Two Players from the Bench Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Tribeca Winners Revealed
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Awards », Tribeca », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
The 2006 Tribeca Film Festival was brought to a close last night with the awarding of prizes, and several major awards went to war films. The winner of the International Documentary Competition was The War Tapes, a film built from footage shot by soldiers stationed in Iraq, and Blessed By Fire, an Argentine film about the lingering effects of the Falkland Islands War, took top prize on the International Narrative Competition. In the New York-specific categories, the best doc award went to When I Came Home, which explores the post-war experience of Iraq veteran Herold Noel, while The Treatment was named best feature. Also recognized were Egyptian epic The Yacoubian Building (best new feature director), The Play (best new documentary director) and The Cats of Mirikitani (audience award and special mention in the New York docs category).Apart from The Cats of Mirikitani, I didn't see any of the winners -- and most of the films that impressed me most were screened outside of competition. That said, my favorite of the weak narrative pool was easily the Croatian comedy-drama Two Players from the Bench, and my choice from the competition docs (a pool in which I saw a fair number of films) was probably Blue Blood, a charming, intimate piece about the Oxford Boxing Club. Those of you who were able to attend the festival, feel free to chime in here and let us know which competition films were your favorites -- what do you think of the results?
MovieMail: Tribeca - Part Three
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Sports », Tribeca », Fandom », MovieMail », Cinematical Indie »
Hey Karina and Chris--
While I agree with both of you that the desperate desire on the part of Tribeca's organizers to have A Really Big Festival! has resulted in the presence of some truly horrible movies, I have to say that doesn't (at least for me) make the good -- and even great -- films at the festival any less worthwhile. Granted, it's risky as hell to just blindly buy tickets to anything (particularly, as Karina pointed out, to features), but if attendees choose carefully, they can create a pretty strong week of film-going.
Like Karina, I've seen some crap, but have also seen some very good films. Even today, more than a week after I first saw it, I'm still over the moon about Once in a Lifetime, the New York Cosmos documentary that made me so damn happy it might have become one of my favorite films ever, not just of the festival. And, as a Soviet and Russian history nerd, I've really enjoyed Freedom's Fury and Hammer and Tickle, which offer very different looks at the Eastern Bloc. Freedom's Fury is built around the 1956 Olympic semi-final water polo game between Hungary and the USSR, but is most valuable as a lesson on the 1956 Hungarian revolution; Hammer and Tickle, meanwhile, explores the history of dissent under Soviet rule through jokes. The latter is not an entirely successful film but the history is fascinating, if you're into that sort of thing. In addition, 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep, which details the difficult past and present of the Pamir Kirghiz people, is a pretty wonderful film, sure enough of its approach and subject matter to have a charming, gangly confidence that is all too rare in film, documentary or otherwise.
Tribeca Review: Two Players from the Bench
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Thrillers », Tribeca », Politics », Cinematical Indie »
As directed by Dejan Sorak, the Croatian film Two Players from the Bench functions on a variety of levels. On one, it’s a political document, examining the relations between Croats in Serbs in what once was Yugoslavia, exploring what their ethnicities really mean to individuals on both sides, and touching on the impact of the International War Crimes Tribunal on the post-war world. On another, it’s a document about Croatia today, a country apparently made up of deserted roads, few jobs, little money, and the shells of public buildings, picked clear by scavengers. On yet another, it’s a thriller, full of unexpected twists and hidden motivations. And, finally, it’s a warm-hearted buddy movie in which a Croat and Serb learn not only to coexist, but also to rely on one another. Despite -- or maybe because of -- its many directions, the film is surprisingly satisfying and entertaining.
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