This year your girl, that’s me, covered the Tribeca Film Festival for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ). What did I think? Scroll for previews and read the fulls when you click on the pics.
The Perfect Find
Quick Quote: The Perfect Find makes me smile (“makes” because I’ve seen it more than once). It has the kind of chemistry I crave. A buzzy cocktail of jokes, dirty talk, nostalgic needle drops, Blackness, and a romantic storyline that doesn’t swerve into silly. Union and Powers (should we name our restaurant that?) I digress. Union and Powers are good together. Complimenting them, at a short and snappy 100 minutes, the script progresses nicely, keeping the pace, while cementing this newfound love in a solid foundation.
I like it. I like it a lot. See it. You must. I’m not saying it’s an instant classic but falling in love with love is fun when it’s The Perfect Find.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field
“I like happy clothes…clothes that don’t die.”
Quick Quote: Happy Clothes is made for those of us who love fashion or the NYC art scene or are devoted to iconic television. Pat Field is fascinating, someone whom nothing would be the same without. Just flip through the pages and take note of the faces in her photo album. Patricia Field is leaving a brightly colored, daring, and gorgeously outfitted mark. And since we feel like we know her by the end of the film: Cheers to making life more beautiful, Pat.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
Öte
Quick Quote: Öte replicates the feeling of people watching at a coffee shop. As Lela and Yusuf drift toward one another it is not so much a romance, as it is two people observing one another to the point of entanglement. In the end, you realize the journey didn’t require any purpose beyond seeing life through other eyes. And sometimes living well takes us to opposite sides of the river, where we wave and nod, knowing the time we spent was good.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
Je’vida
Quick Quote: Gauriloff shoots Je’vida in the classic 4:3 ratio. That choice combined with the moody blacks, stark whites, and shadowy grays in between, immerses us in this meditation on memory and the magnetism of identity. Meanwhile, the score is dreamy, as though the music is yearning for something. The contentious interplay between Lida and Sanna drives the narrative, but ultimately it is the question of whether Lida can find the Je’vida she used to be that pulls us in. That and the morose performance from Palo, bookended by a truly tragic turn from the young Niemenmaa.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
Boca Chica
Quick Quote: … [As] the siblings prepare for their cousin’s wedding, we slowly bear witness to the traumas, passed down from generation to generation, that they continue to endure. As betrayals loom and we get to know them better, our compassion for Desi and Fran deepens. Until we are left with the hope, they might each find their own means of escape.
Sparked by the light of Camilo’s performance, alongside daily life in the Caribbean, Boca Chica is a quiet film that finds impact in bitter truth and hopes unbound.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
Cypher
**Sherin’s Pick for Best in Show**
Quick Quote: Written and directed by award-winning documentarian Chris Moukarbel, the film fits hand in hand with Joan is Awful, a recent episode of Black Mirror, and shares themes with the streaming series Swarm. Yet it carves its own place. Cypher examines the voyeuristic nature of fandom and how it builds, deconstructs, or reshapes an artist and their image. Perception is amorphous, while stardom and the influence of power can be damning. Moukarbel explores this but follows the prime directive and doesn’t interfere—allowing Tierra Whack (playing a version of herself) and her distinctive artistry to be the sun that keeps this meta world spinning. . .
As the mystery mounts, trust fractures, and the closing scene (where the fourth wall breaks) is so clever and spooky, you realize this could become a pop culture moment.
READ THE FULL REVIEW ON AWFJ.ORG
There it is. So much goodness at Tribeca 2023. Did I primarily pick Award Winners? I did! And there’s more to come.
