I am not reviewing PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019) NYFF 2019

I saw PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN FIRE earlier this evening and intellectually I think it's a great film. Its beautifully made, wonderfully acted and all of that.

Emotionally it never connected to me. It is purely a matter of construction of the opening sequences of the film. That I didn't connect is purely my relationship to the film and nothing else.

Walking out of the theater with Hubert Vigilla, who as of this writing has it as the second best film of the year, we discussed the film and I quickly realized that I can't review it. The reason is largely that anything I say is going to get misconstrued that I don't like the film or that I am not reading it right or something when it's purely a matter of directorial choices that worked against my connecting to it.

Since there is absolutely no reason to put out anything that is going to lead into banana shaped discussions, which is what I think happened on the subway ride home between two tired friends, I'm simply not going to review it and will simply refer you to Hubert's review should he ever write one.