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Tribeca Festival · 2018

Tribeca Festival 2018

Spotlight Narrative

Programme

14 films · 9 reviews

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All These Small Moments

Howie Sheffield is at a turning point. As he watches his parents’ relationship crumbling, he becomes infatuated with Odessa, a woman he sees each day on the bus ride to school.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Melissa B Miller-Costanzo; Writer: Melissa B Miller-Costanzo; Stars: Molly Ringwald, Jemima Kirke, Harley Quinn Smith, Brian d'Arcy James, Brendan Meyer, Roscoe Orman, David Joseph Craig, Salena Qureshi, Elijah Boothe, Spenser Granese, Derek Michalak, Sam McCarthy, Connor Johnston, Margot Steinberg, Evan Dominguez)

World premiere

Back Roads

A young man cares for his sisters after their mother is imprisoned for murdering their abusive father. When he strikes up an affair with a married woman, long-dormant family secrets bubble to the surface.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Alex Pettyfer; Writer: Tawni O'Dell, Adrian Lyne; Stars: Jennifer Morrison, Alex Pettyfer, Nicola Peltz, Juliette Lewis, Robert Patrick, Danika Yarosh, Tom Everett Scott, Chiara Aurelia, Sky Elobar, Robert Longstreet, Patrick Thomas Cragin, Jeff Pope, Hala Finley, Rebecca Chulew, Gavin Warren)

World premiere

Blue Night

A devastating diagnosis sends a famous singer reeling through the streets of New York City.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Fabien Constant; Writer: Laura Eason; Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Simon Baker, Jacqueline Bisset, Common, Taylor Kinney, Renée Zellweger, Waleed Zuaiter)

World premiere

The Captor (Stockholm)

Review preview for The Captor

A nice study in group dynamic.

Jane Fae · 3.5 out of 5
In 1973, an unhinged American outlaw walked into a bank in Sweden demanding millions in cash in exchange for his hostages. The events that followed would capture the attention of the world and ultimately give a name to a new psychological phenomenon: Stockholm syndrome.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Robert Budreau; Writer: Robert Budreau; Stars: Noomi Rapace, Ethan Hawke, Mark Strong, Christopher Heyerdahl, Thorbjørn Harr, Mark Rendall, Bea Santos, Ian Matthews, John Ralston, Gustaf Hammarsten, Shanti Roney, Christopher Wagelin, Vladimir Jon Cubrt, Linzee Barclay, Nick Stojanovic)

Full review

World premiere

Daughter Of Mine (Figlia Mia)

Review preview for Daughter Of Mine

Beautifully lit, Daughter Of Mine conjures up a tremendous sense of place, all salt breezes, scrubland and golden sand.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Vittoria is growing up in a remote Sardinian village. One day she meets the wildly independent Angelica who is so very different to her own caring mother Tina. The young girl has no knowledge of the secret that connects these two women.

(Country: Italy, Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2018; Director: Laura Bispuri; Writer: Laura Bispuri, Francesca Manieri; Stars: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu, Udo Kier, Michele Carboni)

Full review

North American premiere

Disobedience

Review preview for Disobedience

When the price of obedience is a life of lies where humiliation has no bounds, the pent-up desire explodes.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
After the death of her estranged rabbi father, a New York photographer returns to the Orthodox Jewish community in north London where she grew up and, in doing so, reignites long-dormant passions and controversies.

(Country: Ireland, UK, US; Year: 2017; Director: Sebastián Lelio; Writer: Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the book by Naomi Alderman; Stars: Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Anton Lesser, Alessandro Nivola, Cara Horgan, Nicholas Woodeson, Sophia Brown, Allan Corduner, Bernardo Santos, Alexis Zegerman, David Olawale Ayinde, Steve Furst, Dominic Applewhite, Bernice Stegers, Mark Stobbart)

Full review See: Alessandro Nivola in conversation on the timing of Sebastián Lelio's Disobedience

US premiere

In A Relationship

Long-term couple Owen and Hallie are breaking up — or maybe not? — and just as their relationship reaches a turning point, Matt and Willa embark on a romance of their own. One summer for two couples in LA.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Sam Boyd; Writer: Sam Boyd; Stars: Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano, Dree Hemingway, Janet Montgomery, Melora Walters, Gayle Rankin, Greta Lee, Patrick Gibson, Jay Ellis, Luka Jones, Chris Candy, Andre Hyland, George Todd McLachlan, Kyley J Scheier, Emma Roberts)

World premiere

Jonathan (Duplicate)

Review preview for Jonathan

It is carefully crafted, the work of a film-maker who is very in charge of what he is doing.

Jane Fae · 3 out of 5
Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Bill Oliver; Writer: Gregory Davis, Peter Nickowitz; Stars: Ansel Elgort, Suki Waterhouse, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Bomer, Douglas Hodge)

Full review

World premiere

Mary Shelley

Review preview for Mary Shelley

Elle Fanning as Shelley has sadness and fire, a performance that could be classed as electric.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
The story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin’s whirlwind romance with the tempestuous poet Percy Shelley, which would lead her to write Frankenstein.

(Country: US, UK, Luxembourg; Year: 2017; Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Writer: Haifaa Al-Mansour, Emma Jensen; Stars: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Maisie Williams, Stephen Dillane, Douglas Booth, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Sturridge, Ben Hardy, Hugh O'Conor, Ciara Charteris, Jack Hickey, Sarah Lamesch, Donna Marie Sludds, Laurence Foster, Michael Cloke)

Full review See: Haifaa Al-Mansour in concersation on Mary Shelley

US premiere

The Miseducation Of Cameron Post

Review preview for The Miseducation Of Cameron Post

I was won over by the whole approach of this confident sophomore feature pretty early on, from the witty, frank but also very tender script to the great casting and performances.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Desiree Akhavan; Writer: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, Emily M Danforth; Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Jennifer Ehle, Sasha Lane, John Gallagher Jr, Quinn Shephard, Forrest Goodluck, Christopher Dylan White, Steven Hauck, Emily Skeggs, Dalton Harrod, McCabe Slye, Isaac Jin Solstein, Melanie Ehrlich, Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera, Seamus Boyle)

Full review

New York premiere

Motherhood (Egg)

Review preview for Motherhood

This is a feminist film in every sense of the word.

Jane Fae · 3.5 out of 5
Two couples and a surrogate lay bare the complications, contradictions, heartbreak, and absurdities implicit in how we think about motherhood.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Marianna Palka; Writer: Risa Mickenberg; Stars: Christina Hendricks, Alysia Reiner, David Alan Basche, Anna Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Harris Doran, Christina Hendricks, Alysia Reiner, David Alan Basche, Anna Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Harris Doran)

Full review

World premiere

Nico, 1988

Review preview for Nico, 1988

This is astonishing filmmaking.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Biopic of the German singer, who sang with the Velvet Underground

(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2017; Director: Susanna Nicchiarelli; Writer: Susanna Nicchiarelli; Stars: Trine Dyrholm, Calvin Demba, Karina Fernandez, Sandor Funtek, John Gordon Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, Thomas Trabacchi)

Full review See: Trine Dyrholm in conversation on not being defined by men, the costumes for Nico, 1988, Ruth Berlau and Bertolt Brecht, and Astrid Lindgren , Trine Dyrholm in conversation on finding Nico's voice, the emotional states of mind of her character, and Susanna Nicchiarelli's vision for Nico, 1988 , Susanna Nicchiarelli in conversation on Trine Dyrholm, Nico's sense of irony, and the look from costume designers Francesca Vecchi and Roberta Vecchi for Nico, 1988 , Susanna Nicchiarelli in conversation on Nico, 1988

North American premiere

The Seagull

Review preview for The Seagull

Michael Mayer's reframing of the action puts more emphasis on the female characters and, in so doing, helps to bring out its more contemporary aspects.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A love triangle unfolds between the legendary diva Irina, her lover Boris, and the ingénue Nina.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Michael Mayer; Writer: Stephen Karam, based on the play by Anton Chekhov; Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Annette Bening, Michael Zegen, Brian Dennehy, Corey Stoll, Billy Howle, Glenn Fleshler, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Ben Thompson, Barbara Tirrell, Thomas Hettrick, Paul Krisikos)

Full review See: Michael Mayer in conversation on composer Nico Muhly, remembering the past, and a Hamlet scene not shot for The Seagull , Michael Mayer in conversation on Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss, Brian Dennehy, and the costumes of Ann Roth for The Seagull

World premiere

Untogether

Former writing prodigy Andrea tries not to fall for her one-night stand, while her sister Tara throws herself into a newfound religious zeal (and the arms of her charismatic rabbi) to avoid the truth about her current relationship.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Emma Forrest; Writer: Emma Forrest; Stars: Jamie Dornan, Alice Eve, Lola Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Jennifer Grey, Scott Caan, Billy Crystal, Jemima Kirke, Julie McCullough, Amanda Rea, Miranda Jewel, Kathryn Zenna, Dana Schick, Lindsey Garrett, Victoria Summer)

World premiere