The Tribeca Film Festival is presenting 98 feature films over 12 days in New York City. Our list just scratches the surface, but here are some of the Tribeca world premieres that caught our eye.
“The Trip to Spain”
Great food, beautiful locations, funny guys and Michael Caine impersonations – those are the ingredients of all the films Michael Winterbottom has made with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. And there’s no reason to think they won’t be just as appetizing as ever as our boys hit Spain.
“LA 92”
One of six current docs on the L.A. riots of 1992, this gripping work from Oscar-wining directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Miller eschews talking heads to drop you in the middle of the chaos.
“Flower”
Actress Zoey Deutch has the potential to be both an indie stalwart and a mainstream star, and she has a delicious role in Max Winkler’s black comedy about a high school schemer whose casual superiority starts to crack when she meets her mother’s boyfriends lumpish son, who is fresh out of rehab and hiding secrets.
“Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story”
The ingredients of this true-life story are irresistible: a movie star who moonlighted as an inventor developing a communication system to help the Allies in World War II. Can director Alexandra Dean do justice to Lamarr’s wild tale?
“Abundant Acreage Available”
Martin Scorsese served as executive producer of Angus MacLachlan’s family drama, in which Amy Ryan and Terry Kinney play siblings whose lives are disrupted by three brothers camping on their family farm.
“The Reagan Show”
In this era of a reality-show president, Pacho Velez and Sierre Pettengill’s documentary about how Ronald Reagan was the first made-for-TV chief executive could be timely indeed.
“One Percent More Humid”
Liz W. Garcia (“Dawson’s Creek,” “Cold Case”) has assembled a topnotch cast – Juno Temple, Julia Garner, Maggie Siff, Alessandro Nivola – in her story of childhood friends torn apart by traumatic memories.
“Holy Air”
Can you get away with a comedy set in Nazareth and dealing with a hustler whose new scheme is to sell bottled “holy air?” That’s what Shady Srour is trying to do.
“A Gray State”
Few subjects are as newsworthly as the conspiracy theorists of the alt-right, which is the terrain that Erik Nelson explores as he chronicles the death of alt-right star David Crowley. Werner Herzog, who knows a few things about the darkness in men’s hearts, is executive producer.
“My Friend Dahmer”
A movie about the teenage years of serial-killer-to-be Jeffrey Dahmer, whose penchant for gruesome backyard experiments actually made him a popular kid? If it’s not done right it could be cringe-inducing, but it also sounds weirdly fascinating.
“A River Below”
Surprises await deep in the Amazon River in Mark Grieco’s documentary about an expedition that tries to save the pink river dolphin but runs into an ethical scandal.
“Dog Years”
You have to love the idea of Burt Reynolds playing a swaggering, mustachioed ‘70s star who accepts a lifetime achievement award from a bargain-basement film festival.
“Frank Serpico”
You saw the Sidney Lumet film starring Al Pacino as the New York policeman who blew the whistle on fellow cops on the take. (You did see it, didn’t you?) Now meet the real guy in Antonino D’Ambrosio’s doc.
“Pilgrimage”
An action movie with the weaponry available in 1209 and a story about faith that also contains copious bloodshed, Brendan Muldowney’s atmospheric drama stars Tom Holland, Richard Armitage and Jon Bernthal in the story of a small band of monks trying to take a precious (and powerful?) Catholic relic from Ireland to Rome.
“Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS”
Sebastian Junger landed an Oscar nomination with his documentary “Restrepo,” and he’s teamed with Nick Quested to chronicle the history of the country that seems to be spawning more documentaries with each new film festival.
