The News: All-Positive Friday!

Students at Ghetto Film School (Photo: NYT)

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Some of today's more upbeat movie news of note from around New York:

--We haven't had one of these positive news round-ups in a while, and I've definitely been feeling the psychic trauma welling since well before Toronto and the whole episode with the Hack Whom Shall Not Be Named. What better way to flush it all than a breezy read-through of Gothamist's recent chat with young Squid and the Whale, Roger Dodger and Hunting Party actor and Reeler pal Jesse Eisenberg? "I get some street cred living in New York," he told John Del Signore. "And people think you're a better actor -- hiring a 'New York guy' for a film in LA is like the producers splurging for expensive lighting equipment." (H/T: Vulture)

--Some of the best critical work coming out of Toronto may be that of Time Out NY's Joshua Rothkopf, whose regular updates to the TONY blog continue today with odd but firm praise for Todd Haynes: "I’m Not There (is) less a Dylan biography than an abstract feat of Lester Bangs–like music criticism crammed with frizzy doodles and mod furniture. I’m fairly sure this is a brilliant film, and I don’t even like Dylan that much. As with Velvet Goldmine, it’s indebted to cinema (8 1/2, among others), as well as Haynes’s consistent theme of self-reinvention at high personal cost (Safe, Far from Heaven).

--I've been pushing back my Ghetto Film School story for a while now, but I guess Ben Sisario's spiffy profile from Thursday's NY Times takes care of that. Now what?

--The art-smote-by-Nazis doc The Rape of Europa opens today at the Angelika and Paris cinemas; allow me to point you back to Paddy Johnson's coverage of the film from its NY Jewish Film Festival appearance last January: "I'm almost surprised when I discover features that bring something totally new to the table. ... (W)ith rare exception, the filmmakers restrict themselves to the relatively unknown story of art collecting as a Nazi pastime." She also calls the film "virtually flawless," so consider yourself advised.

Posted at September 14, 2007 9:34 AM