Stay off Canal Street...or get hit by a Carr

By Steven Zeitchik

In the 1980's the Green Bay Packers would play several games a year a few hours south, in Milwaukee. We're not sure why this comes to mind, except that it's been a few days since we caught up with the Tribeca Film Festival, which this year is being played in the East Village. So a rundown is in order:

* You know how when a movie is bad you compliment the cinematography?  David Carr pretty much does the same in a partial drive-by -- call it a walk-by --on the fest that Jane built, making sure to say it has " enormous size, a catholic range of film interests and a backdrop in a world-class city" before going on to say what's been on a lot of people's minds and lips about identity, buyers and (movie) buzz. Even if it's been said before, Carr still does a decent job of throwing in a defense or two before sloshing through the problems. Plus, there's a bonus knock on Park City public transportation.

*There still are no big sales at the fest -- we don't count IFC's purchase today of "Fermat's Room," which was one of those "has bought a movie that screened at a fest" deals -- but we wouldn't be surprised if it happens soon, and with a fiction film, no less. Which brings us to...

*...Two shameless plugs for people we know who have Tribeca movies we like. Steven Kaplan is a relative,  but he's also the star of the consistently well-reviewed "Bart Got a Room," which we'd say is the breakout of the fest even if we hadn't shared many a Thanksgiving table with the star. It's sweet, funny, human, plays exactly within its ambitions and can be a nice little addition for a distributor who will care for and feed it. (Okay, now we're sounding like we're describing a puppy. You know what we mean.) And director Brian Hecker is destined for some good gigs, though your guess is as good as ours whether he takes the Tamara Jenkins road and puts ten years and thousands of pages between him and his next project, or opts for the quick studio (bet you never thought you'd see those words together) gig. Either way, expect a "Bart" sale pretty soon.

* The other plug: Dana O'Keefe's "The New Yorkist," apart from offering the opportunity to call the Cinetic Media exec names like "The Duluthist," is one of the funniest, hippest movies you'll ever see about an overreaching intellectual striver/poseur contemplating Central European wars and the gamut of human experience from his apartment while insistent classical music plays loudly over his wordless thoughts. This is a good thing. A very good thing.

* "Tennessee" is a pretentious, needlessly moody movie that got made after someone watched a few too many pay-TV airings of "Sling Blade." Still, gratuitous singing scene aside, Mariah Carey is actually not half-bad.

*There was a big screening in Tribeca this week -- only it wasn't part of the Tribeca Film Festival. It was the Cinema Society event for "Iron Man," and while some of the people -- particularly visting L.A. execs -- tippling with Robert Downey Jr., Jon Favreau and Terence Howard all talked about the Tribeca Film Festival, the casually star-studded and buzz-generating event was so good it pointed up just how much Tribeca needs, but doesn't have, events of this sort. Sure, it was a little exclusive and would eliminate the more democratic crowds of a Tribeca fete, but the scores of fans lined up outside the Odeon didn't seem to mind. Of course if this weekend's closing film "Speed Racer" can light things up at the box-office, it could spell the best opening/closing one-two punch the festival has had in a long time. And with the news that "What Just Happened" will wind things down on the Riviera, Tribeca can now legitimately say its closing night film was better-reviewed than Cannes'.

Comments

[Thomason]

The cinematic solar system continues to be large and small planets circling, but getting no closer to, the center around which the business revolves. Lots of fine scripts and movies are offered at lots of film fests, and that's where they end up. It's more of a proving ground than a real launchpad - 'see, I can produce or direct a "real" movie.' Until the major league has more interest in the minors, then there's a job there but not much beyond that. The "studios" should have no monopoly on creativity and its expression, esp., since most everyone involved is trying to make money at it.

[Ryan]

“Wages of Fear,” “Convoy,” Smokey and the Bandit” and “Duel”

Remember these great flicks? What are they? Road movies, of course, but more importantly, they are trucking films. Here is a genre nearly forgotten that Navistar, which builds legendary International trucks, hopes to single-handedly revive.

The company that just launched a revolution in long haul trucking by building the mold-shattering LoneStar Class 8 tractor is now launching another first - a student film competition that will ask aspiring auteurs and cineastes to celebrate the lives and labors of long-distance truck drivers in a short film format.

You could be the next Spielberg, Sam Peckinpah or even Henri-Georges Clouzot.

On May 1, 2008, Navistar is sending out a call for entries to approximately 50 universities and film schools around the country asking ambitious filmmakers to hit the road and produce short films or videos that honor the American trucker. These emerging mavericks will then submit their final product in a competition to win film school tuition or top-notch camera equipment.

Academy award nominated producer/director Brett Morgan (Chicago 10, The Kids Stays in the Pictures) will chair a jury of filmmakers who will judge all submissions. First, second and third prize winners will premiere their films at The Great American Trucking show in Dallas, Texas, on August 22, 2008, and will be featured as streaming content on InternationalTrucks.com. The films will also be included as bonus material on a DVD with “Stand Alone,” Brett Morgen’s upcoming feature length film about truckers.

It’s time for new filmmakers to release the jake-brake, hammer down, and make cinema that really matters, films about real life on the road. Put it this way: if America’s drivers decided to stop working, the entire country would shut down. We depend on truckers to deliver everything we own and consume. Truckers are that important. They are true American heroes.

Merle Haggard sang it this way: “The whiteline is a lifeline for the nation… It takes a special breed to be a truck drivin' man, And a steady hand to pull that load behind.”

[Anna8]

Yes, great job. :) Interesting indeed.

[hisen]

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