Eleven days, 18 movies: Fareed does Tribeca

Of the 18 films I caught at the festival, eight were documentaries that spanned the globe from the on-campus corridors of Whitman College to the distant jungles of Southeast Asia. “Off and Running” gives a particularly Princetonian slant to the troubles of multiculturalism in its depiction of the teenage Avery, an African-American girl adopted by a Jewish lesbian couple in New York. The film frequently presents the central subject walking across campus with her brother, Rafael Klein-Cloud ’11. These scenes of quiet contemplation between siblings under the looming architecture of Princeton frame the institution as oddly insulated from the harsh realities of urban life.

The finesse with which “Off and Running” approaches its largely political themes was lost in many of the activist documentaries premiering at the festival. Provocateur filmmaker Kirby Dick’s “Outrage” quickly announces its intention to expose a conspiracy against homosexuals by closeted gays within the political establishment. Filled with intense vitriol, the film is at its most poignant when presenting interviews that express the anguish caused by such political charades. The ex-wife of former New Jersey governor James McGreevey, who resigned from the post after revealing his homosexuality, tells the camera, “He didn’t have to ruin my life or my daughter’s life!” What prevents the film from being an entirely effective polemic is its continued reliance on images of supposedly homosexual politicians in excessively flamboyant positions. Intended to garner laughs, these images only reinforce common stereotypes by playing into a tacit societal bigotry and are emblematic of a filmmaker who does not fully consider the ramifications of his film’s aesthetic.

By far the worst picture in the festival was another politically motivated film, “The Burning Season.” Somehow, it manages to be both an insensitive look at the effects of deforestation and a far too simplified overview of the mechanics of the green economy, relying on images of cuddly creatures in peril to garner sympathy from the viewer. What makes this feature far worse than the usual “Animal Planet” episode is the borderline-offensive narration by Australian superstar Hugh Jackman. After noting that many farmers implement destructive cultivation practices to supplement their meager incomes, Jackman describes these men as “insects” eating away at the forests. Such troublesome rhetoric, which so casually labels the depicted farmers as subhuman, characterizes this ‘Inconvenient Truth’-lite as mere reactionary and intellectually shallow dribble.

The most sharply directed and engrossing documentary dealt not with the most political of subjects, but the most mundane: cars. “Racing Dreams,” which won the award for Best Documentary Feature at the festival, captures the ardor for these vehicles through the eyes of kids participating in the national go-kart circuit. Director Marshall Curry slyly uses black-and-white filters to make the races as legible as they are intense. He exposes the complexity of the situation the children are in, as they go through typical adolescent crises while experiencing the thrill and confidence of competition. After a young female driver goes into her first full-sized race car, her teenage boredom quickly transforms into an all-consuming awe once the engine revs up. The sole flaw of the crowd-pleasing film is the somewhat problematic depiction of rural America. With numerous shots of churches and chicken hoops looming behind its Southern characters, the film comes dangerously close to framing one of the subjects and the NASCAR demographic as nothing more than slack-jawed yokels. Even with this presentational quirk, “Racing Dreams” remains an exhilarating and a revealing look at coming of age on the speedway.

The selection of narrative film at the festival was as diverse as the documentaries, featuring many critically ignored genres, including the most maligned of all: horror. The ’80s throwback “The House and the Devil” begins with toe-tapping, freeze-frame-filled opening credits complete with a loud yellow font that perfectly evoke films of the period while lampooning them at the same time. The film tells the story of a babysitter working in a house that, as the title suggests, has a close connection with Satan. Rather than sharply satirizing its genre, the flick seems lost in old genre conventions, falling quickly into mediocrity instead of camp.

More on par with last year’s festival revelation, the vampire film “Let the Right One In,” was the Irish ghost story “The Eclipse.” Widowed father (Ciaran Hinds) experiences paranormal encounters after his bitter father-in-law’s health begins to deteriorate. First-time director Conor McPherson paces the film so that its scares never overshadow the moving narrative anchored by Hinds’ desperate performance. The filmmaker uncovers the essence of the uncanny horror that lies in the quotidian with admirable understatement so that vast ocean vistas amplify the protagonist’s frightening isolation once faced by the specters of his beloved family. Because of the director’s devotion to the emotional aspects of the tale, the appearance of ghosts not only elicits feelings of dread but also feelings of relief — even joy. “The Eclipse” stands as a peculiar supernatural love story that beautifully explores the comfort of grief while maintaining the tension of a taut thriller. Its presence at the festival confirms that Tribeca offered some of the best genre films around.

Complementing the festival’s very dark films was an array of impressive comedies, none sharper than the British satire ”In the Loop.” The film follows a bumbling parliament member who suddenly rises to national prominence after mistakenly announcing that Western nations must be prepared to “climb the mountains of conflict” when dealing with Iraq. This off-the-cuff comment causes this lowly member of Parliament to become the go-to guy for the American government as it seeks British support for the war. Though filled with indelible performances from established stars like Steve Coogan and James Gandolfini, the show stealer is Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, who plays the MP’s increasingly frustrated boss. Typical of his character’s continual exasperation, he blisteringly derides the excessively youthful American political establishment as a “master race of super-intelligent toddlers!” Capaldi delivers such lines with a hilarious zeal and quickness that almost makes his angered rants poetry of the profane. Besides providing consistent laughs for the length of its running time, “In the Loop” resonates as an impassioned lament against the devastating but perhaps pointless wars that both America and Britain are currently fighting.

Out of the many stellar movies in competition, two of the best effortlessly crossed the line between genres. The Iranian “About Elly,” which won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, explores a seaside vacation between couples that goes horribly awry. The characters’ efforts to balance liberal attitudes with more traditional Islamic standards lie at the center of the plot, which exposes the often forgotten complexity of Iranian life. Besides its ethnographic value, “About Elly” compellingly blends Altman-esque comic banter with a mystery that brims with suspense. Director Asghar Farhadi employs the very minutiae of the beach setting to accentuate the changing ambience of the piece. The sounds of crashing waves signal both the rising pleasure of the festivities as well as the crescendo toward an eventual breakdown. Farhadi’s layered film ably explores the heights of tragedy and joy within the span of two hours. “Nord” remains a far lighter, though no less engaging, Norwegian production about a down-and-out ski champion on a journey through the wilderness to meet the family he once abandoned. By far the most striking feature of “Nord” is its Southern bluegrass soundtrack, which infuses the frigid landscape with a buoyant energy and its increasingly hopeful hero with compelling warmth. This small but unexpectedly involving film testifies to the caliber of the festival’s slate.

On the cusp of a summer movie season sure to be filled with films aiming solely for escapist spectacle, the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival seemed like the last gasp of true art-house cinema. In this surreal environment, the most run-of-the-mill downtown multiplexes were filled with a startling array of world cinema instead of the latest Matthew McConaughey tour de force. Some films like “Eclipse” and “About Elly” may just be some of the best of the upcoming year. Though a trip to the festival still did not guarantee a perfect film, it still did offer a glimpse at rich and often provocative art.