Day 10 TFF2015: Who Are You? 'In Transit' Has Some Answers; A Self-Appointed Savior / Vigilante in 'Crocodile Gennadiy'

A mother and daughter aboard the Empire Builder in "In Transit." Photo from "In Transit" Facebook page.

She is fresh off of a visit to her daughter in Chicago. Mother and child have not seen each other in more than 40 years ...

Several days past her due date, a young woman is returning to the bosom of her family and outside the orbit of her disagreeable boyfriend, the father of her unborn child. Her baby will meet at the same time "all the people I love." And hate, "because sometimes my family drives me crazy."

A 21-year-old man with dirty fingernails and a clear vision is going to the oil fields to make his fortune – in seven years.

They are among the changing population of passengers aboard an Empire Builder, a series of Amtrak trains that serves the Midwest and Northwest United States, from Chicago in the East to Seattle in the West. Between points, it makes stops in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin.

Their brief stories are told in "In Transit" from the late Albert Maysles (his last film) and a series of directors on various legs of the trip: Lynn True, David Usui, Nelson Walker and Ben Wu.

The film shows this evening and tomorrow evening in the last two screenings of its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.

On any long trip – whether in the sky or on the ground – it is natural to wonder about one's fellow travelers. Where are they going? Are they running from something? Running to something? What's their story? Who are they?

"In Transit" answers these questions to a degree that is satisfactory, haunting, touching. The aforementioned heroine, now sporting red hair and a tattoo, married young to an abusive man who gave her seven children and little else. She grew tired of the beatings, and decided not to take them anymore.

"If you hit me again, I will shoot you," the woman fresh from that Chicago reunion recalls telling her tormenter. His threats from behind prison walls informed her difficult decision to give up the children for adoption.

Not all of the stories are the stuff of blues or country lyrics. A mother and daughter are snuggled against each other, possibly late at night. The daughter is now in college, and they are wishing each other the best in finding good companionship. At the moment, however, it is them against the world.

A bit of patience is required with "In Transit," for it does not go from 0 to 60 in seven seconds. It opens on a young man who has left Mississippi on his way to his brother and a better life in Seattle. He and a young woman are discussing the importance of change ... Children play ... Other passengers board the train. A viewer may not yet be engaged.

But "In Transit," which garnered an honorable mention at last night's Tribeca awards ceremony, finds the right gear and is on cruise control for the rest of the journey. A series of gripping tales emerges – forming a beautiful mosaic, much like this country – as different as the changing landscape framed in the train's windows.

One of the most tender moments unfolds during a conversation between a younger and older man. They are chatting amiably enough, as folks often do on a long trip. With the miles, however, talk becomes more serious.

"To have love" is what the younger man would change about his life, he discloses tearfully. He was raised without a mother or father. The older man takes up his hands and addresses him in soothing, encouraging tones ...

For the first time in her life she is simply herself. "I really don't want to get off the train," says a woman whose marriage and life are in transition. "It's been more than just a means of travel to get from one place to another." Here Tawna is not reduced to "somebody's label" – daughter, wife, mother ...

"I love the plains ... My mother's native; my dad's white," says a man whose relationship is also in critical condition and may have expired by the time he returns home. "But my heart and soul ... It's where I hunt. It's where my people are. It's where my family lives. There is something very therapeutic about getting back to the plains. It's the perfect place to clear a person's head" ...

What is the dream job of this Rugby, North Dakota native? As a youngster, he spied a passing train and wondered where all of those people were going? This is the train conductor's dream job. "Much to the ridicule from my classmates and even some ridicule from my family, this is the only job I ever wanted."

All aboard!

Also showing this evening is Crocodile Gennadiy. The documentary from Steve Hoover, in its world premiere, follows Gennadiy Mokhnenko over a 10-year-period. (See video above).

One of the pastor’s supreme callings is saving Ukrainian youth from streets meaner than ever after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

He has many supporters; he has many detractors.

Films/events on today's TFF2015 schedule: ”Shorts: Interference,” “Some Came Running,” “Live From New York!,” “Monty Python and The Holy Grail,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “Aloft,” “Slow West,” “Most Likely to Succeed,” “Down in the Valley,” “Tribeca Talks Directors Series: Brad Bird and Janeane Garofalo,” “The Ethics of Accuracy,” “Hyena,” “All Eyes and Ears,” “Far From Men,” “Backtrack,” “Cartel Land,” “Lucifer,” “Shorts: NY - Double Espresso,” “Tenured,” “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of National Lampoon” and “Cronies.”

Visit http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival to learn more about it and the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, including tickets and schedule.

Day 9 TFF2015: Parsing the Words of 'Lucifer's' Gust Van den Berghe Over Liquid Courage

Gust Van den Berghe (left) and actors on location in Mexico on the set of "Lucifer." Photo from "Lucifer" Facebook page.

"I hope that I am not boring you with all of this."

Not at all. Yours Truly is utterly fascinated by the ideas spewing forth from "Lucifer" director Gust Van den Berghe during our chat over a beer and sparkling wine in the Lincoln Black Label Filmmaker Lounge at Spring Studios.

His film, a version of the biblical story of Lucifer that follows the angel during a layover in a heavenly Mexican village en route to Hell, is having its U.S. premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Screen Festival. The last two of its four screenings are this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.

Incidentally, GVdB emphatically states that his film – third in a trilogy – is meant to be seen "in the cinema. I make films for the cinema."

Based on the work of the same name by Dutch playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel, "Lucifer" has the distinction of being the first film to be shot using Tondoscope (http://www.tondoscope.com). Essentially, it means it is filmed through a circle instead of a rectangle. From the perspective of the viewer, images on the big screen appear round and have a painterly quality, that of a daguerreotype.

The images – as in "Lucifer" – are at once aloof and extremely intimate. Otherworldy; finite; without horizons. This aspect would be lost on a small screen, particularly a mobile device. (See video below, explaining how the Tondoscope process was developed for "Lucifer").

"I wanted to bring new materials to old ideas," he says by way of explanation for his use of Tondoscope. Old paintings of paradise lost that captured subjects in the round also informed the use of this technique.

Meanwhile, one is held in thrall by the Flemish director's worldviews – part-intellectual, part-iconoclast, a pinch of existentialism. Consider: he discloses that "I don't think" when I make films. Pressed to expound, he continues, "It's like a negative – a blank – and I fill it in. When you make a mark with your shoe, you were there and this is what you see. You don't think about it. You do it and it just is."

Understand? How about this one: "We are immigrants in life – not like the way one usually thinks about immigrants, with borders. But we are in a place in time and these are our experiences without confines."

Of "Lucifer," he says "people can think whatever they wish. It is done and I am working on two other films." And then when raised brows confront him, "I am proud of what I have created, and I do not say that to be arrogant."

Humility is apparent. GVdB is a filmmaker (and a writer and the son of a writer). He loves the medium. He makes film for the sheer pleasure and artistic expression it permits, a way of communicating ideals, horrors, the human condition. Certainly, not for monetary gain. "Lucifer" does not yet have a distributor, and he has no idea where his team is in the process.

"I leave that to the salespeople. If I find a distributor and the film makes money, that is good. But it doesn't matter if it does not."

Neither do awards matter. "Lucifer" has won one. What? Where? "It does not matter; it is of no consequence," he says dismissively

All awards matter, one has to counter. He seems to concede the point, revealing that "Lucifer" took the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival of Tallinn Black Nights (Estonia.) On Friday (24 April), he journeys to Cancun, Mexico for the Riviera Maya Film Festival where "Lucifer" is entered.

"For me, being accepted to a film festival is like a reward," he is insisting without a trace of guile. "I don't enter film festivals to win awards."

Yet, GVdB is gratified when he does, no?

"Yes."

Films/events on today's TFF2015 schedule: "Tribeca Talks: Snap It, Vine It, Tube It,” “Hyena,” “Come Down Molly,” “Slow Learners,” “The Overnight,” “The Diplomat,” “Man Up,” “Hungry Hearts,” “Anesthesia,” “Tumbledown,” “Shorts: NY – Daily Grind,” “Sunrise,” “The Birth of Sake,” “El Cinco,” “We Are Young. We Are Strong,” “Transfatty Lives,” “Good Kill,” “Democrats,” “A Faster Horse,” “Stung” and “Shorts: Family Dynamics” (See video above of “The Arrest”).

Visit http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival to learn more about it and the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, including tickets and schedule.

Indomitable Roger Ebert Gives 'Life Itself' Two Thumbs Up

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in the critics' chairs. Photos by Kevin Horan for Magnolia Pictures.

MUCH of the beauty of “Life Itself” is that Roger Ebert was involved in its making up to his death last year. In a way, it is an “as told by” work.

The documentary opens today in select theaters and rolls out in theaters around the country over the next few months. It is also available On-Demand and iTunes. (See video below).

"Life Itself" is based on the film critic's 2011 autobiography, “Life Itself: A Memoir.” It is reverently, but not obsequiously, directed by Steve James. SJ came to public notice in part because of RE's championing of the former's “Hoop Dreams.”

“Life Itself,” which had its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, is a film for moviegoers and those drawn to thoughtful and largely balanced film criticism. Of course, RE was the longtime film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, working up until his death. His rise to international fame and acclaim began when he and the late Gene Siskel cohosted PBS' film criticism show,“Sneak Previews.”

The critics would eventually move from PBS and become cohosts of two different highly rated and utterly entertaining shows bearing their names, “Siskel and Ebert,” in the title. To date, the shows remain the most influential nationally televised shows ever dedicated to film criticism.

It is a testament to the regard in which he is held that RE – a film critic – would be the subject of a film. Martin Scorcese is an executive producer of “Life Itself.” RE counted among his friends Oprah Winfrey.

Not only was he the first film critic to receive a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism, he was the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No doubt, his writings are destined for the Smithsonian Institution or some similar august clearinghouse.

“Life Itself” is about life – RE's life and how he saw the world and some of his thoughts about it and some of the people and politics that inhabit it. It opens a window on his childhood in Urbana, Illinois, early newspaper jobs, his tenure at the Sun-Times. His are frank observations or seemingly so. For instance, he doesn't gloss over some of his quirks and peccadilloes (alcohol abuse).

If RE weren't such a integral part of so many lives, such minutiae would not matter. Few would care. But many in the film-going public grew up hearing or reading RE's take on the movies. Choices were made based on the direction of his thumb. This reverence is borne out in “Life Itself” by reminisces about how lives and work were influenced by RE's impressions.

No film snob, RE reviewed the most hackneyed blockbusters with as much vigor and enthusiasm as he did exquisite arthouse flicks. No doubt, this made him a trusted source for the moviegoing public. To that end, many will have a care about his childhood just as much as they will about his observations about John Wayne or the aforementioned MS.

In 2006, thyroid cancer robbed RE of his ability to speak and to eat and drink normally. It transformed his appearance; he lost weight, rendered a shadow of his former self. But it would take more than a debilitating illness to destroy his determination to keep working. He worked harder. His ability to think and type were not impaired.

Young Roger Ebert did not start out to become a film critic.

“Life Itself” is a combination love letter and memorial. It is sad and will cause some to tear up.

It will also elicit smiles and laughs. It will make viewers privileged to have had RE in life itself.

Life Itself” is not rated; visit http://www.magpictures.com/lifeitself/ to learn more about the film.

'The Best Man Holiday,' or Blacks Are People, Too

IN “The Best Man Holiday,” the long-awaited sequel to “The Best Man” (1999), college friends reunite for the first time since the wedding of two in their group.

The film, which opens today in the United States and Canada, has echoes of “The Big Chill,” “Friends,” and less animated upmarket Tyler Perry fare (See video at top).

To the extent that “The Best Man Holiday” is remarkable is because it stars a mainly all-black cast. Director Malcolm Lee's script is middling at best, yet even at this juncture of the struggle of blacks for equality in every facet of life in the United States, it is still a welcome novelty to see blacks presented as real people rather than caricatures.

As persons a body knows, rather than creatures dreamt up in the muddled minds of the sadly misguided and misinformed. Here is just another slice of black life. Alas, one that is obscenely under-represented in the entertainment industry.

Indeed, something other than the rigid confines of hoods and hoes, mammies and murderers, buffoons and bitches, the loud and lewd. Images with which most inside and outside of this country have become intimately familiar. A sorry sad-sack state of affairs … More shortly

"The Best Man Holiday" is rated R for language, sexual content and brief nudity; visit http://www.best-man.com/social/ to learn more about the film.