Sunday, April 28, 2013

Rambling now that Tribeca 2013 is done- My best and worst of Tribeca lists

I need a week to sleep.

This past month damn near killed me.

As I say every year, I never want to do that again...when do I put in for my press badge for next year?

As with every year this year was unlike every other and could only be called Tribeca.

For me the festival people were great and so were the volunteers. I love the volunteers a great deal since they keep things honest and keep me headed in the right direction.

This year we at Unseen did about 83 features and a bunch of the shorts. A new record I think.

The constant back and forth has taken it's toll on me something fierce. It was for me a month of almost daily trips into the city with almost no days off once the press screenings started. Thank god I have no life or wife because I could never have done this with them.

Right now I don't know what is what or who I am. Somewhere around the 19th I stopped knowing anything other than where I was other than where I was at that minute...

Want to know something crazy- I'm going to work at 9am tomorrow. The day job. Hell the day job will be a vacation when compared to out the door at 7am and to bed at 130 or 2am after writing all night.

I love Tribeca  deeply but I wouldn't wish anyone to cover the festival as I and we do. Its just not human. Honestly I could do the 74 or so films that I saw easily over the course of the festival- the trick was and is having to write them up for your pleasure plus coordinate everyone else's coverage. Its crushing.

While there are things I'm unhappy with in how we covered the festival, the only complaint I have about the festival this year is the lack of extremes. While I can take solace in knowing that there was only  three truly bad films this year, and I can understand that there ten or so great films, I'm disappointed that the vast majority of films this year were, in the words of a fellow reviewer Meh. What is meant by this is they were unremarkable, unimpressive and just sort of there. With many of the films had we come across them on their own out side of Tribeca, they would have been fine, but in the context of the festival andit's history they are just Meh.

For me its understandable since you can't have a year like last year or the year before where there were so many discoveries. Occasionally you have to have a fallow year. For me it only makes looking forward 12 months all that more vital. I want to go back and see wondrous things.

Speaking of which for those who want to know what my best of Tribeca list would be-here it is...

Byzantium
Before Midnight
Big Joy
Red Obsession
Bending Steel
Whitewash
Frankenstein's Army
Elaine Stritch Shoot Me
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
Herblock:The Black and the White

The dancing in Flex is Kings

Too sad to be included- Broken Circle Breakdown

Just Missing the Cut my a millimeter- Before Snowfall and How To Make Money Selling Drugs

A favorite but not the best Haute Cuisine

And as for the worst-

Raze
Bluebird
Farah Goes Bang


Now with that out of the way I go into hibernation until the next thing comes along.

Mostly just Tribeca reviews will continue until Friday (Though 3 reviews of films at Hot Docs are in the mix)- after that it's back to the regular mix of films. I have things programmed until mid July, which is good because I'm probably going to sleep until then.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that BLUEBIRD and RAZE were terrible. I also thought the following were bad and/or extremely overrated. (Like you I had a press badge and went bonkers over the ten days watching 37 features though I saw no shorts)

    Bad or forgettable:

    Raze
    Bluebird
    Hide Your Smiling Faces
    Frankenstein's Army
    Mr. Jones
    Whitewash
    Some Velvet Morning
    Dark Touch
    Taboor
    The Machine
    Almost Christmas
    Run and Jump
    The Pretty One

    My top ten Best Films of the festival (really 11 with a 10th place tie)

    1. Wadjda
    2. Bridegroom
    3. Kiss the Water
    4. Before Snowfall
    5. Stand Clear of Closing Doors
    6. Oxyana
    7. Harmony Lessons
    8. The Rocket
    9. Cutie and the Boxer
    10. Dancing in Jaffa and What Richard Did (tie)

    I also liked Teenage, Big Joy, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Sunlight Jr., G.B.F. and Ali Blue Eyes.

    The Killo Team was fine enough, but overrated.

    Nice roundup!

    I will add your blog to my sidebar. I am a 58 year-old veteran English teacher in a Jr. high school who is also a fanatical lifetime movie fan. I live in northern New Jersey just minutes from Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge and attended most of the films with my wife Lucille and a few of my teenage kids.

    -Sam Juliano

    wondersinthedark.wordpress.com

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