ULTRASOUND + FALSE POSITIVE + WEREWOLVES WITHIN + HOW IT ENDS + NO MAN OF GOD: Potential Tribeca Film Festival Standouts

The Oscars have been and gone already. That means we're well into 2021, even if it feels like the year has only just begun! Fortunately, there are a lot of film festivals to look forward to in this year's calendar, including some that didn't happen at all last year for obvious reasons. One of them is Tribeca. While some of the big-name film festivals went ahead with a virtual format last year, Tribeca decided it wasn't for them. After careful consideration, the festival was postponed - which meant a few film premieres got postponed along with it. Those films are back on the agenda for this year, and so is Tribeca.

Not only is Tribeca back, but it’s welcoming the world to attend. The doors are open to in-person attendees when the festival begins on June 9^th, but the rest of the world is also invited to join the party via virtual reality. Those who choose to show up in person will find a range of outdoor and indoor installations related to the festival scattered all over New York, while there are a few treats lined up for those watching virtually, too. It will be great to get back to normality, and it's good to see Tribeca up and running again, but the festival will only be a hit if it has great films to show us. Fortunately, based on the preview lineups we've seen, we won't need to worry about that.

Tribeca has always prided itself on providing an eclectic range of films for us to enjoy, and it will be doing the same in 2021. Here are a few of the Tribeca movies we're looking forward to seeing the most. We're not guaranteeing that they'll all be standouts, but we have high hopes for them!

Ultrasound

This Rob Schroeder movie has a synopsis that makes it sound like it ought to be a comedy, but we’re assured that it isn’t. Central characters Glen and Cyndi find themselves involved in an unexpected and unusual sexual encounter after Glen’s car breaks down. What happens after that defies explanation. Can Glen rely on his memory? What is memory anyway? What’s the real nature of the relationship between the couple whose lives he stumbled into? Nothing is what it seems in this mind-bending movie, which is based on Conor Stechschulte’s graphic novel “Generous Bosom.”

False Positive

We had fears for this film after learning that it had been sold to Hulu rather than scheduled for a movie theatre release, but now we think those fears might have been misplaced. Plenty of films will be coming to streaming rather than theatre audiences this year, and it won't always be a reflection of the quality of the films. This one, another horror tale, is written and directed by Jon Lee and features Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, and Pierce Brosnan. Tribeca will be its world premiere. With regards to the plot, all seems well for a young couple who’d been struggling to conceive after they meet a world-renowned fertility specialist. As you can probably guess from the genre, though, things don’t stay “well” for very long. Like “Ultrasound,” this film will also have you asking what’s real and what isn’t.

Werewolves Within

We’re taking a step or two away from horror and moving into comedy horror with a look at “Werewolves Within.” Werewolves will always make money at the box office. Werewolves make money in almost any format even with online games. “Curse of the Werewolf” is one of the most popular slots with online casinos, but the world of online casinos can be really confusing on where to play and sites like Sister Site really help to understand the best casinos to play at. "Werewolves Within" is a film that appears to have a high potential of making you feel like you've hit the jackpot on that online game. It's classic stuff - a snowstorm hits a remote town and knocks out the power, and something evil has come with the storm. Who will live? Who will die? How many heart-stopping jump scares will there be? Find out by watching this video game-inspired movie!

How It Ends

Maybe you don't want to move on from the 2020 global pandemic. Perhaps you'd rather wallow in it a little longer or take a moment to reflect on what happened to the world. If you do, we have the perfect movie for you. It's Daryl Wein's "How It Ends," and it's a comedic look at the end of the world that was filmed entirely under quarantine conditions at the height of the pandemic. You might wonder how that's possible, but you'll quickly come to understand as soon as you see the film. There's a good array of comedic talent involved in this film, including Zoe Lister-Jones and Olivia Wilde, with heavyweight backing from Helen Hunt and Fred Armisen. This won't be the most visually spectacular movie you see at the festival, but it might be the most poignant.

No Man Of God

It's a sad reflection of our society that so many of us are obsessed with serial killers, but that fascination exists all the same. That's one of many reasons that "No Man of God" is likely to be a big Tribeca hit. It tells the story of Ted Bundy through a series of interviews, exploring not only the notorious killer's crimes but also the effect that studying and pursuing him had on the people who fell into his orbit. The script is based on real-life transcripts of interviews between Bundy and FBI agent Bill Hagmaier, with Luke Kirby excellently cast as Bundy and Elijah Wood playing against type as Hagmaier. Amber Sealy was in the director's chair for this one. It's probably a little too "quiet" to be a box-office splash, but as an unblinking gaze into the human condition, it's utterly chilling.

There are dozens more films than this on the agenda for Tribeca, and if you asked a different writer, you'd probably get a different list of potential highlights. Everyone's opinion is different, which is why it's a good job that Tribeca offers the enormously wide range we talked about earlier! There will be something for everyone, so whether you're heading to New York or attending virtually, don't miss out on it.