Tribeca 2008

Closing the Tribeca Film Festival this year was the anime cartoon inspired action film, Speed Racer from the Wachowski brothers, who created The Matrix trilogy.

I was lucky to catch two animated films at Tribeca, one from Bill Plympton whose been working at his art for many years and the second by a new animator Leetal Platt.

The Tribeca Awards were given out on May 1 at the Target Tribeca Filmmakers Lounge. The awards are all juried and recognize excellence in a variety of categories. It couldn’t have been an easy task to pick the best out of so many films.

Everyone who meets Jack Burridge sees a shy, amiable young man with a sweet smile and a quiet unassuming demeanor. But nothing about Jack is as it first appears because he’s hiding a terrible secret from his co-workers and his girlfriend.

Robin learns some of the lessons of festival life, including the age old lesson of not forgetting one’s press pass.

One of the more star studded films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival is War, Inc. Unfortunately though, the film doesn’t live up to the expectations of its impressive cast.

In the days of yore there were subway tokens. Little coins dropped into a slot that magically let you push the turnstile and enter the subway. Now we have Metro cards, those handy little cards with a black strip that are swiped at the turnstile. May the Gods damn them to the utter ness of hell.

This ESPN produced documentary follows Bobby Valentine during his 2007 season as manager of the Japanese ball club the Marines. For anyone who roots for a team, nothing will prepare you for the devotion that the Japanese fans have for their favorite team and players.

There are films that entertain and take us places we are unlikely to ever see in person. Then there are films that make us uneasy, are hard to watch because they explore the darker side of our fellow human beings.

Tonight I attended the Cadillac Lounge after party at Tenjune for the satire War, Inc. starring John Cusack (who also wrote the screenplay), Hillary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Sir Ben Kingsley and Joan Cusack.

Director Mohammad Al-Dardji is a man who believes in the power of art to transcend tragedy. In 2003 he put this to the test when he left London where he’d studied film to return to war torn Iraq to make a film.

And a dream of mine has finally come true. While at the Tribeca Film Festival today covering the red carpet premiere of Tennessee I got to see stars like Mariah Carey and Ben Kingsley but nothing compared to seeing the great Bobby D, my favorite actor ever.

Having learned East from West on my last trip in my travels went much smoother. I arrived on time to the AMC VII theater on third avenue near 12the street. Seeing a seven theater multiplex given over to screenings gives you a good idea how many films there are in the festival.

Yesterday an indie film called Tennessee gave its world debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. Stars Mariah Carey and Ethan Peck, along with other random celebs, turned out for the Red Carpet event.

Tomas Alfredson has adapted John Ajivde Lindquivst’s novel “Let the Right One In” and made a vampire film that transcends the genre.

In true Film School Reject fashion, our own Robin Ruinsky successfully gets lost in her own city on her first day covering the Tribeca Film Festival. We can’t fault her though, as NYC is a pretty big town.

The first thing I noticed when opening the schedule was the wide variety of films that will be showcased at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. There appears to be something for everybody this year.

Today we got some cool news from the Tribeca Press office that the festival, which was founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, will close with The Wachowski’s tripped out, CGI-infused cartoon adaptation Speed Racer.