tff – We Are Movie Geeks

TFF 2013: My Top 6 Shorts

I have always been a fan of short films but never really liked attending shorts programs at festivals because there are usually only 1 or 2 good films sandwiched between 4 or 5 terrible ones. That is one of the reasons why I absolutely love the online press screening room that the Tribeca Film Festival gives us access to every year. Rather than have to watch the films in blocks, you can pick and choose which films to watch and potentially review. Throughout the week I watched (or attempted to watch) well over 25 TFF shorts. I say attempt because there were quite a few misfires that I didn’t think deserved to be in this festival. Of course there were also some I wanted to see that just were not available, which I believe is a huge mistake made by some of the filmmakers. But there were quite a few that were pretty fantastic. I didn’t just like these films but want to share them with fellow filmlovers which is why I would like to publicly invite these filmmakers to submit these shorts to the Orlando Film Festival this year. For everyone else, keep an eye on these shorts because they are well worth checking out given the opportunity.

FEAR OF FLYING

This stop-motion short absolutely blew me away. It tells the story of a bird afraid to fly south and how he deals with the winter. The technique is flawless, the voice acting is spot on and the film itself is brilliant. I expect big things from Conor Finnegan who wrote, directed and edited this little masterpiece.

FOOL’S DAY

This short directed by Cody Blue Snider (son of Dee Snider) took me completely by surprise. The premise is quite genius, a 3rd grade class accidentally kills their teacher on April Fool’s Day and must hide the body before their D.A.R.E officer comes in for his weekly visit. The execution (no pun intended) is equally genius with some excellent moments of dark humor. Just because you see the ending coming a mile away does not make it any less entertaining.

AB-

Where FOOL’S DAY was a complete story, AB- feels more like the opening to a feature film. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I found myself really wanting to know where this story will go. High production values and an intriguing concept made me really appreciate this short bit of horror. I had the pleasure of meeting screenwriter/director Daniel Klein at one of the TFF parties. He told me to check out his film and send him a little email after letting him know what I think. Hopefully he likes this public pat on the back better. Well done sir.

ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Going to the dentist is never fun and in this slice of 50s suburbia setting, it is downright hell. Ryan Spindell expertly combines wonderful visuals, excellent production design and some dark humor into a fantastic little short of whimsical horror. A greatly look forward to his next short and hopefully a transition into feature filmmaking.

GRANDMA’S NOT A TOASTER

Grandma is in bad shape but her 3 grandchildren are left out of the will. On a stormy night, they are looking to change that and granny isn’t too happy about this. A darkly funny story by itself, this short gets more fascinating because of the manner it is presented to us. The film jumps from each person’s perspective, retelling some of the same moments through the point of view of each character. Although the ending did feel a little abrupt, this truly was a perfect story and technique for the short film format.

FORTUNE HOUSE

What happens when a shy waitress & a unique customer connect at a Chinese restaurant? This charming little simply short kept my interest at first but completely won me over by the end. I’m not quite sure if I will look at fortune cookies the same way again.

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – www.JerryCavallaro.com

TFF 2013: TRUST ME Q & A WITH CLARK GREGG

On my last full day at the Tribeca Film Festival, I attended a public screening of Clark Gregg’s TRUST ME. Most probably know him as Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and to be honest that is mostly how I knew him as well. For some reason, I had no idea that he was the writer & director of CHOKE, which is a flick I thoroughly enjoyed and will probably revisit soon. I even have a promotional CHOKE anal beads bookmark that was handed out at NY Comic Con of all places. Following the film’s screening (only the 2nd ever) Clark Gregg was on hand for a short Q & A with the audience. I managed to film the entire thing and now have posted it for your viewing pleasure. The video may contain spoilers; however, in my opinion the few quick references probably won’t make any sense until after you see the film anyway. Enjoy!

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – www.JerryCavallaro.com

TFF 2013 DAILY RECAP: Monday April 22nd

I had to skip the press lounge and head straight to the Clearview Cinemas for the 10 am screening of WHITEWASH. What unfolded was a film far stranger than what the Tribeca Film Guide’s summary suggests. This “dark comedy” opens with an all too serious tone but slowly becomes a much more comedic effort. The timeline skips around as well and the audience is left wondering at first what is even real. Thomas Haden Church delivers a truly fantastic performance as a man delving into insanity and facing immense guilt for his crime but the overall film left me a bit unsatisfied.

I had less than 30 seconds to get to the next theater to catch Justin Long’s writing debut, A CASE OF YOU. The film is a fairly predictable rom-com that follows the age-old formula precisely. That isn’t exactly a bad thing though since the film is both fun and funny, with a slew of fantastic performances by Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood and a series of surprising cameos. I’m just not quite sure what a film like this is doing at TFF since it doesn’t fit the typical description of what you normally would find at a festival, even one like Tribeca. I’m not complaining though since I thoroughly enjoyed this film which quote-happy critics will surely call a hilarious and charming rom-com for the Facebook generation.

With a little bit of time before my next screening, I made my way to the Filmmaker Lounge for the first time during the festival. It was in a different location than last year, unlike the press lounge, and I was far more impressed with the new digs. There were also a lot more postcards and promotion material amongst the tables in the lounge. Perhaps the nicest surprise of all was the Magnum Ice Cream freezer that actually had ice cream left in it. After a delicious Gold bar, I grabbed some lunch nearby and made my way back to Clearview for my final screening of the day.

Clark Gregg’s TRUST ME is a fun yet increasingly dark look at Hollywood from the perspective of child agent Howard Holloway (Gregg). The film opens with a shot of the protagonist dying but the film still manages to take you on quite a surprising ride right up until it ends. Besides, in the world of Hollywood, especially the one portrayed in this film, you never really know who or what to trust. Following the film Clark Gregg came out for a fun and informative Q & A, which I recorded and will be posting shortly. After, he stuck around for another 10 minutes to meet with fans. I had the pleasure of talking with him for a bit and must say that he is one of the most personable guys I have ever met. You can tell he truly appreciates and respects his fans, which is sometimes hard to find at events like this. This turned out to be the last screening I attended as press for the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and it was definitely a highlight to go out on.

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – www.JerryCavallaro.com

Tribeca 2012 Daily Recap: April 28th

I ended up skipping the festival yesterday due to feeling pretty crumby when I woke up. I slept most of the afternoon away and then caught a few films in the online press screening room at night. Feeling much better today, I made my final trip into the city for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Being a big fan of James Franco, I was looking forward to checking out FRANCOPHRENIA despite the intensely mixed reactions. It is not an easy film to judge. Very experimental and free form, I’m still not quite sure what I watched even after the Q & A with Ian Olds (co-director, co-writer) & Paul Felton (writer). It starts out as a fairly regular behind the scenes look at the making of a special episode of GENERAL HOSPITAL cut together from the mundane stuff usually left on the cutting room floor. Then it switches into something quite weird through the magic of strange editing & sometimes hilarious voice-over done by Ian Olds. I wouldn’t call it anything you must see but it is certainly a strange curiosity that I am glad to have watched once. After the surprisingly long Q & A, a final pit stop at the press lounge, another super cheap NY pizza lunch & a 30-minute walk to the other theater, I settled in for my final screening of the festival.

MANSOME is a documentary by Morgan Spurlock although he does not appear in the film as often as you would assume based on his previous work. In fact, Jason Bateman & Will Arnett appear much more often, in little comedic vignettes setting up the subject for each section of the doc. The main focus of the film is modern men’s grooming techniques and as you can imagine, it is far more entertaining than enlightening. There are some truly fascinating personalities put on display for each section and talking head pieces of people weighing in, including Paul Rudd, Judd Apatow, and Zach Galifianakis. Unfortunately no one was on hand for a post screening Q & A so after the credits rolled, I left the theater and made my way to the bus home. Of course there was massive traffic downtown, which doubled my commute time. A perfect way to cap off a great festival.

Lesson of the Day: Sometimes enjoying copious amounts of free water can come back to bite you on the ass, like when you are stuck in massive traffic on your bus home.

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: