2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Mary-Kate Olsen and Debra Messing teamed up for the second time yesterday to attend the Tribeca Film Festival's Awards Night party in NYC. As a juror, Mary-Kate has been busy all week attending cinema-related events, but she's still made time to hang out with her fashion friends. She moved on from the bash with Debra to another one with Madonna, Jesus Luz, and her own boyfriend Nate. It's usually Mary-Kate who makes the headlines in their relationship, but unfortunately Nate recently made waves with an ill-received piece of art. Even if Nate's subject to a little bad press, Mary-Kate still seems happy to be right by his side.

To see more MKO just read more

Mary-Kate Olsen was out fulfilling her duties as a Tribeca Film Festival juror this morning at the Women's Filmmaker Brunch in NYC. MK looked hot in her Herve dress and leather jacket. Instead of her usual sidekick Nate Lowman, Mary-Kate was joined by Debra Messing, Julianna Margulies, Parker Posey, and a few of the festival's organizers. It must be exhausting watching all of the movies in competition, but Mary-Kate has impressively been able to still maintain her rigorous social schedule.

To see more from the meal just read more

Thanks to PopSugar, who is attending some Tribeca Film Festival screenings and writing reviews for me this week!

Departures won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year, and when I caught it last Friday at the Tribeca Film Festival, I quickly saw why it deserved the honor. The Japanese film centers around a man named Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a cellist who moves back to his rural hometown with his wife Mika (Ryoko Hirosue) after his orchestra in Tokyo is forced to shut down.

When he returns home, Kobayashi gives up his life of being a musician and responds to a want ad looking for someone to work "with departures." Instead of it being a travel agency like he expected, the ad turns out to be a misprint; in fact, the job is working with "the departed." Undertakers hire the company to prepare dead bodies for casketing and then cremation. Although it sounds morbid, the movie has very humorous moments as Kobayashi learns the ins and outs of the trade, but where it is funny it's also sad.

Kobayashi is ashamed of his new job and goes to great efforts to lie about what he is doing to his unsuspecting and loving wife. Kobayashi's boss, Ikuei Sasaki (Tsutomu Yamazaki), is a man of few words, but when he does speak, his meaningful moments are peppered with an unexpected dry humor. Ikuei also provides emotional, respectful, and touching moments as he performs an encoffinment with the family of the deceased looking on. For more of my thoughts on Departures, just read more

I've been perusing the long list of interesting-looking movies scheduled for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which continues in New York this week. It will be a while till many of the buzzworthy feature films hit theaters, so I'm excited that some of the festival's short films are online for anyone to view. One of those I was particularly curious to see is Cutlass.

The 16-minute film marks Kate Hudson's directorial debut, and she also wrote the screenplay. Compared to most shorts (at least the ones without celebrity directors), this movie has a pretty amazing cast, including Kristen Stewart, Kurt Russell, Virginia Madsen, Dakota Fanning, and Chevy Chase. The quick summary of the story: A mom (Madsen) can relate to her daughter (Fanning) about wanting to buy something really, really badly. The cinematography looks gorgeous, as does Stewart, who plays a younger version of Madsen's character and is kind of a knockout as a blonde.

You can watch the entire movie right here, so to check it out and let me know what you think about Hudson's filmmaking skills, just read more

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were out for the second evening a row last night, this time for the premiere of his film Wonderful World at the Tribeca Film Festival. The event was all about Matthew's work, but conversation steered toward her upcoming Sex and the City sequel. Despite rumors that Chris Noth was slow to come on board, she was happy to confirm that he has officially joined the cast. SJP couldn't say if kids are in their onscreen future, but we're thrilled enough knowing that Mr. Big's coming back.

To see more photos from the event, including Kim Kardashian, just read more

For all its buzzworthy movies, the Tribeca Film Festival hasn't yielded a major movie sale since 2005's Transamerica starring Felicity Huffman. Apparently the New York-based festival just doesn't do as many big deals as some other festivals, so when there is buzz about a sale, people pay attention. That's what's happening right now with a movie called The Eclipse.

The film is said to have three studios currently competing to buy it (Lionsgate, Magnolia and Roadside). The movie, set in an Irish town, centers on a widowed man named Michael (Ciarán Hinds, Munich) who believes he is seeing ghosts. When he volunteers at his town's annual literary festival, he becomes smitten with a horror fiction writer named Lena (Iben Hjejle, High Fidelity) but "finds himself competing for her attentions with internationally acclaimed author Nicholas (Aidan Quinn), also in town to plug his latest best seller and reclaim the girl he can't get out of his head."

New York called this movie by Irish playwright Conor McPherson a "startlingly moving drama" where the personal stories are "intriguingly interrupted by the supernatural."

I love both Hinds and Quinn and can't wait to get a peek at this movie. There's no trailer up yet — bet that'll change if this deal gets done — but I've got a few photos stills from the movie that you can check out if you read more

I've been perusing the long list of interesting-looking movies scheduled for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which starts this week. Some of them, like Serious Moonlight, are starting to earn some buzz, and I'm anxious to find out what festivalgoers think once they've screened.

This movie looks interesting but no matter what happens, I'll always have bittersweet associations with it. Serious Moonlight will mark Cheryl Hines's directorial debut, and she worked with a screenplay written by the late Adrienne Shelly who was tragically murdered just before her movie Waitress opened in theaters. So while I'm obviously looking forward to more material from the wonderful Shelly, it's also another reminder of her untimely death.

But back to why this movie looks so good. First, the cast: Kristen Bell, Meg Ryan, Justin Long, and Timothy Hutton? Yes, please! Then there's the movie's description:

After she arrives at her country home for a romantic weekend getaway, things don't go exactly as planned for high-powered Manhattan lawyer Louise (Meg Ryan): Her husband of 13 years, Ian (Timothy Hutton), tells her he's leaving her for a younger woman (Kristen Bell). Soon Ian finds himself held captive by an oddly cool Louise, who explains that she won't release him until he commits to working on their marriage.

I love the idea of a movie about a woman kidnapping her cheating husband. What say you? Interested in learning more about this one?

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