The News: Stuart Auteurs it Up for NYFF45

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

--Jamie Stuart, esteemed short filmmaker and my own murderer, returns to his annual New York Film Festival dispatches with this relatively cryptic trip through pre-production, press conferences and what I promise will be the last prolonged interaction with Wes Anderson and The Darjeeling Limited to run on this site. Worth viewing for the opening shot alone, but heartbreaking for its Ferraralessness. Maybe Abel is forthcoming? One can only hope. Nay, one must hope.

--Apparently Frank Lucas, the early '70s Harlem drug kingpin soon to be immortalized in Ridley Scott's American Gangster, is set for some kind of American folk-hero coronation. Or so says the Guardian, which on Sunday surveyed our country's fascination with outlaws and actually quotes a "popular culture" expert from Riverside as saying, "Every male adolescent in the country has a poster of Scarface on his bedroom." Christ. And you thought Neville Chamberlain took things at face value.

--The Reeler will head to its first Woodstock Film Festival on Oct. 12; if there's any doubt it's for real, just double-check that line-up and have a glance at Cynthia Werthamer's preview/profile from Sunday's Times. Now I'll never find a hotel.

--I don't remember much of Friday's opening night party for the New York Film Festival, except that I photographed Tilda Swinton and Wes Anderson regular Waris Ahluwalia when their attempts at self-portraiture left something to be desired. And that Eamonn Bowles was upset about the Mets. (Who can blame him? Memo to Magnolia Pictures staff: Hide the sharp objects today.) Bless Glenn Kenny's heart, better notes are now available at his blog, as is a far more palpable self-respect than I carried over from the weekend.

Posted at October 1, 2007 7:45 AM