2022 New York Film Festival: Cancel culture, class wars, and existential dread

The 60th New York Film Festival opened Friday night, with the North American premiere of "White Noise," Noah Baumbach's adaptation of Don Delillo's 1985 darkly-humorous novel of a consumerist society confronting an environmental disaster.

This year's edition, showcasing 120 films from 40 countries, features premieres starring Cate Blanchett, Woody Harrelson, Anne Hathaway, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Sigourney Weaver, Claire Foy, Vicky Krieps, and Michelle Williams. Among the noted directors whose works are on display are Martin Scorsese (the David Johansen music documentary "Personality Crisis: One Night Only"), James Gray ("Armageddon Time"), Luca Guadagnino ("Bones and All"), Kelly Reichardt ("Showing Up"), Sarah Polley ("Women Talking"), Claire Denis ("Stars at Noon"), and James Ivory ("A Cooler Climate"). In a major switch, veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman, known for his hours-long, fly-on-the-wall observational films (such as "High School," "Central Park," "National Gallery" and "City Hall") is represented by his first fiction film, "A Couple," featuring actor Nathalie Boutefeu as Sophia Tolstoy, wife of writer Leo Tolstoy. And it's only 63 minutes long. 

New York represents one of the best curated showcases for international cinema, as it contains award-winners from Cannes ("Triangle of Sadness," "Corsage," "Decision to Leave," "Stars at Noon," "Eo"), Berlin ("Alcarràs," "The Novelist's Film" ), and Venice ("All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," "Tár," "Saint Omer," "Bones and All"), as well as highlights from Sundance (the Indian documentary "All That Breathes" about brothers who nurture back to health birds of prey).