I was personally very excited to cover the Tribeca Film Festival for the first time, since living in New York grants me easy access, and I am just a train ride away. Sadly, in-person ticketing was extremely limited, but Tribeca At Home opened up a whole new can of worms. I would be lying if I said the festival as a whole was streamlined and without flaws, but I was impressed by the sheer breadth of talent, variety, and originality present in many of these movies. Anything not given full coverage is included here, as well as previously reviewed films that played as part of the lineup, and our personal top 10 favorite films from the festival.
Films
ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME
In a film that is definitely not horror, and also barely funny enough to be a comedy, I kept waiting for something—anything—exciting to happen after the first ten minutes. From the second Pete (Tom Stourton) arrives at the giant mansion, per his friend’s invitation, the intriguing setup takes a nosedive. A guy with a duck they found at the local pub, random nightmares of a girl hanging herself, being chased with an axe, and recurring imagery of a beaten-up car and a guy in a heavy jacket… this was one weird movie. Something more akin to You’re Next or Ready or Not was what I wanted, but that clearly wasn’t on the agenda here. It’s strictly gaslighting and pranks, will little else that warrants discussion. I did enjoy the soundtrack, which included “Sandstorm” by Darude, and got me amped up for no reason. When all is said and done, I’m sure there is an audience for this British black comedy (I guess that’s how you’d classify it?), as this seems like a movie you’ll either love or strongly hate. I’m sorry to say that I found myself in the latter category.
THE BETA TEST
The Beta Test starts with an exciting (and horrifying) sequence where a couple dines together. “Let me leave!” the woman begs, before her man stabs her multiple times in the neck with little care, then tosses her off his balcony. The American Psycho parallels of both the lead character and the film itself are in your face from the first frame. It’s simply never able to replicate the visceral impact of the cold open. It relies on excessive sex scenes, and the occasional brutal burst of violence, to get the job done. A mysterious letter detailing an anonymous, no-strings sexual encounter acts as a bold set-up that ultimately goes nowhere. The Beta Test is too hollow to embrace the over-the-top possibilities.
GIANTS BEING LONELY
A slice-of-life coming-of-age drama, Giants Being Lonely might be slight and poetic, but it leaves a mark with its jarring and unforgettable final frame. It completely shifts gears and sheds a whole new light on everything that came before. The film is centered on a trio of youths: Bobby (Jack Irv), star player of the Giants destined to do big things, though he is perfectly content to pee on the train tracks, jump naked off bridges, and care for his sickly father; Adam (Ben Irving), another member of the team, has an abusive father and is constantly trying to get out from the shadow of Bobby’s brilliance; and Caroline (Lily Gavin), Bobby’s ex and Adam’s current crush who agrees to go to prom with him and is given little development otherwise. It is a thoughtful movie with rich characters, yet it comes up narratively empty. You have to make up your own mind about motivations and answers to questions, because Giants Being Lonely is certainly not interested in answering them.
GLOB LESSONS
What started as a Kickstarter project now heads to Tribeca! Glob Lessons is a road trip comedy that follows Alan (Colin Froeber) and Jesse (Nicole Rodenburg) as they perform low-budget traveling theater shows for minimal children audiences. After opening with Jesse throwing her alarm and telling it to shut up, the stage is already set: the humor lies in the honesty in relatable situations. Both Alan and Jesse lack substantial characterizations, but I did truly love Alan’s show-stopping number set to Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be.” The primary audience will be quirky theater kids, and I’m simply not that audience. However, those who are will find a lot to love.
THE GOD COMMITTEE
Tackling a hugely important topic like organ transplant (and what it takes to even get an organ in the first place) is the setup for a film I expected truly great things from. While Julia Stiles shines as Dr. Jordan Taylor, and Janeane Garofalo is exquisite in a rare dramatic role from the comedy actress, I found the timeline to be confusing. It unfolds during 2014, as board members race to vote on who should get a prized life-saving heart, and 2021, with these same characters coming to terms with the choices they made. There’s enough connective tissue between the two timelines, but little effort is made to juxtapose them against each other in meaningful ways. That said, I absolutely loved the concept and messages behind The God Committee, and I think it is certainly a timely drama with its heart in the right place.
ITALIAN STUDIES
Italian Studies, featuring the always-fantastic Vanessa Kirby, is probably the most pointless and meandering movie of the entire festival this year. I had high hopes, as Kirby’s performance in Netflix’s Pieces of a Woman and the casting of Stranger Things breakout Maya Hawke had me relatively excited. I think the problem lies in Italian Studies simply being a pretentious travel-and-meet-people drama. You can only make Kirby stumbling around aimlessly from place to place, all the while spouting questionable dialogue like “what I need is to hang out with some teens,” interesting for so long before overstaying its welcome.
THE JUSTICE OF BUNNY KING
Unstable “Auntie Bunny” will stop at nothing to get her kids back, and win her battle against a corrupt system that’s keeping them out of her grasp. She keeps promising her children that she’s “gonna get a house” for them all “really soon.” The performances elevate The Justice of Bunny King, with The Babadook’s Essie Davis acting at the centerpiece of the emotional core. The final act completely shifts gears into a thrilling takeover movie that trumps anything that came before. It strengthens the characters and makes the stakes higher, and more exciting than anything during the rest of the runtime. I loved when the cops keep begging Bunny to surrender peacefully, while she is so calmly just cutting up a cake. Jojo Rabbit breakout Thomasin McKenzie features in a smaller role that underutilizes her talents. The conclusion can’t hide the simple truth: we’ve seen this brand of small-scale character drama before. Troubled mom longs for the return of her offspring in the hopes that she can fix the unintentional collateral damage they’ve suffered. Predictable, slight, enjoyable, and Essie Davis kills it.
THE KIDS
1995’s Kids ranks as one of my all-time favorite indie movies, with a striking authenticity in both characters and dialogue, and a hopelessly bleak outlook on the youth of America at the time. The Kids, a documentary from director Eddie Martin, is less of a behind-the-scenes tell-all than it is an insightful and deeply upsetting examination of success and fame. The reason Kids is so effective is because it was inspired by the skateboarding scene of the early 90s, and utilized a mix of professional actors and real-life people to craft its story. Many of them came from the projects in NYC, and a city that was “crackheads and dope fiends everywhere.” Larry Clark, who directed Kids, is constantly referred to as someone who was just manipulating them based on where they came from, which is especially tragic considering the deaths of two major cast members. Clark appears to have infiltrated their world to make a movie about it, and then abandoned them afterward—“he saw dollar signs.” Writer Harmony Korine and director Larry Clark did not participate in this documentary (assumingly for obvious reasons, though there’s a sense of skewed perspective from early on), but it’s the omission of Leo Fitzpatrick, Chloe Sevigny, and Rosario Dawson that feels the most glaring. Without the input of the bigger stars, The Kids is missing something in its execution. I’m still glad I watched this to get a different perspective on Kids. Learning the full scale of Justin Pierce’s story (and the tragic end result) is by far the most effective, and the dedication to fallen cast, including Harold Hunter, is deeply moving and upsetting.
KUBRICK BY KUBRICK
Visionary director Stanley Kubrick made just 13 movies in 40 years, so the fact that he is considered one of the best filmmakers of all time is a marvel in and of itself. Kubrick by Kubrick, a far-too-short (a mere 73 mins!), surface-level examination of Kubrick’s works, recaps the director’s storied filmography through his own words via rare interview recordings from Kubrick himself. It is too much of a clip show, with barely anything feeling modern. Interview footage with others involved is strictly archival, including news footage and cast press materials. There is no modernity to this documentary whatsoever, though hearing about Kubrick’s works from the man himself, complete with clever anecdotes, occasionally reveals something surprising or shocking. There is just a massive missed opportunity here—with works like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange, we deserved a comprehensive doc that dives deep into each movie through critical analysis, or even nostalgic recap. Less than 10 minutes spent on Kubrick’s final film, the iconic “sexual obsession thriller” Eyes Wide Shut, is utterly criminal. For such an incredible, influential filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick deserved better than this barebones collection of clips.
NO RUNNING
In the most obvious allegory for racism I have seen in a very long time, No Running follows Jaylen (Skylan Brooks from Empire) as he works to clear his name when his friend Amira (Clark Backo) disappears. Strange visuals with blue lightning propel an unraveling disappearance mystery, which kept me invested. The rampant racism in every facet of the narrative is a little excessive. Trevor (Riverdale’s Hart Denton) tells Jaylen in one scene “this is exactly why people don’t trust you guys.” An ending so blatantly obvious and unsatisfying left me feeling a little cold and provides few answers.
SHAPELESS
Similar to its title, Tribeca drama Shapeless feels completely without story or structure. It’s a series of meandering events, somber singing and performances, and portrayal of an eating disorder without having anything substantial to say about it. Ivy (lead actress and writer Kelly Murtagh, who channeled her own history with an eating disorder into her passion for Shapeless) is a New Orleans singer who becomes an addict for binge eating, and her personal demons personify quite literally as growths on her body. The skin on her leg folds itself open at the slightest touch. The body horror of the concept is barely brushed upon. Half the movie consists of melodic tunes, and Ivy zoning off, staring out into space. Sporadic visuals of Ivy drowning beneath silk sheets, and a creepy collection of fingers that metastasize on her back, are the only interesting imagery Shapeless has to offer.
VENUS AS A BOY
This is the prime example of a movie that’s all style with very little substance, and that makes it inherently disappointing. It fits the cookie cutter description of ‘niche indie festival flick.’ The one thing that Venus as a Boy has going for it is that it is filmed with an eye for beautiful, sweeping visuals, and is filled with fun side characters that provide glimmers of a better movie. The “love story,” if you could even call it that, is distant and boring. I think I liked Ruby (Olivia Culpo) more than Hunter (Ty Hodges), though neither character is particularly well-written. There is a smattering of explicit sex with a dominatrix, meditations, shroom consumption, racial discussions, and mystical quotes like “love is not a transaction.”
WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING
Did I seriously just get Rick Rolled by a movie? We Need to Do Something, a bizarre but timely horror/thriller with an injection of dark comedy, hails from writer Max Booth III (based on his own 2020 novella, which I scooped up after finishing this crazy movie) and first-time director Sean King O’Grady. Going from strictly the first still released, one that utilizes the dark lighting of an 80s V.C. Andrews book cover, this was in my most anticipated films heading into the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. I’m happy to report it didn’t disappoint, but We Need to Do Something is significantly more bizarre and wildly outrageous than my wildest dreams. IFC Midnight picked up the film for distribution ahead of its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Previously Viewed
FULLY REALIZED HUMANS
Full review at the link.
HAPPILY
Full review at the link.
HONEYDEW
Full review at the link.
HOW IT ENDS
What would you do with your last day on earth? It’s an intriguing question in which How It Ends occasionally finds clever and interesting answers. This is a different approach to apocalypse cinema than what I’ve seen before. It has very charming elements and presents concepts worthy of further exploration, but it never takes off in an explosive way. Seeing Logan Marshall Green on a bridge holding puppies is worth the watch.
I CARRY YOU WITH ME
Full review at the link.
IN THE HEIGHTS
Full review at the link.
MARVELOUS AND THE BLACK HOLE
Full review at the link.
MY HEART CAN’T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO
Full review at the link.
Television
KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF
Full review at the link.
THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY
For lovers of movies and shows like A Series of Unfortunate Events and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, this new Disney+ mystery/comedy carries the pedigree of Muppets writer James Bobin. Reynie (Mystic Inscho) is one really smart orphan–he just so happens to be “a gifted child looking for special opportunities”, which fits the bill of what The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened is looking for. His wit and puzzle-solving skills will be put to the ultimate test as he searches for his purpose and life direction. What strange and unusual secret mission will Reynie become embroiled in, and is there any way to stop “the emergency?” With Tony Hale, Ryan Hurst, MaameYaa Boafo, and Kristen Schaal filling in the adult roles, you really can’t go wrong. Judging by the premiere episode alone, this was tons of fun to watch, and the entire audience was laughing and gasping in all the right places. I’ll be continuing this one for sure, as all 8 episodes are streaming soon, starting with the first two on June 25th.
Josh’s Ten Favorite Films
Allison’s Ten Favorite Films
One of the things I enjoyed most about this festival is that they had Q&A’s for nearly every film in the lineup–or at least those included on the digital platform. I very much look forward to 2022, when hopefully they can return to a fully normal in-person event. For more information about the festival, and a complete list of this year’s lineup, you can visit the Tribeca Film Festival website.