk only intensifies the embers of resentment before an everything is set aflame.
While Misericordia starts as a quiet, slow-burn drama, a moment of violence quickly shifts into a crime thriller laced with a hilarious, nearly slapstick comedy of errors that is only intensified by the fact that we don’t truly know anything about any of the characters’ motivations. Is Jérémie intentionally trying to wreak havoc on the town? Is he simply bored? Repressed? Who deserves what? Those questions are, for the most part, left unanswered. Or perhaps the answer is simple: desire makes us fools.
‘No Other Land’
“We have no other land.” That’s what a mother cries as she wants helplessly as Israeli soldiers protect a bulldozer as it rips into her home in the West Bank, the center of the Israel-Palestine conflict at the time. Her daughter sits in the sand nearby. Her expression is conflicted. There’s confusion and fear but mostly it feels that the camera captures her innocence. The cameraman is Basel Adra, a Palestinian lawyer, journalist and activist from Masafer Yatta. That’s where he films the destruction of the only land that he has called his home.
Over and over we watch these scenes play. One time it’s a school demolished. In another, a farm where chickens are trapped under the rubble. But then, we watch as a group sits around a fire just talking about their day. Perhaps about the destruction, perhaps not. A reminder that this is everyday life. The wonder of No Other Land isn’t just the urgency of its story but how true its perspective feels. In an impactful would-be final scene, Basel and Yuval sit outside late at night when Yuval chides, “when are we gonna get married?” The pair joke about it before a solemness falls over them. “Maybe one day” is their answer. No Other Land is a movie of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. A testament to the human spirit, the power of activism and friendship. It doesn’t supply any answers. But maybe it’s an answer itself.
‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’
It takes a village to raise a child… it also takes one to traumatize one. At the center of director-writer Rungano Nyoni follow-up to her debut feature I Am Not A Witch is the concept of family—and the challenges and strife they can cause. When we meet Shula (Susan Chardy) she’s driving down a dark backwoods road dressed in Missy Elliott cosplay as she comes across the body of her uncle in the road. Her reaction is stoic. Unbothered. Like she regularly comes across a dead body. It is the perfect introduction to the slightly surrealistic world that On Becoming a Guinea Fowl takes place in and the small slice of Zambia it shows.
As her family gathers to prepare for the funeral, a vivid portrait of a family and its interlocking webs and branches emerges. That portrait is as darkly comedic as it is poignant and at deeply upsetting in the way that it captures the complicated nuances of family. For some, it’ll be a reflection, especially those who come from cultures where extended family is put at the forefront. The story, at times opaque, drawing on mysticism, and others wrought in excruciating detail, twists itself into an emotional revelation of its true intent. A stunning sophomore feature.
All these films are currently playing at the 2024 New York Film Festival. For more information about screening times, click here.
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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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