So Young Shelly Yo’s SMOKING TIGERS is a restrained coming-of-age story about a Korean-American teenage girl. It touches on class divide, having a broken immigrant family, and overall teenage angst. The emotional final scene was the highlight for me. It is now a streaming via Tribeca At Home.
The Line
Disturbing fraternity hazing film THE LINE has good performances from Alex Wolff and Austin Abrams. While it does not break any new ground, it looks fine and is completely believable. It is worth watching on Tribeca At Home if the subject interests you. It has a fine score by Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen, who also […]
Tribeca At Home is live
Tribeca At Home films are now available to stream in the US until July 2nd. Here’s a Letterboxd list of the features included. https://letterboxd.com/filmfestival/list/tribeca-at-home-2023/
Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story
Since I have seen the band of immigrant gypsy punks live before, I knew SCREAM OF MY BLOOD: A GOGOL BORDELLO STORY would be a fun ride and it did not disappoint. Fans of the band and music docs in general should find a lot to like here. Because frontman Eugene Hütz is from Ukraine, […]
The Gullspang Miracle
Tribeca Festival documentary THE GULLSPANG MIRACLE starts out with a premise similar to Three Identical Strangers and 20 minutes in, it feels like the mystery is resolved. What follows is twist after twist that will keep you guessing. It is one of the most entertaining docs I have seen in a while. I wish the […]
The Graduates
Director Hannah Peterson’s THE GRADUATES is a thoughtful exploration of the aftermath of a school shooting. It is deserving of its Best Cinematography win at Tribeca Festival. Mina Sundwall, Alex Hibbert, and John Cho are all praiseworthy. It will also screen at at Museum of Modern Art as part of Future of Film is Female […]
Invisible Beauty
INVISIBLE BEAUTY, trailblazing model and activist Bethann Hardison’s collaboration with Dior & I and Halston director Frédéric Tcheng, is a captivating Tribeca Festival documentary about her life and career.
LaRoy
LAROY is a dark Texas crime comedy from new director Shane Atkinson that immediately brings Coen Brothers and Elmore Leonard to mind. Dylan Baker, John Magaro, and Steve Zahn are in it. What’s there not to like? This has cult classic written all over it!
Afire
Christian Petzold’s latest, Afire, reunites him one more time with the magnetic Paula Beer and is one of the director’s best films. The strong Rohmer influence is probably one of the reasons why it is already one of my favorites of the year. Thomas Schubert’s grumpy Leon is in contention with Justin H. Min’s Ben […]
Shortcomings
Randall Park’s directorial debut SHORTCOMINGS, which just screened at Tribeca Festival, is a hilarious comedy that travels from Bay Area to NYC. It has mostly race and relationships on its mind. Justin H. Min is perfect as the selfish hypocrite / film snob Ben. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in theaters on August 8th.