"ALL ABOUT NINA" // TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW

BY MATEO MORENO

There are films that seem to come along just at the right time in history to strike a chord. Those films have instant power, playing against the times that we are living in. ALL ABOUT NINA is one of those films, and it’s the best film in Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s career so far. Winstead plays Nina Geld, a stand-up comedian who’s also one of the most complex characters I’ve seen on screen in a while. Nina is alive on stage and has escaped to Los Angeles to leave behind an abusive ex-boyfriend (Chance Crawford) back in New York. However, the stand-up sets are so brutally honest, and her nerves get to her so much that she throws up after her sets.

The world of stand-up comedy is a brutal one, one that’s most definitely a boy’s club. To be a female comedian at all, you need a shield that’s rock solid. So, she adopts a much more confident persona while she’s on stage and when she’s off, she relaxes into who she really is. She shuts down the male comics with ease because she feels safe in her stand-up armor and can also go home with almost anyone she wants after. The question of, “Why should an armor be necessary at all as a female comic” is one that floats through the entire film, and watching Nina navigate her world and her comic world is often hilarious and brutally painful at the same time.

A romance blossoms within the film with a man named Rafe (Common), who’s charming, loving, and imperfect. More importantly, he wants Nina to be exactly who she is and nothing else. Wisely, the love story never threatens to become the only story in the film. The main storyline stays with Nina, and her own personal battle. Nina is allowed to be imperfect but a perfect model to walk behind in the film. She’s powerful, inconsistent, says one thing but does another, expects more out of a person but gives less than she could, longs for something bigger but settles for something small. In other words, she’s perfectly imperfect. She feels real. She feels human. And Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s performance anchors the film in such a commanding way that you feel as if you would follow Nina literally anywhere and trust that we’re all going to get through this, somehow. Not everyone will be unscathed, but are we ever?

VERDICT: MUST SEE

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Eva Vives STARRING Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Chance Crawford, Clea Duvall, Kate Del Castillo, Beau Bridges. Playing as part of the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. https://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/all-about-nina-2018

TRIBECA FILM FEST 2014: EVERY SECRET THING

BY MATEO MORENO

Small suburbs in America have a hard time forgetting the past.  We, have a hard time forgetting the past, or understanding it fully once it’s gone.  Once something has happened to you, it will always be with you.  You can never leave it behind.  People don’t forget, even if you want them to, and you can’t hide forever.  Several years before the main events in EVERY SECRET THING, we’re introduced to 2 eight year old girls.  One is chubby, one is thin, and neither one has any friends.  They've been set them up to be friends, of sorts, even though neither is too keen on the idea.  They attend a pool party together that doesn’t go well at all.  On the way home, the girls come across a baby on a porch.  Days later, the baby is found dead and the girls are found guilty of the crime.  A decade later, the girls are newly released and another child has gone missing.  Suddenly the case smells a lot like the one they were involved in, and secrets and lies will unfold as Detective Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks) and her partner Kevin Jones (Nate Parker) try to stitch it all together before it’s too late.

Director Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) has crafted a taut, eerie, and powerful piece of drama here.  Working from a shimmering script by Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said, Walking & Talking), you feel transported directly into the town instead of looking into the story from the sidelines.  Taking it’s time from scene to scene, it grips and holds you as it slowly tells its tale. Smartly, it doesn’t always seem to be telling the truth, as parts of the story come from the two girl’s points of view, which you’re not sure you can trust.  Playing them are Dakota Fanning and newcomer Danielle Macdonald, both giving radiant and powerful performances.  You feel bad for them as everyone seems to automatically feel they may be guilty, yet you wonder the same thing.  Both performances that feel lived in and real, anchored by a strong lead by Elizabeth Banks who leaves her excellent comic timing behind to emerge into this dark and misunderstood world.  Diane Lane also drives in a sad, strong performance here, portraying Alice’s (Macdonald) mother, who seems to strongly favor one girl over the other.  Alive and daunting, EVERY SINGLE THING will draw you into its web, into the corners of their hardened world.  And thanks to powerful performances, inspired direction, and an intriguing script, it will stay with you long after as well.

VERDICT: MUST SEE 

Written By: Nicole Holofcener Directed By: Amy Berg Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald, Nate Parker, Common. For Tribeca Tickets and more info: TICKETS

BOTTOM LINE: A stirring, moving character drama, beautifully charged.