From All Up In The Biz to The Blackening, Should You Watch These Tribeca Festival 2023 Films?
Legacy, identity, and tradition… Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado breaks down 12 films you need to watch from Tribeca Festival 2023.
All Up In The Biz
All Up In The Biz celebrates the life of rapper Biz Markie, known as the “Clown Prince of Hip-Hop,” and the impact he made on hip-hop and the music industry.
Director Sacha Jenkins takes the unique, although sometimes hit or miss, approach to telling Biz’s story through a mixture of celebrity interviews, archival footage, reenactments with puppets, and animation. The opening theme song for the film doesn’t work, feeling more like it was meant for a band like The Beatles than for Biz, while the puppet representation of the rapper in the hospital doesn’t work as it seems unclear if they were trying to be funny or serious expressing the final months of his life. The documentary truly shines when it explores the hip-hop community on Long Island and shows off Biz’s goofy and charismatic personality.
The documentary heads to Showtime soon.
American Sikh
What if Captain America was Sikh?
American Sikh is an animated short based on the true story of a turban-wearing American Sikh who, after a lifetime of facing hate, self-doubt, identity crisis, and violence, finally finds acceptance in a superhero costume.
The animation style is truly stunning, with purposeful shades of red, blues, yellows, and whites that represent this powerful and authentic story.
The Blackening
The Blackening is funny, but is it too predictable?
The horror satire follows seven Black friends who reunite at a cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteenth. But when they get trapped in the cabin’s game room, they’re forced into a Saw-style competition to determine who is the Blackest… or they all die. Based on the viral Comedy Central short, The Blackening is a ton of fun to see in theaters because everyone was reacting to what was going on on-screen. There are creepy moments, big laughs, and tons of Easter eggs to iconic horror movies of the past, including Saw, Scream, and Scary Movie.
Often times the cast is the audiences’ eyes, calling out the ridiculous things that people usually do in horror movies. Stereotypically in horror movies, there is only one Black person or person of color in the film and they’re often killed off first, so it was refreshing to see an array of different archetypes of Black people being represented and getting to be fleshed out as full characters. Where the film falters is in the reveal of who the killer is and what their motivation is. The minute this person stepped on screen, they just stood out as not making sense in the story. It was too predictable. Since the tagline of the film was “we can’t all die first,” I was hoping to see something more unique with the kills, but in the first character to die is still a Black person. You’d just think they’d try to move away from that trope as a whole.
Sinqua Walls, Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, X Mayo, and Melvin Gregg star.
The Blackening is playing in theaters.
The Line
In The Line, Alex Wolff plays Tom, a passionate brother of a fictional college fraternity. We see the idea of blindly following tradition questioned as he connects with a classmate out of his social circle and gets caught up in the dark results of hazing gone wrong.
The film is a conversation starter, albeit a toxic one, where there are no real consequences for the wealthy and privileged members of this community. It’s not an easy watch as it tackles loyalty, hierarchy, and how far you’ll go for the promises of social status and connections. There’s a darkness of toxic masculinity that keeps you on edge while watching, but the story itself feels half-baked and is missing a real catalyst for Tom to break free.
Halle Bailey, Lewis Pullman, Austin Abrams, Angus Cloud, Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich, Bo Mitchell, and Denise Richards also star, atlhough the film doesn’t take advantage of its young cast of rising stars.
The Night Doctrine
The Night Doctrine explores the true story of an Afghan journalist who goes on a journey to find out who murdered her family 30 years ago. What she ends up uncovering is that hundred of civilians were killed in a secretive American-backed program.
The animated short film draws you in with its compelling visuals and transitions. The filmmakers don’t shy away from the truth, even speaking to former Afghan soldiers, to deliver another layer to the horrors of the truth they reveal.
Regular Rabbit
Is he really a regular rabbit or a murderer?
This dark comedy short film pairs cute animation with a booming narration to tell the story of a seemingly regular rabbit who falls victim to an unstoppable tide of disinformation.
Shadow Brother Sunday
Alden Ehrenreich directs, writes, and stars in Shadow Brother Sunday opposite Nick Robinson. In the short film, a down-on-his-luck musician returns home on the day of his younger brother’s movie premiere to steal his computer and sell it to the paparazzi.
In just 14 minutes, Ehrenreich sets up an engaging drama about the complexities of brotherly love and family dynamics in his directorial debut. It has a lot of layers that could be explored well in a feature.
Shortcomings
Randall Park makes his directorial debut with Shortcomings. Justin H. Min plays Ben, a Japanese-American filmmaker who is dealing with feelings of inadequacy and racial identity. In a role like we haven’t seen him in before, Min’s character is toxic, unlikeable, and hard to root for. He is in a relationship with Miko, played by Ally Maki, that is not in a great place. They argue about everything from their differing views on film to his obsession with white women.
While the characters may be messy and insufferable at times, they start compelling conversations about representation being praised over the quality of a film, how race plays into relationships, and facing insecurities.
Sherry Cola, Debby Ryan, and Tavi Gevinson also star.
Somewhere In Between
Will they or won’t they?
Two friends are just enjoying a simple New Year’s Eve together in Somewhere In Between. That is until a man from the future bursts in, sending them spiraling into a Back to the Future-style conundrum.
This short film is a blast and will keep time travel fans on their toes.
Stan Lee
We all know Stan Lee as a visionary, creating some of the most iconic characters in pop culture thanks to his work at Marvel Comics.
A technically sleek film, director David Gelb seamlessly weaves together footage of Lee’s life through interview clips, news reels, and clay models with voice over that allows him to narrate his own story.
However, the Stan Lee documentary does play it safe. It glosses over any controversy or questions that he may not be the only one we owe the Marvel universe to.
Stan Lee is streaming on Disney+.
They Grow Up So Fast
Sometimes life can be a whirlwind!
In They Grow Up So Fast, Brian meets Amy after a night out on the town, but things move a lot faster than he anticipated. In a short film reminiscent of Click, Brians life flashes before his eyes from meeting Amy to being a grandfather in the matter of minutes.
Creative, hilarious, and fast paced, this short film by John F. Beach is a must watch!
Uncharted
Filmmaker Beth Aala takes us behind the scenes of Alicia Keys' She Is The Music songwriting camp in Uncharted. The documentary follows three participants in the camp — Barbados-born Ayoni who counts Rihanna as an inspiration, Altanta’s DaVionne who has collaborated with known artists and is trying to break out on her own, and Chicago-born Jean Deaux who writes, records, and produces — and brings awareness to the lack of access and opportunity granted to young Black and Brown women.
With guidance from professional mentors, including Keys herself, these young women collaborate, share their dreams and challenges, and write original music together that could be picked up for something big. It’s inspiring to see their wins in real time as Jean Deaux, alongside TT the Artist and Alex Mali, end up writing the song “Stank Ass Walk” during the camp that gets added to the soundtrack of Issa Rae’s latest show Rap Sh!t. I’d love to see a docu-series of Uncharted down the line where we get to follow along with more rising Black and Brown artists achieve these milestones.
