Rex Reed is probably the most famous movie or theater critic of any generation. At a curmudgeonly 86, he’s done it all, from live singing performances to hobnobbing with the rich and famous to appearing in actual movies. A few years ago, he was even profiled in The New York Times.
So it wasn’t unexpected this past Tuesday when he got a rousing ovation at the annual New York Film Critics Circle dinner at TAO Downtown. When current president David Sims announced Rex’s own astounding 50th anniversary with the group, the room exploded into applause. He’s outlasted every critic of his generation and the one preceding it. He’s so important that stars mention him as their adversary recalling his reviews of them in their acceptance speeches.
Rex is one of a kind. His most famous on-screen moments were in the first “Superman” movie – playing himself, and “Myra Breckinridge.” The reviews are still coming in.
The evening was a little muted as many spoke of the fires in LA. Adrien Brody, Best Actor winner for “The Brutalist,” reflected on Tao’s décor with its giant statue mistaken for Buddha. He pointed out, that’s Shiva the destroyer — before becoming emotional. And that was before the girls were swooning in the bathroom: Robert Pattison showed up for Brady Corbet’s Best Picture presentation for “The Brutalist.”
Best moment of the night was when Guy Pearce, who’s also in the Corbet film, toasted Brody for his award. Pearce’s intro for Brody as the NYFCC choice for Best Actor: He started with “You make it seem effortless” and countered with, “Sorry I raped you, but it was consensual.”
As celebrations go, this one was cerebral, not raucous which had some attendees concerned. And then there were the outliers: Claire Dane was wildly animated as she introduced Kieran Culkin for his Best Supporting Actor award, the real pain in “A Real Pain.” They had starred together in “Igby Goes Down” as naughty teens but now, she pointed out, they each have kids. “Only you can be you,” she said gesticulating madly. To wit: he got up to say, “You are so kind, I wish I had been listening.”
Jim Jarmusch presented Best Screenplay to Sean Baker for “Anora.” He liked the snow falling in the last scene so much he proclaimed, “Hats off to the falling snow.” But you cannot admire the deftly constructed screenplay without admiring the sex. Fawned Jarmusch, “I loved the sex in the film: transactional, silly, showing the variety of what that is.” He had heard that Baker demonstrated some scenes coupling with his wife. And Sean Baker fawned back, noting that when he finished film school at NYU he only wanted to be Jim Jarmusch. “I used screen grabs from Night on Earth. All that matters is heart, Coffee and Cigarettes.”
Baker said when he pitched the idea of the film to his mother, she said, “No one wants to see that. My mother hates my movies.” Then he read randomly from the script: p. 23: The characters have sex in a bed. The characters have sex in the sauna. “You guys awarded that? Now it’s an award-winning screenplay!” Then he read from The New Yorker critic Richard Brody’s pan. “My mother agrees with you.”
Carol Kane – winner of supporting actress for the very indie, “Between the Temples,” was the offbeat but welcome choice of the night. She responded to John Turturro’s introduction with a huge list of everyone she was grateful to including her parents, Mike Nichols, Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, etc.etc.etc. Her movie, “Between the Temples,” is just the latest in decades of extraordinary work that includes TV’s “Taxi” and “Kimmy Schmidt,” and such films as “Hester Street,” “The Princess Bride,” and “Annie Hall.” Coming here from Cleveland decades ago, she more than anyone put the ‘New York’ in the New York Film Critics.
Rex, we salute you!
Here’s his pic from that Times article:
