tribeca film festival
Cultural division has been a major topic in European cinema over the last few years. Romanian film "Before Snowfall" showcased how cultural division could damage youth while Academy Award nominee "Un Prophet" portrayed the racial separation within the prisons. Claudio Giovannesi's second feature film "Ali Blue Eyes" explores a young man's life as he defies the cultural boundaries and attempts to reconstruct his identity on his own terms.
The Tribeca Film Festival came to an end on April 28th after having showed over 100 feature length and short films.
Two days after winning the Best Narrative Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival the Australian film "The Rocket" took home the Best Audience Award.
On Saturday April 27th the Tribeca Film Festival celebrated its closure with the annual Family Festival.
"What Richard Did" is one of the more prominent films showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival this year. The film features future Transformers star Jack Reynor and tells the story of a middle class boy whose life starts to fall apart when he commits an unexpected action. On Wednesday, April 24, Reynor and film director Lenny Abrahamson sat down with reporters to discuss their film.
Back in 2006, Laurie Collyer released her narrative feature debut. The film was "SherryBaby," a story about an impoverished mother recovering from drug addiction and returning home after being in jail. The film was a raw and unflinching tale that captured the emotional core of the central character. For her second narrative "Sunlight Jr.," Collyer continues to thread the same ground but this time creates an unfocused narrative with erratic style that distracts from the Matt Dillon and Naomi Watt's riveting performances.
The World Premiere to Steph Green's feature film debut "Run and Jump" was held on April 20th at the Tribeca Film festival.
Family is a common theme that has been explored in many unusual ways in films; the dysfunctional unit is often the most popular depiction in cinema and literature. Director Steph Green's feature film debut "Run and Jump" continues this narrative thread with a unique story about Vanetia Casey (Maxine Peake) and her struggles to get her life back together after her 38-year old husband Connor's (Edward Macliam) suffers stroke.
On April 22nd Paul Verhoeven's new film "Tricked" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The Coming of Age story has been portrayed throughout the history of cinema. The Dardenne Brother's recent "The Kid with a Bike" showed their main protagonist coming to terms with his loneliness while Alfonso Cuaron's "Y Tu Mama Tambien" told the story of two men discovering their sexuality. For Meera Menon's first feature film, "Farah Goes Bang," Menon takes a different approach by combining the sexual troubles of recent college graduates with their political views.
Nonetheless, "Deep Powder" is an exceptional romance. It's tremendous lead performances overshadow any of the aforementioned gripes and bring the audience on a cathartic journey.
On April 20th the Jason Schwartzman produced film, "Teenage," had its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Matt Creed's first film "Lily" is a character study of a woman trying to refocus her life after Cancer treatment. The film starring Amy Grantham, is based on the real life events of the actress and attempts to show the hardships of a Cancer patient after having gone through the effects of the deadly disease.
"The Broken Circle Breakdown" is laden with beautiful imagery and heart-breaking encounters between the main characters and their ill-fated daughter. However the film, which clocks in at less than two-hours, feels like it exceeds the 120-minute mark and drags on to its convoluted and unnecessary finale; even when it feels like it's over, "Broken Circle" finds another way to drag on for what seems like another hour. The end result is one of frustration for all the wonderful work that ultimately gets misused.
Middle America is known for its warm-hearted people, its beautiful terrain and its small rural towns. In these areas most people know everything about one another and someone else's problem is everyone's issue.
