[Pierre-Alexandre Despatis suffers for his cinema. Now covering his second edition, our official festival reporter and multi-function human cyborg will provide us the sights (plenty of cool pics!), the sounds, the reviews and the occasional interviews of the still very young 5th edition of the Tribeca film festival. Below are some of Pierre-Alexandre’s reviews in easy to read, insightful capsule form. Enjoy!]
THE BRIDGE
Many documentaries about suicide and suicide-related subjects vary in their aesthetics; Eric Steel’s THE BRIDGE really stands among Tribeca’s other documentary selections. There is something eerie about the doc, the unpleasant sight of seeing people jumping off the bridge brings back thoughts of those who had the same fate with the World Trade Center – except here the debate is about the choice. The other jarring item is that the film contains interviews with the families of the people who we see committing suicide – reliving the final moments of their loved ones. The filmmaker filmed the bridge from a distance and later contacted the families of the jumpers they filmed. The result is a very unique and strange montage! The interviews with the families are truly outstanding and they avoid any over-dramatization. Made in collaboration with IFC, the film will definitely find its way outside of the Tribeca film festival. Definitely a film to see before you die (pun intended).
JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT
Part of the ever-popular, yet somewhat underground grimy thriller genre, JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD, Eric Eason's sophomore feature, is set in Sao Paulo and relates the long journey to the end of the night of criminals whose paths intertwine … for the better and for worse. Schemes are made to steal money and of course, as rules the genre imply, everything that could go wrong for the characters, goes wrong. Beautifully shot, JOURNEY's aesthetics are very sleek and truthful to Sao Paulo's reputation of being the most dangerous city in the world. The acting is strong, especially on the part of Mos Def whose performance is on par or perhaps better than his role in THE WOODSMEN. The not so grimmy ending could have been worked out a little better, but other than that the film is a very nice watch.
SAM'S LAKE
Tribeca has a strong selection of horror movies this year in their Midnight section and usually the quality of their selection shows in each of the titles selected – unfortunately, this year many of the films in the midnight section are inferior to the previous years. Andrew Erin's SAM'S LAKE starts off as most classic horror films do – a group of people go to a cottage and (not surprisingly!) inhabitants of the village look strangely at them – as if the young friends didn't belong there – and they stop at a gas station where the clerk is rather creepy. How many films have that very same intro?? By the time there is a twist in the plot and people start dying, it's too late. By then the film is already monotonous we're just looking forward to seeing all the characters to expire in the predictable order so that the film can finally end! When the highlight of the last hour of the film is seeing someone bare-chested, you know that the filmmakers didn’t put too much thought to re-inventing the recycled material that inspired them in the first place.
MEE SHEE: THE WATER GIANT
Part of the Family Program, John Henderson’s MEE SHEE is pretty much what you'd expect from a kids flick; a decent and entertaining but somewhat unrealistic. Not out of reach because of all the fantasy elements in the film, but unrealistic because of the many plot holes and stereotyped villains. But, hey, it's a movie for kids! A different approach of Henderson's previous film on a marine monster-LOCH NESS (1996), despite its limited budget MEE SHEE has stunning visual effects and the creature is a beautiful creation backed by effects that are eye-catching. Unlike excellent kids flicks such as STRINGS, MEE SHEE probably won't garner much interest from mature audiences but its target audience will be delighted.
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