The
Tribeca Film Festival kicks off this week. Running from April 20 to May 1, it showcases over 100 films from around the world. Big. Little. Serious. Dramatic. Funny. Geeky. Here's our list of the nerdiest of Tribeca's cinematic offerings.
In no particular order...
An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint reimagines jolly old Saint Nick as a bloodthirsty bishop fulfilling a grisly prophecy every 32 years under the Christmas full moon. The film's titular saint was in fact a murderous medieval marauder, ultimately slain by the villagers he tormented, only to swear a ghostly revenge on their descendents every December 5—the anniversary of his death. Centuries later, the story has settled comfortably into innocuous folklore, until a bloody encounter with the ghoul himself forces local teen Frank to believe in Santa all over again. Teaming up with a fellow believer, discharged conspiracy-theorist cop Goert, it will be up to Frank to save the city of Amsterdam in an all-out bloody battle against the wrathful "Sinterklaas" and his minions.
In a fantastical steampunk version of ancient China, legendary sleuth Detective Dee returns from exile to help solve a series of suspicious murders on the eve of the coronation of the country's first empress. A period epic from genre master Tsui Hark, Detective Dee is an action-packed, visually breathtaking Sherlock Holmes-style mystery featuring stars Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, Carina Lau, and Tony Leung Ka-fai.
An appetizing documentary in every sense, Jiro Dreams of Sushi follows 85-year-old master sushi chef Jiro Ono, owner of the esteemed 10-seat, $300-a-plate Sukiyabashi Jiro restraurant in Tokyo. From the ins and outs of the tuna auction to the proper way to massage an octopus, director David Gelb dynamically profiles all aspects of the craft in mouthwatering style and detail, paying lushly photographed homage to the process of preparing the artisan sushi that earned Jiro an elite three Michelin stars.
Dubbed a "pink musical," Underwater Love brings together two genres—musicals and pinku eiga (pink films, a soft-core porn genre of Japanese cinema)—in a story of unrequited love with the mythical water creatures known as kappas. Thirtysomething Asuka has an easy life, a job in a fish factory, and a fiancé, Taki, who's also her boss. One day, as she walks by the lake near the factory, she sees her first kappa—a legendary Japanese creature with a human form but a beak face and a tortoiseshell back. She soon realizes that the kappa is her old friend from school, Aoki, who drowned when he was 17. As she hides Aoki from her fiancé and others, she must begin to decide what is most important for her.
Join Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the Muppets on a delightful romp down the Great White Way! When the Muppets launch their musical Manhattan Melodies, they soon learn there is more to Broadway than the smell of grease paint and the roar of the crowd. Cleverly directed by Frank Oz—and featuring Dabney Coleman, Joan Rivers, Elliott Gould, Liza Minnelli, and Gregory Hines—The Muppets Take Manhattan is brimming with cuteness and fun for all ages! This family-friendly show includes face-painting, Muppet-themed trivia, sing-alongs, and fuzzy surprise guests!
Already the highest grossing domestic Chinese release ever, this comic Western has plenty of gunslinging, story twists, and sharp dialogue to make it a highly entertaining ride. During the Warlord Era of the 1920s, a bunch of bandits, led by "Pocky" Zhang (Jiang Wen), hijack a train en route to Goose Town with its new governor on board. When the train crashes, its lone survivors are the governor's sleazy advisor (Ge You) and his wife (Carina Lau). Zhang, an honorable outlaw, decides to pose as the new governor and share the fortune from the hijacking with the townspeople. But ruthless mobster Master Huang (Chow Yun-Fat) aims to stop Zhang's Robin Hood crusade, launching a battle of both wits and bullets.
In the wintry Norwegian countryside, a series of supposed bear poaching incidents leads a group of plucky film students to the mysterious hunter Hans: the one man charged with keeping the country's entire troll population in check. This genre treat seamlessly blends stunning visual effects with its found footage aesthetic to deliver truly fantastic images of giant trolls wreaking havoc, all with darkly funny adherence to the original folklore.
Eel, violets, and chocolate. Espuma of calf brains and foie gras. They're the kind of hyper-modern dishes that made hotshot young chef Paul Liebrandt a fast-rising star in the NYC restaurant world. But after 9/11, when haute cuisine took a back seat to comfort food, Liebrandt would have to struggle for a decade in and out of the kitchen to get back to the top. A Matter of Taste mixes sumptuous food with an insider's view into the complicated relationships between critics, chefs, and restaurant owners.
Join Tribeca for a screening of A Beautiful Mind and a conversation moderated by NPR's Ira Flatow featuring special guests from science and screen including A Beautiful Mind's Academy Award®-winning filmmakers—director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman—as well as well as its math consultant, Dave Bayer, author Sylvia Nasar, whose book inspired the film, and theoretical physicist and mathematician Brian Greene.
