Tribeca Capsule Reviews - The Line, Cinnamon, and Cypher
The Line - After seeing Animal House at age 11, I knew I wanted to join a fraternity in college. After seeing The Line, I’m really glad I didn’t follow through on that. Alex Wolff plays Tom, a college sophomore being groomed by his prestigious frat’s president (Lewis Pullman) to take over. They’ve been warned that the fraternity is not allowed to haze, but that goes out the window during a weekend trip that goes tragically wrong. Meanwhile, Tom attempts to romance a young co-ed named Annabelle (Halle Bailey) who brings out the sensitive guy he tries to hide around his friends. The Line boasts excellent performances, especially from Wolff and Bo Mitchell, who plays Mitch Miller, a belligerent, entitled frat boy. (John Malkovich cameos as Mitch’s wealthy father.) The movie dives deep into the twisted mindset of fraternities, where pledges have to prove their worth by demeaning themselves and being abused by the very people who are supposed to be their “brothers.” It’s a potent morality tale that leaves you rattled.
Cinnamon - Here’s yet another crime movie that unsuccessfully tries to emulate the style of Quentin Tarantino. It starts off promisingly, with aspiring singer/gas station employee Jody (Hailey Kilgore) falling in love with petty thief Eddie (David Iocono). They need money to get to Los Angeles so she can have a crack at entering the music biz. To do that, they plot a staged robbery of her workplace. Then writer/director Bryian Keith Montgomery, Jr. gets bogged down following her crooked boss (Damon Wayans) and the business partners he’s been screwing out of profits. Kilgore and Iocono are charming and charismatic, and it’s fun to see the legendary Pam Grier in a supporting role as a deaf crime family matriarch. Otherwise, Cinnamon is filled with flat characters, overwritten dialogue, and nasty violence.
Cypher - This mockumentary won the U.S. Dramatic Competition prize, and I find that baffling. Parts of the movie are legit, as they track the rise of Philadelphia rapper Tierra Whack (although not in a very enlightening way). Around 20 minutes in, the performer is approached by an odd fan who spouts nonsense about MK Ultra and the Illuminati. When that woman later goes missing, Whack becomes a suspect. Strange things also begin happening that suggest she’s being watched by a cult called “the Occulists” – or something along those lines. To make a weirdo premise like this work, the audience has to wonder if what they’re seeing is real or not. Cypher is obviously, painfully fake in those moments, which takes away from the illusion. Aside from that, they add nothing to our understanding of who Tierra Whack is as a rapper. If there was a point to this film, I completely missed it.
