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Tribeca Festival · 2023

Tribeca Festival 2023

Spotlight Narrative

Programme

24 films · 3 reviews

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The Adults

The plan to make a trip back home as short as possible begins to unravel when Eric has to balance his addiction to poker with the challenging relationships with his two sisters Rachel and Maggie.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Dustin Guy Defa; Stars: Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, Sophia Lillis)

North American premiere

Afire (Roter Himmel)

Review preview for Afire

Petzold’s most literary film to date.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Tensions and desire bloom among five people at a holiday home by the Baltic Sea.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold; Stars: Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, Matthias Brandt)

Full review See: Thomas Schubert on imposter syndrome and tonal ambiguity in Afire , Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel), An Affair To Remember, summers, and pronouncing Walter Benjamin and Uwe Johnson , Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel) and summer movies

New York premiere

The Blackening

tells the story of old friends who reunite in a cabin in the woods. The fun weekend quickly becomes a fight to survive, and the only way to make it out is to figure out which friend is the Blackest of them all.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Tim Story; Writer: Tracy Oliver, Dewayne Perkins; Stars: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji)

World premiere

Blood For Dust

Jeff loses his traveling salesman job and decides to take on a risky new opportunity with Ricky, an old acquaintance. Soon, he is submerged into a dangerous underworld.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Ebeltoft; Writer: David Ebeltoft)

World premiere

Bucky F*cking Dent

Aspiring novelist and Yankee Stadium peanut slinger, Ted, discovers his estranged, Red Sox fanatic father is terminally ill. Wanting to mend fences and take care of the old man, Ted returns home with results as wild and unpredictable as the 1978 baseball season.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Duchovny; Writer: David Duchovny; Stars: David Duchovny, Logan Marshall-Green, Stephanie Beatriz)

World premiere

Cinnamon

Two young lovers risk it all to chase their dreams.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr; Writer: Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr; Stars: Damon Wayans, Hailey Kilgore, David Iacono, Jeremie Harris, Pam Grier)

World premiere

Cold Copy

Follows an ambitious journalism student’s tactics to impress, and get into the good graces of, an esteemed yet cutthroat news reporter — even if it involves manipulating her latest story … and truth itself.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Roxine Helberg; Writer: Roxine Helberg; Stars: Bel Powley, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jacob Tremblay, Nesta Cooper)

World premiere

Downtown Owl

The inhabitants of a small town brace themselves for a blizzard.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater; Writer: Hamish Linklater, based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman; Stars: Lily Rabe, Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, August Blanco Rosenstein, Jack Dylan Grazer, Arianna Jaffier, Finn Wittrock, Henry Golding)

World premiere

Eric LaRue

In the aftermath of a shocking crime at the hands of their son, two parents seek solace in rival religious congregations.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Shannon; Writer: Brett Neveu; Stars: Judy Greer, Alexander Skarsgård, Alison Pill, Paul Sparks, Tracy Letts)

World premiere

First Time Female Director

Ensemble comedy set in a Glendale theater where a new female director struggles to fill the shoes of her male predecessor, putting her Southern rural drama in jeopardy.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Chelsea Peretti; Writer: Chelsea Peretti; Stars: Chelsea Peretti, Amy Poehler, Kate Berlant, Benito Skinner, Megan Stalter, Megan Mullally)

World premiere

Fresh Kills

After their patriarch goes to prison, the loyal women of the Larusso family must survive by following the unspoken code of the New York City mafia world in the late Eighties and early Nineties.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jennifer Esposito; Writer: Jennifer Esposito; Stars: Emily Baden, Odessa A'zion, Jennifer Esposito, Dominick Lombardozzi, Annabella Sciorra, Nicholas Cirillo)

World premiere

The Good Half

An emotionally distant writer returns home for his mother’s funeral.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Robert Schwartzman; Writer: Brett Ryland; Stars: Nick Jonas, Brittany Snow, Matt Walsh, David Arquette, Alexandra Shipp, Elisabeth Shue)

World premiere

He Went That Way

A fateful meeting in 1964 along Route 66 pairs a 19-year-old serial killer with a celebrity animal handler shepherding an American TV darling — his chimpanzee, Spanky.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jeffrey Darling; Writer: Evan M Wiener; Stars: Jacob Elordi, Zachary Quinto)

World premiere

I.S.S.

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as nuclear war begins on Earth. Reeling from these events, astronauts and cosmonauts receive similar orders: take control of the station at any cost.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Writer: Nick Shafir)

World premiere

John Early: Now More Than Ever

John Early performs his silly, surreal, spontaneous stand-up set in front of a live audience, a full band ... and his parents.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Emily Allan, Leah Hennessey)

World premiere

LaRoy

Review preview for LaRoy

Ray feels like a real person plunged into an increasingly absurd situation, which is ultimately the source of a lot of the film’s comedy and its sometime tragedy.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
After discovering his wife’s affair, Ray Jepsen plans to kill himself, but fate intervenes. Through a bizarre turn of events, he is mistaken for a low-rent hired killer and decides to become one.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2023; Director: Shane Atkinson; Writer: Shane Atkinson; Stars: John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Dylan Baker, Megan Stevenson, Matthew Del Negro, Brad Leland)

Full review

World premiere

The Lesson

Review preview for The Lesson

The Lesson is a treat. It's properly constructed, beautifully played. It might not quite cleave to classical unities but it knows enough to weave its course among them.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A young novelist eager to make a name for himself begins tutoring the son of one of the most influential writers in the world. Good intentions soon give way to suspicion as darker motivations surface and the lines of master and protégé are blurred.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Alice Troughton; Writer: Alex MacKeith; Stars: Richard E Grant, Julie Delpy, Daryl McCormack, Stephen McMillan, Crispin Letts)

Full review

World premiere

The Line

Coming-of-age drama explores the moral ambiguity of loyalty to tradition, as seen through a college sophomore in the throes of fraternity culture.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Ethan Berger; Writer: Ethan Berger, Alex Russek; Stars: Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Angus Cloud, Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich)

World premiere

The Listener

The story of a helpline volunteer's life comes to light over the course of a shift.

(Year: 2022; Director: Steve Buscemi; Writer: Alessandro Camon; Stars: Tessa Thompson)

North American premiere

Maggie Moore(s)

Comedy that sees a small-town sheriff baffled when two women with the same name get murdered days apart.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: John Slattery; Writer: Paul Bernbaum; Stars: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Happy Anderson, Mary Holland)

World premiere

The Miracle Club

Three close friends who have never left the outskirts of Dublin get the journey of a lifetime - a visit to Lourdes, the picturesque French town and place of miracles.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Thaddeus O'Sullivan; Writer: Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, Jimmy Smallhorne; Stars: Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Agnes O'Casey, Stephen Rea)

World premiere

Our Son

Fed up with the state of his relationship, Gabriel files for divorce from his partner of 13 years, Nicky. Thus begins their complex journey to find themselves and support their son along the way.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Bill Oliver; Writer: Peter Nickowitz, Bill Oliver; Stars: Billy Porter, Luke Evans, Robin Weigert, Andrew Rannells, Isaac Powell, Phylicia Rashad)

World premiere

The Perfect Find

Looking for a fresh start, a 40-year-old returns to the workforce, where she must navigate a challenging workplace, a demanding boss, and a lusty secret romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Numa Perrier; Writer: Leigh Davenport; Stars: Gabrielle Union, Keith Powers, Aisha Hinds, DB Woodside, Janet Hubert, Alani "La La" Anthony, Gina Torres)

World premiere

Shortcomings

Following Ben, Miko, and Alice as they navigate a range of interpersonal relationships and traverse the country in search of the ideal connection.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Randall Park; Writer: Adrian Tomine; Stars: Justin H Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Debby Ryan, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno)

New York premiere