Tribeca Shorts: THE NEW TENANTS

Trying to escape from a busybody/new neighbor is a nightmare in itself without the rest of past interconnected characters showing up at the door of THE NEW TENANTS, a fast-paced, chain-reactive, chain-smoking, day-in-the-life of two men and their first day in an apartment that has an unnerving "dead man" history. Joachim Back received the 2009 Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action which has Vincent D'Onofrio and Kevin Corrigan balancing the other talented and superbly cast actors, Jamie Harrold, David Rakoff, Liane Balaban many of whom were at the Tribeca screening including "the Grandma".

Quick wit and perfect timing every time the doorbell rang, makes this film a high-end, stand out from the otherwise low-end, disappointing shorts segment Hardcore previously known as New York, New York. Most of the the films in this grouping were mediocre, student films with some technical merit but not holding up to the top notch anchor film with weak story lines, little character development, trite dialogue and cliched acting. It was surprising to see this lopsided programming in a prime Saturday afternoon time slot where the full-house, crowd emptied quickly opting to miss out on the filmmaker Q&A. Hopefully, the other shorts groupings are better suited in their respective segments.