Closing Credits, Ava DuVernay's 14th Premieres at Alice Tully Hall
Ten years after 13th opened the festival, DuVernay's sequel closed out Friday night at Lincoln Center, and the 64th NYFF still has one day left
The film opens on a line of presidents taking the oath of office. FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon, Reagan, each one swearing to defend the Constitution, according to Deadline's review.
Then it turns to the 14th Amendment.
On Friday night the first audience in the world watched it at Alice Tully Hall on Broadway at 65th Street. That was the world premiere of Ava DuVernay's *14th*, the closing-night selection of the 64th New York Film Festival. The festival announced the slot in July, as Deadline reported.
The festival itself is not quite done. It runs September 25 through October 12, so Monday is the last day.
Ten Years, One Number
*13th* opened this festival in 2016. Its sequel closes the 64th. DuVernay noted the symmetry in her July statement, saying that NYFF "has always been a place where films invite conversation rather than simply applause."
The subject is the 14th Amendment and the attacks on it. The voices are mixed, from Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Anna Paulina Luna to former Senator Jeff Flake, Senator Alex Padilla, Stacey Abrams and Sherrilyn Ifill. The Hollywood Reporter lists the running time at 1 hour 48 minutes, with a score by Jason Moran.
Festival artistic director Dennis Lim called it "a movie for the moment that sees through the fog of the present," per Deadline.
DuVernay told the Friday crowd she had finished the film only two weeks earlier, to keep it as timely as possible, The Hollywood Reporter says. She, Abrams and Ifill all used the evening to warn about the state of American democracy.
"We need to fight, and I hope you come out of this film wanting to fight hard." Ava DuVernay, onstage at Alice Tully Hall
What the Critics Said
The early reviews split. The Hollywood Reporter's review calls the film infuriating and inspiring, and it grumbles at Netflix for giving it a brief theatrical run on November 27 before streaming on December 4.
IndieWire's Beandrea July is harder on it. Her review calls it overstuffed, with more than 50 talking heads. She grants that the film performs a real public service, and she singles out its first section as the strongest.
The urgency is not in dispute. The shape of the argument is.
The Rest of the Festival
The festival opened with James Gray's *Paper Tiger*. In the two weeks since, the talk has been about other films.
*Fjord* is Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner, with Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as parents who move their family from Bucharest to Norway. Crooked Marquee expects it to stir discourse this fall, but picks *Naza* as the likely most controversial title of the festival. The documentary is from Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
The crowd pleaser is *The Debut*. Gold Derby's takeaways from the festival say a press screening of Jesse Eisenberg's film broke into applause mid-movie, thanks to Julianne Moore. Suite 646 was there when The Debut had its big night at Lincoln Center.
Gold Derby also overheard a pair of New Yorkers dinging Jordan Firstman's *Club Kid* after its premiere. Their complaint was the apartment. They doubted his club promoter could afford it. It is a New York festival, after all.
What to Know Before You Go
The festival runs through Monday, October 12. Screenings are at Alice Tully Hall, the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center on West 65th Street and the Walter Reade Theater across the street. Deadline counted 119 films in the lineup, 75 features and 44 shorts.
*14th* returns to theaters on November 27 and reaches Netflix on December 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The credits rolled Friday. Lincoln Center has one more day of them.
