By: Henry J. Fromage –
My first day and change of the Tribeca Film Festival spans what makes it so great- indie film of every genre and inclination.
356. IX XI
The Tribeca Film Festival actually began in the aftermath of 9/11, as a way to bring people and culture back to lower Manhattan, so programming this documentary about people’s remembrances of that earth-shaking day was a fitting move for the festival’s 25th anniversary edition. Director Sean Wilsey brings together a seemingly random group of 12 people to tell the story of their experiences that day, but so much cultural and professional range is what New York is all about, and Wilsey and his team edit these interviews together with a deft hand. This isn’t the 9/11 documentary you think you’re walking into- it’s a deeply human, often even funny, life-affirming affair. Two Beers.
357. Cotton Fever
A very different kind of ensemble experience emerges here in this drama about a host of people spanning several different angles of the drug crisis in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Director Daniel Blake Schwartz manages all of these at times interlocking stories with a clear, clean touch- some are life and death where others are more mundane, but taken together they present a picture of these people’s lives that feels significant and true. Two Beers.
358. Lucy Schulman
Ellie Sachs stakes her place as a new and bright voice both in front of and behind the camera in this romcom-until-it-isn’t. She plays a young woman who is broken up with for the first time in her life in the opening minutes of the film (by an amusingly douchey Hasan Minhaj). Retreating to her father’s (an utterly delightful David Cross) Upper East Side apartment as she always does after a relationship. You may think you know where this is going at several points, but you don’t quite- this is more about who Lucy is and where she needs to get to than the romances she thinks define her. In the right hands, this will be a hit. Two Beers.
359. Micronations
This colorful in several sense of the word documentary examines the phenomenon of Micronations- small or even one person self-declared kingdoms and republics across the world (although the USA seems to be particularly fertile for this). These aren’t sovereign citizens or secessionists, but rather a unique and often quirky group of people (they have conventions and everything) who are interested and even vested in exploring alternate forms of government and interacting with like-minded individuals. The approach can be a bit too quirky at times, and a few digressions strain the definition of a micronation, but never once are its subjects anything less than fascinating. Two Beers.
360. Breeder
I mentioned above that Lucy Schulman could be a hit in the right hands, but Breeder has already found theirs- Shudder just bought it and will be putting it in theaters, and I can see it doing well there. It’s a horror film with a unique angle- a champion poodle breeder played by an utterly fantastic Dot-Marie Jones has decided she’s moving on to a new challenge. Daniel Doheny plays the MENSA-certified, MIT-educated guy trying to fund his bee colony-saving research project who agrees to come have dinner at her house with her five daughters when she offers to put up the money. That’s a dire mistake. I won’t give you more than that, but it doesn’t always go the depraved places you think it will, instead picking other perhaps more messed up paths. This blends humor and horror well, even if the character choices don’t always satisfy. Two Beers.
