1 The 27 Club
Tribeca 2008 boasts Kurt Cobain lookalike, Lyme Disease, and flying nun subplot
By Erin DeJesus
Published: May 6th, 2008 | 9:15am
Oscar contenders collect buzz at Toronto. Celebrity swag-mongers collect freebies at Sundance. But for the true film buff, the Tribeca Film Festival — Robert De Niro's open love letter to New York City — collects raves for its accessibility and diverse slate of films.
After a year that garnered criticism for inflated ticket prices and an overstuffed roster, the 2008 TFF slimmed down selections to slightly more than 120 films (down from 158) and cut ticket prices by $3. Either way, independent, international, and documentary flicks were out in full force, as were the crowds and crowd pleasers (Baby Mama kicked off festivities with its world premiere on April 23; Speed Racer closed the festival and signaled the unofficial beginning of blockbuster season). Venus Zine was on the scene with the films gaining steam and the movies that didn't quite make the cut.
THE HITS
• Pray the Devil Back to Hell, one of the festival's most intriguing films and winner of the Best Documentary prize, centers on a story of true female empowerment. In 1989, the West African country of Liberia entered an age of violent civil war. As the ruling dictatorship and several rebel groups jostled for power, more than 200,000 people were killed, displaced from their homes, and the culture of violence permeated. While the men and boys were the perpetrators of violence, the women of Liberia — mothers and starving children, refugees chased from their homes, witnesses to and victims of violent acts — started their own movement.
For the first time in the nation's history, Christian and Muslim women banded together and in 2003 staged a protest for peace. Thousands of women attended the outdoor protests, armed with placards reading "The Women of Liberia Want Peace Now." Several staged a sex strike; when leaders met for peace talks, a large group staged a sit-in, blocking every building window and exit.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the event, displaying the passion of the women and their incredible ability to band together. The film itself breaks no new ground, relying on the standard documentary techniques of interviews and archival footage. But its simplicity is one of its assets. Unlike stylized docs (like Errol Morris' "nonfiction films," including Tribeca smash Standard Operating Procedure), Pray the Devil relies completely on the strength of its story, allowing the women who lived it to decide how their story should be told. The result is an inspirational tale — and calls to attention a landmark movement that has flown under the radar. 'Til now.
• Documentary meets caper film Man on Wire is the stylish retelling of Frenchman Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk on a cable strung between the tops of the Twin Towers. The event, planned without New York City's consent or knowledge, became a sensation, and came only as a result of years of plotting, CIA-levels of conspiring, disguises, and shady business (Petit once told the designers of the Center that he was a French journalist, bringing cameramen to the top of the still-being-constructed towers to gather information about its design).
Man on Wire keeps up a frantic pace, combining interviews with noiri-sh black-and-white re-enactments, and Petit's French charm makes the film often feel fantastical. His obsession with pulling it off — not to mention his talent for jaw-dropping tightrope walks — comes off as impish and as a delicate art, and Man on Wire captures the contagious spirit with playful music and scenes. Though the film also gently reminds us that the towers, sadly, no longer exist, it's a fitting tribute to what was once NYC's greatest architectural feat — and one of man's most stunning personal achievements.
• The 27 Club: After the drug-induced death of his friend, a rock star (played by Kurt Cobain lookalike Joe Anderson) contemplates joining "the 27 Club" — the age when a number of prominent musicians (including Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix) died. Some moments seem overwrought (hazy lighting, clichéd flashbacks), but the film covers its views of the Midwest in a grimy yellow haze that looks simultaneously beautiful and depressing. For fans of the classic road trip movie or the 27 Club myth.
• Under Our Skin: A documentary about Lyme Disease (which more than 200,000 people contract each year) comes jam-packed with often-disturbing statistics. Were you aware that ticks also carry herpes? Neither were we, but that's certainly good to know.
THE MISSES
• Since the premiere of 1995's Kids, writer-director Harmony Korine has worn the crown of hipster kids' favorite off-kilter filmmaker. He makes his much-anticipated return with Mister Lonely, and on paper, it's a charming story. Diego Luna plays a Parisian Michael Jackson impersonator, lonely until a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton) invites him to join her strange commune where everyone lives their lives as someone else. There's a foul-mouthed Abe Lincoln, foul-mouthed Buckwheat, the Three Stooges, and Marilyn's family — Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple.
The film has its gentle moments (Luna captures the isolated awkwardness of his character; Morton nails the vulnerability of hers) and a great premise, but Korine confuses arthouse quirky with "weird for weird's sake." Several scenes feel carelessly slapped together or take weird turns for no reason, and a flying nun subplot falls flat (no pun intended). With a bit more focus — and less pressure to live up to his quirky label — Korine's unique ideas may come together to create a better film.
• The always-flawless Julianne Moore throws on sassy period costumes in Savage Grace, the based-on-a-true-story account of 1960s socialite Barbara Baekeland, a woman married to the heir of the Bakelite fortune. Though the story has enough drama to fill a Shakespearean tragedy, the film takes each dramatic bump — mental illness, depression, incest — and somehow manages to make everything seem hollow. Moore successfully teeters on edges from fragile to fierce but can't save this film, which by the way, features one of the most cringe-worthy sex scenes (featuring Barbara and her gay son) ever captured on film.
Issue #35
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