Tribeca Film Festival

I was one of the winners of the Tribeca Film Festival employee contest (for Hello Bank, I don't work at the festival). I won two 1 day all access passes. The Tribeca Film Festival was started to revive downtown Manhattan after September 11th. I think it's been doing a great job, showing movies that you cannot catch anywhere else. Visit http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org for more information or movie timetables. After consulting hubby, we chose this Sunday to watch many general screenings, instead of going to a premiere after work. Hubby and I saw Blue State, The Grand, You Kill Me and West 32nd Street. I chose The Grand, everything else was his choice. We could have seen more, except I overslept. :(

All images from TribecaFilmFestival.org

Blue State was a funny comedy. Hubby has been a fan of the male leads since the movie Road Trip. This movie rang true for me, because after Bush was re-elected, I was so depressed, so upset, that I too proclaimed that I might move to Canada. But the main character, actually does it, with hilarious hijinks following him and his Goth companion (who has her own secret). I really enjoyed it, especially the Mrs. Robinson scenes, you'll see...


This was the only movie I chose, I love Woody Harrelson in comedies, he's hysterical. I laughed throughout the mockumentary about a gambler competing in his own tournament, so he could win back what means the most to him. It wasn't until the director Q&A at the end (that's what I love about the festival, each movie had these) that I learned the whole movie was improvised. The actors were given general outlines and they came up with their own dialogues, actions, etc. Even the card game at the end was REAL, they didn't know who would win, so they filmed multiple endings. I easily followed the games (Texas Hold'em) and recognized one of the main commentors, because hubby used to watch Celebrity Poker Showdown on cable tv.



I wasn't sure I would enjoy You Kill Me, I don't like Tea Leoni. But I was pleasantly surprised, the comedy about an assassin having to enter re-hab and work at a funeral home was laugh out loud funny. Sir Ben Kingsley makes it smart and the humor is not slapsticky. Tea wasn't bad either. There is one scene with her, that she just owns, this is a funny, funny movie.


West 32nd Street, I love John Cho, not only because he's a great actor, but also because he's really cute (he is, in real life too! more on this later). I really liked this Asian American movie about the Korean underground (West 32nd Street is Koreatown in Manhattan). It was dark, definitely not a comedy, but it was moody and kept me spellbound throughout. The movie was filled with twists and turns, just when you thought you had figured someone out... they would shift and turn into something else. In the Q&A afterwards, the director and most of the cast were there to answer questions, including John Cho! They reminded us how important it is to support Asian American movies, and I completely believe in this. Most movies with all Asian American casts won't get the big budgets or the big studios to support it, because they don't think there is a large audience. We need to show them there is an audience. I didn't take pictures with John Cho, and didn't ask for his autograph, though I think he would have been nice about it. I just didn't want to bother him.

With the tight schedule, racing to theaters early to get a seat, I was only able to inhale a small hotdog, large Coke, then a big Mac and fries. My stomach did not feel good, I have not eaten junkfood for a long time. So, I was looking forward to eating at Koreatown, Kam Gang San at 12:30AM after West 32nd Street. Kam Gang San, like many eateries there are open 24/7! Galbi Tang and some kimchee really hit the spot, my tummy was happy. And so was hubby and I. We haven't seen a movie together for a long time, it was a date night we didn't know we needed.