Tribeca Debuts Strong Documentaries as ‘Inside Out 2’ Saves the Box Office

Screen Talk co-hosts Ryan Lattanzio and Anne Thompson talk about the latest Tribeca Film Festival, a well-attended local event that doesn’t register outside New York City. Lattanzio attended a screening and panel for Alex Gibney’s upcoming HBO documentary “Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos,” including creator Chase, writer Matt Weiner, and cast members Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli, among others.

Notably, there was no VR at Tribeca (or Sundance), and more AI, said Lattanzio, who attended a controversial event with five filmmakers who made Sora-generated short films that were in some instances like “high-minded perfume ads,” he said. Others were more successful in their approach, commissioned by OpenAI after the Tribeca alums were selected by the festival. On the panel, several filmmakers (including “Nanny” director Nikyatu Jusu) said they planned to use this tech for proof-of-concepts to pitch features.

Lattanzio reviewed one documentary that may stir up conversation: “Sabbath Queen,” about a gay rabbi exiled from Israel who becomes a drag queen leading a God-optional congregation. Now, the ex-Orthodox rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie has turned conservative.

Another high-profile documentary coming up post-Tribeca is Irene Taylor’s “I Am: Celine Dion” (Amazon Prime, June 25), a rare portrait of a musician that is not hagiographic, with no talking heads. We see Celine Dion in everyday life, performing her famous power ballads in concert, and enduring a neurological condition, Stiff Person Syndrome, that results in an on-screen seizure. It’s the most honest Dion has ever been about her illness, and she promises she’ll be back singing in public again soon even if she has to crawl on the stage.

Opening next week is the venerated Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in the Czech Republic. Besides an Eastern European competition, this year’s edition features tributes to Daniel Brühl, Viggo Mortensen, Clive Owen, and Nicole Holofcener. Steven Soderbergh will be on hand for a Kafka retrospective featuring his 1991 film “Kafka” as well as his re-edited, shorter version.

Opening wide this weekend is Jeff Nichols’ motorcycle movie “The Bikeriders” (Focus), which is a tweener, neither art film nor genre flick, starring Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Mike Faist.

The summer box office was saved last weekend by Pixar blockbuster “Inside Out 2,” scoring $438 million worldwide, along with Will Smith’s “Bad Boys” sequel still holding steady.

Coming up is “Pig” director Michael Sarnoski’s “A Quiet Place: Day One,” Marvel sequel “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and Oz Perkins’ “Longlegs” (Neon) starring Nic Cage as a devil-worshipping serial killer. But of course!

Stay tuned as next week’s “Screen Talk” digs into Westerns to celebrate the opening of Kevin Costner’s “Horizon.”

Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.

Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk