While I’m busy digesting today’s mind-boggling NYFF double feature of Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light and Abel Ferrara’s Go Go Tales, here’s a few bits of news and thoughts from the last couple of days of press screenings:

Brian DePalma has backed out of a press conference previously scheduled to follow tomorrow’s press screening of Redacted. It’s the first real disappointment of the fest, and its announcement was met with an audible sigh from the assembled press this morning. I saw the film at Telluride and would not call myself its biggest fan, but I was looking forward to hearing from DePalma’s cast of non-professional actors. No specific reason for DePalma’s last-minute cancellation was given, although as he’s still scheduled to appear at Redacted’s public NYFF premiere on October 10, we can probably chalk this up to a travel conflict. But the fact that an audience of public ticket buyers and Lincoln Center patrons will make for a softer post-screening Q & A? That’s gotta be gravy.

Another cancellation, and for the public, this one is far more devastating: the October 1 presentation of John Ford’s The Iron Horse has been scrapped. This, too, is a bit of a mystery. Speaking to the press corps this afternoon before the 2pm screening of Go Go Tales, the Film Society’s Jeanne Berney said 20th Century Fox canceled the screening; the Festival website now says the following:

Presenting The Iron Horse with a live orchestra is a massive undertaking. Unfortunately, key components that would ensure the calibre of presentation that the film demands were insurmountable for the evening planned at Avery Fisher hall on Monday, October 1. Therefore, we had no other choice but to cancel the event.

This may have something to do with the fact that there’s quite a bit of construction currently going on in front of and adjacent to that theater; it may be a simple access issue. Berney did note that the Film Society is working with Fox to reschedule the event, with an eye towards moving it to the Walter Reade Theater (home to the bulk of the NYFF press screenings) in December.

Finally: I haven’t seen much coverage of Friday morning’s screening of Ira Sachs’ Married Life. I don’t know if this is because the assembled press took an early weekend, or if the majority just had nothing constructive to say. I fall into the latter camp: on some level I think it’s worth consideration as a period piece, but as a highly-stylized satire of mid-century, middle class morals, it so pales in comparison to AMC’s Mad Men that it’s almost not fair to speak of the two in the same breath. While I figure out whether or not I want to take the time to take Sachs to task for his misappropriation of cinematic references, check out Christopher Campbell’s full-on take down of Sachs’ technique at The Reeler. Chris’ argument is spot-on, especially in regards to the film’s narration.