As the credits rolled at Canal Place Cinema following Sunday night's sold-out New Orleans Film Festival screening of the acclaimed, harrowing and remarkably well-acted drama "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," I asked festival Artistic Director John Desplas to rank the festival's 20th anniversary roster of films among those that preceded it.

Desplas just smiled.

Not one to toot his own horn, the man behind the lineup would go no further than to allow that, "This one's up there."

So with the 2009 fest just more than halfway finished -- consider this morning your intermission before screenings resume tonight at 5:15 and continue through Thursday -- I'll say what Desplas wouldn't: This year's New Orleans Film Festival lineup must go down as the festival's finest to date, bar none.

Without even considering the wealth of hidden gems peppering the schedule for adventurous fest-goers -- the discovery of which is part of the fun of film festivals -- organizers have hit this one out of the park with their headline films.

I'm not the only movie geek who has been worked up into a lather over it, either. Consider: The festival's opening-night selection, the pleasantly fluffy period drama "Me and Orson Welles," starring Zac Efron and, in a revelatory performance, Christian McKay as Welles, came within a double-date or two of selling out the Prytania Theatre. This despite persistent rain that started an hour and 15 minutes before the movie did and continued all night.

"We had, like, 10 seats left," Prytania operator Robert Brunet said. "I call that a sellout."

Even more impressive was Saturday night's unqualified sellout of director Werner Herzog's darkly comic, surrealist crime drama "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," which stars Nicolas Cage and was filmed in town last year. With a line stretching the length of the Canal Place mall food court, there were nearly twice as many people hoping to get in as there were seats in the theater -- on the same night that LSU and Florida were playing on prime-time TV.

To accommodate as many people as possible, theater employees commandeered at least a dozen chairs from the mall's food court and lined the back wall with them. There also was talk of arranging a second "Bad Lieutenant" screening for some time this week; nothing had been scheduled at press time.

Twenty-four hours later, the madhouse scene repeated itself with Sunday's screening of "Precious," which, after deservedly winning top prizes at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, is gaining significant momentum going into awards season. Local resident Carole Sutton said her granddaughters grabbed themselves a spot near the front of the line (and saved one for Sutton) at 4:30 p.m. -- almost three hours before the movie was scheduled to begin.

They were among the lucky ones to make it into the theater. Dozens did not.

Monday night brought the eco-documentary "The Cove," my favorite film to screen this year. Tonight comes the charming "Best Worst Movie," a thoroughly entertaining documentary about the cast of the epically bad 1990 horror film "Troll 2." Wednesday, we get Clive Owen's acclaimed turn in the drama "The Boys are Back."

Simply put, every day of the festival has offered at least one can't-miss selection, and sometimes more than one. (At the same time "Bad Lieutenant" was packing Canal Place, for example, the new Francis Ford Coppola drama "Tetro" was unspooling at the Prytania. It also drew respectable crowds, though short of a sellout.)

"Absolutely, this is the best (festival lineup)," said Brunet, who's worked with the festival on and off since its inception in 1989. "They're really doing good this year."

The only festival in recent memory that came close to rivaling this year's number of potential award-winners was in 2006, which screened "The Queen," "Little Children" and "Babel."

The best part about the 2009 edition: It's not even over. Three more nights of screenings await the hungry movie-goer.

Me, I'll see you there.

. . . . . . .

With the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' decision to double the field of nominees for next year's Oscar for best picture to 10, odds are "Precious" will earn one of them. Don't be surprised, however, to see some of its actors singled out for individual accolades.

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe will likely gain the most notice, for her beautiful handling of the title role, as a morbidly obese and illiterate 16-year-old who lives a life of relentless abuse. Also deserving praise, however, is Mo'Nique, as the mother of Sidibe's character; Mariah Carey in an uncharacteristically glamourless role of a social worker; and "Déjà Vu" actress Paula Patton as a difference-making teacher.

"Precious" is scheduled for limited release in larger markets starting Nov. 6, with expansion in following weeks.

. . . . . . .

The activist filmmakers known as "The Yes Men" have made a name for themselves by flat-out lying in high-profile situations to draw attention to what they consider corporate and government injustice. Saturday afternoon, however, at a New Orleans Film Festival screening of their documentary "The Yes Men Fix the World," Yes Man Mike Bonanno had only words of honest affection for one local theater.

"We want to support Zeitgeist," Bonanno told the youth-trending audience after the screening at the Prytania Theatre, referring to the indie art house Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center.

"Over the years, we've come back (to New Orleans), and Zeitgeist has always had an open door for freaks like us," he added. "A giant shout out to Zeitgeist, your precious local resource."

At that point, Bonanno opened up the floor for questions from the audience. Fittingly, the first question came from Zeitgeist operator Rene Broussard, who playfully asked, "Could you tell us a little more about how great Zeitgeist is?"

"The Yes Men Fix the World" opens Friday for a weeklong run at Zeitgeist.

. . . . . . .

Film festival officials said that with Friday's showing of "Me and Orson Welles," director Richard Linklater holds the distinction of being the only filmmaker to have had three films featured as opening-night selections in the New Orleans Film Festival's 20 years in existence.

The others: 1991's "Slacker" and 2001's "Waking Life."

. . . . . . .

Movie critic Mike Scott be reached at mscott@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3444. Read him online at www.nola.com/movies/ or follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/MikeScottTP.

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Film Fest Best Bet; Movie critic Mike Scott picks one worthy flick from today's New Orleans Film Festival screenings

Mike Scott

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10 de octubre de 2009

The Times-Picayune

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"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"

7:30 p.m., Canal Place Cinema

From the minute Werner Herzog's locally shot bad-cop drama became a late addition to the festival lineup, it became one of this year's must-see festival films. Inspired by Abel Ferrara's 1992 "Bad Lieutenant," but with Nicolas Cage in the Harvey Keitel-originated role of an unhinged, drug-addicted cop, it drew raves after screening at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month and earned Herzog a Golden Lion nomination at Venice. In short: "Bad Lieutenant" could be pretty good stuff.

Find today's full film festival lineup at nola.com/movies.

LENA HERZOG / FIRST LOOK STUDIOS; Nicolas Cage (right, with Xzibit) has been gaining notice for his performance in 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.'