Notes from our February 4th screening

It was a full house at 92YTribeca on February 4th for a special romance-themed Iron Mule.  Guest judge romance novelist Hope Tarr joined us and spoke a bit about her work and about romance in general.  Romance, Hope said, means that there must be a happy ending, which generally fits for comedies.

Guest judge Hope Tarr with Jay and Victor
photo by Tom Henning

First in the lineup was our iThentic.com film, The Rules of the Game, written by Sam Michell and directed by Tom Daley.  Hope liked it because it had a "hot English guy" as the lead, although the happiness of the ending is questionable.  You can judge for yourself by watching it here.

Next was Love, our Canadian entry for the evening, written and directed by Kaveh Nabatian.  This movie is difficult to describe without ruining it, but simply put it's a very whimsical and oddly told odd story about a couple that have a one-night stand and end up with a family in the most unexpected of ways.

Next was Oh Baby, I Love You! by Mary Angelica Molina, which tells the story of a woman who has a sexual quirk that threatens to destroy a relationship she cares about before it gets started.  This lovely-looking film had some great comic performances and a nice twist at the ending.

Speaking of twists, next was a film from Australia, Rupert Le Poer Trench's Appy Ever After, which is about a husband trying to sneak a night out with the boys with the aid of a smartphone app.  This movie actually had two twists at the end, and we won't spoil them for you here.

Next in our lineup was Karen Hope's Buon Giorno Sayonara, about an Italian tourist and a Japanese tourist who meet up on the English seashore after having had arguments with their respective others.  They have a romantic afternoon together, although they don't speak the same language.  This movie was quite charming and made do without much dialogue, and no subtitles for the little Japanese and Italian the characters spoke.

Our final film was from an old friend of Iron Mule, Alan McIntryre Smith, a music video called Espresso Nirvana.  Alan, who also shot and edited the film, had shot concerts of composer and classical pianist Gregg Kallor, and when Gregg asked for a promotional video for his new album, Alan proposed going all out and making a music video.  Alan was at the screening and we spoke about how he developed the movie with Gregg.  As you might imagine, there aren't many classical music videos, but after seeing Espresso Nirvana we really hope the trend takes off.

with Alan McIntyre Smith
photo by Tom Henning

This was it for the films in competition, but before we showed our "Wanna be a Star" movie, co-host Victor Varnado had a movie of his to show.  The newly-completed The Trouble with Charlie was made as part of a Comedy Central competition and was the pilot of a potential series about an unregistered puppet trying to find love and friendship in a hostile world.  Also Charlie's a bit of a jerk, but that's beside the point.

Then the audience cast their votes for their favorite films, and while the votes were being tallied, we showed the world premiere of I'm the Rudest Person in the World.  As always for our "Wanna be a Star" films, the title was suggested by the audience at the previous month's show, and the star, Kerry McGuire, was randomly picked from the audience.  As luck would have it, Kerry is a writer, and in an Iron Mule first, she wrote the movie for her to star in.  Adam Sacks directed.

with Adam Sacks and Kerry McGuire
photo by Tom Henning

After the film it was time for the awards, and Hope Tarr joined us for the announcement.  The audience award went to Oh Baby, I Love You! and the judges' award was a very rare tie between Buon Giorno Sayonara and Love.

Hope Tarr announces the winners
photo by Tom Henning

Then it was off to the after party for drinks, mingling, and for some of us, a late night snack in SoHo.

At the after party, where everything is better in black and white.
photo by Tom Henning

Thanks for reading, and make sure to join us at our March 3rd screening!