A blurred movie year comes into focus at New York Film Fest

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A movie year of fits-and-starts, delays and reversals has sometimes been difficult to track. Knowing just where and how a new movie premieres has become a sport of its own. Even for those closely following new films, it’s been a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes befuddling half-virtual, half-in-person year of moviegoing. But at the 59th New York Film Festival, which begins Friday, an abnormal movie year comes into sharp focus. The Festival isn’t the sum total of everything worth seeing in 2021, but it’s about as close as most festivals get. The festival kicks off Friday with the premiere of Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”