This year’s Tribeca Film Festival includes
the world premiere of two feature films with Brooklyn connections:
"Brother’s Shadow" and "The Big Bad Swim."
Directed by former Carroll Gardens resident Todd Yellin, "Brother’s
Shadow," is the story of Jake Groden (Scott Cohen), a down-and-out
prodigal son who returns to Brooklyn after his brother’s death.
He tries to patch things up with his curmudgeonly father (Judd
Hirsch) and skeptical sister-in-law (Susan Floyd), while forging
a relationship with his teen nephew (Elliot Korte), who didn’t
even know he existed.
While the clan agonizes over selling their furniture biz, Jake
steps into his twin brother’s shoes – and bed – with incendiary
results.
To create a realistic woodworking shop and believable craftsmen,
Yellin, 40, told GO Brooklyn that he turned to East Williamsburg
designer Scott Braun – only to find that life really did imitate
art.
"He inspired some of the main character," Yellin recalled.
"He does really interesting designs and is the ’anti-machine’
guy that I was trying to make Jake into."
Braun said that although documentary filmmakers have approached
him in the past, this is the first time his insight was sought
for a narrative film.
"[Yellin] wanted an opinionated, iconoclastic, Brooklyn,
Jewish furniture maker and it turns out there was one and it
was me," said Braun with a laugh. "There’s a whole
scene about the difference between planing and sanding – that’s
all my shtick.
"That’s what appealed to me: the way they were trying to
make furniture-making a character in the movie, like what ’Sideways’
did for wine," said Braun, the president of Furniture New
York. "For me, it was exciting to have a voice in the way
the public looks at furniture-making."
In addition to his techniques and theories, some examples of
Braun’s furniture were shot for the film as well as works by
Jonah Zuckerman of DUMBO’s City Joinery and Susan Woods of DUMBO’s
Aswoon.
Yellin shot on location all over the borough; in one scene, a
dejected Jake lies near the water in DUMBO – with the River Cafe
as a backdrop.
While his hero, er, anti-hero may be down and out, there’s nothing
but celebration on tap for Yellin, who dubs himself "a gritty
survivor" who navigated the competitive movie industry’s
"endurance test" for years before arriving at the festival’s
"NY, NY Narrative Feature Competition."
"I am thrilled," said Yellin. "Almost all of the
actors are New York-born. I think it’s appropriate that the world
premiere should be here."
Yellin’s film is competing with 12 other movies, including William
Tyler Smith’s menage a trois flick, "Kiss Me Again,"
also set in Brooklyn.
Good to be ’Bad’
Showing in the festival’s "Discovery" section, which
highlights "up-and-coming directors," is "The
Big Bad Swim" (pictured, top) by Park Slope filmmaker Ishai
Setton, 26.
"It’s nerve-wracking," said Setton of the honor bestowed
on his feature film debut. "It’s overwhelming right now
– but in a good way."
In Setton’s work, a diverse group of adults gather at a suburban
recreation center to learn how to swim from unflappable hunk,
Noah (Jeff Branson of "All My Children"). Over the
next six weeks, the students make friends, quarrel, hook up and
confront their fears with varying degrees of success.
Between classes, Amy (Paget Brewster), a high school calculus
teacher enduring a bad break-up with her husband, reaches out
to confident beauty Jordan (Jess Weixler, a Carroll Gardens resident)
for some girl talk – while Jordan paddles her way towards Noah.
In the meantime, Jordan’s little brother, David, decides to make
his sister the subject of a documentary for a class assignment,
which threatens to reveal the unconventional career path Jordan’s
chosen in order to pay the bills.
Jordan’s brother is played by Setton’s real-life sibling, 19-year-old
Avi, an alum of "Wet Hot American Summer" who’s currently
enrolled as a freshman at New York University. The experience
seems to be a positive one, as the Setton Brothers are currently
collaborating on a screenplay that Ishai describes as being "about
a conservative Jewish family vacationing in a place rife with
spring-breakers."
Also screening at this fifth annual Tribeca Film Festival are
"Saint of 9/11," Glen Holsten’s documentary about Father
Mychal Judge, the Brooklyn-born FDNY chaplain who died in the
terror attacks; and the directorial debut of Bushwick native
Rosie Perez, whose documentary is called "Yo Soy Boricua,
pa’ que tu lo sepas! (I’m Boricua, just so you know!)."
The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 25-May 7. Tickets can
be purchased at the festival box office, 13-17 Laight St. at
Varick Street in Manhattan. For information about box office
hours, film schedule, festival passes and ticket prices, visit
the Web site www.tribecafilmfestival.org
or call (866) 941-3378.
