What You’ve Missed at New York Film Festival (So Far)

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Beginning September 26th, passionate movie lovers in New York City have been heading to Alice Tully Hall for the 63rd New York Film Festival. This year’s festival includes acclaimed films from major events like Cannes, Venice, and Toronto, as well as some unexpected world premieres – including a new movie from Bradley Cooper about the world of stand-up comedy and a film from Daniel Day-Lewis marking his return to acting, made with his son, Ronan. Whether you’re traveling there on the A train or following along from afar, here’s a look at the best moments from this year’s NYFF.

A stacked slate

Vulture’s movie fans have compiled a list of the films they’re most excited about at this year’s festival. Bilge Ebiri highly recommends Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, calling it one of his favorites from Venice. Alison Willmore is looking forward to a double feature of Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25 and Dracula. Rachel Handler urges everyone to check out Kelly Reichardt’s unique heist film, The Mastermind, which stars Josh O’Connor in a role where he’s clearly out of his depth. Joe Reid is particularly enthusiastic about Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice, suggesting it’s best enjoyed with an audience ready to laugh. Eric Vilas-Boas is keen to see Mamoru Hosoda’s Scarlet. And I can assure you that Lav Diaz’s sprawling, worldwide story, Magellan, is worth every minute of its long running time. If you need even more options, we’ve also recommended another 20 films (and there are twice as many available at the festival!). – Fran Hoepfner

➼Read more about the films we can’t wait to see here.

A very Luca Opening Night: After the Hunt

Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt kicked off the festival after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Before the film’s screening, Vulture spoke with the lead actors – Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edibiri – and played a game of “What’s My Line?” with them. The stars of this psychological thriller (though it’s not directly about the #MeToo movement) were relaxed on the red carpet, but the film itself explores the detached and guarded nature of two Yale professors (Roberts and Garfield) who are close to achieving tenure, and an ambitious student (Edibiri) who challenges their preconceived notions about admiring students. Many agree that the standout performance comes from Michael Stuhlbarg, who previously worked with the director on 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, and plays Roberts’s therapist husband. After the screening, Stuhlbarg described the film as “a slow-motion trainwreck, but you feel something’s coming,” highlighting its complex themes and open-ended conclusion. He also added that his character is “present and watching” the unfolding drama, even if he doesn’t fully understand it. – Morgan Baila

A buzzy Brazilian feature: The Secret Agent

I watched Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent-a double-winner at Cannes (for Best Director and Best Actor)-on September 28th, as it premiered at NYFF with a lot of anticipation. Recently, after some disagreement between this film and Marianna Brennand’s Manas, Filho’s movie was selected to represent Brazil in the Best International Feature Oscar race. I became even more interested when Brazilian acting legend Fernanda Torres publicly supported The Secret Agent on Instagram. The film is primarily set in 1977, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, and it concludes with a peculiar and melancholic feeling. During a question-and-answer session with Filho-which star Wagner Moura (Narcos) had to leave early for a play performance in Brazil-someone asked if he’d considered a different ending. “Never,” he replied. His producer, Emilie Lesclaux, shared that everyone on set requested he film a “plan B” as a precaution, but he remained firm in his decision. – Jason P. Frank

Reviews

A handy guide to all our reviews so far.

A House of Dynamite
After the Hunt
Anemone
Father Mother Sister Brother
Jay Kelly
Late Fame
No Other Choice
Peter Hujar’s Day
Sentimental Value
Sound of Falling
The Mastermind

➼ Read Roxana Hadadi’s interview with director Kleber Mendonça Filho here.

A 86 perfect minutes: Peter Hujar’s Day

Ira Sach’s latest film, following the popular Passages, is the stylish and captivating Peter Hujar’s Day. It stars Ben Whishaw as photographer Peter Hujar and Rebecca Hall as Linda Rosenkrantz, who interviewed Hujar about a typical day in his life. She later published an edited version of that conversation as a book, also titled Peter Hujar’s Day. The film is short and sweet, running only 86 minutes, and the script is almost entirely based on Rosenkrantz’s book. During a Q&A after the screening, Sachs revealed he was able to read the complete, unedited transcript at an NYU library while writing the screenplay. He incorporated details from that full transcript into the filmed conversation that hadn’t made it into the published book-including a debate about the talents of Joan Crawford (Rosenkrantz is a Bette Davis fan). The audience for this movie was the most youthful, fashionable, and LGBTQ+-identifying I’ve seen at the festival so far-it’s obvious Sachs has a strong following within that community. – J.P.F

A groovy interview: Father Mother Sister Brother

Returning to the style of his early work, Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother-which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival-is a featured presentation at this year’s NYFF. Film critic Bilge Ebiri interviewed Jarmusch to discuss minimalist filmmaking. His questions focused on the challenges independent filmmakers face today, a topic fans have often wondered about, and Jarmusch provided some insight.

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2025-10-01 01:55