The Most Anticipated Movies at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival

Last month, we kept Austin weird—now, it’s time to do the same in the Big Apple. And by “weird,” we’re talking zombie beavers, British prison inmates, northeastern drug smugglers, and Brooklyn vampires not played by Eddie Murphy—all seen in one jam-packed week.

After last month’s excellent SXSW Film Festival experience, the Complex Pop Culture team is ready to right back into that state of mind for New York City's Tribeca Film Festival (running from April 16-27). Co-founded by Robert De Niro and veteran movie producer Jane Rosenthal back in 2002, Tribeca unites next-up indie directors from all around the globe to Manhattan for nearly two weeks’ worth of DIY filmmaking. Lower Manhattan turns into a cinema haven—many up-and-coming directors’ homemade dreams become worldwide distribution realities, others retreat to trendy Chelsea-area bars to drink away the pain caused by scathing reviews, and the rest fight for any attention whatsoever.

Getting that attention will be tougher than ever, too. Once again, Tribeca’s 2014 film lineup strikes just the right balance between starrier must-sees (led by familiar faces like Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Elizabeth Banks) and inconspicuous debuts from the filmmakers with whom those stars will want to collaborate in the near future. But there’s something extra special about this latest movie crop. The overall quality at Tribeca seems to be at its highest caliber yet.

Hence why trimming the fest’s 100-plus features into the following list of The Most Anticipated Movies at Tribeca was comparable to pulling teeth. Which, come to think of it, could very well happen in a few of these movies. Just not the one with Keira Knightley. Because, let's be real here.

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Director: One9

“Rappers, I monkey flip ‘em with the funky rhythm/I be kicking’, musician, inflictin’ composition.”

With that opening bit of verbal gymnastic, Nasir Jones quickly immortalized himself in hip-hop. Those words, of course, are the first ones heard on “N.Y. State of Mind,” the first official song on Nas’ 1994 debut album, Illmatic, an undisputed classic and the beginning of one of rap’s most storied careers. On the record’s 20th anniversary, documentarian One9’s Time is Illmatic flashes back to the lyricist’s early days in Queensbridge, when he just another hungry street-corner MC struggling to get a break.

In today’s climate of Young Thug’s and Future’s, it’s quite likely that present-day rap fans, the kids who consider Drake’s So Far Gone to be “old-school,” couldn’t name one song from Illmatic. A damn shame, too, but a reality that lends One9’s film (this year’s Tribeca opening night premiere) an added layer of importance.

Through personal anecdotes from Nasty Nas himself, as well as his Illmatic collaborators, Time is Illmatic should put the album into a historical context beyond online listicles that rank it as one of the all-time best more so out of respect than intimate knowledge. —Matt Barone

Director: Jesse Zwick
Stars: Maggie Grace, Max Greenfield, Jane Levy, Max Minghella, Nate Parker, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Ritter

About Alex sounds like this generation's The Big Chill: a group of old friends who've grown apart reunite for a weekend when one of their buddies is suffering a tragedy. Time and distance prove too much, however, and they discover that who they once were doesn't mesh with who they are now. And yes, shit gets awkward.

With a talented and hilarious cast that includes Aubrey Plaza, Max Greenfield, and Jason Ritter, this film will surely cancel out all those comparisons and stand on its own. Forget The Big Chill, it's all About Alex. —Tara Aquino

Director: Amy Berg
Stars: Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald, Nate Parker, Common

Amy Berg (the director of West of Memphis) makes her narrative film debut with an adaptation of Laura Lippman's novel, Every Secret Thing. It's a haunting drama about a couple of convicted criminals (Danielle MacDonald and Dakota Fanning) struggling reintegrate into society after being imprisoned for seven years for a kidnapping.

Despite keeping a low profile, all eyes end up back on the duo when another child goes missing and two detectives (Elizabeth Banks and Nate Parker) are called in to investigate, unraveling more secrets of the community they didn't expect. —Tara Aquino

Director: John Carney
Stars: Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, James Corden, Yasiin Bey, Cee Lo Green, Catherine Keener

Sometimes all you need is a sickeningly sweet musical movie to brighten your day. Enter: Begin Again, from Once director John Carney.

Starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, the film tells the story of two down-on-their-luck music fiends (one a singer/songwriter, the other a label exec) who decide to forget everyone who's ever screwed them over and embark on a new musical journey together. Expect to add their sweet tunes on that "Anti-Anxiety" playlist you've created on Spotify. —Tara Aquino

Director: Jordan Rubin
Stars: Cortney Palm, Rachel Melvin, Lexi Atkins, Jake Weary, Peter Gilroy, Hutch Dano

It’s been called “the next Sharknado,” which is basically all anyone needs to know about Zombeavers. That should make you want to either one of two things: line up outside the appropriate NYC Tribeca movie theater right now to behold the ridiculous B-movie insanity, or immediately decide to never watch a second of a movie that’s about zombie beavers.

Around here, much to our own shame, the single-minded exploitation quality of Zombeavers is enough to make us bite. Already a viral sensation, comedian turned writer-director Jordan Rubin’s simple and giddily gory exhibition of undead beavers mauling beautiful co-eds is about as unpretentious as cinema gets. Rubin’s made the quintessential see-it-with-a-crowd movie. It's one that, even if it’s artistic and narrative merits are more Really Crappy than Roger Corman, is earnest in its silliness. —Matt Barone

Director: Lou Howe
Stars: Rory Culkin, David Call, Deirdre O'Connell, Emily Meade, Louisa Krause, Lynn Cohen, Alexia Rasmussen

Rory Culkin has been in the shadows of his brothers Macaulay and Kieran, but expect him to break out with this powerful Tribeca opener.

As the titular character, Culkin plays a broken teenager on an obsessive journey to reunite with his true love. Despite the concern of his family, nothing can stop him from achieving the happiness he so desperately and dangerously seeks. It's not the whimsical indie it sounds like, however, as rookie filmmaker Lou Howe delivers a nuanced and deeply effecting film that's sure to leave audiences silenced by emotion. —Tara Aquino

Director: Chris Messina
Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Don Johnson, Derek Luke, Katie Nehra, Chris Messina, Skylar Gaertner

Alex of Venice is doubly exciting. For one, it’s the directorial debut from veteran actor Chris Messina, the kind of charismatic scene-stealer who consistently upgrades everything he’s in, including his current steady gig, Fox’s winning sitcom The Mindy Project. To ease into his first time behind the camera, Messina, who also co-stars in Alex of Venice, chose a character-driven drama that’s not unlike the best films on his resume—Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays an attorney whose work-first mentality gets thrown into whack when her husband (Messina’s role) asks for a separation.

A premise that, yes, sounds a lot like countless other indie films out there, but those other flicks don’t star Mary Elizabeth Winstead. One of Hollywood’s most underrated talents, the one-time “scream queen” is continuing her smart and bold career redirection towards smaller projects, following 2012’s excellent alcoholism drama Smashed and her recent SXSW highlight Faults. With Alex of Venice, she’s in the forefront, given the type of character that actresses her age would probably kill for. Expect her to, figuratively speaking, do all of the killing. —Matt Barone

Director: David Mackenzie
Stars: Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, Rupert Friend

Anyone who's ever watched the UK version of Skins can attest: Jack O'Connell is a beast. The 23-year-old actor is basically a hybrid of Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender. His intensity and commitment on screen is unmatched, and he acts like he's just dug into the farthest depths of his soul.

That's why we'd expect nothing less of him in Starred Up, a gritty prison drama that reunites a father (Ben Mendelsohn) and son (O'Connell), forcing them, in the darkest of places, to fix their relationship and each other. —Tara Aquino

Director: Susanna Fogel
Stars: Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody, Mark Feuerstein, Gabourey Sidibe, Abby Elliott

Best friends Sasha (Leighton Meester) and Paige (Gillian Jacobs) have been living blissfully content with the idea that all they have is each other. Paige has been too picky to settle on a guy, and Sasha's life is in too much of a disarray to even consider dating a mature woman.

That is, until Mr. Actually Pretty OK (Adam Brody) shows up in Paige's life, pushing her friendship with Sasha to the sidelines. Whether or not their friendship survives its inevitable growth process is a mystery, but one thing's certain: it's a mystery that's guaranteed to resonate with all audiences. —Tara Aquino

Director: Onur Tukel
Stars: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Dakota Goldhor, Onur Tukel, Dustin Guy, Melodie Sisk, Jason Selvig, Alex Karpovsky

Look, we get it—you’re tired of movies and TV shows about vampires. You’re not alone. The sad reality is that, for every unique bloodsucker subversion like Ana Lily Amirpour’s recent Sundance highpoint A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, there are just as many, if not more, lame Twilight progeny or one-dimensionally sexed-up True Blood wannabes. The undead, frankly, are nearing a creative death.

Fingers crossed, then, that NYC filmmaker Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood joins the league of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Working to the film’s early advantage is the fact that it’s a comedy, one about a Brooklyn schlub trying to maintain his previously mundane BK lifestyle after he’s bitten by a vampire. And in that, Summer of Blood has the potential to be the most relatable vamp film in years.

Admit it, the story of a guy whose separation from his girlfriend sends him into an everyday lull strikes a chord. Now, add in some Bram Stoker qualities and you’ve got something. —Matt Barone

Director: Christopher Denham
Stars: Wrenn Schmidt, Aaron Staton, Pablo Schreiber

The most underrated found-footage horror movie of the last 10 years? It just might be Christopher Denham’s Home Movie, the 2008 nightmare-fuel about a set of parents trying to figure out what’s wrong with their increasingly malevolent grade-school twin children. Intelligently written, it’s a skillful exercise in pacing and favoring atmosphere over cheap jump scares; on the technical side, it’s proof-positive that the first-person POV directorial style can be used for more than just shaky-cam tension.

Denham, who’s an actor by day (see: Shutter Island, Argo), is finally back with another horror flick, and this time he’s taking on another overdone genre storytelling trope: survival in the woods. In Preservation, TV character actors Wrenn Schmidt (Boardwalk Empire), Aaron Staton (Mad Men), and Pablo Schreiber (Orange is the New Black) play characters who on paper appear to be your typical “privileged, attractive types kicking back in the wilderness” when, per usual, someone or something turns their idyllic retreat into a bloodbath.

Except that, since it’s Denham we’re talking about here, chances are Preservation won’t turn into a derivative version of Wrong Turn or Deliverance. He’s too crafty for that. —Matt Barone

Director: Charlie McDowell
Stars: Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson

We were already stoked to hear about director Charlie McDowell's film debut The One I Love. We've been fans of the guy since he started his site Dear Girls Above Me. But the acclaim the film received when it debuted at Sundance just got us more hyped.

In the dramedy, Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss play a married couple making a last ditch effort to save their marriage torn by infidelity. What's meant to be a quiet weekend getaway escapes them, throwing out with it the typical rom-com formula. Tribeca promises the film will be an "inventive twist on the love story." Comparisons to Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman were made by critics at Sundance.

Start getting excited. —Tara Aquino

Director: Ivan Kavanagh
Stars: Rupert Evans, Antonia Campbell Hughes, Hannah Hoekstra, Steve Oram, Kelly Byrne

There’s a specific kind of horror movie fan who has no interest in laughing while watching their beloved fright films. For them, films like Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem or, on a mainstream level, the Ethan Hawke-led Sinister are preferred—it’s the “horror” genre, after all, where you’re supposed to be unsettled, not tickled.

If bleakness is what you want, the Irish flick The Canal could end up being your new favorite movie. It’s as dread-drenched as horror films get, following a film archivist (played by Rupert Evans) who, along with his wife and their young son, moves into a new house that also happens to be the site of a domestic massacre. Yup, very The Shining, and with its use of creepy video footage to jump-start its central mystery, The Canal also has touches of The Ring and the aforementioned Sinister.

But writer-director Ivan Kavanagh is, thankfully, not a biter. He’s a twisted visualist who loads The Canal with a surplus of striking, unique, and viscerally disturbing imagery. None of which will be spoiled here, but, trust, The Canal is legitimate nightmare fuel. —Matt Barone

Director: Aron Gaudet, Gita Pullapilly
Stars: Emory Cohen, Callan McAuliffe, Aidan Gillen, Sarah Sutherland, Zoe Levin

The Tribeca website’s official synopsis for Beneath the Harvest Sky opens with this high praise: “A Stand By Me for the next generation of boys becoming men.” Interest = piqued.

Now, let’s just hope that co-directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly can live up to the Stephen King-centric hyperbole. The Maine-set Beneath the Harvest Sky doesn’t veer towards the dark side via a missing dead body, though. Here, the conflict derives from drug smuggling, which teenager Casper (Emory Cohen) falls into no thanks to his bastard of a father (Aidan Gillen, a.k.a. Littlefinger on Game of Thrones). Casper’s buddy Dominic (Callan McAuliffe) wants the two of them to bust out of Maine and start fresh in Boston.

It’s that tug-of-war between adolescent dreams and nefarious parental guidance where Beneath the Harvest Sky should become something much more complex than Stand By Me. That’s the hope, at least. —Matt Barone

Director: Till Kleinert
Stars: Michel Diercks, Pit Bukowski, Uwe Preuss, Ulrike Hanke-Hänsch, Kaja Blachnik, Christopher Guy Kane, Janin Halisch, Ulrike Bliefert, Michael Fritz Schumacher

No respectable film festival is complete without at least one batshit foreign genre film, and Germany’s Der Samurai certainly fits that bill in this year’s Tribeca lineup.

Check the premise: There’s a cop, right, and he starts investigating a serial killer who, according to eyewitnesses, is dressed in a white woman’s dress and slices victims up with a samurai sword. And when said cop gets closer to the homicidal maniac both physically and psychologically, he starts to see more of himself in the cross-dressing swordsman than he’d like to.

Based on that plot synopsis alone, Der Samurai is a must-see for anyone who operates on Permanent Midnight sensibilities. But word has it that first-time filmmaker Till Kleinert has a visually gorgeous, art-house-minded directing style, making this bizarre two-hander the evil bastard offspring of I Saw the Devil and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears. And what could possibly be better than that? —Matt Barone