Get Ready for....The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival and I don’t normally get along. Back in 2003, I was very much into the festival and was excited to see films like Takeshi Kitano’s “Zatoichi” and Tassos Boulmetis’ “A Touch of Spice,” the latter of which is a remarkably effective memoir focusing on Boulmetis’ childhood and growing up Greek in Turkey. The years passed and I began to feel less and less attached to the festival. There was never a doubt in my mind that they occasionally showed interesting films but of last year’s line-up alone is glutted with titles haphazardly chosen to fill a quota rather than because of their quality. The festival was always a means of bringing folks way downtown in Manhattan to Tribeca where Tribeca Grill, Robert Deniro, festival co-founder and spokesperson, has made his restaurant’s home.

Movies are important too but not as much as filling seats and making choosing films to go to a gamble at best. In 2005 ,I had a chance to take in Wong Kar-wai’s tantalizing “2046” and David Mackenzie’s unwieldy “Asylum” and in 2006 there was Jake Kasdan, Lisa M. Perry and Ishai Setton’s toothless but half on-target “TV Set,” Nelson Pereira dos Santos’ jarringly mysterious but indecipherable “Brasilia 18%” and Nick Guthe and Lisa M. Perry’s abysmal “Mini’s First Time.” I took a break from the festival in 2006 because I was tired of taking chances when most of the titles I was interested in would be released after the festival. Also, festival ticket prices reached an all-time high last year (the $15 per ticket price is still in effect) with no real eye-catching titles to sustain that increase (unless you really like unmemorable titles like Jieho Lee’s “The Air I Breathe” and Sebastian Gutierrez’s “Rise: Blood Hunter”).

This year, I’m giving the benefit of the doubt and it seems like I’ll reward for my pains. Below is a list of a dozen titles I’m looking forward to checking out:

1) “My Winnipeg”—Guy Maddin’s latest flick has been praised here left and right and as someone fascinated by the few Maddin films I’ve seen, this looks to be this year’s must-see for me.
2) “Toby Damnit”—No, you didn’t misread. A restored print of Federico Fellini’s (restoration was supervised by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno) short adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story is making its way to the screen and with the cult reputation it has and my love of Fellini and Poe, I’d be hard pressed to say no.
3) “Let the Right One In”—Um….Swedish vampire film. We love it. I want to. But seriously, I am very excited to see this on the big screen as Magnet Releasing, Magnolia Pictures, direct-to-video outlet, has the American rights to the film. Also, of course the rumors of J.J. Abrams’ interest has me piqued, but that might be more out of an interest to see it before he gets his grubby paws on it than out of admiration for JJ or the original film. Cult hipster status, here I come!
4) “The Caller”—a film I know nothing about except that it stars the great Frank Langella as a corporate informer in what the festival’s plot synopsis calls a “quiet but chilling neo noir thriller.” After Langella’s awesome turn in Andrew Wagner’s stellar Starting Out in the Evening, I’ll blindly follow him most places.
5) “Redbelt”—new David Mamet. I know I shouldn’t be excited to see this because Mamet’s been on a real cold streak lately (“Spartan” and “Edmond” both looked dismal and his last few Broadway plays sounded about as exciting as being rectally impaled on a hot poker), but it’s a fight movie with a good cast and the trailer made it look decent enough. Until I see the twist ending and find out Tim Allen is secretly being used by Steve Martin as a kooky tie-in to Mamet’s overrated but enjoyable “The Spanish Prisoner”).
6) “The Cottage”—this looks like another genre title that I’m only interested in seeing on the big screen rather than its straight-to-video release with its fugly-looking cover that glosses over the fact that it’s a horror comedy…starring Andy Serkis.
7) “The Objective”—new movie by Daniel Myrick, the guy that brought us “The Blair Witch Project” way back when. I wonder if he still has anything up his sleeves as I will be one of the first to admit that I was taken in by the “Blair Witch” when it initially came out. I never did follow up with his other direct-to-video projects but hey, as long as it’s there, why not? I mean, it’s got something to do with the CIA in Afghanistan: what could possibly go wrong?
8) “Elite Squad”—José Padliha’s Golden Bear winning thriller has something to do with police corruption in Rio and two new recruits trying to get in while one old-hand cop tries to get out. It’s like “The Recruit” but relevant!
9) “Quiet Chaos”—I’m a sucker for new Italian cinema after having studied abroad there but even I’m not proud of my interest in this film about a man’s “spiritual rebirth” after his wife suddenly passes away. I mean, it’s this kind of navel-gazing that keeps contemporary cinema situated domestically and continually treading on its own tail in an attempt to either reassure its audience that change isn’t that threatening or that change is really a good thing. Still, like a good little flagellant, I’ll go along with it. For now.
10) “The Wackness”—Ben Kingsley’s performance in this film as a dope-addicted therapist is supposed to be all kinds of kooky, though I have the feeling I read about this being shown, like a year ago and yet it still hasn’t hit theaters. Hm….at least it’s not "You Kill Me," last year’s Ben Kingsley black comedy that was also incidentally at Tribeca. If he’s in a film at next year’s line-up, we should officially set up a category for “Ben Kingsley Showcase” or something. With several categories that all sound alike anyway—can somebody explain to me the difference between “Gala,” “Showcase,” “Spotlight” and “Event?”—it wouldn’t really be adding or detracting much.
11) “Baghead”—Jay Duplass’ “The Puffy Chair” is one of the more noted titles in the unfortunately titled “mumblecore” movement and while I havent’ caught up with it yet, I’d be glad to check out Duplass new film, which is described as a dry comedy, four actors and “something…in the woods.” The rest is legend. Or something.
12) “Mr. Lonely”—Harmony Korine’s “Gummo” and “Julien Donkey Boy” are by now hallmarks of new punk cinema thanks to their disturbing, lo-fi aesthetics. When he goes and makes a film about a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) falling in love with a Marilyn Munroe impersonator (Samantha Morton) who is already in love with a Charlie Chaplin impersonator (Denis Lavant), I scratch my head and then jump on it…eventually.