Leah Rozen has been filing regular dispatches from the Tribeca Film Festival at the Report From Tribeca column, and we have full coverage of TheWrap's TheGrill@Tribeca here. But there's more going on in Lower Manhattan during the festival … so here are a few of the people, films and events attracting attention during the first week of TFF:
YOU TALKIN' TO ME?
Great actor. Tribeca co-founder. Difficult interview. That's the thumbnail sketch of Robert De Niro, who took to the stage of his festival over the weekend not to introduce a film and get out of the way, but to be quizzed on his career by NBC news anchor Brian Williams. (Photo: Andy Kropa/Getty Images)
Williams, according to the Associated Press, volunteered to question the famously recalcitrant actor because he was a big fan. "Great idea," Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal told him, "but have you seen Bob's interviews?"
Nonetheless, says Jake Coyle, "the two managed a good conversation with only an occasional sigh from Williams." And, of course, an occasional joke from De Niro. For instance, when asked if he watched his old movies when they’re on TV:
"I don't do that, Brian. I watch the news and I watch the 'Today' show. I'm very set in my ways."
LONG NIGHT
The Tribeca film "Last Night" has a starry cast (Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes and French filmmaker/actor Guillaume Canet), but the drama about two couples over the course of one emotionally stormy night was a rough debut for agent's assistant-turned-screenwriter-turned director Massy Tadjedin. Shot in 28 days in New York, the film was delayed for years and bounced from Miramax to Tribeca Films; after a TFF screening it opens theatrically on May 6, more than two weeks after its VOD debut.
"The movie is a poster child for the challenges facing indie movies today," writes Anne Thompson, who interviews Tadjedin about the film that is probably the highest-profile release from Tribeca's new distribution arm. (Knightley and Canet, above. Photo: JoJo Whilden)
WHAT'S UP? DOCS
As if there was much doubt that Tribeca's lineup is strongest in documentaries, the festival website keeps track of the current standings for the Heineken Audience Award — and as of Monday night, with half the festival behind us, the top four films (and eight of the top 10) are all docs.
Lee Hirsch's documentary "The Bully Project," which follows five bullied kids over the course of a school year, currently has the best scores from Tribeca audiences, to go along with the distribution deal it just picked up with the Weinstein Company. (Photo: Lee Hirsch)
(First a Best Picture Oscar, now a Tribeca Audience Award? Is Harvey running a savvy campaign here, too?)
"The Bully Project" is followed by three more docs: "Give Up Tomorrow," "Semper Fi: Always Faithful" and "Carol Channing: Larger Than Life." The top-rated narrative feature is the French comedy "Romantics Anonymous," which is currently fifth in the standings; the only other narrative film in top 10 is Jasmine McGlade Chazelle's "Maria My Love." Otherwise it's all docs, all the time …
PERFECT PITCH
One of the many arms of Tribeca is the My Movie Pitch competition, where a one-minute pitch can lead to a short film directed by "an acclaimed Tribeca film director" and premiering at the fest. For the 2010 winner, the acclaimed director in question is Jac Schaeffer (2009's "TiMER"), and the winning pitch came from John Nash, who had an idea for "a very serious drama" about a man and his mustache, "Mr. Stache."
Now that "Mr. Stache" has debuted, sponsor American Express has the announcement of the 2011 competition at YouTube, along with a three-minute behind-the-scenes feature on the making of "Mr. Stache." And here's the film that resulted, starring Rich Sommer and Amy Smart:
PSYCHO KILLERS
But forget about movie stars and serious docs — TFF's Cinemania section is devoted to, in Mike Hale's words, "horror movies, over-the-top crime dramas, sex farces and other disreputable fare — the fun stuff, in other words." In the New York Times, Hale pays tribute to the schlock, and heaps particular praise on the Dutch horror comedy "Saint" ("Sint"), which turns Santa Claus into a mass murderer, and the even darker and gorier "Rabies," an Israeli film about a psycho loose in a forest preserve.
There's also a film by a directorial team called the Vicious Brothers, which probably tells you all you need to know. (Photo: Esme Lammers)
CRYING FOUL
At Vulture, Will Leith looks at "Catching Hell," Alex Gibney's documentary about hapless Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman, whose lunge for a foul ball in the 2003 might have kept the long-suffering Cubs out of the World Series, and who has remained steadfastly out of sight ever since.
"He has never given an interview, never appeared on a reality show, never accepted any of the hundreds of thousands of dollars offered him to come out of hiding … All Bartman wanted was to be left alone. Most people say this, but when their time comes, they don’t mind all the cameras. But Bartman: Poof, he was gone. Today, that’s heroic."
Leitch says the film "soars" when it focuses on Bartman and the game, but goes adrift elsewhere and leads the critic to believe that for the famously workaholic Gibney, this film "was more of a hobby than a passion."
