Tribeca Film Festival Spotlight

The Tribeca Film Festival, an annual event for film-lovers in lower Manhattan, has been running this past week and will continue to do so until Sunday. Tickets can be purchased for individual movies, or fanatics can invest in the virtual package, which for $45 allows internet users to screen many of the festival's offerings in the comfort of their own home. While the festival is publically screening over 300 films, including 44 World premiere feature screenings, I only aim to highlight a few interesting selections showing this weekend. For more information on screenings, go to www.tribecafilm.com.

 

 

Elvis and Madonna— Definitely playing with romcom conventions, the Brazilian Elvis and Madonna follows lesbian photographer Elvis, who takes a second job delivering pizza only take find battered drag queen Madonna on her first day. Love and complications naturally ensue. From Marcelo Laffitte.

3 PM at Chelsea Clearview Cinema 7

 

Freakonomics— An omnibus documentary from directors Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me), Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight), and Gordon (The King of Kong), this collage of documentarian efforts explores Sumo wrestling, baby names, paying underachieving kids to work harder in school, and a theory about the crime rate drop in the 90's.

8:30 PM at BMCC Tribeca PAC

 

The Killer Inside Me—The Killer Inside Me's trailer shows Casey Affleck honing the eerie intensity last seen in The Assassination of Jesse James. Here he plays a Texan deputy sheriff, ordered to evict a local prostitute (Jessica Alba). Instead he gets involved with her, only to have to cover his tracks when his wife (Kate Hudson) becomes suspicious. Michael Winterbottom (9 Songs, A Cock and Bull Story) directs.

9:45 PM at Village East Cinema 4

 

Metropia— For lovers of futuristic dystopia films, there is the animated noir Metropia. In the year 2024, downtrodden Roger (Vincent Gallo), a powerless worker drone, stumbles upon Nina (Juliette Lewis), a beautiful shampoo spokeswoman. She leads him into the underworld and conspiracy. Directed by Tarik Saleh.

12:45 PM at Village East Cinema 4

 

Possessed— Lee Yon-ju's Possessed is described as an intriguing blend of "k-horror and police procedural". It tells the story of college student Hee-jin, who returns home when her sister goes missing only to find her mother has become some sort of religious fanatic and the neighbors are ritualistically sacrificing themselves in strange and gruesome ways. Can she get to the bottom of what's going on, with the help of skeptical detective Tae-hwan?

6:45 PM at Village East Cinema 4

 

Micmacs— The unique worldview of Jean Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Alien: Resurrection, The City of Lost Children) is back with Micmacs, the story of the unlucky orphan Bazil, who receives a stray, irremovable bullet in his brain. Completely destitute when released back into the world, he is taken under the wing of a merry band of misfits, the Micmacs.

2:30 PM at Village East Cinema 3