  Marie Antoinette Bookmark and Share  The New York Film
Festival is a shamelessly elitist institution. But in an
increasingly overstuffed festival schedule, it’s nice to have a
line-up devoted to high artistic standards. The main program is
basically a best-of compilation culled from Cannes, Venice, and
Toronto and a prelude to the awards season. Still, elitism has
its drawbacks: old favorites and gabbed-abouts like Almodóvar
and Sofia Coppola are shoo-ins, and other selections tend to
favor art over topicality. Roughly half the avant garde program
consists of pre-2000 films (as in this year’s sidebar event, “50
Years of Janus Films”: nearly all are staples of revival houses,
not needing “special tribute”). But these are quibbles that pale
next to the overall quality of what I saw during the Festival’s
first week.  The loudest mixed reception greeted one of my
favorites, David Lynch’s first digital video feature, Inland
Empire. A seeming sequel to Mulholland Drive, it includes the
first movie’s highlights: b