The Tribeca Film Festival, which concluded on April 24, is a strange event. Robust in spite of itself, the festival attracts a ton of attention and takes over a lot of real estate across New York City. It’s hard to avoid. But when you peel back the layers of non-essential elements — advertising, after-parties, marquee-name appearances — what you’re left with is underwhelming. Many of the selection choices are questionable and slightly confusing. And I’m not even talking about the controversial anti-vaccination film “Vaxxed.” Sadly, it seems the goal at Tribeca has become quantity over quality.In the official lineup, there are too many vanity projects, and too many concessions to trends, to take the festival seriously. Rapid growth has superseded the need for careful curation. The few films that are worth checking out are buried under an excess of films that appear to have been chosen almost randomly. For these reasons, it was not easy to dig up six highlights at the festival. It should be stated upfront that I didn’t see everything. At any festival, but especially at an unusually large one like this, that is nearly unthinkable. But I tried to see as much as possible, and most of what I saw was ultimately disappointing. And in talking to others, this seems to be the general consensus. There were some great projects — Guy Maddin’s “Seances” installation, despite problems with its setting, was a favorite — and some films that took on interesting ideas. There are some who are claiming that Tribeca has finally found its identity. I strongly disagree. What distinguishes Tribeca from other festivals at this point is its distinct lack of one.With that said, the following are six films that I enjoyed in different ways — many of which I expect will receive theatrical releases before the year is through.“Contemporary Color”Bill and Turner Ross’s documentary about the David Byrne-organized concert at the Barclay’s Center in June 2015 that combined color guard teams with indie-rock acts (including St. Vincent, How to Dress Well, and Devonté Hynes) aims to be more than a portrait of the live show. Interspersed with the performances are behind-the-scenes incidents that move through the preparation backstage — the singers doing vocal warm-ups, crewmembers with headsets, young dancers nervously waiting in the wings — and footage of dance groups preparing in school gyms back home. The most affecting moments of the film are when the young dancers are allowed to speak, sharing personal stories and revealing why this show, a culmination for many of years of training, is so important. Despite this multi-view focus, the Ross Brothers, along with a group of excellent camera-people (including cinematographer Sean Price Williams and filmmakers Amanda Rose Wilder and Robert Greene), are still invested in presenting the performances as the visually arresting spectacles that they are.“Actor Martinez”A tricky work of metafiction from filmmakers Nathan Silver and Mike Ott that focuses on Arthur Martinez, a computer repairman who also works as an actor. The film, at first, appears to be a documentary about his life, following him from job to job. But then the filmmakers place themselves in the narrative. We see Silver and Ott interact with Martinez, arguing with him about how he should be portrayed. Actors are thrown into the mix, and the film slowly becomes a combination of fictionalized scenes and behind-the-scenes drama. The film complicates the distinction between what is a performance and what is not, especially when the actress Lindsay Burdge is cast as Arthur’s love interest, and the lines become even more blurred between what is being staged and what isn’t. “Actor Martinez” is certainly the most thematically interesting film at Tribeca this year, and one that I expect will be discussed in greater depth when more people are able to see it.“Do Not Resist”A galvanizing documentary about the rampant militarization of the police in the United States, “Do Not Resist,” which won the Audience Award at Tribeca, opens on the 2014 protests surrounding the murder of Michael Brown by a police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. To curb protesters, the police force treated the scene as if they were under attack, preempting any violence by striking first. From there, the filmmaker, Craig Atkinson, making his directorial debut, digs deeper into how and why military-grade weapons and machinery, including Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, get into the hands of police who protect areas with small populations and little to no violence from its citizens. We find ourselves inside a booming industry, pushed forward by our various occupations over the last 30 years in the Middle East, which has no answers and can’t defend what has happened and continues to happen. “Do Not Resist” takes us inside the world of institutions that are paid to protect but are more invested in performing the role of aggressor.“LoveTrue”Alma Har’el’s documentary takes on the knotty question “What is true love?” by tracking three stories. The first is about a young couple in Alaska who, beset by physical limitations and emotional fragility, attempt to find the answer for the first time; the second is about a man in Hawaii who finds out that the son he had with his ex-girlfriend is not really his; and the third is about a young woman in New York, part of a large spiritual family overseen by a patriarchal figure, who struggles with the past of her father and mother and how it complicates her belief in God. Each story is equally fascinating, and Har’el keeps her camera close to her subjects, producing a feeling of intimacy. She combines these with dreamy and emotional sequences that incorporate her subjects’ memories and desires, which don’t always work but never overshadow the material.“Reset”The documentary, which follows Benjamin Millepied, a choreographer and former principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, during his now-former tenure as the artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet, is about the need for change. The camera follows the constantly moving dancer as he prepares his inaugural dance at the institution, which he choreographed. As he’s planning and rehearsing, he must also deal with the well being of his dancers. Millepied is at odds with the traditional structures of the dance world, where students are routinely yelled at and are trapped within a conservative system that doesn’t react well to progression: the medical team, for example, is not treating the dancers with anything resembling modern methods. Millepied juggles his own work with the task of trying to alter an institution and push it into a future.“Taylor & Ultra on the 60s, The Factory & Being a Warhol Superstar”This 15-minute documentary features interviews with Taylor Mead and Ultra Violet, two denizens of the Warhol universe in the 1960s. Both are also now dead. Mead passed away in 2013, Ultra Violet a year later. Hearing them speak about their interactions with Warhol is reason enough to watch this film. I also have a personal connection, having spent time with, and written about, Mead, who was nothing if not a genius storyteller.
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