10 Best Films of Tribeca 2023
In one way or another, each film at Tribeca 2023 leads into the next. The key throughline is empathy: when real-life communication feels disconnected, our art speaks to what we all have in common … and tries to shift perspective. The narrative feature films in this year’s festival accomplish this by tackling real-world issues through relatable characters; this year’s documentaries unpack broad, iconic phenomena to reveal the lesser-known human stories that brought them to life. In other words, these films reverse engineer something we love, or consume, and/or take for granted—a music genre, a social structure, family dynamics—and explore the humanity within. All great stories begin with attempts to connect: in the case of these films, they’re a direct product of communities formed around this desire.
After all, we’re instinctively narrative creatures: in order to find meaning, we connect objects, moments, people. Stories are as essential to us as food or shelter. So what’s so special about right now? Well, exactly that—it’s right now. The immediacy of Tribeca 2023’s program creates a snapshot of our collective conscience; their carefully-curated selection helps us see the broader narrative that connects us all. Sometimes we just need a frame to appreciate what’s right in front of us.
Here are my highlights from Tribeca 2023—five narrative, five docs, plus three honorable mentions—in no particular order beyond the conversation they have with each other.
Narrative Films:
The Graduates
Hannah Peterson
Quietly moving, deftly assured, Hannah Peterson’s debut feature The Graduates focuses on the aftermath of a school shooting. Taking a page from her mentors Sean Baker (The Florida Project) and Chloe Zhao (The Rider), Peterson—with the help of Executive Producer Zhao—channels palpably real performances to portray the anguish of all involved.
Edited by director Peterson, this eloquently-paced film is a powerful meditation on our attempts to move forward while honoring what we’ve lost. It’s also a study in emptiness: the hallways, lockers and hearts of these characters are negative spaces ... with the potential to be filled, but with what? Beyond the expected, The Graduates even contains moments of levity—including a shockingly funny group-therapy session, anchored by the film’s talented cast.
The fact that The Graduates can succeed independently of 2020’s The Fallout and this year’s Eric LaRue (see below)—both of which address the same subject—without feeling redundant, proves that one size doesn’t fit all in the aftermath of tragedy. It also proves, unfortunately, that we’re likely to see more until we take these films to heart.
Definitely Watch If: You’re in the mood for a quieter, deliberate, character-driven drama. You’re interested in contemplating grief. You’re interested in how to portray a sensitive subject matter authentically and effectively. You want to see Baker/Zhao-style artistry done by a fresh voice.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
Eric LaRue
Michael Shannon
Here’s the second film on this list to take place in the aftermath of a school shooting. Actor Michael Shannon’s deeply sensitive directorial debut Eric LaRue follows Judy Greer as Janice, the mother of the shooter in question. Shannon’s film, adapted from Brett Neveu’s 2002 play (yep, that long ago), is a far different exploration of grief and community, more focused on unanswered questions than with letting go. The emotional territory is the same, but the characters reside on the flip-side of the coin.
Judy Greer’s collaboration with Shannon is reason enough to watch the film. A welcome reason, given how unrelentingly painful this film is: an uphill battle for forgiveness akin to Manchester By The Sea. Comparable to Shannon’s own work in Take Shelter, Greer’s performance is a tour-de-force, a mix of maternal angst, dry humor and unresolved guilt. Soft focus cinematography plus a buzzing organ score—intentionally off-key—accentuate her isolation; while others find ways to cope and move on, she’s the only one still asking “why.”
There’s also, unexpectedly, a religious subplot—and here, viewers’ mileage may vary. The message is compelling: that organized religion is impotent, that blind faith often excuses inaction. It also provides delightfully offbeat turns for Alexander Skarsgård, Allison Pill and Paul Sparks. But the sheer amount of screentime devoted to these wacky insertions feels like overkill ... especially because Janice’s story alone is so powerful.
However: whether or not the subplot resonates, you’ll want to stick around. Eric LaRue culminates in a spellbinding climax that asks hard questions without moralizing. Most devastating of all, these questions may never have answers—at least not in this lifetime.
Definitely Watch If: You like guns, and think “thoughts and prayers” will save us from more school shootings. Or you need confirmation that the status quo is untenable. Or you welcome emotional complexity.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
The Line
Ethan Berger
Ethan Berger’s engrossing southern frat-house drama The Line is the third film on this list to confront real-world violence in American schools. Frat movies usually fall on two ends of a spectrum: all-out comedies (Animal House) or dark anti-hazing dramas (Goat). In both categories, frats are satirized to cartoonish effect; often, however, this vilification distances us from the characters and makes their problems easier to laugh at, even scorn. While The Line falls into the darker category, Berger’s film possesses such convincing, nuanced performances and attention to detail that it’s likely to reach its audience more effectively than any other anti-hazing PSA in history.
Co-written by director Berger, Zack Purdo and Alex Russek, The Line follows Alex Wolff as Tom, in full bro persona: backwards cap, Patagonia fleece, Tinted Costa sunglasses, affected southern drawl. Tom is permanently clenched in self-suppression, crushing his low-income roots and innate sense of empathy to be more like his pledge brothers. Believable to the core, he encapsulates how far we can deviate in our attempts to fit in—and how much that may cost us.
The Line makes it clear which side it stands on. “I’d rather be an asshole than a loser,” one pledge character sums it up. But despite its indictment of bro-culture—much like The Wolf of Wall Street—this film mixes mean-spirited fun with dramatic tension. The bros talk about getting girls, yet they trade homoerotic banter far more than they interact with the opposite sex. When Tom finally does ask out his liberal classmate Annabelle (the incisive Halley Bailey), his close-minded bros taunt him for talking to a girl with “armpit hair.” This leads to outright racism. Impending doom builds, and visuals match: ominous shots of backlit bros at a pledge line-up, facial features obscured in darkness. Stand-ins for the patriarchy still in control of our planet.
Overall, The Line is a taut, character-driven thriller—with enough mainstream appeal to draw even casual filmgoers. And PS, Alex Wolff’s performance is stand-out.
Definitely Watch If: You like thrillers. You’re morbidly curious about neotribalism. Or you’re thinking about rushing in the fall.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
Afire
Christian Petzold
A welcome relief from the cacophony of guns and bros, Christian Petzold’s smoldering drama Afire—which won a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlinale this year—offers a quieter slice-of-life. The film’s unlikable protagonist, Leon (a pitch-perfect Thomas Schubert), is a deeply insecure writer who shields himself with pomposity. His posturing is foiled by Nadja (the cheery yet inscrutable Paula Beer), who is patient well past the point of reason. While sharing a Baltic vacation home with two other friends, Leon struggles to get writing done—let alone get along with the rest of the group.
Even if you think this isn’t your type of film—just as Leon seems like someone we can’t possibly root for—Petzold and his cast will surprise you. Afire becomes a comedy of desire and miscommunication, felt most strongly in characters’ glances: the unspoken feelings that define relationships. Although its ending challenges expectations with a drastic tonal shift, the journey there is undeniably worthwhile. Even without a score or superfluous sounds, this dynamic interpersonal drama feels entirely complete, characterized by quiet confidence behind the camera and realistically imperfect behavior in front of it.
Definitely Watch If: You’re a fan of verbal drama, à la Eric Rohmer. You’re a writer, a grad student, and/or too self-absorbed. Or you can’t stand slow realism—because this might be the film that charms you into surrender.
Where to Watch: Released in German Theaters. Limited release in NYC theaters July 13th-20th. Wide release date pending.
Smoking Tigers
So Young Shelly Yo
Another quiet contemplation of relationships and responsibility, Smoking Tigers is a coming-of-age film in the most bittersweet sense—and one of the most truthful films in Tribeca 2023’s program. Last year, when this film was still in development, So Young Shelly Yo (writer/director) and Guo Guo (producer) won the 2022 AT&T Presents: Untold Stories Award at Tribeca. This year, their debut feature tells the story of Hayoung (the vivid Ji Young Yoo), a lonely 16-year-old Korean American girl who navigates her parents’ marital strife alongside her younger sister while enrolled in Hagwon (“cram school”)—which comes with new friends in a higher-income bracket.
Shelly Yo’s characters are compelling. Performances rely on subtlety, the dreamlike obscurity of looking back on past youth while coping with current struggles. Heyjin Jun’s cinematography captures memories in-the-making: rugs in a garage, a view through the rear window of a car, an empty house coming to life. Mirrors and reflections are a recurring, considered motif. Seemingly effortlessly, Smoking Tigers puts you in Hayoung’s headspace: even when she’s talking to someone else, the camera lingers on her reactions—almost like a dutiful parent. Scenes of miscommunication—and fleeting affection—between Hayoung and her father (the heartbreaking Jun-Ho Jeong) recall the wistful beauty of Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun.
Smoking Tigers feels simultaneously realistic and bold. The filmmakers earn every poignant frame.
Definitely Watch If: You like more grounded and lifelike stories, films whose characters have rich inner lives—like the work of Yasujiro Ozu, or Celine Song’s Past Lives. Or you’re curious about the Korean-American immigrant experience—one that feels far more universal than you may expect.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
Documentary Films
Break The Game
Jane M. Wagner
On the nonfiction side of personal-meets-universal is Jane M. Wagner’s astonishing screenlife doc, Break the Game. This supremely relatable film explores digital socializing; it will resonate with anyone who has ever shared anything online. It follows Legend of Zelda speedrunner Narcissa Wright and her tumultuous experiences with internet fame after she comes out as transgender. Co-starring is Alex Eastly, aka D_Gurl: a transgender Twitch streamer-turned-musician who becomes Wright’s love interest … and delivers key insights into their online perils.
Break the Game combines archival footage—mostly from Wright’s gaming streams on Twitch—with delightfully whimsical animation. Among the film’s best thrills are those that illustrate Wright’s emotional journey via her in-game adventures. One genuinely suspenseful sequence follows Wright as she tries to nail a speedrunning glitch—Breath of the Wild’s stasis-launch—which exploits the game’s ragdoll physics to send her avatar, Link, hurtling through the air. Other sequences are simultaneously elemental and brilliant: a poignantly timed “Start New Game” screen; a real-world drone shot that mirrors in-game geography; a montage of Wright arguing with trolls as she clobbers Bokoblin enemies in Zelda.
As a whole, Break the Game builds toward an emotional crescendo that gives Wright’s whimsical in-game efforts real-world stakes. Her virtual battles echo her real ones, and vice-versa.
The film won Wagner a “New Documentary Director Special Jury Mention” for innovative filmmaking. Translation: Break the Game is one of the most original, skillfully-crafted movies featured in this year’s festival. Moving, absorbing, taut and intimate, it confronts timely subjects—gaming, social media, mental health, trans visibility—all through a focus on a single gamer. Prepare to be transfixed.
You can read my full review + interview with Wagner and D_Gurl here.
Definitely Watch If: You care about mental health, gaming, social media and/or trans visibility. You care about innovative filmmaking. Or you’re chronically online and need a break.
Where to Watch: Outfest LA on July 17th and CinemaQ on August 12th. Wide release date pending.
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed
Stephen Kijak
On the subject of vilified LGTBQ icons, Stephen Kijak’s illuminating documentary explores the double life of titular Hollywood A-Lister, Rock Hudson—who spent his entire career in the closet until finally announcing his AIDS diagnosis from his deathbed. It’s inspiring to see how far queer representation has come since the mid-20th century when Hudson was active, but sobering to see how little progress has been made.
Adapted from Mark Griffin’s book of the same name, All That Heaven Allows is not the comprehensive chronicle of Hudson’s career that some might expect. Rather, the film’s focus is on his life behind-the-scenes: what we can glean from what wasn’t publicized at the time. This may disappoint film historians, but it will surely inspire LGBTQ audiences—or anyone who has codeswitched just to keep their job.
Well-edited, paced and explained for anyone who didn’t grow up with Rock Hudson, the narrative is a microcosm for the hardships faced by LGBTQ people both in film and in general. In All-American Hudson’s case, he was pushed into a sham-marriage and forced to parody gay stereotypes onscreen in order to protect his reputation. Kijak’s doc presents him as a tragic hero and activist for the LGBTQ community and beyond.
At its heart, Rock Hudson is an astonishing testament to how hard it is to put your authentic self forward when your audience expects something else. All That Heaven Allows paints layers of irony: a society so afraid of difference that it forces Hudson to adhere to a masculine ideal that suffocates his own reality. In a twisted turn, he becomes a representative for both queer AND straight communities—unable to live fully as either.
Definitely Watch If: You’re passionate about LGBTQ representation, masculinity, and/or pop culture idolatry. Or you’re curious about the dark side of Hollywood.
Where to Watch: Now streaming on Max.
Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall
Ben DiGiacomo, Dutty Vannier
More about consuming cultural icons without remorse: Ben DiGiacomo and Dutty Vannier’s Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall is a glorious introduction to the influential music genre. For laypeople, it’s an accessible, exuberant exploration of dancehall subculture; for fans of the genre, new and old, it’s an intoxicating highlight reel. For gentrifiers and cultural appropriators, be forewarned— This film is especially for you.
Basically, Brooklyn Dancehall is Pop Culture 101. Among the doc’s key takeaways is how often the dancehall genre is conflated with reggaeton and hip hop, without due credit for how much it influenced them. Dancehall possesses a rich standalone history—one that exists in direct response to the treatment of immigrants and marginalized subcultures. In this film, all that is transformed into cool and hilarious: more “yeah, you should know this” than homework assignment.
Chances are you’ve heard of musical icons like Shaggy (who executive produced the doc), Sean Paul, Super Cat, Shabba Ranks, Shinehead, Ding Dong, and Bogle. OK, maybe not all of them, but you’ve surely listened to some of their work—or the music it inspired. Dancehall takes several steps back to explore their cultural origins: with plenty of humor, satisfying needle drops and judgment-free commentary.
Above all, Bad Like Brooklyn Dancehall is genuinely enriching and heartfelt. Not to mention brimful of great music. This doc paints a portrait we’ve seen before but rarely acknowledge—how the mainstream hits we so often consume come from communities we still actively marginalize. Consistently pushed aside, forced to find a voice, these subcultures create great art; while we, over time, embrace and co-opt without respect for roots.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds your ears. Don’t diss the artists who birthed your dance moves.
Definitely Watch If: You want to watch a fun doc with great music, or care about co-opted culture. Or you like the dances in Fortnite.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
The Saint of Second Chances
Jeff Malmberg and Morgan Neville
The duo who brought us Wont You Be My Neighbor (2018)—Morgan Neville produced and directed, Jeff Malmberg edited—return with another heart-warmer, this time with both as directors. Unexpectedly, The Saint of Second Chances explores a more notorious character, Mike Veeck, nepo-baby of legendary MLB owner Bill Veeck, who blows up his family legacy and then tries to redeem it. For those unfamiliar with the Veecks, this may seem a bit inside baseball (inevitable pun), but just beneath the surface lies a surprisingly relatable and deeply moving family saga.
Saint of Second Chances is a documentary that knows it’s a movie and likes to remind you, usually to comedic effect. Charlie Day plays Veeck in flashbacks with cheeky self-awareness. The real Mike Veeck—and by extension the entire narrative—has a frank sense of humor, 20/20 hindsight and welcome vulnerability. At one point, when the film jokes about how it should end, some might agree—but then the ensuing segment absorbs us all over again. Even better, while exploring the baseball mogul’s failures, we learn a thing or two about humanity’s potential for personal growth.
At its best, this feels profoundly universal.
In some midway scenes, however, the doc vacillates between personal and broad. This is in part because of Veeck’s biggest screw-up, the infamous “Disco Sucks” night: an out-of-control event with unintended consequences—including homophobia and racism. The inextricable link between bigotry and capitalism is alluded to only in passing; the film misses an opportunity to use Veeck as a window on American culture. Even so, the film’s last third is so strong, it’s hard to fault it for streamlining the midsection—and ultimately choosing personal over broad.
In its final inning, The Saint of Second Chances hits a home run. Without further spoilers, this is where we get to the heart of Veeck’s story, and how far he’s come. It’s also where the film reveals its powerful thesis: we all have potential ... and we all deserve second, third and fourth chances.
Definitely Watch If: You like baseball, docs that don’t take themselves too seriously, and films about family. You like movies that tug your heart-strings.
Where to Watch: Netflix release date set for late 2023.
Songs About Fucking
James Gallagher
Speaking of family, here’s another hilarious doc that starts as a celebrity character-study and turns into an exploration of family, and more. Songs About Fucking—the ballad of bathrobe-clad musician/performance artist Marc Rebillet, directed by James Gallagher—premiered to cheering crowds at Tribeca 2023. Songs transcends its ostensible purpose and becomes something deeper: an intimate journey laced with rich streaks of genuine fun.
Uproarious and surprisingly moving, the film follows songwriter-turned-showman Marc Rebillet on his cross-country “Third Dose Tour.” Gallagher—a gifted filmmaker with an eye for composition—captures moods that suggest greater depth. The same way Rebillet delivers playful lyrics with irresistible instrumentals, Gallagher’s artful choices elevate sophomoric humor; his sincere, more lyrical moments feel properly earned. Rebillet—a gifted musician with a knack for goofy antics—developed a substantial following on social media that swelled to new highs during Covid. Together—with a certain amount of doubt along the way—they wound up with a portrait of a quintessentially 2020’s artist, a hilarious sonic poem about life and death.
Never has pee pee and poo poo felt so operatic.
You can read my full review + interview with Rebillet and Gallagher here.
Definitely Watch If: You’re a fan of Rebillet; you’re tickled by ribald, potty humor; you’re jazzed by music docs, pop culture icons and/or internet celebrities. Or you’re looking for a breezy, low-stakes doc with something to say. Or you’re simply exhausted by everything you’re supposed to take seriously.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
Three Honorable Mentions:
Q
Jude Chehab
Winner of the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director, Lebanese filmmaker Jude Chehab wrote, produced, directed and shot Q, a painterly tale of spiritual devotion. Intimate, questioning, even soulful, the narrative is more entwined in family than faith—or rather, faith in family. What truly makes this doc stand out is Chehab’s stunning cinematography: her vérité compositions give us some of the festival’s most memorable visuals ... well worthy of the renowned Albert Maysles.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
The Gullspång Miracle
Maria Fredriksson
In a vein similar to Three Identical Strangers, this mind-boggling doc hints at a conspiracy regarding long-lost siblings—and then, like Q, becomes a story about faith vs. skepticism. Graced by skillful visuals and editing, Swedish filmmaker Maria Fredriksson’s The Gullspång Miracle is compelling, intriguing but potentially frustrating, mainly because of its loose-threads syndrome: it promises mystery without resolution; its characters are more interesting than its plot twists. Instead of expecting a “miracle,” watch this film for its offbeat humor and endearingly eccentric family dynamics.
Where to Watch: Release date pending.
Stan Lee
David Gelb
David Gelb—director of the masterful Jiro Dreams of Sushi—has now brought us Stan Lee, a rousing ode to creativity and entertainment from the lips of the Marvel legend himself. (The film is literally narrated by Lee’s interview excerpts.) As portraits go, it’s more hagiographic than multi-dimensional (past conflicts with Lee co-creators Kirby and Ditko are understandably downplayed), but with good cause: it’s hard to avoid Lee’s influence on cinema and entertainment as a whole—and undeniably fascinating to pick apart his own superhero origin story. Best of all, we get to take his message to heart: make yourself the audience, write what entertains you ... and if you believe it’s good, don’t let idiots talk you out of it. Persist.
Where to Watch: Now streaming on Disney+.