The Wander List

a daily guide to wanderlust in the city

Find the Will to Leave Grace Alone May 4, 2009

I’d like to believe Debra Messing is following me. After all, she appeared next to me in line at the Hollywood Video in Los Angeles seven years ago. She wore sweat pants and purchased a Monsters Inc. stuffed animal. I wore track pants and purchased a bag of popcorn.

 

Then, this weekend, she sat behind me at a Tribeca Film Festival screening in New York. Coincidence? Perhaps we cross paths with people all the time and only realize it when they have famous faces. Or maybe I was meant to confess, once and for all, that I watch Will & Grace two times a day; I believe we would be great friends in real life; no, really, we would; our apparent appreciation of the cinema and comfortable clothing bolsters this assumption; and I would very much enjoy accompanying her for an encore performance of Midnight Train To Georgia (I got to go! I got to go!).

 

When she entered the Lower East Side theater — grey jeans, rain boots, no makeup and red hair pulled back in a ponytail – Chris spotted her first and got so flustered he spilled his Coke, sending a sticky river of soda down the floor. I ran frantically to fetch napkins while he mouthed the words “look. who’s. behind us.”  Basically, we played it cool.

 

Then the movie started, and we had the jolting experience of hearing “Grace” laugh at all the funny scenes. I wouldn’t need to accost the poor actress, I decided. It was enough to watch a movie with her and be The People Who Spilled the Coke. Maybe we’ll see her again in 2016.

 

Screen a Film in Tribeca May 1, 2009

Filed under: Arts and Culture,NYC Tribeca,Spring — thewanderlist @ 6:53 pm
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It’s not too late to snap up tickets to the Tribeca Film Festival, although the clock is ticking in Hitchcockian fashion.

 

While most advance seats are sold out, several remain for Sunday, when screenings wrap up. The final day is one of Tribeca’s most overlooked secrets, festival staff say. All the winning films – features, documentaries and shorts – are scheduled for encores. If you didn’t do your homework early enough to predict the runaway hits, you can let the jury do the work for you and settle in with some popcorn and an extra large Coke. You’ll want to stay awake long enough to cram in several shows. And if you’re out of town, get a taste at the YouTube Screening Room.

 

Just today, I nabbed a ticket for a late-night showing of All About Actresses, a French Film about, well, actresses. Maïwenn, an actress who takes a turn as director, points the camera at contemporaries like Charlotte Rampling, Karin Viard and Julie Depardieu. The result is a psychological portrait of actresses and their insecurities.

 

I’m also catching the Best Narrative Feature (yet to be announced) Sunday night. Flicks like Roger Dodger and Let the Right One In have taken home the prize in the past, so I’m hopeful. Also worth checking out that day is the Tribeca Family Festival, when the triangle below Canal Street hosts craft tents, kite flying, surprise performances and fine food from local restaurants. I’m in it for the kite flying. May 2, 2009; 10 a.m.-6 p.m.;  Greenwich Street between Hubert and Chambers Street.

 

Check back and I’ll let you know which films are worth searching out at an indie theater near you.

 

 
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