YNOT at the Movies

It's another year for the Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF), presented by California Film Institute), to defy the pandemic and showcase an impressive collection of films in a hybrid mode. Its 44th edition takes place October 7-17, 2021, both exhibiting in theaters and streaming online. However, most highly anticipated titles will be only available in theaters, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and CinéArts Sequoia in Mill Valley. Some programs and events will also be held at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

This year's festival presents 42 narrative features, 18 documentary features, and 9 shorts programs. The festival also has a few panel discussions and music programs.

Unlike opening the festival with duo features in the past, this year the festival opens on October 7 with just one film, British director Joe Wright's period musical "Cyrano" (UK/Italy/Canada/USA | 124 min.), an adaptation of the stage play "Cyrano de Bergerac" about a gifted poet's love for a beautiful woman.

The festival closes on October 17 with acclaimed writer-director Wes Anderson's dazzling love letter to journalists "The French Dispatch" (Germany/USA | in English/French | 108 min.).

The centerpiece presentation is the writer-director Mike Mills's poetic and deeply moving drama "C'mon C'mon" (USA 2021 | 108 min.), starring Joaquin Phoenix as a loving uncle to his nephew.

The festival pays tribute to the New Zealand director Jane Campion with her first western "The Power of the Dog" (UK/Australia/US/Canada/New Zealand 2021 | 125 min) featuring a powerful performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as the protagonist.

The festival also pays tribute to the acclaimed British director Kenneth Branagh by showing his new film "Belfast" about a boy's experience in the '60s from the director's birthplace.

The festival shines spotlights on four artists at this year's festival:

• The actor Simon Rex, a San Francisco native and former adult-film star, playing a washed-up porn star in the director Sean Baker's new film "Red Rocket" (USA | 128 min.).
• The Canadian director Denis Villeneuve with the screening of his highly anticipated "Dune" (USA 2021 | 155 min.).
• The Academy Award-winning Italian director Paolo Sorrentino showing his most personal film yet "The Hand of God" (È stata la mano di Dio | Italy 2021 | in Italian | 130 min.) about a boy's life in Naples in the '80s.
• The actress Maggie Gyllenhaal with her feature directorial debut "The Lost Daughter" (USA/UK/Greece/Israel 2021 | 121 min.) about a professor's beach vacation that turns into an episode of self-examination of her past.

There is one film from China and another one from Japan this year, but none from South Korea.

The Chinese screen-writer Cao Jinling's directorial debut "Anima" (莫尔道嘎 | China 2020 | in Mandarin | 119 min.) unfolds a family drama while trying to make a statement about the environment. Growing up in a forest in inner Mongolian and bearing the shadow of a tragic past, two brothers in the logging business have to not only deal with the difficult dilemma between protecting the forest from illegal logging and making a living, but they also have to sort out their relationships with a widow. The exquisite cinematography of the majestic landscape adds impressive visuals to a complex story in a harsh environment.

Winning the Best Screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the Japanese writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's new film "Drive My Car" (ドライブ・マイ・カー | Japan 2021 | in Japanese | 179 min.) is two and a half hours shorter than his previous film "Happy Hour" (2015), but still clocks in at three hours long. He takes that time to depict a stage actor Yusuke's journey of grieving Oto, Yusuke's deceased wife, and confronting Oto's mystery.

The celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar premiered his new film "Parallel Mothers" (Madres paralelas | Spain 2021 | in Spanish | 120 min.) at this year's Venice International Film Festival which awarded Penélope Cruz the Best Actress Award. With twists and turns, the film unfolds a story about two women who are in a hospital to give birth.