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USA | Narrative | US Premiere | SPOTLIGHT | 2012 | 100 min

DIRECTOR Daniel Algrant

SCREENWRITERS Daniel Algrant, David Brendel, Emma Sheanshang

PRODUCERS Patrick Milling Smith, John Hart, Frederick Zollo, Amy Nauiokas

CINEMATOGRAPHER Andrij Parekh

WITH Penn Badgley, Imogen Poots, Norbert Leo Butz, Ben Rosenfeld, Isabelle McNally, Kate Nash

The late great Tim Buckley was a great and unique and innovative musician during the late sixties and early seventies, he was quite young and did not necessarily hit international success but is still loved to this day by many. Daniel Algrant’s film concentrates on the life of his son Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley) who has been asked to play some of his late father’s music at the tribute concert being thrown in his father’s honor in New York City. Jeff did not have the most loving relationship with his father because Tim was always on the road performing his music, instead of pursuing his fatherly duties. Now as a young man, Jeff shows a lot of built up anger towards his father’s version of love which creates a slight hesitation to participate but, a short plane ride later, Jeff is in New York on a journey to know more about what kind of man his father might have been, and what kind man he could become himself. A young intern named Allie (played by the very talented and charming Imogen Poots) challenges Jeff, which is exactly what he needs to rise up and transform into the man he was always meant to be. 

Penn Badgley gives his best performance yet, undergoing a mature and interesting transformation, his vocals are pleasantly strong and his a cappella version of Def Leppard song is extremely charismatic, I could not look away, he has proved himself as leading man. Through flashbacks we are able to see Tim making all the tough decisions, trying to balance his crazed new life, Ben Rosenfeld beautifully portrays Tim Buckley in a misunderstood almost tragic kind of perspective as a young naïve musician who is more in love with creating and living through music than his family. Director Daniel Algrant successfully paints an emotionally charged homage to the Buckley’s with strong performances, finesse and one hell of a soundtrack!

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Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl

Hosted by: Catlin Spencer

Stories by: Saturn De Los Angeles, Carlo Spiridigliozzi & Catlin Spencer

Produced by: Spoon Jung

USA | Narrative | World Premiere | SPOTLIGHT | 2013 | 81 min

DIRECTOR / SCREENPLAY Enid Zentelis

PRODUCERS Mandy Beckner, Anthony Brandonisio, Riel Roch Decter, Enid Zentelis, Erik Weigel, Melissa Leo

CINEMATOGRAPHER Daniel Sharnoff

WITH Melissa Leo, Marin Ireland, Josh Hamilton, Jamie Harrold, Nelson Landrieu

The subject surrounding substance abuse is rapidly and continuously spreading across the world, in my opinion it is way too common in our day and age. It seems to me that everyone has been affected by substance abuse one way or another. Enid Zentelis beautifully wrote and directed Bottled Up which articulates the story of a mother daughter duo dealing with the hard reality of prescription drug abuse. Faye (played by Oscar winning Melissa Leo) and her daughter Sylvie (Marin Ireland) reside in a small town and live a meek life. A few months earlier, Sylvie experienced a car accident and injured her back, she has been taking prescription pain killers and cannot seem to find physical comfort, and she often complains of being in severe pain and often mentions her excruciating need for her medication. Sylvie refuses to go to physical therapy and it becomes clear to everyone except her hopeful mother Faye that she has a severe addiction to her pain killers. 

A beacon of light comes to town and his name is Beckett, an awkward yet charming environmentalist studying the water that surrounds their town. Faye immediately recognizes that he might be able to help Sylvie and get her to open her eyes to the world of becoming sober. Beckett slowly integrates himself into their lives and Faye’s experiment towards a more sober Sylvie finally takes flight. In the end Faye is forced to make a concrete decision about what to do with Sylvie’s issues and it is truly heartbreaking to watch. Melissa Leo carries the film on her shoulders in the same way that her character Faye carries her daughter’s problem, I will admit that the other characters especially Beckett did not weight my full attention all the way through, some of the time I wished Sylvie’s character had shown even more of a physically driven dependence on her medication but that being said, the relationship between Faye and Sylvie was strong enough to pull everything together towards the end of the film and keep the message strong of how awful drug abuse can be for any sized family. Bottled Up is sometimes hard to watch because of the intense subject matter but knowledge is power and because drug abuse is very common, we should start accumulating a key sense of observation so that we may recognize signs of substance abuse amongst the ones we love so that we may live our lives happy and healthy. 

Click here for more coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival

Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl

Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl