It's been a week since i've posted anything, all this week went to press screenings at the New York Film Festival; however, Tuesday was a killer. They had four screenings. Didn't feel i ahd the stamina for all four, so made a decision to see the final two: the Brazilian retrospective of "Cat Skin" (short) and "The Conspirators" by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, and Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "Flight of the Red Balloon".

However, Friday i didn't see anything, because my allergies were acting up so severely that my eyes were all puffed out and my lips were swollen. I could barely see, so i took an antihistamine and went back to bed... but when i woke up again, i was still feeling a little woozy, but about 12:45 i decided to leave to get to the 2 o'clock screening, but after waiting in the station for a while, i kept feeling hotter and hotter, and when the subway reached 59th Street, i got off and turned around and came back... and took a nap! So i missed "The Orphanage" (which is set for release; Picturehouse is the distributor) and "The Man From London" (which is the latest from Bela Tarr; i can't imagine that it won't show up somewhere in the near future).

But in addition to "the Conspirators" and "Flight of the Red Balloon", saw Carlos Reygadas's "Stellet Licht", the short "Death to the Tin Man" (starring - of all people - Sophie Holman, Bob and Elizabeth Murray's daughter!), Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales" (and yes, Asia Argento does tongue-kiss a dog, and Sylvia Miles's voice is the last thing you hear), Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (another signature film in the Roumanian New Wave), Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine".

I also went to the press screening for the Anton Corbijn biopic of Ian Curtis, "Control". Which i thought was quite lovely.

On Friday, while i was trying to get my allergies under control, i watched "This Above All" on Fox Movie Channel (the first movie that Joan Fontaine did after her succesive triumphs in "Rebecca" and "Suspicion"). Later i watched Anthony Pellissier's "The Rocking Horse Winner", which really is quite extraordinary. I had seen the film once before, but all i really remembered was the stuff with the boy and the rocking h9orse. I didn't remember the stuff with the parents: a perfect encapsulation of the Lawrentian sexual battles.

Well, today there was the Ragamuffin Parade, the annual pre-Halloween Parade here in Bay Ridge. So that was fun.