<-- Ciarán Hands and Aidan Quinn on the town to promote The Eclipse.I'm on assignment for Tribeca covering Q & As over the next few days, so last night I saw the ghost story The Eclipse from playwright Conor MacPherson. Calling it a ghost story is reductive but it's the easiest hook to get your attention. The new film is juggling a lot of balls at once (grief drama, love story, literary comedy, character study) and it's coming to a theater new you just as soon as... well, you never know with these festival films. But the audience really liked it so maybe distribution won't be that far away. John Patrick Shanley (Doubt) was a few rows behind me. I guess these playwrights eye each other like hawks.
And two celebrity sightings to tell you about. Before leaving Nashville I had a chat with Marianne Jean-Baptiste at the festival after-party downtown. She was in great humor and much shorter than I expected her to be. We talked about Mike Leigh, the film she directed Ink and Happy-Go-Lucky. She was absolutely convincing when telling me that she's not sick of people telling her how great she was in Secrets & Lies. So she's either still a fine actress or 13 years later she still doesn't really mind being recognized as "Hortense".
Back in Manhattan 17 hours later, I was grabbing a quick bite after an exhausting day of airline travel, bag problems and running around Manhattan for press arrangements before The Eclipse. Who should sit kitty-corner from me in the diner but Ronnie from Make Me a Supermodel. Remember him?Since we were both alone I felt there was no harm in saying "hi" though I have never interrupted a celebrity at a restaurant. I only share this with you because I'd venture to say that he's the nicest semi-celebrity I've ever met: Sweet as can be, talkative and (rather impossibly) even better looking in person. Some people have all the luck. But when they're as nice as they are pretty, who could ever hold it against them?
If you're in NYC are you attending Tribeca?
For those of you outside the isle of Manhattan, any movie plans over the next few days?
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22 comments:
honestly, I'm hoping to see 17 Again and Hannah Montana. love the Zefron.
I'm planning on having a Holly Hunter marathon because somehow I'm obsessed with her without even having seen her in The Piano, Thirteen, Broadcast News, etc. I'm adding Home for the Holidays to the marathon too.
Supposed to be hitting a matinee today with one of my favourite movie partners. The narrowed possibilities are "Fighting", "I Love You, Man", "Observe and Report" OR "He's Just Not That Into You". Feeling in the mood for something light and distractionary right now. :)
Man, Make Me a Supermodel was such a stupid show. But Ronnie was such a cutie! Although they did pushed the bromance thing way too far...
Anyway, I'm holding out for Brothers Bloom in May.
going to watch vicky, christina barcelona for the 4th time, i just love too much penelope cruz and rebecca halls performances
OMG SO DID YOU TWO...
YOU KNOW!
I saw the Soloist, it reminded me of the Fisher King, except not as good.
Slayton (that depends... are you wondering about dreams or reality?)
Yup, I'm covering the Tribeca Film Festival, press badge and all, doing tons of capsule reviews. Good stuff. So far, this year has been very good. I've seen:
Moon
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Pandora's Box
An Englishman in New York
Handsome Harry
Outrage
Tell Tale
I've got a lot more to see too... this thing's tiring.
sam... who are you writing for?
Nathaniel, since you are a Geena Davis fan, take advantage and see her new film Accidents Happen (which is getting a lot of buzz for Geena)!
well... the government is advising you to not go to the cinema because there is a swine flu epidemic in Mexico (80 deaths and 1300 ill :S).
However, they did close all schools so I have an unofficial holiday until the 6th of May.
I'll use the time to watch my Ingmar Bergman collection, as well as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and start my Extended Essay on Wong Kar Wai as a Visual Storyteller, for which I need to watch plenty of hisw films again. :) Movies galore this week... as long as I don't get sick :S
I've seen three movies so far at Tribeca:
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench - I shouldn't say I saw this because I got out of there 45 minutes into it - I am on a schedule and can't afford wasting time
Queen To Play (Joueuse) witch I liked a lot and I got to see Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire
Fear Me Not - which I liked a lot as well
Only three so far but I've seen Blythe Spirit as well and I pure and simple loved it.
Tomorrow I'm going to see another 4 films and then back home
After several minutes of gzing at Ronnie, I finally read what was written in that post. I am so jealous. But well done for actually talking to him, i would have just drooled from afar.
JoFo. I would have done so from afar as well but he was so close i could literally have touched him so "afar" was an impossibility ;)
Nathaniel, I'm covering Tribeca for Washington Square News. They have me writing capsule reviews for only a few movies. But I'm taking advantage of the Press Pass as much as I can.
As a film festival junkie and New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival fits both bills nicely...except I have given up on it. After countless terrible, at best typically mediocre, films--and the handful high-profile, promising films are usually only a month or two away from their official release. I've attended three times in the past year, and the festival isn't even very well run.
Mainly, though, my main annoyance is that it's the type of festival that makes a film like Transamerica such a raging "success" story. I don't mean to sound overtly snobby, as time and budget are also a concern, but that is not any type of festival I would want to be closely involved with.
Have to disagree, Nick. The festival does a great job for docs, foreign films and very small indies--especially last year with Let the Right One In (its North American premiere) and Man on Wire (played Sundance), and Bart Got a Room (World Premiere). Bart and Let did not have distribution rights before the start of the festival.
Also, Tribeca is a nice starting ground for films to gain traction along the festival circuit and eventually get a release. Look at The Education of Charlie Banks. An underrated gem from this year that debuted at Tribeca way back in '07.
So far in 2009, Tribeca has shown great/good films with set release dates like Outrage and Moon. And has started to gain traction for much smaller pictures like Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, Entre Nos, and Fear Me Not.
This is a smaller festival, but there is NO shortage of interesting films. Strangely, it's usually the films at Tribeca with star-studded casts that disappoint like 2007's The Air I Breathe and so on. Leave those movies for Cannes, Toronto, and Sundance. But then again, you never know.
Nat, I can't believe you recognized a reality show contestant in public! His look isn't very distinct how were you certain it was him?
anon 11:40. i'm not proud of how ginormous my crush on him was last year so I would have recognized him a block away ;) but he was literally close enough to touch so it was impossible not to recognize him... for those unfamiliar: Manhattan restaurants have seats very close together so you're often practically eating with strangers ;)
I would follow Ciaran Hinds lots of places.
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