Socks on Fire (2020) Tribeca 2020 and 2021

SOCKS ON FIRE was one of the 2020 Tribeca films that was not in the press screening library but was available if the PR person sent it to you. The film then showed up at several festivals where I promptly missed it, and all my friends yelled at me for doing do.

The film is Bo McGuire's record of and essay on the battle of his drag queen uncle his homophobic (and one time favorite) aunt over the house that was supposed to go to him after his grandmother passed away. McGuire was so angry with what was going on he went down with camera in hand to make a record of wat was going on.

Less a documentary than a fantasia on the battle, McGuire's family and how it was changed by fundamentalism,  and the South SOCKS ON FIRE is either going to either be one of your favorite films of the year or  it's going to annoy you.  The film is a mix of home movies, current interviews and reconstruction of events with actors is far from straight reporting and plays like a verbose Southern novel. While I loved the poetry in the telling there was a point where the form overwhelmed content and I just wanted less embellishment or a shorter run time.

While Socks didn't wholly work for me, it has worked for a good number of my friends  so if the subject matter interests you give it a shot.

Last Film Show (2021) Tribeca 2021

 

THE LAST FILM SHOW is one of the greatest love letters to the movies and the power of cinema that you will ever see.  It is one of the best films of 2021 and of the Tribeca Film Festival as well

The film follows a young boy whose family makes a rare trip to the movies. Falling under the spell of the flickering image he begins to return to the cinema almost daily, bribing the projectionist with the lunches his mother prepares for him. Things are going swimmingly until the switch to digital is coming and he is forced to figure out how he can make one more trip into the darkness.

Magical and wondrous beyond words, this is a film that is going to have any true lover of the movies squealing with delight or sobbing with the beauty of the image and story.

While the film echoes films such as CINEMA PARADISO, it is entirely it’s own beast. Yes it openly riffs dozens of films, but it’s all perfectly done and perfectly acceptable since it is never gratuitous or showy, rather it is perfectly placed. And lest you argue that a truly great film wouldn’t lift from other films I will say you are wrong. This is a film that is about the collective dream that we have. It is a film about how films invade our lives and become part of them. Of course there are riffs because over time we see life in terms of the movies.

I was moved to tears and then some.

I am so jealous of the people who got to see this on a big screen with an audience of like minded film fans.

This is a masterpiece.

I fully expect this to be in the running for the Oscars, not just the best foreign language  category, but for others as well.

Forgive me for not saying more but this is a film you need to see and experience. It is a film you need to have live in your heart and make you fall in love with the movies all over again.

Highly recommended.

Yusuf Hawkins Storm over Brooklyn (2020)

Thirty years on HBO looks back at the Yusuf Hawkins killing which rocked New York City and the country.

On August 23rd 1989 young Yusuf Hawkins and three friends left their East New York Neighborhood and went into the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in order to see about buying a used car that was for sale. Unfortunately they ended up in the wrong part of town and they were set upon by a gang of white men who were looking to beat up an unknown black man who was dating a white girl. All of the young men were beaten up and Hawkins was shot twice in the chest and died. The city exploded. Bensonhurst closed ranks and wouldn’t give up the shooter. The black community then began to march for justice and eventually those responsible for the attacks were turned over to the police and the racist underbelly of the city was exposed.

This excellent documentary is a beautifully made trip back in time. Watching the film I could feel myself being transported back 31 years to when this all went down. I remember seeing much of the footage that makes up the film. This is going to be a needed refresher for anyone who doesn’t know who Hawkins was or doesn’t really remember what happened and why his death rattled so many cages. What I love about the film is that without really trying the film connects up today’s events back to the Hawkins murder and we see little has really changed.

Highly recommended.

TRIBECA DRIVE-IN ANNOUNCES INITIAL SCHEDULE FOR SUMMER SERIES BRINGING ICONIC FILMS, COMEDY ACTS & MORE TO LOCATIONS NATIONWIDE

urated Program Will Begin on July 2 and Will Roll Out to Los Angeles; New York; Arlington, TX; Miami; Seattle and More with Special Stadium and Venue Partners, including NFL Stadiums

NEW YORK, NY - June 22, 2020 – Tribeca Enterprises, in partnership with IMAX and AT&T, today announced the initial schedule for the “Tribeca Drive-In” series, which will feature an exciting slate of over 30 iconic films, comedy acts, and more. Events will be hosted at drive-in theaters and exclusive venues in Los Angeles; New York; Arlington, TX; Miami; and Seattle, among other cities. The limited-engagement series will provide families with a safe, comfortable entertainment experience that captivates audiences of all ages, as the nation takes steps to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns.

Drive-ins are a signature program for Tribeca; they have been a part of festival programming since the beginning 20 years ago, and Tribeca is now expanding this program nationwide. The series will take place each weekend (Thursday through Sunday) throughout the summer, beginning on July 2, 2020 and running through August 2, 2020. Participating venues include AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX; Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA; Nickerson Beach in Nassau County, NY; and Orchard Beach in the Bronx, NY, among others to be announced in the coming weeks.

Beginning today, audiences can purchase tickets at TribecaFilm.com with a percentage of proceeds donated to Black Lives Matter. In appreciation for the workers who have risked their lives serving on the frontlines for their communities amid COVID-19, Tribeca Enterprises, IMAX, AT&T, and their pop-up venue partners will offer complimentary access and reserved parking to essential workers the first night at every venue.

Tribeca has also teamed up with the National Football League to help secure NFL team-hosted events and stadium venues, as well as to provide exclusive content. Participating NFL venues include Dallas, Miami and Seattle. Additional information on these NFL-hosted events, including ticket purchasing details and on-sale dates, will be announced at a later time by each respective team.

“At Tribeca’s core, we aim to bring people together through the arts to send a signal of unity and resiliency to the world during challenging times,” said Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Film Festival Co-Founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal. “As an immediate and safe solution, we’re excited to bring new and classic works from filmmakers, creators, and artists to communities across the country through the Tribeca Drive-In series. As the nation begins to emerge from months of quarantine, we look forward to movie theaters reopening and hope that the Drive-In serves as a reminder of the magic of the moviegoing experience.”

“The Tribeca Drive-In series is a tribute to movies and the shared experience of watching them, even if from our cars. In anticipation of theaters reopening imminently, we look back at what we love about the big screen experience,” added Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Film Festival Co-Founder Robert De Niro.

“We’re always looking to create new experiences for our fans and are excited about this unique collaboration with Tribeca and IMAX,” said the NFL’s Blake Stuchin, Vice President, Digital Media Business Development. “Watching great NFL content and classic movies in NFL stadiums on big screens in a safe, socially distant way will be a thrill for all in attendance.”

The Tribeca Drive-In series will encompass a variety of engaging and thoughtful themes in tribute to modern classics and all-time audience favorites, such as: Music Movies with Selena, The Bodyguard, and Straight Outta Compton, Sports Sundays with Creed, Jerry Maguire, Space Jam, and Love & Basketball, Time Travel Comedies with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Back to the Future, High School Comedies with Mean Girls and Superbad, Ladies’ Night with Girls Trip and Bridesmaids, Hit the Road with Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and The Fast and The Furious, James Bond tribute with Goldfinger and Casino Royale, and Kids’ Night with Inside Out, The Lego Movie and Spy Kids. There will also be a 4th of July Celebration featuring Field of Dreams, The Wizard of Oz, and a special 25th Anniversary screening of Apollo 13.

Other programming highlights include: the 2020 Sundance Film Festival breakout hit Palm Springs, which will screen at the Drive-In series prior to its July 10th release, a special 45th Anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and Inside Man, and audience favorites like The Dark Knight, BeetleJuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Crazy Rich Asians, Wonder Woman, The Goonies, and Black Panther, as well as two shorts, Gloves Off and Tangled Roots, from this year’s Queen Collective, a program created by Procter & Gamble, Tribeca Studios and Queen Latifah to drive equality and inclusion representation in front of and behind the camera for multicultural directors.

In addition to the films, the series will feature some surprise elements including special filmmaker and talent introductions, live stand-up comedy, new teasers of upcoming film releases and more.

In Los Angeles, Tribeca is partnering with Comedy Dynamics, the largest independent comedy production and distribution company in the U.S., to bring a one-of-a-kind, stand-up comedy and entertainment experience to the Rose Bowl Stadium on July 9-12. Comedy Dynamics will feature four live shows over the course of the four days, which will also be recorded for wider audiences to enjoy in the future. The comedy events will be one of the first tapings with a live audience since the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to most productions worldwide in early March. This first-of-its-kind experience blends comedy and film, with the nostalgic atmosphere of a drive-in theater, set in the heart of Southern California.

“We’re honored to be partnering with Tribeca to bring laughs to the world and to tell COVID that we won’t back down from that mission!!” said Brian Volk-Weiss, Founder and CEO of Comedy Dynamics.

Through working directly with city and state officials, city parks departments, and the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association, and by engaging vendors and restaurants across the country, the Tribeca Drive-In series is truly a community effort that will help support local businesses in communities nationwide.

AT&T is an official sponsor for the Tribeca Drive-In series, along with IMAX, as the lead technology partner. AT&T will be providing safe and contactless fun onsite, ranging from photo opportunities and film-inspired trivia to exciting giveaways. IMAX will be utilizing its exclusive Digital Re-Mastering (IMAX DMR®) process to enhance the image and sound of all Tribeca Drive-In presentations, will provide technological support and equipment to optimize its venues and screens, and will collaborate with Tribeca Enterprises to curate the program, drawing from its rich library of IMAX content.

For additional programming details, the initial programming schedule, and ticketing information, please visit: www.tribecafilm.com. #TribecaDriveIn

About Tribeca Enterprises

Tribeca Enterprises is a multi-platform storytelling company, established in 2003 by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal. Tribeca provides artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their work and broadens consumer access to experience storytelling, independent film, and media. The company operates a network of entertainment businesses including the Tribeca Film Festival; the Tribeca TV Festival; and its branded entertainment production arm, Tribeca Studios. In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.

About AT&T Communications

We help family, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video streaming, we innovate to improve lives. We have the nation’s fastest wireless network.** And according to America’s biggest test, we have the nation’s best wireless network.*** We’re building FirstNet just for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G. With a range of TV and video products, we deliver entertainment people love to talk about. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve nearly 3 million global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000. And worldwide, our spirit of service drives employees to give back to their communities.

AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn more at att.com/CommunicationsNews. AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att © 2019 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. **Based on analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data average download speeds for Q3 2019. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. ***GWS OneScore, September 2019.

About IMAX Corporation

IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture, and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world you’ve never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theaters to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and, as such, IMAX’s network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe.

About Comedy Dynamics

Founded by Brian Volk-Weiss, Comedy Dynamics, a Nacelle company, is the largest independent comedy production and distribution company. The company is behind the reboot of Mad About You featuring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, and has produced Netflix’s Kevin Hart’s Guide to Black History, Netflix’s The Toys That Made Us, Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us, Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape, The CW’s Discontinued, Animal Planet’s Animal Nation with Anthony Anderson, the scripted comedy on Hulu There’s… Johnny!, History’s Join Or Die with Craig Ferguson, MTV2’s Wild ’N On Tour, Hulu’s Coming To The Stage, and unannounced projects for Disney+, BET+ and more. Comedy Dynamics began releasing original films in theaters and released the acclaimed independent film Slut in a Good Way in Spring of 2019. In 2017 the Comedy Dynamics Network (CDN) launched and currently distributes specials, television shows and films to all major transactional platforms such as iTunes, Amazon, Google, PlayStation, Xbox and most major telco & satellite providers, including AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Dish, and Verizon. The company has worked with a wide range of established and emerging comedic talent including Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Jim Gaffigan, Ali Wong, David Cross, and many more. 17 Comedy Dynamics releases have been Grammy-nominated (with four wins), including all 5 in the Comedy Album category for the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019.

About the 2020 Tribeca Drive-In Partners

The Tribeca Drive-In is pleased to announce its 2020 Partners: Allstate, AT&T, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Entertainment Weekly, ESPN Films, HBO Max, Heineken 0.0, iHeart Media, P&G, and PEOPLE.

Tribeca2020 Coda: The shorts TANGLED ROOTS and GLOVES OFF

The following two reviews truly finish out the Unseen Films' coverage of Tribeca 2020. The following two films showed up in the press library the day before it closed.

TANGLED ROOTS
Kentucky State Legislator Attica Scott takes steps to stop African Americans from being discriminated against purely on the basis of their  hair style. The quest came after her daughter was told that she natural hair was unacceptable at her prep school.
This is a solid film about a form of quiet racism that I don't think most people have ever considered.

GLOVES OFF
Gold Medalist boxer Tiara Brown is an African American boxer left Team USA because despite winning Gold after Gold no one paid attention to her she is black. Refusing to put up with the lack of attention which was directed at good looking white women, she left the team, became a cop and worked toward becoming a champion professional fighter, all while helping young women looking to box.

Being a long time fight fan I completely understand Tiara's frustration. The media doesn't care about female boxers unless they are white (or are related to Muhammad Ali). Its a shame because there are a lot of great fighters, like Tiara who deserve to be highlighted.

GLOVES OFF is a solid documentary. It rightfully highlights a young woman looking to not only find her place among boxing's elite but also trying to pull up anyone who she can. The film is good enough that I would love to see more on all aspects of Tiara's life.

The final Tribeca 2020 post- a last review, thoughts on films not reviewed and pondering the stay at home festivals.

Barring something dropping in my lap the 2020 Virtual Tribeca Film Festival is done for me. As I write this I have seen every film (except two) in the press screening library and some that weren't. The films were more uniformly good this year than an in previous years with some great ones and some bad ones mixed in.  It was, as almost all of these stay at home festivals are, incredibly low key.

I will be talking about the whole stay at home festival experience in a moment, but first I need to post one last review:

WELCOME TO A BRIGHT WHITE LIMBO
Part dance film part portrait of dancer Oona Doherty this film is a look inside the head and art of a woman who feels compelled to just dance. While the people in the neighborhood where she lives don't always understand (the looks she gets while dancing on the street are priceless) we as an audience do and the result is a wonderful smile at seeing someone so in love with what they do.

And with that I need to add an apology. That review was supposed to run a while back with reviews for the films TANGLED ROOTS and GLOVES OFF. However issues with the screening links prevented my being able to screen the films. While I waited to to get one more group od capsule films together this review just sat.

While I am at it I feel the need to mention the six films which I did see and explain why, despite seeing them, I decided not to do a formal review.

THE DIFFERENCE was a short about how we give people the tools to survive and thrive. For me the problem with the film was that it was trying to do way too much in too short a time. It needed to be a feature since what was here was good but didn't feel complete.

KAPAEMAHU is the story of some boulders that represent four transgender travelers who came to Hawaii. It's a gorgeously animated film but it left me with nothing to say since there didn't seem to really be anything there but the bare bones story.

THE GREY ZONE is about a woman who confronts a man who she thinks touched her inappropriately on the street. The problem is we see what happened and as staged she kind of ran into him and he moved around her ( I replayed it 3 times) . To me it weakened what followed. The film would have been better not showing it at all.

SWEET THING was done in a forced style that doesn't work for me. I felt the director wanting to say this is real life but you feel every manipulation. I never bought it for a minute and couldn't justify doing a long review to say that.

HOME_ - is a Tribeca Now series about Latinas in Miami trying to find a place to call home. It's very good but it was shot on a smart phone. I know that is how the world is seen now. My problem is that while I have zero trouble watching a vertical image on a phone I do not like the image on a big screen especially when I can see the world bleeding off the image into blackness.

PICTURE A SCIENTIST- is a very good film about gender bias in the sciences. It beautifully laid out every thing we need to know about how bad women are treated in the various labs, universities and companies. I couldn't find words to justify a long review  simply because other reviews will no doubt say it better than I feel I m capable.

And with that the latest on-line fest is done and the feeling is just odd.

Festivals are social events. I and most people I know go to them to see films socially but the festivals the last two months have been off. The social aspect has fallen away. Even when covering festivals remotely there always tended  to be  herd movement with the online community being steered by live events  or the newest thing to pop into the library. With Tribeca this year everyone was given access to 95 or so films so the press corps was watching things all over the place. This made discussing any thing we were seeing (which is one of the big draws of festival coverage) nigh impossible.

As this posts the world has been effectively closed down for two months. Numerous festivals have been canceled (Rendez Vous With French Cinema stopped midway through then appeared on line a couple weeks later, The New York Children's International FIlm Fest canceled their last weekend), and others like New Directors New Films are postponed and looking for a new slot. (I have a ton of reviews just sitting for fests in limbo).  Other fests soldiered on. In many cases festivals and theaters are partnering with various companies including Kino, Oscilliscope and Film Movement to do virtual screenings of select films to get money to remain afloat. (Please support your favorite theaters and festivals)

I have tried to cover a number of the festivals that have been happening. Some of my coverage was the result of repurposing what I would have run anyway. Some were new films sent to me. Some coverage was simply putting up a piece about the fest because that was all I could muster. Truthfully I have been busier with fewer new releases and fewer  festivals because so many things are being moved around or yanked and I am constantly moving things around.

I did a few SXSW films this year, as I usually do. The festival canceled and then regrouped to do something with Amazon. What I covered (RUNON and ECHOES OF THE INVISIBLE) were sent to me by filmmakers looking for coverage.

Katha Cato and her team over at the ever great Queens World Film Festival did the impossible and in almost no time switched her festival from playing all over Queens County in New York to simply being on line. Somehow she managed to do the impossible and get almost all the films online for free. I have no idea how she did it but this was probably the most amazing switch over I've seen. She should get an award of some kind.

The Ann Arbor and Garden State Film Festival also did a fast regrouping to get online with altered line ups and screened some great films.

The Reelabilities Film Festivals started a trend toward actually having an festival feel despite being virtual when they scheduled live Q&As and panels to follow their films.

Cabane à sang in Montreal went on line and the result kicked ass and introduced me to one of the best programed festivals I've ever run across. I am hoping to go see it live next year.

Oxford went virtual and are currently running films and discussions on a weekly basis.

And then  there was Tribeca  and... and  I know I am missing others...

Of course this is not the end - I write this I have films from the upcoming Hot Docs, Brooklyn and Human Rights Watch Film Festivals waiting to be written up. I also have films from a couple of on line series as well. I am also waiting for the go word on the festival of festivals were 20 world wide fests like Berlin, New York and Tribeca screen  films for the world

Other fests are announcing their plans with regularity- Fantasia has announced going on line. Additionally the New York Film Festival sent out an email saying the fest will happen in some form, hopefully a mix of online and live in person events. Meanwhile other fests like New York Asian and the big fall festivals in Toronto and elsewhere in the world have yet to announce definite plans but are promising some kind of fest.

The world is readjusting to the Covid 19 world  with things now going virtual - but the question now is how is it working?

So far okay, but I think it's too early to tell.  I say this not because things haven't worked but purely because things are changing. How every festival has been presented has been very different than any other. Queens World threw all their films up on line and you could access them at any point. Reelabilities and others ran the films and events at a certain time and you had  reserve a ticket to tune in then in order to see them. Some fests had you pay to be part of .

There were and are no set rules that all the festivals followed other that getting the films out there. Even the whys and hows for the press varied from fest to fest beginning with the basic how we got access varying from Tribeca setting up a library while others sending us links or just granting access to the events. The hows and wheres of when we could post varied from weeks before the on-line to just when it happened or even after the event.

Actually the one thing that all the festivals had in common was that every festival pretty much lost films because they went online.  Some filmmakers and studios didn't want their films to play streaming before they got a theatrical release or knew how it would effect the chances for awards so some films were removed. Some films such as HBO's BAD EDUCATION were premiering right before they hit the channel so there was no time  or reason to run the film in a festival setting. The changes caused some grumbling in the press corps, many of  whom had their hearts set on certain films appearing. No one took the cancelations to heart but there were a bunch of  "oh man I wanted to see that".

I think the biggest problem for the fests going forward will be getting the word out about the switch over to virtual and letting people know how to see and be part of the films and events. I don't know how some fest managed. I know some Reelabilities screenings sold out, I know the viewership for Cabane à sang was high. I don't know about the rest.

I do know that I got thanked for pointing people toward Queens World and Ann Arbor by people who were not aware they had gone on line.. At the same time I got several emails asking me how people could watch the Tribeca selections since they got  mails about the virtual festival but had no idea how to actually screen anything. (I still don't have an answer to that). I am also getting questions about if I know what is happening with a postponed fest such as New York Asian.

On the other hand I do know that the virtual screenings in support of the various theaters and festivals are working on some level since I keep getting emails from Lincoln Center, The Milwaukee Film Fest and others saying that films that were due to end their run are being held over. Clearly the emails and social media blasts are working.

To that end if you want to know about your favorite festival get on the mailing list, follow them on social media and keep checking their websites. And be persistent since even if you think you are following them closely you may miss something - lord knows I have.

Over the next few months I and the Unseen Films family will be in the trenches, our living rooms and bedrooms working to bring you coverage of the upcoming festivals. To that end if anyone wants me to try and get coverage of your virtual fest drop me a line and I will see what I can do.

And for those of you missing your favorite festival or theater let me repeat that you need to get on their mailing lists, their social media feeds and you need to keep checking their websites. Good stuff is coming.

While I hate that the social hanging out and dining of festivals is gone for now, I love that the film community is going on. I love that the films are still screening and discussions are still happening. I love that film festivals are still happening.

More Tribeca shorts: SYSTEM ERROR, TOTO, VERA

SYSTEM ERROR
A  robotic service unit in a convience store tries to change so he can have a friend.
One of Tribeca's best is also one of the truly great finds of 2020. A magnificent story of life that must be seen- and which apparently is going to be turned into a series.
Sign me up.

TOTO
Bitter sweet scifi tale has a granmother getting a robotic helper who she teached to cook.
Lovely charming film takes a dark turn when the ganddaughter updates Toto thus wiping his memory and removing her friend. I don't hink it was intended to be this dark (the end music is jaunty) but the happy tale turns bitter sweert and becomes a kind of riff on Alzhiemers or dementia.

VERA
A cleaning woman imagines a the ower of the office she is ceaning based on the objects in the room. And begins a conversation with him through notes.
Small gem of a film is a sweet and lovely little tale that will leave you smiling. An unexpected pleasure.

MY HEART CAN'T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO (2020) Tribeca 2020

Dwight and Jesse have to care for their younger brother Thomas who is sickly and must live on blood. With no normal means of getting it the pair are forced to hunt people on the outskirts of society, who won't be missed, in order to feed their brother. Unfortunately the endless cycle is taking it's toll on the family as Dwight wants some other life and Thomas wants to go out and be with people. Jesse meanwhile will do what she has to keep her family together.

MY HEART... is a great looking (receiving a Special Mention for Best Cinematography at this year's Tribeca Film Festival) art house horror film. It is a film where the look sets the mood and the place and it makes you feel claustrophobic. We are trapped in the world of the characters with no way out. It is oppressive and you really don't want to be there, and that is before anything terrible happens.

While the film opens with Dwight looking for some food for his brother the terrible stuff comes a little bit later. After a period of carefully modulated character development, which director Jonathan Cuartas uses to amp everything up, the trio's carefully constructed life begins to fall apart. Things begin to go wrong, occasionally awfully, making an already difficult situation even worse. There is a point where the moody art film turned "grindhouse" and I reacted audibly. While it is never overly gory, what is happening is clearly unpleasant.

And as unpleasant as this film can be, ultimately this is not about blood and gore but about family. In the press notes writer director Cuartas said that the idea for the film came from watching his grandmother slowly die and his observations about how his family reacted.  This is a film about how the hovering presence of death kicks us apart and brings us together.

I really like MY HEART.... While I am not going to lie and say it's perfect. I do think that once the film really begins to move, that once the grindhouse overtakes the art house the film improves and becomes something you can't stop watching.Once the film turns you have to see how this is all going to go down. And while the film has an ending I'm still really curious about how event will play out after the credits roll.

Now a word of warning lest you think that you could magically jump to the second half, you can't. The reason the second half of this film works as well as it does is because Cuartas takes great pains to set up the characters and situations to the point where we understand and like everyone. As much as we are uneasy with what is happening there is a basic goodness to the trio which we respond to, and which makes our reaction to the firestorm that comes down all that more intense. We don't want to see the shit storm even though we know going in it's coming.

Will you like MY HEART...? I don't know. If you want balls to the wall horror with blood and body parts flying from the first frame take a pass. If you don't mind a film that takes it's time, that can be a tad too arty, but which will give you characters you care about and situations that will make you fear for their safety then this is a film for you.

Ultimately MY HEART CAN'T BEAT UNLESS YOU TELL IT TO is a small gem of horror film that is worth a look. Sadly being forced into a virtual festival may keep word of mouth a bit muted but if you can put this on your list of films to see when it plays near you, this film will find the audience it deseves.

A trio of Tribeca 2020 Shorts TĀ MOKO – BEHIND THE TATTOOED FACE, VOTE NEIL and USA V SCOTT

TĀ MOKO – BEHIND THE TATTOOED FACE
Bernard and Sapphire get Maori face tattoos in order to honer their family and people.

Excellent short film about two siblings who get face tattoos  in the tradition Maori style. Showing us the celebration around the tattooing we come to understand the meaning of the markings and what they mean not only to the two but to their people as well.

Highly recommended.

VOTE NEIL
This is the story of Neil Rafferty's run for the Alabama Legislature. He is attempting to become the first openly gay man to serve. His campaign manager is his fiance Michael Rudulph.

It is a lovely  film that I want to see expanded to a feature. Yes everything we need to know is here but the film hints at a great deal more bleeding off the edges of the screen in particular Rudulph's feelings at what the end of the campaign might mean and where is he going to go.  With in the statements of Ruduph is a whole universe of emotion and possibilities that we never ever see in political documentaries.

This is not to sell the great VOTE NEIL short only to suggest that perhaps a feature might be greater.

USA V SCOTT
Scott  Warren was charged for harboring undocumented migrants and threatened with 20 years in prison. His crime was giving food an water to a couple of guys who passed through his town of Ajo. Scott as being made and example since his organization  leaves migrants water in the desert so they won't die. (there is an incredible death rate outside the town). The border patrol searches the desert and intentionally dumps and destroys water in order to act as deterrent to the migrants.

Great film forces you to ponder what is the right thing to do. Do you help the people who need water or do you let them die because the government says so and  threatens you with more jail time for stopping a murder than a murderer will get.

What I love is that discussion is never really framed as should these people be coming, rather shouldn't we provide basic human kindness to people in distress. Yes Scott is aware of the other issues but his basic  idea is lets not let anyone die.

This is beautifully reasoned film that will really make you think.

Recommended

Brief thoughts on Jacinta(2020) Tribeca 2020

Jacinta and her mother.

Jessica Earnshaw's JACINTA is a raw, rough and tough to watch film. It is an unflinching look at a young woman struggling with substance abuse. It will horrify you and break your heart.

As the film begins 26 year old Jacinta is in the same prison as her mother. The advantage to being in prison is it keeps her sober until she gets out. While she is in prison she writes letters to her 10 year old daughter Caylynn which she never sends. Caylynn lives with her paternal grandparents. She was given over to them when the young girl was an infant, because Jacinta knew she would be safe there until she could get her head straight and stay out of trouble. Ten years on she is still there.

I'm not going to go into more details of what happens. It's not that some of the turns are unexpected, and they are unexpected, but more that Earnshaw has crafted a film one has to experience rather than see. Watching the film, watching Jacinta cycle through her life being sober, stoned and everything in between it is clear that the director and her subject have complete trust in each other. Nothing is held back which makes watching this film so riveting and so tough to endure. Earnshaws work is do good it is clear why she won the Males Award for Best New Documentary Director at Tribeca.

This is tough film to write on. How do you write on life or a life? What am I supposed to say? This is an observational documentary where we observe a life. While it is clear that Earnshaw is part of what happens, we hear her voice and the people talk to the filmmakers, this is largely just watching a life play out before us. How do you critique it? You can't say "it's got a nice beat and you can dance to it so I give it an 87" like it's a song.

JACINTA is an slice of life you experience. It is door through which you step for a  while as you experience something that is, hopefully, another part of life different than your own. It is a film that leaves you feeling a great deal. It is a film that makes you consider your own life and the life of others. It is a film that will alter how you see the world.

I like Jacinta, both the film and the young woman. I wish them both well. However while I suspect the film does not need help and will do great on it's own, I will continue to say a prayer that the woman stays clean and can get her life to remain together.

Thoughts on Pacified (2020) Tribeca 2020

Tati, a teenage girl in Rio, is trying to figure out a way out of her life. Her mother is fine but is an addict. Her neighborhood is under the control of gangs. And her father is getting out of jail. That would be fine except that he's been in as long as she's been alive. His arrival brings change as the  one time gang leader just wants to stay out of the life and run a pizza parlor. However people on all sides want him back in the game or don't care that he says he's out.

This film is based on what happened in the favelas around and during the Olympics when the government tried to clean things up as well as director Paxton Winters seven years of living in Rio. It has a lived in and gritty quality that only someone who was there truly understands. The film also possesses a look, a physical beauty that says that Winters also has a great love of the area and the people he is chronicling.

That the film works as well as it does is due in are part to the cast, particularly new comer Cassia Gil as Tati who wanders through the film as if she owns the place. She clearly does and I would be shocked if she isn't grabbed by some producer somewhere and given a big budget film to star in and come to world wide attention.

This was one of the last features I screened for Tribeca this year and it is easily one of the best. Highly recommended.

Problem Pilots PRETTY PEOPLE and UNEMPLOYABLE TRIBECA 2020

Two films that are in the Pilot Season Block at Tribeca that pose problems one really good problems and one really bad ones.

Shelby Blake Bartelstein's PRETTY PEOPLE is a happy problem.

A beautifully made ten minute piece this is what a "proof of concept film should be. It should lay out what could come next and make you want to see more. This  is a beautifully acted piece that does just that.

The problem comes from my feeling that based on what is here this would be a better feature film than series. The connection between people and the way this goes cried out for long extended time with the characters and not just ten minute or however many minute bites.

Ultimately this is really good and I honestly have no idea where this would go next- I just want to see where that is.

UNEMPLOYABLE is a pilot about a lay about how refuses to do anything until he needs to get money for a tattoo.

This is just awful 

I really disliked it's main character to the point I turned it off least I wreck my computer in rage the first time through. This is 33 minutes of listening to a self centered and self serving moron prattle on.

Who would want to watch a series with this jerk? This isn't a Seinfeld charming monsters sort of thing but the sort of guy you want to take out and run over with your car, or a stolen steamroller.

Now if you wanted to cut the central character out and focus on the people around him you might have a show.

LA MADRINA: THE [SAVAGE] LIFE OF LORINE PADILLA (2020) Tribeca 2020

Excellent portrait of Lorine Padilla who was the First Lady of the Bronx gang The Savage Skulls.

This super film starts with Lorine explaining that one doesn't choose to take drugs, rob banks or join a gang. Life pushes you that way and to understand what when before to know how we got here. She then lays out the life of her parents, her neighborhood and then herself. The result is a kick ass film about a kick ass lady. We come not only to understand and respect her but to like her. She is a tough cookie who wants the best not only for herself and her family but her neighborhood and as a result she is a fierce activist.

This film is a stunner. It is one of the best films at this year's Tribeca. Atypical in that it doesn't take a cookie cutter approach  the film not only gives us a wonderful portrait of one woman, but also of her life, her neighborhood, and our times. What she did bled outward and changed the world around us all.

Magnificent. Highly recommended.

Three Tribeca 2020 Shorts: MR SOMEBODY, SARIA and SOLITARY

MR SOMEBODY
Bam, a member of the Crips tries to sort out life after spending almost two decades in prison.
Moving film about a man struggling to find a way forward. We listen to him talk while loking over the streets and places that made him who he is.

SARIA
Beak tale of two orphan sisters suffering abuse at the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe Home in Guatemala. Bleak heart breaking narrative recounts what life was like in the home in the days leading up to a horrific tragedy where 41 young women burned to death because the warders wouldn't open the doors despite the cries of fire and the screams of the dying. A fun time this is not.

SOLITARY
The story of three people's experience with solitary confinement.
A bracing scream into the night about the terrible things that one experiences while in solitary confinement. Its a film that will rattle you and make you reconsider what you reconsider what you think what solitary confinement truly is.
Oddly the most troubling thing is the story of one woman's experience of being pregnant in jail. It is one of the saddest stories you'll hear all year.

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER (2020) Tribeca 2020

One of the best films at Tribeca is a portrait of former Guantánamo detainee, Mohamedou Ould Salahi, and his one-time American guard, Steve Wood.  They formed a friendship that transcended the prison to become a true bond that grew past guard and prisoner to become a friendship that borders on brotherhood and changed their lives and those around them for the better.

Small jewel of a film shows the difference that good people can make within the lives of other people. Seeing how the basic goodness of these two men transcended borders, they simply respected each other as humans, is one of the most hopeful things you will see all year. An absolute must for too many reasons than I can go into here- this is glorious. Though all you need know is it will make you feel good.

Brief thoughts on Banksy Most Wanted (2020) Tribeca

There seems to be an endless parade of films "about Banksy".  They are all sold in such away that them make you think they are about him but they are really not. In the last few years we have had SAVING BANKSY about trying to save one of his works, CHASING BANKSY a narrative about trying to take a Banksy off the side of a house, THE MAN WHO STOLE BANKSY about a guy who stole a piece of his art, THE BANKSY JOB about an artist who steals a statue because he was mad he wouldn't sign a piece of art, BANKSY DOES NEW YORK  about an NYC residency and there are more. That doesn't include the art docs where he is mentioned. All of them dealt with his art and not the man....

...which is why BANKSY MOST WANTED is so vital and important. It is a film that is about the man, or as much as one can know about a true ghost, through the lens of a discussion of his career and the quest to unmask who he really is. This is the first film, or at east since EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, that is really about the person and not just about a specific work or exhibition.  The result is this is one of the more informative and compelling Banksy films you are likely to find.

To be certain there are no answers. While Banksy may have been seen in some video putting up his art,who he really is is not revealed, but while watching the film I got the feeling we really don't need to know. Nay, we really shouldn't know who he is because once we do we suddenly will have a limit on the canvas of our imagination. More importantly once we know who he is we will incorrectly start to force limits on his work that shouldn't be there. So what if he is, say a bricklayer from Scotland, that shouldn't influence his art. It didn't before and knowing that now shouldn't change how we see what he does.

What I loved about watching the film was I got a better sense of this Banksy creation than I had before. The dots were connected up and I grew to truly appreciate his entire body of work more than I had before.

This is a great film and highly recommended, especially for anyone who is a fan or has any interest not only in his art but modern art, both of the museum and street variety.

LOOKING FOR A LADY WITH FANGS AND A MOUSTACHE (2020) Tribeca 2020

You won't understand it if I explain it simply so I'll make it complicated - a monk explains to Tenzin about how he can save his life

Tenzin has been having strange dreams and visions of a young girl. Sometimes she is in a field of flowers and sometimes not. He is so haunted by her he is having trouble focusing on finding a place to open his coffee house in Kathmandu. A friend of his says it maybe an omen and after consulting with a monk Tenzin is told he has a week to live. If he wants to avert his fate he must find a certain kind of mystical being.

As unwieldy as my explanation of the plot is, the reality is this is a smooth flowing spiritual quest of a film. Putting us in a particular place and particular time, we are travelers with Tenzin on his spiritual quest for enlightenment, or at least a reconnection to the world.

As much as Tenzin is desperately trying to find the "lady with the fangs and a moustache" he is also on a quest to reconnect with the world. Everything in his life is focused on making money. What will be the best place for his coffee shop?  Never mind that it is an abandoned, but still holy temple, maybe that will do. And maybe, perhaps the goddess cursed him as a result, or maybe he just ventured too far into the world of the yellow haired people. His drive to making money is stepping on toes and beliefs an whether gods are real or not he is bumping into things people hold dear.

The lessons here are quiet and accumulate. It's a series of ah ha moments not bone shaking thunderbolts. The reality is it takes time for Tenzin to change and it takes time for us to do so as well.

Beautifully shot by Mark Lee Ping-bing (In the Mood for Love) the film is a love song to the world with everything, every moment being perfectly rendered. This is life in balance even if Tenzin's isn't.

Director Khyentse Norbu, a Lama himself, has fashion philosophical journey that melds Nepalese thought with the modern world through a beautifully written script that he has augmented with a kick ass music score. Traditional songs meld with music from people like Tom Waits. And a small thing that I love is that Norbu doesn't use pieces of songs, but more often than not he sets an sequence to one song. It's a small thing but it is vitally important to keeping us in the moment.

As with Norbu's earlier film VARA: A BLESSING this is a film that you need to see rather than read about. It is like a looking at a picture of a fabulous place. To be certain the picture can show you the beauty but it can't make you feel what it is like to be physically there, especially after the journey to it.

LOOKING FOR A LADY... is a stunner and highly recommended. It is one of ym favorites of the year.

Nate Hood's Quarantine Qapsule #22 Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps: But What About the Children [2020] ★★★½ Tribeca 2020

Andrea James’ Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps: But What About the Children is an eighteen-minute truncated version of pioneering trans artist Scott Turner Schofield’s 2007 performance piece that examines the transgender experience through a series of 127 theatrical vignettes. During live performances, the audience is encouraged to shout out numbers from 1 to 127, picking and choosing which vignettes will be performed, thereby inviting the audience into becoming active participants in that night’s journey of trans self-discovery. The piece was a smash hit, leading to Schofield taking it overseas for over twenty international productions, transforming him into one of the leading trans voices in the American entertainment industry. (His bona fides include becoming the first openly transgender actor in American daytime television with a recurring role on CBS’s soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as well as serving as creative consultant for the groundbreaking trans lead Jules in HBO’s teen drama series Euphoria.)

Since James couldn’t put all of Schofield’s vignettes in a film—if the three featured were any indication of length then all 127 would result in a nearly thirteen hour movie—she seems to have chosen the three most indicative of the childhood trans experience. The first entitled “#1 - Get Lucky” sees Schofield changing the tire to a sports car as he wistfully recounts his conception that resulted from his mom fatefully meeting his dad one day while trying to fix a flat tire. Even more crucially, he explains how his stepfather (who happened to work in a tire factory) was the first person to accept him as trans growing up. The second, the comedic centerpiece of the film, is called “#8 - Wear Boy Underpants.” After his Uncle Bill dies while visiting his family one Christmas morning, he got shuffled over to his friend Noelle’s house while the EMT’s removed the body. Once there, he got to wear Noelle’s brothers underpants—the first boy underpants he ever wore! It ends with Schofield thanking his Uncle Bill for “one free day of childhood.” The last vignette, “#125 - Transmit What Little Wisdom You Possess,” tells of his heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful encounter with a homeless trans teenager while serving as Grand Marshall of a small town Pride parade. Combined, these shorts create an empathetic experience that leaves us eager for more. Hopefully James and Schofield will continue to make more of these vignettes available.

OTTOLENGHI AND THE CAKES OF VERSAILLES (2020) Tribeca 2020

Portrait of chef Yotem Ottolenghi and his work to prepare a food gala based on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's  exhibit “Visitors to Versailles". We get know Ottolenghi and then watch as he chooses other chefs to help him and then their work putting the show together.

Every couple of years Tribeca programs a film on some event or another that the Met held. Almost always the films are great looking puff pieces that are the cinematic equivalent to a large coffee table book. OTTOLENGHI AND THE CAKES OF VERSAILLES is no exception.

A largely good looking film that clues us in on an event that tried to be as extravagant as was Versailles itself there didn't seem to be a hell of a lot to hang my hat on as a bunch of very clever chefs worked in  fancy kitchens to make food most of us could never have.  It's all really clever but there is no connection to life only to an artifice and the nuts and bolts of pulling off a fancy idea. Normally I am a food film junkie but I lost interest early and it never came back.

It doesn't help that the film's framing bothered me. I watched the film twice, once on the Tribeca site and once on a screener that was sent to me and many of the images looked wrong. Seeing them on a big screen kind of hurt my eyes as if we were too close. When I played the images on a smaller player about the size of a cell phone I found that the images looked good, but once I bumped them up to full screen they looked wrong. I'm curious if either the film was shot on a cellphone or edited that way. Then again I've seen several films shot on an iPhone but you could never tell unless you wee told.

You may like this put to me this is a great looking cinematic that tastes stale once you bite into it.

SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (2020) Tribeca 2020

If you wanted to make the argument that this is the best portrait of the Rolling Stones, and one of the members in particular I would be perfectly willing to go along with you. If you wanted to take the argument further and say it's one of the best rock biographies, or at the very least most satisfying rock docs (insert time frame of your choice) - I will be happy to agree.

SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME is a rough and tumble and not really polished but solid conversation with Ron Wood who is best known for joining the Rolling Stones in 1975, but  had earlier played with Jeff Beck, Faces and Clapton, not to mention his own solo work.

The film is a series of conversations with Wood and director Mike Figgis intercut with music, painting and talks with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart, Damien Hirst  and Imelda May who relates how Wood always says he discovered her years before she became famous but never told anyone. This is not a film so much as hanging out with your mate in a pub and having him tell you his life story. There is zero pretense and even less artifice (or is it the other way around?)

To be certain it isn't all here, but who the hell cares? Wood  is just being himself and telling tales. So often these days music bios are polished and controlled to a ridiculous degree. Don't get me wrong I loved the recent Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson docs, but they were stage managed to a ridiculous degree. This isn't like that. This just feels like I'm sitting in a restaurant with your friend  shooting the breeze and what happens happens.

I suspect the lack of covering it all will piss off some people who want to hear it all, but that would be a less alive film. To be certain we'd know more about the details of his life but we wouldn't know the man who lives and breaths. For my money I want the living and breathing man.

Highly recommended.