Life Between Films

More films announced, more films to add to my ever growing list. Yesterday, the last batch of films that will screen at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival were revealed. This time they were from the Spotlight and Cinemania sections, as well as the Special Screenings and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival lineup. Here are more films that I hope to have a chance to see: 

2 Days in New York
Directed and written by Julie Delpy

Synopsis: This deliriously witty follow-up to 2 Days in Paris finds Marion (writer/director Julie Delpy) living a comfortable life in New York with her latest hipster boyfriend, Mingus (Chris Rock, brilliantly playing it straight), and their two young kids from prior relationships. A riotous comedy of cultural errors ensues when Marion’s totally unhinged, gleefully unfiltered family arrives from Paris to meet Mingus for the first time. Why I want to see it: Ahh, second chances. I missed this when it premiered at Sundance this year, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it during Tribeca. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a HUGE Julie Delpy fan from Before Sunrise/Before Sunset and the prequel to this one, 2 Days in Paris. I’m also coming around to the charms of Chris Rock; he is, after all, the first celebrity I ever met (email me, and I’ll share the story with you).

Free Samples
Directed by Jay Gammill, written by Jim Beggarly

Synopsis: Jillian is having a bad day. She’s got a raging hangover, she’s starting to think dropping out of Stanford Law to become an artist wasn’t the best career move, and things are weird with her faraway fiancé. Can spending the day parked in an ice cream truck doling out samples—and a good dose of sass—to oddball Angelenos shake her out of her quarter-life crisis? Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jason Ritter star in this quirky comedy. What I want to see this: Tatted Jason Ritter! Ice cream samples (wait is this channeling The Wackness?)! Twenty-somethings who think quarter-life crises are a real thing! An undisclosed role for Jesse Eisenberg! 

Hysteria
Directed by Tanya Wexler, written by Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer

Synopsis: Set in 19th-century London at the peak of Victorian prudishness, this racy romantic comedy tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator. A progressive young doctor (Hugh Dancy, Adam) has his hands full relieving the city’s affluent society women of their melancholy, until an accidental discovery electrifies their lives forever—and sends sparks flying between him and a feminist rabble-rouser (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Why I want to see this: Ooo, I’m familiar with this story on how the vibrator was actually discovered (though I won’t tell you how I heard ::giggle like a schoolgirl::) and it’s so interesting that they actually created a feature around this story. I have been waiting for something new from the very talented Hugh Dancy so this may just do the trick. 

Take This Waltz
Directed and written by Sarah Polley

Synopsis: Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) are happily married. Their life is thrown out of order when Margot falls for another man and is forced to choose between the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of the unknown. Writer-director Sarah Polley’s follow-up to her acclaimed film Away From Here is a quirky, uncommonly heartfelt look at the evolving nature of love and the difficulty of sustaining a relationship over time. Why I want to see this: I can’t help but be interested in a world, no matter that it is fictitious, in which Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen are married. Simple as that. 

Your Sister’s Sister
Directed and written by Lynn Shelton

Synopsis: Jack (Mark Duplass) hasn’t recovered from his brother’s death. His best friend—and late brother’s ex—Iris (Emily Blunt) sends him to her family’s isolated cabin for some quiet reflection, but complications, rivalries, and surprising revelations arise when both Iris and her heartbroken sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) end up at the cabin as well. Lynn Shelton’s long-awaited follow-up to Humpday heralds a graceful maturation of the reliably against-the-grain filmmaker. Why I want to see it: Yet another film I missed at Sundance. I really didn’t have any plans to see this movie but everywhere I went in Park City, I heard people talking about it and how great it was. That’s enough for me.