These are some of the love childs spawned by Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, who helped spearhead the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to put Lower Manhattan back in business after 9/11. Though this year’s offering, with about 120 feature films in exhibition from April 23 to May 4, is a little leaner and more focused than past years, the cinema showcase is still having trouble finding its voice. Sundance whores out to swag, South by Southwest does indie and music, Toronto pimps its stars, and Cannes and Berlin still have some class.
But what about Tribeca? What’s it’s bag, baby? Some years it’s family-friendly, others it’s musical-flavored, and others still (like 2008) it’s all about the docs.
This year’s opening-night premiere is “Baby Mama,” a smart-aleck comedy featuring “30 Rock” star Tina Fey, whose character's sister, played by former “Saturday Night Live” co-star Amy Poehler, helps her have a baby by becoming her surrogate mother. The film is funny and sharp, but the whole endeavor smells of green-room handshakes—was this really the best De Niro and co-founder Jane Rosenthal could come up with to kick things off for TFF’s seventh year, or were they backed into a corner by producer Lorne Michaels and his pack of wild SNL dogs threatening to pull Fey off the commercials of the festival’s main sponsor, American Express?
Sir Ben Kingsley graces Manhattan with his presence in two different films. “The Wackiness,“ written and directed by Jonathan Levine, is set in the early ‘90s and has His Knighthood in a hilarious lead turn as a shrink on the wrong side of the medication, with a drug-dealer patient and Mary-Kate Olsen as his daughter.
Ghandi’s second appearance is no peaceful picture: “War, Inc.” is a political satire about an assassin who heads to a fictional Middle Eastern country to rub out an oil man. John Cusack, who also co-wrote, co-stars with Hillary Duff, Joan Cusack and Marisa Tomei.
The “Discovery” section seems to be the most promising, with dozens of new directors and nonfiction films, like “This is Not a Bank Robbery,” chronicling the surprising story of an octogenarian who successfully robs banks.
Other docs of note include “Gunnin’ for That #1 Spot,” Beastie Boy MCA’s (Adam Yauch) documentary about the famed Harlem streetball court Rucker Park; “Bigger, Stronger, Faster,” Chris Bell’s festival favorite about steroids in competitive sports and the personal toll it’s taken; and “Lou Reed’s Berlin,” painter-filmmaker-owner-of-massive-Chelsea-townhouse Julian Schnabel’s concert film in which the baritone rocker breathes new life into his 1973 album live at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
Who knows what to make of “Redbelt,” the world premiere of wordsmith David Mamet’s film about…martial arts? Yikes. But definitely check out “Elite Squad,” one of the most anticipated films of the festival. The first narrative feature by Jose Padilha follows two friends’ journey as part of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police, and if it’s half as harrowing as Padilha’s Brazilian hijack documentary “Bus 174,” you’re in for a ride.
Of course, there's a slew of blockbusters-in-waiting ("Speed Racer," which closes the festival), star wattage (from Julianne Moore to Samantha Morton to Matthew Broderick), as well as a couple of artsy auteurs who’ve come out of hiding just for the NYU film geeks: Harmony Korine from a self-imposed break, and Guy Maddin from Canada.
Don’t miss sports films like “Ball Don’t Like” in the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival; “Once Upon a Time in the West” in the “Special Screenings” section; a restoration of Federico Fellini’s short featurette “Toby Dammit”; and a “Cinema Conversation” of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which has special resonance this year following the recent passing of author and Stanley Kubrick’s co-screenwriter, Arthur C. Clarke.
Of course, expect panels, parties and plenty of music, most notably from Bronx songstress Regina Spektor and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile.
So what is a “Tribeca” film? Documentaries. Sports films. Stories about New York. Who knows. The subjects feel like they’re all over the place, but there’s only one neighborhood to see them in.
The Tribeca Film Festival unspools from April 23 to May 4. For a full list of screenings and locations, visit www.tribecafilmfestival.org
Photo: Simon Versano
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