tribeca film festival

The Listener is a sobering, potentially triggering film magnified by Tessa Thompson’s beautiful performance: Tribeca Film Festival Review

The fifth directorial effort from actor Steve Buscemi, and his first since 2007’s Interview, The Listener is an intensely quiet film, one that hones a sobering nature that can’t help but speak to its prime pandemic nature. COVID-19 is never specifically stated across the film’s sensitive 96 minutes, but the loneliness in the story’s set-up…

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Maggie Moore(s) flirts with potential before fumbling its lead: Tribeca Film Festival Review

There’s an utterly fascinating (and still unsolved) murder case at the centre of Maggie Moore(s), the second directorial feature from Mad Men alum John Slattery, which aims for Coen Brothers-esque comedic darkness, but unfortunately falls short of Fargo greatness. The real case at hand was a dual assassination of sorts in 2000 Texas, where two…

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The Seeding is a torturous, psychological horror film that revels in its slow burn: Tribeca Film Festival Review

From the opening shot of Barnaby Clay‘s The Seeding there’s a sense that nothing will be as it initially appears.  There’s an immediate knowing that hell will break loose over the 94 minutes that are to come when we see the imagery of a baby chewing on human flesh in quite the most casual of…

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Catching Dust is a potent, uneasy thriller enhanced by an arresting Jai Courtney: Tribeca Film Festival Review

There’s a palpable sense of unrest that litters the core of Catching Dust, Stuart Gatt‘s feature debut that speaks to one woman’s sense of autonomy and choosing between the devil she knows and that she doesn’t. The woman in question is Geena (Erin Moriarty), whose isolated Texas desert locale is the result of her violent…

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Interview: Writer/director Bill Oliver on Tribeca drama Our Son; “With gay marriage I think there’s a little bit of an expectation to be perfect.”

Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Bill Oliver‘s Our Son is where drama meets mindfulness as audiences explore contemporary relationships between two men (played by Luke Evans and Billy Porter) trying to make their way in the world of parenting their child in the aftermath of their separation. This story unabashedly unfolds with the…

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Our Son details the dissolution of a marriage with a sense of wit and wisdom: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Whilst the breakdown of a marriage and the impending custody battle that will take place as to whose time favours the child in question has been a reliable staple for cinematic drama over the years – most recently displayed in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story and perhaps most famously in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer – queer…

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Four Samosas is an enjoyably bonkers take on the heist movie genre: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Indian representation in cinema has certainly hit a certain stride over the last few years in moving beyond the character stereotypes and Bollywood-framed imagery that Hollywood so often adhered to.  Filmmakers such as Gurinder Chadha and Mira Nair have been representing their native communities for over three decades with their various theatrical offerings – the…

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Roving Woman is an aimless experience that fails to justify its journey: Tribeca Film Festival Review

There’s an interesting concept and potentially deep conversation regarding mental illness to be had with Roving Woman, but the execution presented sadly undoes any of the film’s potential, leaving Michal Chmielewski‘s drama a more aimless experience. The roving woman of the title is Sara (Lena Gora), who opens the film in a state of panic…

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God Save the Queens; what it lacks in biting humour, it makes up for in beating heart: Tribeca Film Festival Review

The cultural phenomenon that is RuPaul’s Drag Race has made way for otherwise niche performers to breakthrough in a mainstream fashion.  Whilst it’s still more likely that queer audiences will recognise their presence in a stronger manner, it must be said that the program knows how to unearth the type of talent that deserves to…

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Cherry navigates its delicate subject matter with humour and heart: Tribeca Film Festival Review

An incredibly topical drama that navigates its story with natural humour and heart, Sophie Galibert delicately treads the waters around the subject of unwanted pregnancy in her feature debut, Cherry. Initially adhering to a more comical temperament, Cherry centres on its titular character (Alex Trewhitt, a star-making turn), a driftless, 25-year-old Los Angelean, whose already…

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Acidman is an emotional journey through one woman’s estranged connection to her father: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Though it’s fair to be intrigued by the title of Alex Lehmann‘s Acidman and assume there’s perhaps something more sinister behind its moniker, the film is a quieter affair, looking at reclusion, mental health, and the power of a familial relationship. Lehmann himself has noted that the idea came from his own personal experience with…

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Interview: Director Saul Abraham on directing short film Enjoy and exploring men’s mental health

Statistics regarding the prevalence of mental illness in men today have become a more commonly known factor as the walls of machoism continue to break down.  No longer a subject that goes undiscussed, the depression aspect of a man’s mental psyche is at the centre of Saul Abraham‘s striking short film, Enjoy. Following its screening…

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Tribeca Film Festival Shorts Review: Enjoy is a delicate look at depression in men

A sensitive subject that manages to transcend its 18 minute containment, Saul Abraham‘s Enjoy is a delicate look at depression, specifically in men, and how difficult it is to remove your own psyche from spiralling downwards. 1 in 8 men in Australia experience some form of depression or anxiety, 3 times more common than it…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Ultrasound is a deliberately off-kilter horror/sci-fi hybrid

To claim nothing is as it seems in Rob Schroder‘s Ultrasound would be a vast understatement.  Requiring significant patience and understanding of its components, this horror/science-fiction hybrid begins on one disturbing note before unravelling into something far more psychologically mysterious. It all opens rather straightforward, however off-kilter, with Glen (Vincent Kartheiser) driving home one night…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: No Future‘s simplistic script is overcome thanks to committed, nuanced performances

With a title like No Future and a narrative detailing the recovery of addicts and the potential grief and fear of relapsing that comes with that territory, Andrew Irvine and Mark Smoot‘s drama isn’t exactly reaching for subtlety. It’s a simplistic script that takes few risks in straying from the expected, but superb, committed performances…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Catch The Fair One is a vigilante tale of stark realism

Invoking notes of revenge thrillers like Death Wish and Taken, but adhering to a female edge that lends the film a more calculating temperament, Catch The Fair One is a gritty thriller that survives more on its emotional mindset rather than gratuitous violence. Headlined and anchored by real-life boxer Kali Reis (who also serves as…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: God’s Waiting Room is alluring as it is ugly

There’s some magnetic performances and a dirty immersion to God’s Waiting Room that, at times, are strong enough for the film to overcome its narrative cliches and ultimate contrivance that put much of its good work at risk. As easy as it is to roll your eyes at the outline of the film being that…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Agnes is far too uneven to earn complete forgiveness

Starting on a blackly comic note and ending on a vastly different one of dramatic grit, Mickey Reece‘s Agnes is a truly confounding piece.  Inserting a narrative and tonal shift half-way through its proceedings, Reece has created a unique film without question, but it’s one that is likely to irk viewers who could respond so…

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Tribeca Now Showcase Review: In The Cards (Episode 1) makes a fine first impression in spite of its morally questionable characters

There’s something delightful in a comedy series basing itself around a person who’s, for lack of a better word, awful.  Maybe awful is too strong a word.  Let’s go with morally questionable.  Either way, In The Cards, from writer/director Colin Kane Healey, centres itself around a morally questionable type who most would agree deserves that…

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Tribeca Now Showcase Review: If I’m Alive Next Week… is a humorous (and short) snapshot into the lives of a perfectly dysfunctional family

The foul-mouthed, no-nonsense senior citizen can easily give itself way to presenting a caricature more than a character of organic standing.  Thankfully, in If I’m Alive Next Week… screenwriting duo Jennifer Morris and Robbie Sublett (who also serve as the series’ directors and creators) manage to create an 80-something who tells like it is without…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Shapeless‘ important message is undone by its minimalistic approach

Given that Shapeless is an incredibly personal film to lead actress and writer Kelly Murtagh, detailing a disorder that cripples many, it’s a somewhat painful experience to be framing a review in a negative light. There’s a dark, unforgiving movie in here somewhere, one that expresses no fear in manifesting her struggle with bulimia in…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: See For Me treads familiar ground with a welcome creativity

The elevator pitch narrative of “blind subject is targeted by home invaders” is one that’s been explored before in the cinematic realm.  The 2016 double offering of Don’t Breathe and Netflix’s Hush both utilised this logline to impressive effect, and though See For Me is treading familiar ground, it too is at least doing so…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: A Better You is a charming, self-reflective look on the social-media age

*Due to the current global crisis the planned 2020 Tribeca Film Festival has been postponed. The AU Review has been in contact with the respective representatives for available films in order to give them the coverage they intended. A commentary on the so-called perfection of social media, Eamonn Murphy‘s quirky short A Better You is…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Query addresses the social norms of sexuality in a disarmingly comfortable manner

*Due to the current global crisis the planned 2020 Tribeca Film Festival has been postponed. The AU Review has been in contact with the respective representatives for available films in order to give them the coverage they intended. Much like the recent slate of short films that were intended for this year’s SXSW Film Festival,…

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