The Tribeca 2026 Curtain Raiser - Its still going after 25 years

We are three days away from the start of the 25th edition of the Tribeca (Film) Festival and all is right with the world

I should explain that I have film in parenthesis because the festival has grown into something more than just film, though film forms the spine of the festival madness. There talks and podcasts and performances and games and storytelling and lots of good stuff.

As in past years Unseen will primarily be focused on the film part of the fest. As it stands now, with reposts we are well over 75 films into Tribeca. If you are curious what this means, this means I have no life and can't socialize well.

The can't socialize bit is a joke, the other part is not, one can't get 75 plus films into a fest if one had any semblence of a real life. I have been watching film for the better part of the last month. I have seen some  good stuff and some great stuff. And there have been some stinkers too, but the less said about them the better.

I love the Tribeca Film Festival. I started going in 2010 and I haven't stopped. Actually I simply started to watch more and more films until it is at a dangerous level. My brain might explode.

What I love about Tribeca is that unlike the other big New York City festivals, most of the films are World Premieres. This means you are sitting down to a film that almost no one has seen. There is no advance word, so you have no preconcieved notions. You don't know what you are ultimately going to get. You really don't since the write ups for the films often isn't spot on, comedies could be dramas, dramas horror movies. Explorations of a subject may not go where you think. This is the result of the fact that in many cases they are still working on the films right up to the first screening and what they thought they would be delivering may not be what arrives.

I love playing cinema roulette. I love that I  don't have to travel to Europe or Canada or Asia to see what might be the next great film (this why people go to fests like Cannes, Busan or Toronto).  I love that I can walk into 100 or more movies with zero expectations and discover some gems. I know a lot of people who are mixed on Tribeca because they don't hit enough great films. I understand that but at the same time how can you know what is good if you don't try? I never could understand how a film lover could only want to see something prejudged instead of making the great discovery- the next great film or performer or director. Tribeca is a crap shoot but it always pays off big with a good number of great films- you just have to try more than a handful.

I also love the festival because I get to hang out with my friends. Fleetingly, but I do. More importantly this is a festival where I tend to make a lot of friends. Talk on the lines and in the lobby's result in coversations and long discussions- several like my discussion with Nate Hood have been going on for about a decade.

You need to go to the fest and talk to the people around you, even the weird ones because you never know what or who you will discover. I say that because I have ended up talking to famous people on line just because they were next to me

As always this year  I will be on the ground with Ariela Rubin, She's been my Tribeca traveling mate for many many years. We will reporting in when we can. Additionally Eden will be dropping a review or two, I’m talking to Liz Whittemore about sharing pieces and we will be getting photos from Wendy Feinberg from the in-person screenings she attends.

Its going to be crazy, so belt in

Please forgive me as I take a moment to speak specifically to PR people and filmmakers who I know are reading this to see if their film makes the curtain raiser.: We are well over 75 films into Tribeca- this means that while I will have reviews of every film we have been sent or will see, the review may not be dropping at the ebargo time. Experience says that if I post anything shorter than every 3 hours posts get lost and over looked.  I am not breaking that except for something special. Ths effectively means that the films that got sent to us earlier in the festival pre-screen period will have reviews appearing  closer to when the embargo drops.  Other films, especially those with  an early play date, which we got in the last few days prior to the festival may not go up until a day or two or three after the embargo. Apologies. I know you need the reviews to go up, and I want them to go up, but I also want them to be seen. A review on the site is no good if it's instantly buried by 4 other films. Its not malicious, it's because I care. Reviews dropped on my schedule are seen more than multple drops in an hour. Remember: EVERY FILM WE SEE WILL BE REVIEWED. I'm just not promising when the review will go up. As this posts we have reviewed every film we have been sent or attended. (Why am I doing this? So that there is some record of the films I see - in the last few years there have been more than a few films where I or Ariela were the only person in the press screening)

All of the new films at Tribeca are under embargo so nothing will post until they finish their first public screening. The exception is going to be some reposted reviews. I will be reposting the reviews for films we reviewed out of other festivals or in the case of the free screenings, out of previous Tribecas. In the case of those films, the reviews are out there and in most cases have been posted multiple times already.

I know you don't care about all of that- what you want to know is what film should you be trying to see. To that end Steve's list of the films premeiring at Tribeca you must see:

ODESSA- a beautifully made film about a family on the run. It works from start to finish and is the rare short film today that doesn't demand a sequel or feel like a proof of concept

FRAMPTON- this is a moving look at Peter Frampton that started as a record of his "final" tour which then morphed to become a life and times of the musician and, by all accounts, a really nice guy. In alot of ways this is a conventional doc, but at the same time the film's subject is simply such a compelling presence it doesn't need to have bells and whistles to make us want to take the journey. Say what you will, by the time the film ends you will be misty. One of the great films at Tribeca. An interview with the director and coverage of the opening night concert will be coming (Wendy and I are going because it's freaking Peter Frampton).

HOLO is a scifi short about an abuse survivor trying to overcome  grief by an  encounter with her deceased abuser in holographic form- and that end will kick you in the ass

4000 DAYS is a good look at the drive to get a national bill passed that would restrict or stop college hazing. It's a film that will shock you (one dead student had been made to eat mouse heads) and move you to wonder why it took so long. This film made me wonder how anyone can ever say "normal/good people don't do that" when the reality is that good people do worse in the name of hazing.

YOU TRYNA SAY YOU LOVE ME? is one of the tip top best films of 2026 of any length. Two college kids meet in a diner and.... how do you express yourself when you never learned the words?  I lived this in some form so I know this is spot on. It crushed me in the best way...and I love how the camera doesn't pull away for the credits because it booms again.

MEMORIZU another great film playing Tribeca is about a man helping his father-in-law at a photography studio while his in-laws leg heals. A film about how we communicate these days, particularly through photos, the film is frequently a series of magnificently composed shots.  This is a wonderful story about family and the age we live in.

EPHEMERA is the story of two women on a date before one leaves Shanghai for the US. We've been here before but not with these two characters. This is great time with great people and you will be moved. One of my favorites of the pre-fest screenings and of 2026.

I'M NOT HOME seconds into the film you'll forget that Julian DeNiro is Robert's son and you'll be lost in Elena Parasco's tale of two friends hanging out. This short says more than most features. Someone give Paraco a feature now.

GUGGI- This glorious film is Irish artist Guggi talking about his life and art. We all need to have story tellers like this in our lives.

MEXICANAMERICAN brilliant documentary about the directors family and how the act of coming to America changed their hopes and dreams. Its not what you think and so much more

If you want a visually stunning film that ponders Mongolian society in the face of industrialization see COLORS OF WHITE ROCK about a woman who drives a truck taking coal from the mines and bringing it to China. The images will make your jaw drop.

If you want an Unseen Films sort of off the beaten path interesting even though its not a perfect film, try TROPIC SUN AND HIS EYES about the interaction between a man going to make peace with his father and kid looking for a family. Its a beautifully shot cinematic tone poem that isn't for everyone.

ROAR is a 4 minute animated film about a neuro divergent young girl traveling around San Francisco with her mom. The music drives it and makes it something you'll want to watch repeatedly - I did - I played it on repeat for well over an hour. (Twice)

UNDER THE LAKE - wicked animated short that is a kind of dark modern noir that will curl your toes. This film will rattle you.  An interview with the director is coming

THE LORRAINE- this look at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis is absolutely stunning. Nominally a look at the place where Martin Luther King Jr was killed, it is actually so much more, a look at America through an African American lens.

DEATH BOOM is an excellent look at the death industry. Its everything you never wanted to know about funerals, embalming, cremation and other things but did want to ask. If you're curious this is for you, but be warned it is graphic and leaves nothing to the imagination

NIO KO BOKK (This Belongs to All of Us) a ten minute look at life and surfing in Dakar. Its a film that reveals the world in mere minuts and makes you wonder what director David Clancy will do next.

ONLY WHAT WE CARRY Sofia Boutella and Charlotte Gainsbourg head  a cast at the top of their game selling a film about people coming together at a hotel in Normandy. This film shouldn't be this good. Its got characters you will remember forever.

FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION GO HERE.

I want Her Dead (2025) Open Roads 2025

Gianluca Matarrese charts the battle that was raging in his family between two sister in-laws.

This is a docufiction about the course of the relationship between the two women. who were fractured by an unpaid bill. It begings with a stage screaming match between the women and some witnesses. It the charts the women, their relationship and the family's reaction to the fighting.

I'm sorry  for me this was dull.

I WANT HER DEAD did not work for me. Part of it is the fact that I never cared that much about petty family squabbles, and part of it is the fact that this doesn’t feel natural. I know with docufiction there is often a point where you can feel the director gently turning things. Here, almost every shot, every confrontation, basically every moment feels like the director was setting things up. The result wasn’t anything that worked for me.

Not recommended.

Hacked (2025) hits VOD Tuesday

HACKED is a goofy film said to be the result of the filmmakers being scammed and turning that into a wish fulfilment tale of revenge. It’s a film where everyone is having a good time on screen and it bleeds off the screen into the seats. 

Is it something I need to see again? Probably not, it never shakes the sense it’s a private joke with the cast and crew, but I had a good time.

Worth a look

Mosquitoes / Le bambine (2025) Open Roads 2026

This is a pointer for MOSQUITOS.  I’m not going to do a full-on review because the film did not click with me in a way that makes me think it’s purely a matter of personal taste and not quality of the film.

The film is the story of a young girl who moves to Italy with her free spirted mother. There she meets two sisters who about her age and the trio form a protective bond.

Shot mostly in a square 1:1 aspect ratio this is a film that is extremely deliberate in its presentation and its telling. You can feel the hands of directors Valentina and Nicole Bertani all over it. They are micromanaging every aspect of the film. It’s too much for my tastes and nothing ever felt real to me.  And while I don’t care for micromanaged films, I know a lot of people who are and so I’m going to leave the choice to see the film or not up to you.

Watching Mr. Pearson (2026)

Two caretakers watch over a once great actor now slowly slipping way into the goodnight of dimentia.

Containing some of the best performances you'll see all year as well as some of the best filmmaking, WATCHING MR PEARSON is a film you'll want to see because its a film that shows when talented people make a movie that they care about. This is a film that survives because the craft of the film lifts the whole film up several places.

If that is an odd thing to say, I apologize, but the script, while not terrible, is not up to the cast and everything else. The problem is not so much we've been here before, but rather the dialog isn't as spot on as the cast. People  don't always talk or behave like that, and some of the movie recreations don't ring real. It might have worked with the lesser cast, but this cast is top of the line and working at their peak and you notice that the words are not as real as the people speaking them.

That isn't to say the film is bad, it is not. It is simply to say that you'll end up liking this film even though you shopuld have come out loving it.

Quibbles aside this is worth a look for anyone wanting to see a film with real people on screen.

The Currents (2025) starts today

I have no clue about THE CURRENTS. The write up says the film concerns a woman who doesn’t seem to fit into her life after plunging into a river. The reality is that this is a bout a cipher who wanders through her life not saying anything and disconnected. However, she is so disconnected that we never connect.

The problem with the film write up is that infers things that just aren’t there. She is disconnected from the start when after get an award she promptly drops it in the garbage and then wanders off before jumping into a cold river. We then get sequences where she wanders through her life not fully connected. How unconnected, there is no sense that we need to know anything so that two sequences where she collapses and is rushed to the hospital  are followed by sequences where she drifts through life. The collapses are never mentioned.  There is a sequence with a therapist which is supposed to clue us in, but it tells us nothing we didn’t know. A late trip to her mother’s house clues us in that Nina’s mental illness maybe hereditary, but it goes nowhere because soon after that the film just stops.

I suspect that the press notes may say something, but the question then becomes why doesn’t the film have any missing information on the screen.

This film is well made but emotionally and narratively a disaster. I may think other films at NYFF are worse films, but the truth is those films have a point of view and passion from a filmmaker who at least could put their feelings on the screen. I have no idea what the makers of THE CURRENTS were going for.

We Are Pat (2025)

Director Rowan Haber looks at the Its Pat sketches from Saturday Night Live and how it connected with some people.

Pat was a character whose gender was not specified and who made people uncomfortable. I never found Pat anything more than just okay. I know why Pat had a series of sketches, but  at the same time it seemed to be rather one note. Watching this film I hoped to find out what the wonder of Pat was.

I'm still hoping to find out.

No that's not right, intellectually I know why Pat resonates with people but at the same time, Pat's wonders elude me. Thats's not to say the film is bad, it's not it just didn't connect to me.

If you're interested in Pat, then give the film a try. Otherwise give it a pass.

AGNUS DEI (2026) Open Roads 2026

This is a small little gem of a film. While it isn’t for everyone, the meditative nature of the film may not click with some audiences, those it does click with will be moved.

The film is about two lambs chosen to provide wool for the vestment of the pope.

Less about the lamb and more about the devotion that happens around them this is a quietly moving look at a cloistered life of devotion. It’s a film that is about a life lived, even if that life isn’t the life that most of us know.

I don’t know what more to say. This is not to sell the film short, rather it’s an expression that this is a film that is perfectly contained in its subject matter and it does what it does and ends. It is like a short and sweet prayer that doesn’t seek to say more than it needs to

Recommended.

TAXI DRIVER (1976): The Final Noir

Today marks fifty years since TAXI DRIVER won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. With this in mind, Unseen Films offers the following piece, written for the film's thirty-fifth anniversary and originally appearing at TribecaFilm.com.

*  *  *

It sneaks up on you so quietly that you’ll be forgiven not noticing when it finally arrives—that moment when Taxi Driver takes its place alongside the other landmarks in the rich history of film noir. Of course evidence for this assessment can be found throughout the film, but everything really comes together in that understated bit of voice-over that occurs at the start of the third act: “Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores. Everywhere. There’s no escape.”

We hear these words, delivered with a sigh poised on the brink of heartbreak, as the camera glides slowly past crowds and couples that are close enough to touch and yet remain impossibly remote. In this brief scene the sadness of urban life itself seems to crystallize, that core loneliness that can lead to acts desperate, redemptive, or both. After this point, it’s hard not to sense that, in addition to being daring and spectacularly accomplished, Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film also represents a deeply felt extension of the enduring poetry of film noir. What might be harder to notice at first blush is that it’s also a sorry-to-break-the-news-to-you rebuttal of the genre’s most cherished truths.

 

To contend that Taxi Driver marks an important if informal “end” to noir as it been practiced over the previous decades is not to speak in historical terms. After all, classic noir had started to peter out by the early ’60s, and certainly the years since ’76 have seen many notable neo-noirs and retro-noirs. Yet with the appearance of Taxi Driver, the soul of noir would never quite be the same, and thus it signals a closing chapter of sorts. More of a farewell to the tradition than an attack on it, the film is a break-up letter penned tinged with sadness but no bitterness. It’s not that there haven’t been good times, it seems to say. It’s just that by the mid-’70s, life in the big city had changed such that the same shadows shot in the same seductive ways just wouldn’t cut it anymore. So by consistently inverting the genre's tropes, or by taking them to frightening extremes, Scorsese and company both showed affection for the classics of an earlier era and demonstrated that their bleak yet oddly romantic view of urban life was no longer adequate for capturing the realities of the post-Vietnam period.

Indeed, in both conception and construction, Taxi Driver implicitly challenges the ideological, psychological and narrative strategies upon which noir had built an international rep. Yet that doesn’t mean it necessarily refutes noir’s assumptions about the world; more precisely, the film questions its artistic responses to those assumptions. For example, this story of a homicidal cabbie definitely posits that cities are dangerous and predatory, but also suggests that the resultant violence is more likely to manifest as crimson-drenched gore than as monochromatic blood bathed in stylish chiaroscuro. For film noir to be emotionally, and yes, spiritually honest, Taxi Driver maintains that it must show ugliness for what it is—that is, not transfigure it into the picturesque, but present it as truly menacing and dirty.

Similarly, Taxi Driver takes on the femme fatale archetype head-on by, quite startlingly, deciding not to include one. The title character’s disastrous courting of Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), the placed-on-a-pedestal campaign worker, leads to the typical lone wolf renunciation of all mushy feelings, and in this case triggers his downward spiral as well. She is pronounced “cold and distant,” and, more tellingly “like all the others.” The problem is that we know Betsy to be the opposite, surprisingly warm and receptive to his advances, even to the point where she follows him into a porno theater, a venue that he sees as a valid dating option much like you or I would view the neighborhood multiplex. Yes, men who fail with the women they desire often react in ways that sublimate their sexual frustration/humiliation—but they don’t do so because such women are invariably devious temptresses.

 

Yet for all its tweaks of traditional noir, Taxi Driver is rife with formal and thematic elements that indicate its abiding respect for the genre. The sax line from Bernard Herrmann’s gorgeously sorrowful—and hauntingly anachronistic—main theme comes to mind. So too the film’s hardboiled dialogue, war veteran protagonist, engaging voice-over, endless asphalt, and highly evocative location shooting. These kinds of scrupulous quotes of older films recall the more overtly noirish Chinatown, which had won an Oscar the previous year. However, when Roman Polanksi and Robert Towne show how all the wisecracks and resourcefulness a private eye can muster are ultimately ineffectual in the face of true corruptive evil, the message is quite different. As Chinatown’s final line despairingly suggests, attempts to do the right thing are usually better not made: redemption is a lot more difficult than the movies make it seem. Taxi Driver, by contrast, actually does provide that redemption… but also presents it as arbitrary, possibly meaningless, and certainly psychotic.

We don’t know much about our would-be hero, Travis Bickle. In his brilliant novel Suspects, which imagines the secret histories of noir characters, David Thomson depicts him as one of George Bailey’s kids from It’s a Wonderful Life. As Robert De Niro plays him, with his vestigial hint of Middle American good manners and apparently innate disdain of New York, there’s nothing to suggest that this couldn’t be true. So how does nocturnal yet unassuming Travis morph into an aspiring assassin who’s armed to the teeth and then some?

 

Geography, as it turns out, may be the least of the contributing factors. History is probably a better place to look. By the time the 1970s roll around, it’s pretty clear we’re all small-time hustlers. Want a chunk of Errol Flynn’s bathtub to sell on commission? Well, one of your cabbie buddies can help you out there. Want any of your outré personal desires fulfilled? Just say the word. Significantly, both Jodie Foster’s tween prostitute and Taxi Driver’s gun-and drug-pushing “traveling salesman” go by the name “Easy.” That’s how simple it is to head down the path of depravity and murder. And who’s to stop you? As Travis points out, the cops aren’t enforcers of morality in any sense.

What about political leaders, then? The trouble here is that the film’s would-be savior of the common man, presidential candidate Charles Pallantine (Leonard Harris), is basically portrayed as no more than a smooth talker—a seducer with words not too distant from Harvey Keitel’s pimp character. Sure, the slimy pol was hardly a new invention, but never before had killing one seemed like a viable option for what was ostensibly a sympathetic character. What had changed in American culture to make this possible? Well, maybe we should remember that a couple of years earlier, a sitting president had resigned in the aftermath of a clumsy B&E.

 

Pallantine’s crime, though, is nothing so blatant. Instead, he manipulatively leverages contemporary anxieties for personal gain. Witness his glibly populist talking points: “We the people suffered in Vietnam. We the people still suffer from unemployment, inflation, crime, and corruption.” Thus the script pretty much itemizes ’70s malaise, handily outlining the historical moment but not providing a character who can actually address any of these issues, even if only on a local or personal scale. In other words, if the audience is searching for any real heroes, it best look elsewhere.

 

This brand of cynicism is not incongruent with traditional noir. Indeed, the genre’s protagonists are just as often anti-heroes as heroes, and what’s compelling is the way they walk the line between the two categories, often making us doubt whether there’s any essential difference between them. Although these characters are typically cops, crooks, or private eyes, they can also be drifters, prizefighters, reporters or working stiffs. The common ground in all these cases is that their ultimate status as good guy or seedy operator seems to be determined by how they respond to a central challenge that fate places in their way. Can they overcome their own greed, sleaziness, or moral inertia to achieve some kind of symbolic victory, even if it’s pyrrhic in nature?

Certainly Travis thinks he’s embarking on such a quest when he undertakes his new regimen of morning push-ups and afternoon gunsmithing. Yet here Taxi Driver brilliantly critiques the spirit of the times by presenting a nightmarish take on the Me Decade’s penchant for self-improvement. Just compare two of the more famous “training” sequences in American movie history: Travis’s and Rocky Balboa’s in the film that ended up winning the Oscar over Taxi Driver. Rocky jogs up steps in an affirmation of upward mobility while Travis holds his fist over an open flame, suggesting that the purging of impurity can only be achieved through sacrifice that is almost too painful to endure.

 

To be sure, redemption in noir always comes with a price—sometimes, the ultimate one. And in fact, Travis does plan on dying as a result of assassinating Pallantine, and he explicitly communicates this to Iris (Foster) in his goodbye note. Then, at the close of the film’s bloody climax, he makes a point of trying to kill himself. The fact that he does not perish, though, that nothing of value is sacrificed, is where Taxi Driver is most radically iconoclastic. Whether the epilogue is really a dispatch from a coma-bound Travis is a topic to address elsewhere, but in its surface narrative it demonstrates that redemption with all the trimmings is clearly possible—but in a way that renders the term meaningless. When Cybill Shepherd in Lizbeth Scott-mode stops just short of apologizing to Travis in the final scene, we’re heading into territory where fantasy trumps reality. Moreover, Travis’s act of “heroism” is almost accidental—his rescuing of Iris is a hastily conceived Plan B after botching the assassination attempt. Once the moral compass is so corroded, Taxi Driver contends, the blood that boils in a man seeks a target, and this is just as likely to be one that’s “deserving” of death as not.

 

Of course it’s from its strikingly ambivalent ending that Taxi Driver gains so much of its power. Travis is publicly lauded as a hero, but we know better, and so the way that the film exploits the subtle yet inherent contradictions of noir is dead-on: he never fully confronts his demons or pays any lasting price (except for “a little stiffness” in his neck) and yet feels redeemed nonetheless. One reason that old-school noir remains so attractive to audiences is the way it reaches an artful compromise between cynicism and idealism. Many of its most memorable examples neither shy away from depicting a world suffused with untempered brutality and sexual anguish nor hesitate in comforting us by positing the possibility, albeit bittersweet, of attaining wisdom, if not outright salvation.

 

The beauty of Taxi Driver is that it keeps us fans of noir honest by illustrating that even dreams of redemption must be critically examined lest they breed monsters. As such, it’s a fitting elegy for the genre.

Sender (2026)

This is either one of the best films of the year or one of the worst. I'm not sure which it is. Odds are you may not know either. 

The basic plot of the film has a woman getting mysterious packages from an unknown person, sent to her by an Amazon like company. The items are some times personal and sometimes not. The woman then tries to find out who is doing it and why

The trick with the film it's very much a form over content sort of thing. Deliberately told, with the director Russell Goldman in absolute control of every thing on screen, this is a film you either give yourself over to or go mad. Goldman clearly knows what is what and how to tell the story his way (he's a hell of a director) but at the same time I'm not sure we are told enough. Watching the film I kept thinking that there was something I wasn't catching because I wasn't being given all the clues, or details or something (why is the woman punching that box open?). 

To be honest the clues maybe there, but at the same time I was too busy watching the way Goldman put the film together.His construction of sequences is almosy pathological. For example the opening title sequence is seen from the perspective of a box on a trip, and the POV never shifts the frame is always exactly precisely the same all the way through. I stopped taking notes early because I was so lost in the craft.

And I'm not sure thats a good thing. I was too busy watching shot choices that I may have lost the plot, literally.

I'm intrigued enough, that some where down the road, away from the festival waves I'm stuck in, I'll give it ago. TO be honest I'm not sure I should review the film until I see it again, but then again this is exactly the sort of off the beaten trail film that regular readers of Unseen Film want to see, if for no other reason than its not like any other film

Recommended for the adventurous.

With Hasan in Gaza (2025)

I went to Gaza to search for a friend without an address- end crawl 

Shot on MiniDV in 2001 by the director Kamal Aljafari when he went in search of a friend he knew in prison WITH HASAN IN GAZA is a look at the way Gaza used to be. In it we can see the roots of todays disaster with evidence of bombing and of Israeli control. Its a film that shows us what has been lost.

As timely as the film is, and as bittersweet as the film is, the film has one key problem and that the film's slice of life construction isn't always compelling. While some sections are more interesting than others, a bit too much of this comes off as watching someone's home movie. While I completely understand why that is, we are supposed to see life in Gaza a quarter century ago, it doesn't always work as intended and we drift in and out.

The truth is the most moving section of the film is the long crawl that ends the film. While it is enhanced by the footage that went before, it is strong enough that even if you just see that section of the film you are going to feel gut punched.

I like the film, and I love what it is trying to do, but I wish it was more compelling. 

Blind Cop2 (2024) hits VOD May 29

Send up of 1980's macho action films, this is a film that hots every expected note and a few you you never considered in the story of a blind cop named Blind Cop, who hunts down the leaders of the crimnal organization in his city. Teaming up with green young officer he unleashes mayhem everywhere he goes,

How you react to this film will be determined by where you see it. If you see it in a theater full of people you are going to have a better time than if you see this home alone. That's not a knock, but more a statement that that the over the top nature of the film will click better when you have an audience talking to the screen and each other. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie,  it just one that play better the more people can goof along with it.

The film is funnier is you know what it's riffing. If you grew up or spent all your adult life watching the endless low budget action films from Cannon, New World, Dimension or where ever then you are going to get even more out of the film because there is a good chance you many be able to name the movies that are being spoofed.

I had a grand time watching this film, laughing at each ridiculous turn... that wasn't so ridiculous because a few years back a similar sequence was played largely straight when Bronson, Eastwood or Segal did it straight. (Actually this would have been a good film if it had been played straight)

BLIND COP 2 is a blast and highly recommended. (And no, there is no BLIND COP)

Fuori (2025) Open Roads 2026

Valeria Golino heads a stellar cast, as writer Goliarda Sapienza, in the award winning FUORI, which is based upon one of her novels. The film follows Sapienza as she is arrested for theft, put in jail finds that after coming out she is closer to the women she met in prison than anyone else.

What you are going to remember from this film are the performances. There is a reason that the women at the center of the tale won big at the Italian equivalent of the Oscars.  The performances by Golino  and Matilda De Angelis are staggering. All three women disappear into their roles to such a degree you will swear that they are long time friends. This is what acting for the cinema is all about.

I was moved.

While I know the plot is based on Sapienza’s life, it can be a bit soapy. However at the same time the women sell it.

The film is only getting a single screening at Open Roads so by a ticket and go.

The awesome THE LAST GUEST AT THE HALLOWAY MOTEL (2025) was released to theaters- go see it

 Every year at Tribeca you walk blind into a film and come out blown away by a film off everyone’s radar.  It’s a film the audience walks out of and wonders if we really saw the film we just saw or not. This year, on one of the last days of the festival LAST GUEST became that film.

I’m going to be not forth coming about what happens in the film because the film ultimately is an ever changing one with revelation that literally happen all the way through the end credits.  You can’t leave until the screen goes black because things keep happening.

The film is the story of Tony Powell who was the last person at The Holloway Motel. The property has been sold and it is going to be turned into homeless housing.  Powell is waiting for word as to when he needs to be gone by.  As he waits and makes his plans he talks about his life as life begins throwing curve balls at him.

While I am not going to say much I will say that Powell is a former soccer player from England who came to the US and stayed, essentially disappearing from the lives of everyone in England.  What happened and happens is not what you expect, an it makes for a compelling viewing.  It also results in multiple moments that left me crying.

This film is just great storytelling. I can’t recommend this film enough.

Kneiss' Minature Golf

This is just a brief puff piece on Kriess' Miniature Golf Course outside Pittsburgh.

The course is actually two courses. One is a traditional course with typical course with nonmoving obstacles such as drop holes and inclines. The other is a hellaciously fun course with all sorts of moving obstacles such as bowling pins, a hole that circles around the course and a roulette wheel that picks your score.

Yes the cups lift the balls up

The course is a true blast.

It’s been in operation for almost 100 years and has been lovingly attended to by the same owner for the past 30. He just brought in the dragon from Staten Island last year.

We went on a Thursday afternoon during the NFL draft, and we were only one of two pairs on the course. My understanding is that on weekends and in the evenings the place is packed.

Highly recommended.

FOR INFORMATION ON THE COURSES GO HERE

Forastera (2025) opens Friday at Film Forum

Cata and her sister Eva are spending the summer with their grandparents. When the grandmother dies after a fall the family is shaken. One day Cata tries on her grandmothers clothes. She begins to feel closer to her. She also begins to take on the place of her grandmother 

This is a beautiful and beautifully acted look at the loss of a loved one and how that alters ourselves and the people around us. It is a film that takes us on a journey into grief that we don't usually see.

Told in a mannered style, it's clear that this film is about something. shot so that every image is perfectly composed to look like something you'd hang on a wall or see in a magazine this is film with a kind of hyper reality. For me this resulted in a film that I like a great deal but which I didn't love. Director Lucia Alenar Inglesias is very much trying to make a point and while it doesn't kill the film it does keep us at arms length from the story.

Reservations aside, it is worth a look.

Nightcap 5/24/26: Remember the small films, Tribeca looms, a note if you are covering the festival,

Open Roads starts this week. I will have a few titles, however I was not given access to all the films I wanted so coverage will be limited.

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When you are looking at the big fests where big films launch (like Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, Busan, and Venice), do yourself and the filmmakers a big favor and spend more time looking at the reviews of the smaller films.  Look at those reviews and make notes. Keep those films in mind while they are being highlighted on the big stage, so you don’t forget them over time.

Yes, I know the big films are what interest you, and reading on them is great, but the truth is unless you are there it will be weeks if not months before you see them. When those big films hit your local cinema, they are going to get a big PR blitz and be everywhere. You will not be allowed to forget them. I know that’s where the excitement is.

On the other hand, the small films will end up getting lost. If you don’t have notes and reminders when these small gems are before your eyes they are going to get lost.  YOU are going to lose out on seeing some truly great films. And to be honest odds are the smaller films are ultimately going to be better than the big films, because they probably are, they just don’t have the budget for a big PR push.

seriously, I am frequently watching these small films at Cannes and elsewhere that blow me away, that everyone ignored but suddenly are discovered and in the year end awards race.

So pay attention to the small films.

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Right now, with reposts I’m about 60 something films into Tribeca.

Lots of good stuff and some great stuff. I’ll lay all of that out in the curtain raiser next week.

I do want this out in the open that I am not sticking to the embargoes on my reposted reviews. In the case of WHALE 52  and some of the free titles I’ve run the reviews multiple times prior so I am not holding off putting up a film I’ve already discussed at length.

I do want to remind you that I will be assisted on the ground by Ariela Rubin. Eden will be dropping a review or two, I’m talking to Liz Whittemore about sharing pieces and I’m working on getting photos from Wendy Feinberg from the in-person screenings she attends.

Its going to be crazy.

A word of warning, specifically to PR people and filmmakers: I'm 60 plus films into Tribeca- this means that while I will have reviews of every film sent me, the review may not be dropping at the ebargo time. Experience says that if I post anything shorter than every 3 hours posts get lost and over looked.  I am not breaking the three hour rule except for something special. Ths effectively means that the films sent to me earlier are closer to when the embargo drops.  Other films, especially those with  an early play date may not get posted until a good time later. Apologies. I know you need the reviews to go up, and I want them to go up, but I also want them to be seen. A review on the site is no good if it's instantly buried by 4 other films. Its not a matter of clicks. Its not malicious, it's because I care. (If I don't space them this way what happened in the past will happen- which is I will get emails about not reviewing films when even the PR people didn't see the buried review). Reviews dropped on my schedule are seen more than multple drops in an hour.

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If you are covering the fest and reading this and you haven't checked the festival press screening list do so sooner than later.  Despite the festival saying that the festival will be opening doors for each screening half an hour before the screening- the schedule actually has maybe 10 minutes between films in each theater.  There is no time to do more then jet between theaters- though odds are you'll be jumping between films before the end.

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A word of warning- the way things look there is going to be multiple reviews every day from here until close to July-or because of the july festivals, maybe august... so feel free toi check back or page down  when dropping into Unseen so you catch everything.

The Living Dead Museum in Pittsburgh

 

If you get to Pittsburgh do make a trip to the Monroeville Mall where George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was filmed. The mall is largely the same as it was 1978, though the stores have changed and the ice rink is gone.

Anchoring the mall is the Living Dead Museum, a museum with artifacts from various Romero films. Yes, it had Dawn of the Dead material, but also Night of the Living Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow and others. The museum also has the shack from Evil Dead in it as well as other props from other zombie films. It’s a stunning collection of cool stuff, made all the more amazing in that almost everything there is home grown.

The Museum is run by Dave who has been out front every time we stop by. He is a font of information on all the Romero films. If you want to know about Romero and the films, this is the guy to ask. He also has a wicked sense of humor.

The museum is just the pivot point for Romero related events. Its the place that hosts Living Dead Weekened Monroeville which happens every June. It also is the place to find out about the Evans City Living Dead Weekend (that one is in the location where Night of the Living Dead was filmed)

The problem at the moment is that the mall is slated to close by April 2027 and be replaced by a Walmart Super Center and Sam’s Club to replace the one that is two minutes away. (To be honest the whole sale is hinky with the mall being sold to a straw bidder who bought it on behalf of Walmart , who I’m told was told they could not buy the property because of their plans.) Where the Museum  is going to go is still up in the air.

I’m told that the museum is a genuine tourist destination with its inclusion on the mall property being responsible for a bump up in Mall traffic.

I absolutely love Dave,  the museum and the mall so every trip to Pittsburgh results in a trip just to stop by and pay our respects.

Go see it soon before the evil Walmart forces it to move.

For information on the museum and gift shop go here.

Operation Hail Mary (2026)

A 3 person crew is shot into space to the one star in the universe that isn't dimming to find out why it isn't dying. Coming out  of hibernation only the science officer (Ryan Gosling) is still alive, and he is very fuzzy about what he is doing there. Making contact with an alien, himself the only survivor of a similar mission, he and his new friend have to work together in order to save their planets.

There have been very few films that I've seen that were what my mother called the "god films". These were the films that  I came out of dazed and confused and in the words of my mom "you look like you've just seen god".  I haven't had one of those experiences in decades, until a few weeks ago when I saw OPERATION HAIL MARY.

Why did the film move me? beyond the fact that it is a great film, it moved me to a place of wonder. I felt like I was five again and I was watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. This was a film that filled me with a wonder like discovering the most magical thing in the world. Watching the film Armstrong was walking on the moon for the first time.  Forgive me, but I was, and am a space kid and thats where my heart lives.

Beyond the sense of wonder the film is glorious because the film does things that we never see any more. There are characters. Gosling may get an Oscar nomination for one of the best heroes in cinematic history. He is a likeable guy who doesn't rise to the occasion so much as have greatness literally forced on him. We don't get arcs like this in movies...ever. You understand why he and his classes (he's really a school teacher) and Rocky bond. He is very human, and closer to us than Hollywood ever gives us.

The more important thing the film gives us is a sense of danger. There are very real stakes. The universe is effectively going to die. Things go wrong all along the way, Gosling is sent into space because the person who he replaced was blown up doing an experiment. Most intriguing is the fact that Gosling knows that when and if he finds a solution, he can't go home. The trip into space was one way. We know early on the hero is going to die. And the movie takes the eventual end and makes us forget, but up the stakes as Rocky and Gosling must save each other repeatedly. Things go wrong. Stuff happens. None of it contrived, but exactly the sort of thing that could happen.I was a sobbing mess because I care about the two friends trying to do something impossible.

This is truly one of the top films of the year and the last decade. Hollywood spoiled us with this- something original and not cookie cutter? How dare they give us what we need?.

While I may have an issue with the ending (which comes from the source novel) I still love this film in ways reserved for very few films.

See this film and find your sense of wonder.

(Because I know I am going to get asked, some of the god films are:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS- which was for years my favorite film, but which I fell out of love with thanks to Spielberg tinkering and my taste changing.
ET- which I saw at an early sneak preview and was unaware of what it was. I'm no longer interested in the film because it is of its time, is much too Spielberg and because they kept farting with it (guns no guns)
MISHIMA- yes the Schrader film. This was a film that just picked my and took me somewhere else. The film still rocks my world though I don't quite vibrate as I did when I came out of the first screening (and my mom really said "are you okay- you're vibrating")
There are one or two films but those are the ones I always point to because of conversation specifically about how I was coming out of them)

Captured (2026) Mountain Film

Heather Keepers, former head trainer at Triple-D Wildlife, and Melissa Groo, one of leading wildlife photographers come together to try and see what can be done to protect the animals in the wild and in the various animal zoos and sanctuaries from being abused in the name of getting great wildlife photos.

Revealing the dark secret that some animal images are staged (And yes, they dismantle the Disney nature films) the film looks to make sure that we all know that some of the cute animal images we see are not always kosher. The film shows us some of the tricks that photographers and regular people use to get a great shot. It’s a film that shows the problems caused by staging the shot.

I really liked this film. It clearly shows why striving to get the next picture for Instagram my get you likes but may be bad for the subject of your photo. For example, calling an animal closer to you may make them subject to predators you don’t see.

Growing up, my brother was doing photography professionally and he was very much into telling the nudnicks not to do stupid things when taking pictures. You would think people wouldn’t need to be warned but they do.

This is an excellent documentary. See it when you get the chance.

Orange Flavored Wedding (2026) Cannes 2026

Christophe Honore's ORANGE FLAVORED WEDDING may end up being considered a classic. I'm not going to say it is until I see it another time or two, but despite its flaws, it is a hell of an achievement that showcases a family over the course of a wedding day

Actually the day is specific, March 11 1978. Its the day that  singer Claude Francois (he wrote the song that became My Way, Comme D'Habitude) died. Its an event that alters the tone of the joyous wedding. The film follows the friends and family of the bride and groom over the course of the day. Its a film with, according to what I've read, 16 main characters and dozens of secondary ones, all of who feel real and fully developed. There are alot of people and events happening and things get lost.

Most of this film is on target and as good a film as you are likely to see all year. The cast is note perfect and should be up for any and all ensemble awards. In an age where we are getting films that are set in the 1970's but feel like dress up, this film feels like it was made in the 1970's. I don't care that I know some of the cast and they weren't born then, the truth is they had dopplgangers and this film was made with them back in 78.

I largely fell into this film from the first frames and stayed there until the end. It is a film that is so close to being on my best of the year list, but I need to decide how I feel about a couple of things.

The first problem is that there is way too much going on. This feels like there should be another hour to get in all the tidbits. I won't say there is anything wrong with what is here but there are more than a few times where things are brought forward and then let go. Its as if the film brought them up to give characters something to discuss before its dropped. That would be fine except that Honore frames the discussions as if it will be important, even though it isn't.

The other problem is there are a couple of time jumps that reveal what happens in the future. I'm not certain we need them. They feel out of place, not so much because for what they show (though one is a headscratcher) but because they break the flow of the drama. They feel like an out of place punchline to a joke no one told. They don't really hurt the film so much as scuff it up.

Over all this is a great film. Its a hell of a tale, like being with family at a function but in a good way.

Destined for a long life - I'm guessing this will be at later fests around the globe, (with it probably stopping in NYC  at NYFF, and if not Rendezvous With French Cinema)

Highly recommended.

Drive-In Monster-rama April Ghouls 2026

My brother Joe and I went to this year’s April Ghouls edition of the Drive-in Monster-ama at the Riverside Drive in and we had a grand time. As always, we had a grand time.

Yes, it was at the same time as the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, but we stayed on the fringe of the massive crowds, so we were fine.

I will have a separate report on our trip to the Living Dead Museum at the Monroeville Mall because there is a lot to say about the museum and the soon to be demolished mall. I will also have a report on Kniess’s Miniature Golf Course which they said was the oldest operating Mini-Golf course in America.(It is soooo much fun)

This year Joe and only stayed for 3 of the 8 films. Circumstance and weather played a role.

As always, it was great to see everyone there. Gene and George always put on a hell of a show. Meanwhile Mike and Jake are fun to talk to.   

We also kibitzed a bunch with Chris and Todd from the drive in. Chris was simply trying to make sure the riff raff like me and my brother stayed in mine. Todd was just trying to stay out of the projection room until it was time to go. Todd also was a source for where to go to get an old-school drive-in speaker for a project that my brother had in mind.

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Photo by Gene

The first night we saw the first two films.

John Carpenter’s PRINCE OF DARKNESS opened, and it was the first time on the big screen for me. To be honest it has never been my favorite Carpenter film. To be honest I love the set up of finding an ancient evil in the basement of a church. It’s nothing like we’ve seen before and its damn creepy. It also raises all sorts of philosophical questions about god, evil and existence. The trouble is that after the great opening the film collapses as the evil doesn’t do much, the science about messages from the future is garbled and it simply unfolds as a soulless and characterless slasher film.  Yes I love that good, kind of wins and that people survive but at the same sense nothing once they get to the church makes any sense even internally. Either they cut the living hell out of it or they made it up on the fly. It’s the least written of any of Carpenter’s films.

The second film was POPCORN about a film class doing an all-night monster-thon where a crazed killer is doing his thing. A kind of homage to the gimmick films of the 50’s and 60’s the film is a great deal of fun. I’ve been a fan since I saw on the opening day back in the day. This would be a great co-feature with Matinee.

Because it was running late and because we were semi frustrated with off and on rain Joe and I left after the film and headed home.

Photo by Gene

The next night we only saw HALLOWEEN 4.  We were going to stay for two more, but Joe’s wife won a patio set and we had to get to White Plains by 2PMon Sunday to pick it up.

I hate HALLOWEEN 4. Despite having a couple of good moments, for example the fact the wrong person gets killed by accident, the film makes no sense. I mean nothing in the film makes no sense.  Its as if they had a few ideas none of which went together but the put them together. There is a reason that when they went back to continue the series they spent decades retconning the sequels to the point that this film was just ignored. I said on social media that this is the worst written horror film I ever remember seeing because no bit connects to any other bit logically.

It’s a grand turd ball.

After the film we went back to the hotel.

We had a blast.

The next one is September 25 and 26, but I’m not sure we’ll make it because I may not be able to get off from work.

Dust Bunny (2026)

 

A little girl hires the hit man next door to kill the monster under her bed. It goes horribly wrong.

This is what the best films do- it tells a great story and it creates a completely real world while doing so. This is what Hollywood should be doing not the retreading of franchises. Seriously, once this hit HBO this suddenly became a huge hit among the people I know who just discovered it's wonders by surfing in.

Insane in the best sort of way, this is a film that take the fear of what lives under the bed and turns it upside down. Perfectly cast, everyone sells the fun because they are 100% invested. We don't get films like this much any more.

I have no idea if this is an intellectually best film of the year, but I know for damn certain this is one that will be rewatched for years to come by me and by generations of other film goers.

A masterpiece.

Ghoul Squad (2025)

A reporter gets hooked up with the worst bunch of ghost hunters in the UK.

I was sent this film to review out of left field. I was simply asked to review the film which has just hit streaming. Being in the middle of dealing with Tribeca pre-screens I didn't know  when I could get to it, but I thought I'd give it a shot. After several heavy films in a row I knew I needed something off the board and I gave the film a shot.

This film is delight. A send up of the ghost hunter shows, GHOUL SQUAD manages to be both clever and funny. While some of the jokes are groaners, most are well written and are way better than I had thought they would be.

If the film works it's due entirely to the cast who know they are in a silly comedy, but mostly keep things real. They don't play to the camera or the audience but instead play to the actors and the situation which lifts everything up. They are telling a story, not just telling jokes.

I really liked it. I liked it enough that when I looked on line about how people felt about the film I discovered that the film had an 8.4 rating on IMDB. While that may be a point higher than I would give it, it's something that doesn't feel cooked. Often small films like this have their ratings cooked by friends and family, but the truth is this really is a small gem of a film.

Recommended

Short takes: THE HOUSEMAID, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, MARTY SUPREME

THE HOUSEMAID
I didn't connect with Paul Feig's THE HOUSEMAID. The cast was fine, but the film seemed to be more like a Hallmark Movie of lesser plotting trying to be adult. Don't kill me for that, A good many of the Hallmark films are entertaining, this was less so (at least for me).

WUTHERING HEIGHTS
The classic tale was turned into an expensive dress up session. This all looked fake and like bad make believe. I giggled 

MARTY SUPREME
Not a bad film, but I didn't like Marty and I don't understand why the hell this got all the critical and Oscar love.