Tribeca dispatch #2

[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 BLOOD OF MY BROTHER
Extremely moving, THE BLOOD OF MY BROTHER probably has the most intense footage of the war in Iraq ever put on film. In the real footage, a group of people target an American helicopter with a rocket launcher. The helicopter goes down and for a few minutes, it's total mayhem in the streets. The way the action was filmed is amazing … it makes you feel that you were there! The documentary isn't flawless however; while the main story of young boy who lost his brother is profoundly touching-and revolting-, the doc goes all over the place and included by far too many narrative items. War footage, interviews with the family of the young dead guys, an American military raid, etc. For example, at some point we see a sheep being sacrificed and, near the end of the film, a young girl talk about the fact that she used to like housework and that she didn't have anything to do outside the house. How are those related to the main subject of the film? Nonetheless, the film is worth seeing for it’s unflinching footage, yet it needed a more lucid story structure.

ANOTHER GAY MOVIE
This American Pie gay spoof is supposedly "the gayest films ever" according to the press notes. Perhaps, but this is certainly not the 'bestest' film ever. While the type of humor the films uses is very vulgar, as in South Park or American Pie, it simply doesn't work here. For vulgarity to be funny, it has to be at least well written and put together intelligently, which is not the case in this film where all the classic gay jokes/stereotypes one has to offer are shown one after the other (cucumbers in and living animals in the place where the sun don’t shine, gay paramedics who kiss a man to rescue him, etc, …). The genuinely funny scenes are rather scarce and could probably be counted on the fingers of one single hand! The over-the-top acting and the cheesy music and transitions between scenes are simply, a little much. It's hard to believe that Todd Stephens made this film after having written Edge of Seventeen and being named "one of the best 25 filmmakers to watch" by Filmmaker magazine. It's also hard to believe that this film got selected amongst 2000 other feature films Tribeca received. At the end of the film the characters drank to the upcoming sequel as the boys are going to spend spring break in Fort Lauderdale. I can't wait for that (huh, sarcasm intended here). It's not a question of not liking the film because its 'gay' … on the contrary there are many good queer comedies out there. Unfortunately, this film isn't one of them …

THE SHUKTA BOOK OF RECORDS
Since the advent of lighter filmmaking equipment, films about remote villages situated in the middle of nowhere seem to have drastically increased in number. This was good at first, but now there are so many films like that, after seeing like 5 of them, you've pretty much seen them all and the others become rather monotonous! Fortunately, Aleksandar Manic’s BOOK OF RECORDS has found a very original and unique approach in introducing inhabitants of that small and remote village. All the inhabitants of the village-–which is also populated by healers, genies, vampires and an old woman called Terminator–seem to be fascinated with records (not the vinyl type but the title kind). Many of the villagers hold records in various areas – the best music collection, the best boxer, the most homosexual person, the best bird dresser, etc. As one of the characters claims, "in those competitions it's not important to participate, the important thing is to win!". Despite the fact the overall tone is very light, we get to learn a little about the village and its traditions, and someone briefly criticizes global politics. It would have been interesting if that aspect of the film would have been pushed a little further. Nonetheless, BOOK OF RECORDS is very entertaining throughout … it's literally one of those feel good movies that'll stay with you way after having screened it.

A FLOCK OF DODOS : THE EVOLUTION-INTELLIGENT DESIGN CIRCUS
Despite A Flock of Dodos enumerates arguments from both sides (evolutionist vs. intelligent design), Michael Moore's films are probably less biased than this film is! It's not the point of the film however. Rather than providing us with pro-evolutionist mambo during 90 minutes, Randy Olson also (quite intelligently) makes a point at outlining who are the real dodos in this circus, and it might not be the pro intelligent-design groups! After all, why do only a minority of people believe in Darwin's theories? Could it be because the scientists don't know how to communicate their messages as well as the pr firms driven intelligent design groups? The films interviewee par excellence, the filmmaker's mom, is very entertaining and adds a lot of charm to the film. Through various animations sequences a la What the Bleep Do We know?, a poker game(!) populated by PhDs from leading American universities and scientific analysis (including an hilarious undercover operation aimed at filming a rabbit eating his own poop), the filmmaker tries to find out why Darwinism is so uncool these days–especially in Texas where an IMAX film supporting Darwin's theories was pulled off the screens after a public outcry! Truly entertaining, this film is definitely one of the must see of the festival.

Other Pieces
Tribeca Dispatch #1
Tribeca Preview