‘No Man Of God’: Elijah Wood & Luke Kirby Explore Ted Bundy’s Corruptive Influence [Tribeca Review]

The challenges of bipartisanship are easy to spot. It’s casting a die for cooperation, a hope that with your differing neighbor you can find not just common cause but common decency.

When attempting a biopic about a rock ‘n roll icon, there’s an inherent conflict of style and substance. Biopics are traditionally dramatic, yet glossy affairs that bring an air of prestige to every story, whether it’s the tale of a stuttering king, a cagey criminal, or the man who made McDonald’s an international chain.

Kelly Ripa had fans doing a double take this week when she shared some pictures from the family photo album.

Much can be said about Megan Mylan’s latest documentary “Simple As Water.” Yet, as its title insinuates, the film succeeds in its calculated minimalism. Cataloging the plight of four Syrian families in the aftermath of war, Mylan’s heartfelt exploration of human strife infuses informative insight with harrowing revelations.

Acclaimed photojournalist Gordon Parks was something of a renaissance man. A photographer, writer, composer, film director, and activist—he imbued the American Black experience with a sense of gravitas, esteem, and pathos through his Black gaze.

Easing back into moviemaking after the months-long covid shutdown seems like a mighty stressful proposition, and from the looks of the cast and crew credits for “No Sudden Move,” Steven Soderbergh decided to alleviate that stress by surrounding himself with people he knew.

What would it be like to see your childhood friends rise to fame, scratch at fortune, then die tragically young, only to become googled curiosities and cautionary tales? This was the journey of Hamilton Chango Harris, who appeared alongside his real-life skater pals in Larry Clark’s 1995 hit, “Kids.” Now, Harris aims to rewrite the narrative of the late Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter with “The Kids,” a documentary that reveals disturbing behind-the-scenes secrets and their aftermath.

Like any other global event, there will come a time when COVID becomes a contextual landmark for art. It has a great deal of potential as a narrative shortcut for cinema in particular.

Based, in part, on Father James Martin’s bestselling book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity,” Evan Mascagni and Shannon Post’s compassionate documentary “Building a Bridge” use Martin as an entry point into a larger discourse surrounding the relationship between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ community.

Reclaiming Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson’s voice and personal narrative, “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” is an insightful but breezy introduction to the musical mastermind. Touching on everything from his early career to Beach Boys success and his drug use and mental illness, Brent Wilson and Jason Fine’s film may not reveal much about Wilson that isn’t covered in a Wikipedia article but still allows the musician to reclaim his own narrative.

Using Leonard Bernstein’s own voice, collected from his myriad interviews throughout his life, as well as personal letters, many of which were published in the 2013 book “The Leonard Bernstein Letters,” Douglas Tirola’s “Bernstein’s Wall” works as both a broad overview of the famous conductor’s life, as well as a deep dive into his political activism.

Reflective and stoic, sometimes to a fault, Levan Koguashvili’s film “Brighton 4th” explores the hyper-masculine world of Georgian wrestlers and gamblers in Brooklyn.

With its signature liveliness, unapologetic attitude, and visual splendor, New York City has so long been a set of romantic comedies that this location has become a cliché. So, how does Jonah Feingold, the writer/director of “Dating & New York,” aim to make his mark on this sparkling skyline? By creating a postmodern rom-com that blatantly snatches from iconic influences to deliver an irreverent commentary on the genre and modern romance.

Unlike recent Bundy projects (a’la 2019’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”), the movie couches his forbidden allure in Hagmaier’s perspective.

A man dressed as a Viking goes into a convenience store to trade furs for groceries; a trio of smugglers is on the verge of an escape across the border when a moose totals their car; a cop calls for a tracker dog, only to be told that it, “isn’t working today.” When asked what the hound could be doing, the other cop responds honestly, “No idea.

With three Ted Bundy films out in as many years, the filmmakers behind them are getting competitive.

Directors Amber Sealey and Joe Berlinger are in a little feud over their Ted Bundy films.

Using the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop for a quarantine-style romantic comedy, Roshan Sethi’s directorial debut, “7 Days,” which pushes two ideologically opposed young Indian-American characters together during shelter-in-place, is a compact, empathetic wonder that only occasionally dips into overtly broad comedy.

Directors Amber Sealey and Joe Berlinger got caught up in a feud, ahead of the Tribeca premiere of Sealey’s Ted Bundy pic No Man of God.

Narrative-averse portmanteau films are a tough nut to crack, yet not impossible.