A young British student (Ed Speleers) trying to make his way back to his University gets more than he bargained for in Ride. When the young man heads out to make his way back to uni. we meet an older man (Anthony Lapaglia) willing to help the young stranger out. When the boy first sets out on what was meant to be a quick jaunt to school, he couldn’t possibly imagine what would happen next, or that the life he had back home would never be the same again.

Throughout the short film we see the young man’s internal struggle with battling against his morals and being safe. He finds it hard to do what’s right, or to do what other think makes more sense. The older man’s menacing control pulls the young man towards the dark end of the moral compass. This moment of being led astray, paired with his shear panic at what he has been thrown into, creates an intense atmosphere sure to keep the viewer intrigued.

The entirety of the short film had a very dreary foggy feel to it. The characters show little emotion from the beginning, and the young man appears to not want to converse all too much because of his unease towards the stranger. When certain events unfold we see a sprout of intense anger and confusion by the boy, but see a calm, uncaring, even cold show of emotion from the driver. Race comes to play in the middle of the film when the older man shows carelessness on the road, and shows indifference to the condition of individuals of other races. All of these factors come together to make the film a dark snapshot of what should have simple been, as the title shows, a ride.

I was curious from the first instance of action in the short film, yet still left short of amazed. The beginning was a bit slow and hard to really keep much interest in the mundane event of hitchhiking. Including the long barren roads that they appeared to be traveling on. The ending, however, makes up for some of these shortcomings. The strange events throughout, and the ominous feel of the film from the middle on, leaves the viewer craving to know how everything will turn out.

When we finally arrive at the University we meet a young woman (Emer Kenny). She appears to be the young man’s girlfriend and enthusiastically greets him after spotting him outside the gates. While he appears to remain lost at confused, but begins to try and confess to her the events of the day. She is, of course, oblivious to what has occurred and is happy and energetic to see him. She fails to notice the young mans grave demeanor. Now, this is where we get our little twist, so I won’t reveal any more, other than to say you’ll never expect what happens next. Unfortunately, this was probably one of the only two exciting, or really interesting, pieces of the short film.

In the end I think the film was interesting with nice film angles, but lacking a moving opening, and proper structuring to keep the momentum of the film. If you think that you can look past these downfalls, you may be pleasantly surprised at the intriguing twist at the end.

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The TFF is over but as of April 29, five of this year’s short films became available to viewers for free, and without geo-restrictions, on YouTube. The selected shorts have been chosen from the 60 shorts screened at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, and first on the list is the 10 minute film Mr. Stache by director Jac Schaeffer. This story is the winner of the American Express contest called “My Movie Pitch” which aims to bring unique independent movie ideas to the screen. The writer John Nash’s idea was picked from over 2000 entries.

The short is a narrative about a man who grows a mustache in order to change his life. But as the facial hair grows, so does the question: How much does it take to wear your inner mustache on the outside, where it makes way more sense, and still be accepted?

Several things are working extremely well for this short. First of all, the narration is a comfortable break from ordinary dialogue and fits perfectly with the format. It reminded me of Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction, only in a much more concentrated dosage. On one hand with hints within the storyline, but most obviously with the narrator’s ‘stream-of-thought’, filling the void of actual conversation perfectly. The story is still able to stand on its own though, as the mans dilemma leads to the girl, and then resolves in a ‘very serious situation’ of a climax.

Second of all, on the actors front, the lack of character dialogue is beautifully compensated by impeccable acting. Rich Sommer plays our main protagonist, the man who meets the girl, played by Amy Smart, in a very romantic ‘love-at-first-sight’ moment. Without actually uttering more than a few lines in total (I believe the only spoken line was the girl’s), our mustached hero and his heroine succeed in visually interpreting all the drama of their characters. In fact, so well that you end up being incredibly intimate with their emotions.

I need to say that I absolutely loved it. The story is funny and carries a wonderful message about realizing your true self and loving others for the same reason. You completely understand why it won the movie pitch contest. It’s uplifting and, despite its unusual obsession with facial hair, it carries a heartfelt message. The progression of the narrative has a feel of a children’s story to it, emphasizing details and the ‘very serious drama’, but it deals with universal, existential issues that I’m guessing most viewers will be able to relate to.

As a piece of craftsmanship, the short is equally excelling; the cinematography and editing is intimate when needed and expressive when wanted, giving you a good sense right away of the personality and emotional state of the characters throughout the story. The changes in location, wardrobe, and extras indicate either a proper budget or a creative production, but I’m learning towards the first. With American Express and Tribeca as backers, it would be bad publicity otherwise. Thus, the final product beams of well-polished quality and experience while sporting a vibrant, quirky 70s atmosphere. You wouldn’t achieve this without money.

Jac Schaeffer’s work is definitely worth a look and you can still find Mr. Stache, along with the four other brilliant shorts, online at Tribeca Film Festival 2011 YouTube Screening Room. Enjoy.

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Tuesday afternoon, the 30 Rock ‘alpha male’ Alec Baldwin had Doug Liman, director of  The Bourne Identity and Mr. And Mrs. Smith, pinned down in a tongue-in-cheek discussion about the filmmaker’s career. Doug Liman barged into Hollywood as the independent director of Swingers and has since worked his way into blockbuster nirvana – a path which the discussion revealed was not always straight.

Joining Liman on stage was Alec Baldwin, casually dressed (sporting a mature 5 o’clock shadow) and firing off the talk with charismatic sarcasm – one that entertained the audience with several self-inflicted zingers throughout the session. His first question to the filmmaker was what made him want to become a director.

Liman took us back to when he, as a child, picked up an unwanted present to his father, a camera, and started shooting – his first movie was named ‘The Mummy’ and starred his dad. When asked by Baldwin if his choice of career had been purely out of convenience, Liman admitted a profound love for film and seemed to share an interest that moved beyond the traditional rites of moviemaking. As much as he enjoyed the process and challenges of cinema, however, he has never been in one of his own films and at this point, he admitted being a little superstitious as to whether he ever should.

Baldwin made sure to keep the talk ‘interesting’, grilling Liman on such subject as filming sex scenes. The director admitted to one movie with sex in, to try it out and Baldwin cheekily asked for its name and if it was available online – to the amusement of the audience. However, Liman revealed that the experience had been overall uncomfortable – made him feel like a pervert.

We learned that Liman’s directional debut prompted his departure from USC; a school he told the audience he hated because of its rigidness. After trying to follow the rules, the director realized that working within them was against his nature. When he started developing Swingers, the budget was set at $500.000 – but he could only raise $200.000. He explained the defining moment; where other productions would go into stalemate, he came to the conclusion that if you don’t have enough money to do it properly, you shouldn’t even pretend to do it that way. Instead, you should take the fact that you don’t have enough money and turn it to your advantage.

This became Liman’s style – not too concerned with the restrictions of moviemaking, the director has repeatedly filmed without permits and gone against studio orders. He contributed the rough style of The Bourne Identity to the fact that he had to sneak around the streets of Paris with his camera to avoid being caught.

Baldwin then asked about the post-Swingers experience. Liman explained that Swingers made him the ‘flavor of the month’. When asked back then what he wanted to do next, he already knew: Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. But the studio disagreed, so Liman explained spending a lot of time chasing the movie rights. Some of his unorthodox methods of persuasion included crashing a wedding and eventually, flying solo to Ludlum’s private home to secure the rights. Ludlum nicknamed him ‘Hollywood’ and agreed.

The final subject was Fair Game and Liman’s observation that the US is very good at forgetting things. With a father who was the chief counsel for the US Senate Iran-Contra hearings, Liman wanted to prove that it’s possible to get people to care about politics – even when they don’t want to.

Baldwin was snappy throughout the talks, adding his personal experiences more or less discriminately. There were moments where the brash Baldwin seemed unable to contain himself and unintentionally mowed over the soft voice of Liman. In such instances, Liman patiently waited with a shy calm that made a great contrast to the loud and unapologetic Baldwin. The contradiction was most blatant when Baldwin repeatedly used the f-word, leaving Liman momentarily lost for any.

The bonus was some insightful facts about Hollywood; For example, that Warner Brothers don’t make dramas. It proves a connection between the fondness of drama in independent cinema and the fact that big budgets can buy emotions with extravagant set pieces and special effects. That Doug Liman’s mind seems to move at a different plane than others goes to show, as so vigorously emphasized by the verbose Mr. Baldwin, that the director is in a league of his own.

The article Tribeca Talks Directors Series: When Doug Liman met Alec Baldwin appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

While the attendees of Tribeca Film Festival crowd up the streets of Lower Manhattan, this reporter is ‘stuck’ in Berlin, weighing her options. It would have made for a much more interesting piece had I actually been attended the event – but distances can often act against us.

What, then, is Tribeca outside the US? To be honest, not much. Two of the three founders would not ring a bell to most people where I am from and until now, I personally had no knowledge of the Tribeca area itself. I have learned that the founding of the Tribeca Film Festival was a response to the devastation of 9/11, an event that redefined the world and to this day, 10 years on, has left scars yet to be healed. The idea behind the festival, as defined by De Niro, Rosenthal and Hatkoff, was to “spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture” according to the event website. A noble cause – inspirational and with the breath to reach hearts and minds of a broad segment of movie lovers. Especially since you can attend the event online.

It is an ingenious idea. The instant availability of Tribeca exposes the festival to a massive online audience across the US, the platform is simple and accessible and the content deserves the attention of anyone with an interest in cinema. But as I scripple away at my desk in Berlin, I cannot help but to feel a little – excluded. Shortly before Tribeca kicked off, we realized in the huddle of signing up the Toonari team to My Tribeca, that reporters outside of the USA were destined to run into some problems. It is very often so with online American video content that geo-targeted restrictions apply – you will find the same restrictions on free online British television content because outlets such as the BBC and Channel 4 are funded or partly-funded by the public. In situations like these, as a viewer, you quietly realize that this is not a machine of entertainment – but one of green.

However, I was not deterred. Despite the unfriendly geo-targeted restrictions, the inquiry service was swift and informative. One of the festival blogs is dedicated to trouble-shooting and after my initial disappointment over the exclusion from film viewing rights, I wrote the blog moderators to ask about the availability of live event streaming overseas. In response to my inquiry, Tribeca user ‘kmccrack’ wrote “Hi Claudia – Yes, live events will be available everywhere – the only geo-targeted restrictions are on the films themselves. (Also, you can watch HEIST from anywhere – give it a try!)”

I watched The Heist, by the Irish craftsman Thomas Hefferon, and patiently waited for the live events to start streaming.

It didn’t take long for me to lose interest. It is essentially a futile mission to take on the Tribeca Film Festival from Europe – or anywhere else outside of the US I would imagine. No matter how deeply you declare your love to the art of cinema, to only have the viewing pleasure of a single short movie and the soundless streaming of the red carpet (from an, I must say, awkward angle) is simply not enough to satisfy your enthusiasm. It is not without reason Tribeca has been comparatively unsuccessful in arousing the interest of a greater European audience; access will consequently define the masses. With its reputation and rising prestige, it may gain a significant level of international fame, such as for example the Sundance Film Festival, in a few years – without actually providing us Europeans with equal access. I have spoken on behalf of the people of Europe but my plea extends to all of us which are bared from Tribeca Online Film Festival: Let us join!

Until May 1, enjoy the Festival USA.

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