Amelia's Picks

The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival has sadly come to a close. I had a ton of fun and saw a grand total of 20 films. Again, a huge thank you to Debbie and Amanda for incredible passes! Its impossible for me to give one answer for an overall favorite film at this year’s festival. Therefore, I have decided to divide my recommendations into categories.

• For a beautiful love story: Strangers
• For a good laugh: Bart Got a Room (especially if you’re from Florida) or War, Inc. (if your in a politically sarcastic mood)
• For the beauty of depression: Katyń (you might not want to but you really should)
• For an amazing thriller: Love, Pain, and Vice Versa (Hitchcock fans, this is a must see)

That’s all until next year! Are you a film junkie?

Rachel's Picks

Rachel's picks are: Katyn; Love, Pain, and Vice Versa; and Man on Wire

A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy

Sadly, there wasn’t anything new to this story and we all wish it had a different ending. This documentary was an intimate view of JFK from his campaign for the Presidency all the way through to his funeral. This behind-the-scenes filming focused mainly on the office but still caught a many wonderful moments when personality, humor, and the American royalty of the Kennedy family shown through. The love shown by crowds in the States and across the world was astounding when one remembered our present day political climate. The most poignant moment came when John visited Ireland and read a poem about returning to once again see the face of the river Shannon. And he promised that he would return soon to do just that. But as an audience member you knew his time was running out and this would be his last trip to his grandparents’ home country.

This documentary achieved its goal of reminding the American people of possibly the most beloved of all American presidents. The dedication, sincerity, sacrifice, love, and joy that JFK brought to this country made the audience fervently wish that the upcoming election had brought then such a candidate.

Man on Wire

Philippe Petit is still performing and we caught his performance in Washington Square Park after the screening.

Man on Wire was a brilliant documentary but I almost wish Philippe Petit, the Man on Wire, hadn’t been there. The documentary did a fantastic job of honoring the art of this crazy guy while humorously portraying his stunt as some sort of high-level bank heist. Philippe Petit, an “oh so French” man, rebelled against his strict French parents by becoming a street performing and centering his life on high wire walking. He taught himself to walk the wire on a self made rig behind his family’s garden in France. From there he tackled the towers of Notre Dame and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. But his goal was always to walk on a wire between the two World Trade Center towers.

Philippe convinced many of his friends and his faithfully devoted girlfriend to help in his quest and this perfectly ‘70s group of French teens plotted for years. Once in New York, two Americans were recruited for unknown reasons. The French friends described them simply as “losers”. Someone said they believed one of the Americans showed up stoned. In response, the American said, “I smoked pot everyday for 35 years. There’s no reason to believe I didn’t smoke on that day”. At that point I couldn’t believe anyone had survived this stunt.

But they did. Philippe was let off by agreeing to perform for children. His French friends were expelled from the US and never allowed to return. His relationship with his dedicated French girlfriend was over when he slept with a fan that walked up to him as he was let out of custody. It turned out Philippe wasn’t really a nice guy.

The most stunning feature of the documentary was the beauty of the images of a man suspended in midair in some of the world’s most gorgeous locations. The black and white photographs of Philippe walking across Notre Dame with the Eiffel Tower behind him were breathtaking. Other than that, the reenactments and stories from this completely unprofessional group of teenage friends were hilarious. Kudos to director James Marsh for putting these stories together in such a unique way.

War, Inc

(This happened to be playing in a beautiful old theater)

The fact that we were sitting across the aisle from Michael Moore should have been a hint of the politically driven film we were about to see. War, Inc. was a hilarious spoof of a possibly terrifying future. It was Jarhead meets Spaceballs.

The film takes place in the future country of Turaqistan, in a time where companies have more power than nations and can wage war independently. John and Joan Cusack play some sort of undercover mercenaries living in a bizarrely westernized and highly militarized development in “the Emerald City”. Now that I think about it, Ben Kingsley’s character did play a man-behind-multiple-video-screens sort of persona. There were many not-so-subtle references to present day events and political figures. The addition of Hilary Duff as some sort of Asian equivalent to Brittney Spears was amusing. And sadly a few of her songs (written by John Cusack) were really catchy.

In the end, the film doesn’t make any profound statements. Its only point seems to be “if we continue down this path, here’s what our future could look like so lets make fun of it”. Advertising on tanks and Middle Eastern leaders wearing Croc sandals was pretty funny. And Joan Cusack fulfills her lifetime comedic potential. Two questions remain: How does John Cusack never age? And does anyone else think he looks like he’s wearing eyeliner?

Life in Flight

I completely blanked on the name of this film and then I thought, “Oh right, the pigeons”. Life in Flight was a less heart-warming version of an ABC Family movie. Cute successful guy meets cute successful quirky girl and eventually we know what will happen. Except in this case the guy is married and has a son so its no longer family-friendly material.

The story was pretty ho-hum and some of the dialogue was awful. Cute guy’s wife, played by Amy Smart, was an absurd character but that might just be a mixture of bad dialogue and less than stellar acting. The 30-something stay at home mom ended up looking like a petulant teenager in most scenes. Cute guy, played by Patrick Wilson, was average until he started spouting out the ridiculous dialogue. The best performance by far was the adorable Lynn Collins as cute guy’s love interest. She makes me want to be a redhead.

Life in Flight wasn’t an unpleasant hour and it definitely gets extra points for not being a depressing film. But we’ll probably forget about by next week.

Love, Pain, and Vice Versa

Love, Pain, and Vice Versa (along with iced coffee) turned out to be a fabulous way to start the day. The three of us clung to our seats and each other for most of this Spanish thriller. The director, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, later said that his main influence was Hitchcock, and he did quite an incredible job of creating his own brand of psychological thriller.

The most interesting aspect of this film is the sequence of the story. Love, Pain, and Vice Versa focuses on a man and a woman who interact mostly in their dreams and nightmares. The sequence of events is in no way linear and sometimes the audience doesn’t know if their watching reality, a dream, or a dream foreshadowing reality. The director admitted in the talk back, “I loved the first cut of the film but I was the only one who could understand it. My producers kept asking me to add more and more scenes but I didn’t want to underestimate the audience”. I felt like raising my hand and telling him he might have overestimated me. But it turned out I had most of the sequencing correct and after a short discussion, the whole film came together. Its much more interesting if you have to be actively involved in piecing the film together.

There was one stunning shot in the film that captured the story in its entirety. I felt like I could have been looking at a photograph entitled Love, Pain, and Vice Versa. Over all, the film was an adrenaline rush with intense characters and a engrossing but not overly complex storyline. It was in no way a light film but we left the theatre wide eyed and energized.

Before the Rains

Before the Rains first and foremost was visually breathtaking. Set in a small village in India, this love story quickly turns into a thriller of culture clash. The English planter and his married servant have a beautiful love affair but when the planter’s English wife joins him in India, everything falls apart. Its hard to say much about the nest series of events without spoiling the “thriller” side of the story. The character caught in between the cultures is Teke, the English planter’s man servant and seemingly his best friend. The film explores where loyalty lies; whether it is with culture, family, money, or friends.

As the wife of the English planter, Jennifer Ehle gives an amazing performance. When she realizes what has happened between her husband and the servant girl, I thought her glare alone would kill her husband.

Finding Amanda

Finding Amanda was the only comedy I’ve seen in several days but it was still pretty dark. When TV writer Mathew Broderick gets into trouble with his gambling problem, he tries to make it up to his wife by driving to Las Vegas to rescue her nice Amanda (played by Brittney Snow).

In their first few encounters, Amanda, the 20-year-old niece making a very nice living as a hooker in Vegas, seems to be much happier and well adjusted than her ex-addict uncle. She’s proud of the money she makes, her new house and cars, and even her sketchy/ stupid boyfriend. On the other hand, her uncle loses almost $100,000 gambling and relapses into his drinking problem. And then he tries to tell her to go to rehab.

The turning point comes in single moment when the uncle is strung out on the floor and Amanda beaks down. She admits that once you “hook” for the first time, there’s no taking it back. You will always be that girl on the bathroom floor.

So in the end, not such a cheery film. But there were some hilarious moments and Mathew Broderick regained star status in this dark comedy.

Katyń

Katyń is by far the most powerful film I’ve seen this year. When the film ended, the entire audience shuffled out in silence. It would have been bizarre if the weather had been anything but cold and grey outside.

Katyń followed the lives of several interconnected characters in Poland during WWII and ended with a horrifying and blunt recreation of the mass murder of 15,000 Polish officers in the Katyń woods in 1940. The Polish director Wajda’s father was among those killed at Katyń and that must be the key to the emotional depth of this film.

In the opening scene of the film, a stream of Polish refugees are stuck on a bridge, not knowing which side to cross to. They are trying to flee from the Germans, who are approaching from behind, but are also being told that the Soviet’s are encroaching from the other side of the river. The whole film explores the tug-of-war done with the Polish people during WWII even in who was to blame for the Katyń murders.

Katyń was beautifully shot with vivid characters and eerily beautiful relationships. By placing the murders at the very end of the film, the audience is so emotionally involved with the stories of each officer and his family that even just staring at the floor and listening to the gun shots and the thud of bodies haunted me into chilled silence for several hours.

Mister Lonely

The best thing to say about Mister Lonely is that the soundtrack was awesome and the film wasn’t nearly as bad as Merry Misfits from last year. But this definitely takes the cake as this years WTF film. Written and directed by Harmony Korine, this film seems to simply be based on two ideas; nuns falling out of airplanes and a commune of impersonators. That’s all and, no, the two do not relate. If ever I needed a Q&A, it was for this and unfortunately there was none.

I feel like a watched this entire movie with my mouth open in disbelief. First of all, the main character is a Michael Jackson impersonator played by none other than Mexican actor Diego Luna. And yes, he keeps the Mexican accent. He is taken to a commune in a castle by a Marilyn Monroe impersonator and meets Charlie Chaplin, her husband, and Shirley Temple, her daughter. Also in the commune are a swearing Abe Lincoln, a vaguely Hispanic Queen of England, the Pope, and the three stooges. After admitting that her husband looks more like Adolf Hitler than Charlie Chaplin, the most disturbing moment in the movie comes when Chaplin (Hitler) rapes a sunburned Marilyn Monroe.

The nuns falling from airplanes storyline is randomly interspersed with the impersonators. The nuns like in a mission in South America and use a small airplane to drop food to nearby villages. On one of the food drops, a nun falls out of the plane, prays in midair, and lands softly on the ground. So then the priest tells all of the nuns to jump out of the plane. All land safely, a miracle is declared, and the priest and nuns are invited to Rome to meet the Pope (the real one, not the guy living in the impersonator commune). All die in a plane crash on the way to Rome.

In the end, Mister Lonely had a few bizarre but hilarious moments and never failed to shock or confuse me. I guess it was all based on “finding yourself” but I think the confusion, complexity, and utter strangeness ended up losing most of the audience members.

Mathew Modine

But then we figured we should look around for Mathew Modine just in case. And there he was, smoking, talking on a cell phone, and chaining his orange bike to a city lamp post while he went in for his screening.

Strong Brothers

So as we were leaving Strangers, Amanda pointed out that we could just go see the Cold Feet short program again. And then we realized the Strong brothers were behind us. We have run into them so many times in the past week that we had to get a picture.

Strangers- Liron Levo Q&A

(Liron Levo is beautiful and we think he’s the equivalent of Brad Pitt in Israel. So here are a few shameless pictures.)

This is one of the most memorable Q&As I’ve been to. It began with “Unfortunately, the filmmakers are stuck in traffic”. Oh no! “But, the lead actor is here.” SCORE! Aside from the fact that a middle-aged woman actually asked Liron Levo is he was single, the questions came hard and fast and he had great (and funny) answers for them all. So here are some of the highlights (only from memory):

- There was incredible chemistry between you and Lubna Azabal. Was that natural?

- We did not have sex. Does that answer your question?

- How much of the film was improvised?

- We had a basic two-page storyline. I think two scenes were scripted and all the rest was improvised.

- If there was anything you could add or take from the film, what would it be?

- More love, less politics.

- I don’t think a relationship like this could actually exist. Do you know of any Israeli/ Palestinian couples?

- No, but that does not mean its not possible.

- How was the film shot?

- (Cinematographer) It was shot by just me with one camera. We had to disassemble the camera and each carry a few parts to be allowed into the world cup. We kept getting kicked off trains so we would have to stop and jump back on to keep filming.

Strangers

Finally, I’ve found a true gem. Strangers was introduced as the modern day Romeo and Juliet story with a Middle East conflict twist. Rana, from Lebanon, and Eyal, from Israel, meet in Berlin on their way to the World Cup finals when their bags accidentally get switched. They share a few days and romance blooms. When the topic of politics and war comes up, they decide that two people sitting in a bar in Berlin for a night probably can’t solve an age-old problem. They share one more beautiful night and then Rana must fly back to Paris in the morning. At the airport, she asks Eyal not to call her again. The next day he flies to Paris instead of Israel.

Once in Paris, it becomes increasingly apparent that the couple’s political views can never align. They watch news reports of bombings and each calls friends and family speaking rapidly in languages they other does not understand. Possibly the most touching part of the film is the day Eyal spends with Rana’s 5-year old son strolling through Paris. At this point, the audience begins to think their relationship could really work.

The two lead actors, Liron Levo and Lubna Azabal, are their characters. The combination of incredible acting and chemistry between the two plus the one-man camera crew makes the audience feel as if they are watching a home movie of these characters’ lives. Strangers feels like a darker and more romantic twist on Once blended with a political and less philosophical bit of Before Sunrise.

And in the end? Is it a true Romeo and Juliet story? All I will say is the ending is fabulous. And much better than a piano.

*On a side note, we selected this film partly because of an article about the soundtrack. Supposedly Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of Once wrote a song for this film. We never recognized it in the film but the entire soundtrack was beautiful.

Theatre of War

Theatre of War was at best interesting. This documentary was based on both the life of Bertolt Brecht and the 2006 production of “Mother Courage” by the Public Theatre in New York. Theatre of War gave an extensive timeline of Brecht fleeing Germany as well as an amusing recording of Brecht, once in the United States, being questioned about allegiance with the communist party. The documentary also followed the rehearsals of the Public Theatre’s “Mother Courage” with incredible performance footage of Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. To me the most moving moments were in comments by Meryl Streep on her role as an actor and on the purpose of “Mother Courage” for today’s audiences.

Director John Walter prefaced this film by saying, “Making a documentary is like spending a year digging yourself into a hole and then spending the next year trying to claw your way back out”. And the audience could feel his clawing. Walter has assembled an incredible amount of information but failed to share any of his own opinion or insight. We were left ask, so what? The most creative response applied the transitive property to this documentary coming to an interesting but explored conclusion. Marxism applies to “Mother Courage”. “Mother Courage” applies to present day politics. Therefore, Marxism should apply to present day politics. When asked point blank about this conclusion, the film makers gave a resounded “No comment”, “I don’t know”, and “Yes!”

Paraiso Travel

Paraiso Travel was introduced as the steamy Latin film of the year and already a box office hit in its home country, Colombia. From this I was expecting an exotic romance between these two young Colombians as they travel to New York. I was so wrong. More than anything, this film is a disturbing spotlight on immigration. In Colombia, the young couple and a group of about 10 other Colombians meet with a “travel agent” and pay a huge amount of money for their trip to New York. Its sold as an all-inclusive, first class trip but immediately becomes a nightmare.

The immigrants are robbed, raped, forced to live in awful conditions, risk their lives forging rivers, and only the lucky survive all the way to New York. The saddest part of this whole story is that many of these immigrants were not poor in Colombia. The main character, Marlon, had a loving family in a big house that wanted him to go to the university. He put himself through all this suffering simply on the whim of his girlfriend, Reina, who he loses the first night he arrives in New York.

This was a tragic but beautifully made film that deserves to be screened throughout the US if only to force audiences here to acknowledge the plight of Latin American immigrants. Paraiso Travel isn’t just a painful social commentary. It creates beautiful relationships between its characters and immerses even a New York audience into a previously unknown world within their city.

Savage Grace

Director Tom Kalin

I was exhausted by the last screening of the day but it was definitely interesting enough to hold my attention. Savage Grace based on the book of the same title, follows the true story of the Baekeland family. As the director urged after the screening, I will try to not replace the entire movie with just the last 20 minutes.

The film begins with a glamorous young couple and their baby boy, Tony. The loving mother Barbara, played by Julianne Moore, is the complete opposite of the harsh father, Brooks. After the extreme wealth of the family is understood, the film jumps forward 10 years to the family living in Paris. Everything about their live is the epitome of elegance and the mother and young son make the cutest pair walking along the gardens of Paris. Then we skip forward seven years and Tony is a teenager vacationing with the family in Mallorca. Here we see the beautiful, sun-bleached boy Tony and his first possible romantic interests. These come in the form of Blanca, a young Spanish girl, and Jake, a young Spanish hash dealer. Tony takes Blanca on a trip with his own parents and his father “bores” her with a discussion of the family wealth.

In the next fast forward, Barbara sees Brooks and Blanca in the airport and runs after them raving. Apparently, Brooks has left Barbara for his son’s girlfriend Blanca. Barbara and Tony are left on their own and never get over this betrayal. Barbara brings in a stand in gay man to escort her to various functions and help her regain status in society. This ends in a three way sexual encounter between Barbara, her escort, and her son Tony.

In the final fast forward, Barbara and Tony are living in London. Tony still narrates his life in a letter to his father who has never had the decency to apologize to his son. Although Tony is an adult, he has never mentally moved past the point of childhood. The final seems are disturbing in everyway and include very straightforward acts of incest and murder.

It is hard to not be horrified by the ending of this film. The biggest question in my head and one that another audience member asked was “Why would you choose to make a film about this?” The oh-so-funny director, Tom Kalin, responded, “Well, its mostly autobiographical”. He then explained that tragedy in any form is a common human experience and these characters fell from the greatest height. I think this is a valid point and the film contains more than enough beauty and love in the first half to make the story of this family of interest to the audience.

Lake City

Sissy Spacek Q & A

The next screening of the afternoon was Lake City starring Sissy Spacek. In comparison to the other films I’ve seen so far, this has the most potential of going mainstream. Lake City is set in the classic American small town where Spacek’s character owns a farm. Her husband isn’t mentioned but throughout the film the story of her two sons unravels to reveal the death of her younger son at a very young age.

But the film is about the next generation when the older son returns home many years later with a young boy, his own son. From here the story somehow becomes a thriller and ends with the mother, son, and grandson trying to outrun drug lords in a cornfield. It was a little over the top but overall a loving film about the average, screwed up American family.

This Is Not a Robbery

After standing in a line that wrapped around the block, we were finally let in to the documentary This Is Not a Robbery about senior citizen bank robber JL Rountree. The documentary followed an interesting timeline mixing both the biography and the later bank robbing spree of Rountree. This Is Not a Robbery constantly teetered between hilarity and heart breaking tragedy and sometimes this all came wrapped together in the same story. For example, while in federal prison (as the oldest inmate) in Florida, another inmate tried to steal Rountree’s shoes. Rountree attacked him with his cane, shattering the inmate’s arm.

It turned out that Rountree had lost his only son in a car accident when the son was only 23. Rountree’s wife, with whom he had a “50 year love affair”, died early of cancer. Rountree was left to grow old alone and miserable and always remembered the banker that at one point in his life had put him into bankruptcy. And so at the age of 83, he began to rob banks.

Rountree was not a very successful bank robber and ended up in jail more than once. The southern justice system was always sympathetic to him and more than once let him out of jail early to live out the rest of his days in peace. Rountree would immediately start planning his next robbery.

One of the best interviews in the film was with the teller Rountree had robbed at a bank in Jacksonville, Florida. She admitted that after the robbery she became paranoid around the elderly and had to quit her job at the bank. She is now an elementary school teacher.

Bitter and Twisted

Christopher Weekes, writer/director/actor

My Saturday started with the Australian film Bitter and Twisted by first time 24-year old director/writer/actor Christopher Weekes. The film begins with the death of a young man, Liam, and we never find out much about his life or how he died. Then the film fast forwards three years and follows the lives of Liam’s family and girlfriend, none of whom have “gotten over it”. The most heartbreaking character is Liam’s father, and overweight car salesman, who eats lunch at his son’s grave everyday and is completely numb to the world around him. Half way through the film you really feel like this man’s life is so awful that suicide might be a good option.

Liam’s brother, played by Christopher Weekes, is a skinny and infinitely awkward guy who tries to take Liam’s place in the family and with his girlfriend but ultimately ends up upsetting everyone around him. There is one incredibly shot scene in which the brother and the girlfriend are sitting on a park bench and the camera circles them rapidly switching from close-ups on each of their faces. During this dizzying camera work, the brother suddenly becomes Liam, but after another rotation, switches back to reality.

The only glimmer of happiness in this film is the brother’s possible gay friend who, for inexplicable reasons, ends up falling in love with this awkward and quiet young brother. The straightforward confession of love and sureness of this character were a shining light within the sea of dark confusion every other character was living in.

After the film, Christopher Weekes answered audience questions and it turned out that this was his first ever attempt at film after being rejected from film school 9 times. And also that while shooting, he truly believed he was shooting a comedy. While this is probably the beginning of an incredible career, it seems that Christopher Weekes himself is Bitter and Twisted.

Shorts: Cold Feet

Other notable shorts included a German drama of a high level corporate bank robbery that turned into a social commentary of globalization. One of my favorites was an Alaskan battle shot in complete whiteness and simply because there are far too few films about Alaska and Eskimos. The one truly bizarre short was a French film about a boy growing up with a unique disability. He constantly had water pouring out of the top of his head. The film had no dialogue so there were no explanations but it had a lovely quality to it.

Shorts: Cold Feet

Mathew Modine, Shiloh Strong, and Rider Strong

After an hour break relaxing in the American Express Lounge, we headed to the last screening of the night, which was a collection of 7 short films. The first was the shortest and a professed joke by actor and director Mathew Modine. The film was about thinking too much but apparently the real meaning of the film was how little it took to make a film today. We’re pretty sure Mathew Modine was a little buzzed at the screening unless he’s that disrespectful and arrogant all the time. But somehow he was delightfully funny.

The film we had come to see was Irish Twins created and acted by Shiloh and Rider Strong. The film was much darker than anticipated with a completely unexpected turn to the dark side in the end. It was a well-written and well-acted drama about two brothers by two brothers and I hope to see more from the Strong brothers soon.

Bart Got a Room

The Director and Cast: Brian Hecker, William H. Macy, Alia Shawkat, Steven Kaplan, and Cheryl Hines

Oh, South Florida! There really aren’t many movies that try to tackle the complete culture of this bizarre pocket of the country. Director and south Florida native, Brian Heckler, took on this challenge in his hilarious film Bart Got a Room. This film portrayed Danny, a high school senior and only child of a divorced Jewish couple (played by William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines). The who film is a count down to prom night and Danny’s quest to find a date other than his long time childhood friend Camille (played by Alia Shawkat). Danny’s parents, inappropriate and over-sharing to the max, will stop at nothing to help their son on his quest. Even is it means picking up a hooker on the street to be his prom date.

Bart Got a Room was hilarious the whole way through but had an unforgettable father-son twist on the famous Harry and Sally dinner scene. When Danny’s dad moves into a new house by the beach, he tries to convince Danny to bring his dates home there instead of to his mothers. The discussion quickly develops into a debate on the soundproof quality of the walls. To test this, William H. Macy gives a brilliant performance of the 10 different levels of noise that might occur when either father or son “has a woman over”. And of course the front door has been left open and in the middle of his performance, a white haired and brightly colored south Florida woman slowly makes her way to the door with a plate of baked goods and then slowly retreats.

The performances of William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines hilarious and apparently based on the directors real life parents who were in the audience. The one disappointment of this film was the part of Camille played by Alia Shawkat. The director gave a speech saying that he only wanted Maeby from Arrested Development to play Camille and no one else would do. But the part of Camille was one of the only non-humorous roles in the film. Her character was quiet and boring and plain which is exactly why Danny didn’t want to take her to the prom in the first place. As a big fan of Alia, I wish she had been given a role with a little more comic substance.

Trucker

Director James Mortern and Actress Michelle Monaghan

My first screening Friday was Trucker starring Michelle Monaghan. Yes, she has a fluffy, mainstream romantic comedy with Patrick Dempsey coming out next week but this week she was the polar opposite. Trucker is the story of a young woman big rig driver based out of a depressing desert town in California. She is completely independent to a point where she seems detached and guarded against everyone she interacts with. We learn that she has an 11-year-old son from a previous and short-lived marriage but when the son shows up at her door, she wants nothing to do with him.

Trucker becomes a gritty and emotional journey of mother and son learning how to love each other. There are some breathtaking shots of the “Great American West” along the trucker’s route and phenomenal performances by the small cast (including actors Benjamin Bratt, Nathan Fillon, and Jimmy Bennet). Sniffling was heard throughout the theatre during the hospital scene between father, played by Benjamin Bratt, and son, played by Jimmy Bennet, when the father tells his son that he is dying and explains to him what it means to do good in life. The audience falls into the trap of believing that is the emotional climax of the film but a more gruesome and dramatic climax is still to come.

Conrad!

Tina and Amy were swamped all night but we did get to talk to my first choice, Romany Malco. He was carrying a murse but looked great and he was so sweet. He held my hand and told us Weeds had started filming but he hasn’t yet (is he not in the first few episodes???). But he promised us that we would like it and that we would definitely be surprised. What a wonderful guy, I will keep a look out for him the rest of the festival!

MoMA afterparty

Aside from the actual film, the Baby Mama premiere and Tribeca Film Festival opening night was done right. The after party at the MoMA was class all the way with beautiful cherry blossom arrangements and elegant tables sweeping out into the sculpture garden. The bar even served the “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana” smoothies from the movie. Spotted at the party were most of the Baby Mama cast (minus Steve Martine and Greg Kinnear, big chunks of both the SNL and 30 Rock casts (aww Jimmy Fallon!), Rider Stong (he sat directly behind us for the screening!), and a few oddities such as Chevy Chase.

Baby Mama

A huge thank you to Debbie who gave Amanda passes to the premiere and festival and to Amanda who shared them with me. This is my favorite time of year and there is no better way to spend the first beautiful weeks of spring in the city!

The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival opened last night with the world premiere of the movie Baby Mama. Every year the festival has a more main stream, big budget film premiere and it’s not necessarily a coveted spot. In 2007, the painful film Lucky You had this honor and in 2006, Mission Impossible III under impressed its first audience at Tribeca. Baby Mama fell well above these two films and was an enjoyable hour and a half. But an enjoyable passage of time is about the best one can say about Baby Mama.

With an incredible cast and the two smartest female comedians of this generation of SNL, it’s hard to understand why the film just wasn’t that funny. As involved as Tina Fey has been in her last two projects (30 Rock and Mean Girls), starring in the film wasn’t enough to make it a Tina Fey success. The writer and director Michael McCullers (who’s previous credits include Austin Powers films), satisfy the comedic powers of Tina Fey and Amy Pohler. There were a few funny moments and the audience was forced into the position of a live laugh track; we knew we should laugh but also that if we were watching this at home not much of it would make us actually laugh out loud.

The above-mentioned incredible cast played a wide variety of ridiculously stereotyped characters. There was Steve Martin who played a hippie businessman and yes in fact did run a natural foods company, have waist long hair, meditate, and do yoga. Romany Malco (best known as Conrad from the show Weeds) played a typified black doorman and was, of course, the one to bring up the phrase “baby mama”. Amy Pohler was white trash, and stupid along with her common law dead beat white trash husband, and in a moment of dramatic confrontation, Tina Fey’s successful businesswoman character hurtfully calls Amy Pohler white trash!

All in all, the movie was more poignant than expected but also completely predictable from the half way point. Tina Fey fans will still want to see it but will quickly realize that Baby Mama is not as smart as Mean Girls and not as funny as 30 Rock.