TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIW OF "DIRTY WEEKEND"

BY CHRISENA RICCI

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...

I am obsessed with Neil LaBute. I have been since high school. For some reason, I have always enjoyed the harsh characters he creates and the ruthless worlds that he builds. Sometimes, I am bothered by it, but I always end up re-reading his plays, or going to see that performance once more, to see if I can rationalize what is happening.

This film was no different. We meet Les played by Matthew Broderick, and Natalie played by Alice Eve, two uptight business folks on their way to Dallas for a business convention. They get stranded during a layover in Albuquerque and somehow end up confiding their dirtiest secrets to one another. After some early morning martinis and a cab driver who fails wildly at quoting Shakespeare every other breath, the rag-tag couple set off to help Les remember just how far his infidelities went and what that might mean for his future.

 The dialogue seems stilted at first, in a very theatrical sort of style that took a moment to get used to. Once I was familiar with the dialogue rhythms, it was all much easier to follow. It actual became fun to follow. The jerky speech pattern of Les and the fast smooth fluidity of Natalie’s theories on the human condition became an audible portrait of a twisted comedy.

Some beautiful images are found with in the film too. Not the trendy bars or the swanky hotels, but the images of a man choosing his life and a woman choosing hers. Near the end of the film is a stunning moment where Natalie finally removes the collar around her neck and Les decides to simultaneously place his arm back into its entrapping sling. What it suggests is that maybe, just maybe a dirty weekend can put one’s life deeply into focus. Maybe this focus sharpens your devotion or maybe it sets you free from a person who doesn't deserve to hold your heart prisoner. It does seem a bit too optimistic for LaBute, but I sure liked it.

My favorite thing however was the visual at the end of the film where Matthew Broderick has a moment after the affair that sliced through the ridiculousness of the "cheating is normal" concept that Natalie throws at him. His wife calls and his voice falters. Tears spring into his eyes as he tries to reclaim normal. This tiny detail of regret is not something I am accustomed to seeing in a Neil LaBute work and it was a nice surprise. Even the most dubious, lost and bastardized son of guns out there can feel remorse, and that was a sparkling moment of truth.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Neil LaBute  STARRING Matthew Broderick, Alice Eve, Gia Crovatin, Phil Burke.

Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com

CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "BACKTRACK"

BY CHRISENA RICCI

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...

 When I was a kid I used to trick the bus driver to pass my stop so I could go home with my friend that lived two streets away. It usually worked, but one day I totally got caught. He yelled at me and I ran off the bus and straight into my bedroom. I felt so guilty that I just hid in a blanket fort and waited for dinner. My guilty conscience was overwhelming at that age, making sure I could never tell a lie for very long.

In BACKTRACK, Peter Bowers (Adrien Brody) starts seeing creepy visions and spirits shortly after his daughter is tragically hit by a car. The visions become so intense that he follows the clues back to his old home town where he continues his ghost hunt. Eventually, his searching leads him to clues of a missing girl that was found in the wreckage, but the mystery only continues to spiral from there. I won’t ruin it for you, but I will say that the film had me on edge for every moment from start to finish. I did have the true villain figured out fairly early on, but I didn’t have it all worked out before the protagonist did, which was a nice design. I enjoyed the mystery element as well as the supernatural creepiness. I tend to scare fairly easily in horror flicks, but man, I jumped out of my skin at least three times.

Adrien Brody’s acting was also amazing as always. It wasn’t surprising that he was so good, but it was refreshing. I love seeing good acting in a horror flick. Brody’s gentle vocal patterns, luminous eyes and furrowed brow told the story of man willing to do the right thing no matter what the personal cost. He is always intriguing to watch on the big screen, but this role offered Brody the chance to be a man of action, and a hero to the meek. Which was absolutely wonderful to watch.

VERDICT: MUST SEE

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Michael Petroni STARRING Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, Robin Mcleavy, Bruce Spence, and Jenni Baird

Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com 

CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "A COURTSHIP"

BY CHRISENA RICCI

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...

 My parents were super strict when it came to dating rules. I wasn’t allowed to go on one-on-one dates until I was 16. I definitely wasn’t allowed in a car with a boy that drove until I was about 17 and sure as hell wasn’t allowed to have a boy in my room. That last one is still a rule in their household actually.  Back then I thought these rules were over the top and rolled my eyes as loudly as possible each time they were enforced. Now I see how those rules were good ideas when I was a teenager, and sometimes wish that my parents could still tell me which boys not to go on dates with. Lord knows I could have saved a lot of time by having my mom have a chat with my suitors before I went to dinner with them.

However, having the option to choose whom I date, is a freedom that I take advantage of. I enjoy using the skills my parents taught me in finding someone who respects me. It is difficult sometimes to go on dates and have people be mean, disrespectful or just downright rude.  But, I am glad that I get to use my own brain and my own heart to figure out who is the right man for me.

Apparently this is not the same for everyone. Meet Kelly, she is a single thirty year old woman, who teaches dance for a Christian dance studio and is looking to find her soulmate. The problem is, Kelly as decided to abide by the rules of courtship. This means that Kelly has relinquished control when it comes to any piece of the dating puzzle. She lives with a family that practices courtship and the father of this family must find suitors and arrange casual group outings for the couple to meet and gradually get to know one another. If the patriarch at any time decides that the match isn’t a good fit, he is allowed to step in and end it, and Kelly is expected to completely oblige.

Kelly is finally introduced to a man that is deemed a possible suitor, and she falls fast into a crush. Her adoptive parents make sure that Kelly and her suitor have the same beliefs theologically speaking and that her suitor doesn’t mind that Kelly accidentally gave away her first kiss already. After a small theological difference surfaces, things are ended between the two, and Kelly is left heartbroken by the exchange.

While I disagree with the theology of this sect of Christian thinking, I do feel that the filmmakers did a bad job of keeping their voice out of it. It felt like they had a strong opinion on how these people choose to live their lives, and so they voiced it. If you want to make a documentary about someone with a different lifestyle for an exploratory piece, you should keep your opinions out of it. Especially if you want to make people think. This film was occasionally edited so obviously to make the people sound simplistic and idiotic that I felt angry. If people are passionate enough about a lifestyle that they are willing to risk their wants to live in line with those ideals, it is a filmmaker’s job to show us why. Not to make fun of someone’s religious beliefs.

I do not agree with the ideology presented in this film, but I don’t agree with mocking someone’s beliefs and calling a documentary. I felt it was an unfair portrayal. If other documentarians can make films where their subjects are well-known terrorists and they can keep their ideas out of it, I’m pretty sure someone could make a film about a woman who chooses to specifically find a spouse in this way.

VERDICT: SKIP IT

DIRECTED BY Amy Kohn FEATURING Kelly Boggus, Ron Wright, Dawn Wright

 Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com 

CHRISENA RICCI once went to a costume party dressed in an all black dress and black wig. No one there could guess who she was. So she shouted out, "I'm Christina Ricci, without the T or I and add an E!" Everyone stood there confused, she was annoyed, so she stormed off. She never returned to that apartment ever again. Which is fine, because she later realized she was at the wrong party. She now lives in New York City.