Looks like Rifkin is finally coming to US theatres in January: Rifkin’s Festival Trailer: Woody Allen’s Latest Gets U.S. Release Next Month
For those interested, "Rifkin's Festival" is now available for rent on YouTube. I'm watching tonight.
Thank you for flagging this for us. I pulled the trigger and will be watching it this weekend with my wife.
Finally saw "Rifkin's Festival" last night. My quick review - it's a good film spoiled by a poor casting choice. Wallace Shawn was simply the wrong guy for the lead role.
Imagine a 70 year old Woody in the lead role with the exact same screenplay. It would have been great, I think.
IMO, "Rifkin's Festival" was never going to be "great". My impression was Rifkin needed to be between 45 and 50. He is contemplating shifting careers, 70-year-olds contemplate retirement. At 70 his envisioned romance with the doctor would still be ridiculous.
I haven’t seen it yet, but this is what is holding me back. Shawn is great, but I’m not buying him being with Gina. I also agree they should have had someone at least 10 years younger for the part.
yeah, I love Wallace Shawn (even seen him in a one man play live many years ago)... and he's always fun to watch, but as a movie,I think the lead character needed to be maybe 50-55 and not 75. (he's actually 78 now!) . It'll be interesting to see what the box office/reviews are. Hoping that they are good enough at least so the next movie he makes gets released here in the States. I do love that plot device of ... (slight spoiler perhaps?)...........'what he sees in his dreams' (I won't spoil it here, the trailers and promotional material go out of their way to not spoil those great little moments in the film).
Stateside reviews have been pretty dire, at least the ones I’ve read. I thought the NYTimes take was pretty good, likening it to “finding an unexpected stash of dessert; not substantial and not nutritious, but sweet enough…”
To be honest, I thought Shawn's performance was weak. I view this a very rare poor casting choice by Woody, something he normally gets right. The only other mistake I can think of is Will Ferrell in Melinda and Melinda.
I rented Rifkin’s Festival last night. I only made it half way. I’ll try to finish it, but this ranks as one of his worst films, in my opinion. The casting of Wallace Shawn is so bizarre. He is so wrong for the part. The writing is also pretty bad and mostly just rehashed Woody. There is a good idea in here, but the execution was deeply flawed. I can’t believe he didn’t scrap the entire film and try again. It’s too bad he is ending his career with some of his worst films. The last two are unwatchable and I’m a huge fan. I even liked Wonder Wheel!
Exactly, this was just bizarre. What 75 year old is looking for new romance or even fantasizing about it? It’s ridiculous and I think it may be time for Woody to hang it up. He has completely lost it. In his mind all his main characters are still behaving like 40 year olds, but on screen they are 75!
The missus and I are going to see it at a local theater tomorrow. Finally breaking my COVID-19 no movies in the theater streak.
You know what? It's not brilliant, but it is nice. I like the idea of a 75 year-old looking forward to new challenges. I agree with the NYT review quoted above: it is "an unexpected stash of dessert; not substantial and not nutritious, but sweet enough…" I much preferred it to the previous film, which, despite being beautifully shot, I thought was pretty forced with an unpleasant main character played by someone who looked like he was going through the motions.
I got far more out of "Rainy Day" than I got out of "Rifkin", though I seem to be in the minority in that regard.
