fort tilden ( film )
fort tilden is all the hipster satire you can handle, and maybe more .
a film review on friday about “fort tilden” misidentified the actor who plays the “concerned citizen. ” he is jarreau carrillo, not reggie watts. (mr. watts plays himself in the film. )
the debut feature film of directors sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers, “fort tilden” is a hilariously insightful look at the consequences of extended adolescence .
after winning the grand jury prize for best narrative feature at the 2014 sxsw film festival, “ fort tilden ” is finally getting ready to premiere in theaters this summer .
the film premiered a year ago at sxsw and later won the special jury prize for narrative feature at the independent film festival of boston .
a dvd of fort tilden, an exciting hi - res behind - the - scenes digital production still and a big thank you on facebook, twitter, and the fort tilden website. a cornucopia! !
bridey elliott, left, and clare mcnulty in
fort tilden .
( brian la / orion )
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing fort tilden near you .
“fort tilden” was produced by mollye asher and geoff mansfield. exec producers are ariana ciri bernstein and zach gerbarg .
there are no featured audience reviews yet. click the link below to see what others say about fort tilden !
clare mcnulty, left, and bridey elliott as new yorkers embarking on a picaresque bike ride in “fort tilden. ”
orion releasing will distribute “ fort tilden, ” last year’s sxsw grand jury prize winner for best narrative film, in the u. s. and latin america theatrically and on vod in august .
public film contact adam kersh brigade marketing adam @ urltoken 646. 862. 3122
an executive producer credit on the film! oh my god, thank you .
film reviews: opening this week (aug. 10 - 14, 2015 )
the film will be released in new york on august 14 and in los angeles in mid - august, with a national release to follow. check out the bright, angsty poster for “fort tilden” above .
movie news, screening invitations and reviews from the world of independent film and beyond .
director natalia leite’s ambition and accompanying uncertainty give the film its unruly and resonant energy .
fort tilden
is cringe - worthy but true. maybe that' s why it' s so uncomfortable to watch .
it’s hard to get accepted by the south by southwest film festival — especially if you’re not from new york. this year’s festival features eight films, chosen from 1, 324 submissions, and more than half of them have roots here: the heart machine, directed by village voice film critic zachary wigon; wild canaries, lawrence levine’s brooklyn - based film; the mend, set in harlem and directed by john magary, who attended columbia university’s graduate film program; brooklyn resident leah meyerhoff’s i believe in unicorns; and the world premier of fort tilden, about two girls’ “needlessly complicated” bike ride from williamsburg to rockaway’s fort tilden beach, co - directed by two nyu mfa film candidates. keep reading »
“fort tilden” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). nudity, drug use and acutely ribald language .
orion releasing will distribute “fort tilden, ” last year’s sxsw grand jury prize winner for best narrative film, in the u. s. and latin america theatrically and on vod in august. “fort tilden, ” written and directed by sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers, stars bridey elliott and clare mcnulty as two slacker brooklynites experiencing mishap after mishap on [ … ]
presents a new installment of “rockaway! , ” its annual outdoor art programming at fort tilden. for this year’s edition, the internationally acclaimed german artist
with that, let' s consider some of the things you could do in the 1. 5 hours it would take you to watch fort tilden .
no kittens were harmed during the making of this film. they enjoyed their time with us .
reviewed at sxsw film festival (competing), march 9, 2014. running time: 96 min .
fort tilden is a movie starring bridey elliott, clare mcnulty, and neil casey. a comedy about allie and harper and their needlessly difficult journey to the beach .
whether it' s parody or ironic self - parody or post - parody, many of us work hard to avoid this contingent of brooklyn every day, but it' s even spread to queens, where fort tilden actually is located, by the way. and if we' re to watch fort tilden drown in hipster cliches on film, an additional something must be brought to the table. witty repartee would be an appropriate starting place, but i' d take a twist ending, or even a cleverly placed goat head. fort tilden offers nothing. the nagging desire to throttle both characters is unabating until the end .
fort tilden' s quite charming, though filmmakers sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers never let their charmless subjects... gain too much of their audience' s sympathy .
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the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
at sxsw, fort tilden took home grand jury award for best narrative film, artsbeat reports. the festival' s other big winner was called the great invisible, a documentary about the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill. none of us will see that, though—not when there' s a new girls episode on .
sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers are filmmakers based in brooklyn who met at nyu graduate film school. they have each written and directed award - winning short films that have screened at festivals such as telluride, sarasota, and aspen shortsfest. fort tilden was conceived and produced last summer and is their first collaboration .
with
fort tilden ,
writer - directors sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers have created two women who are drawn so vividly and so viciously, they' re hard to dismiss .
subscribe to indie & film festivals: urltoken subscribe to trailers: urltoken subscribe to coming soon: urltoken like us on facebook: urltoken follow us on twitter: urltoken fort tilden official trailer 1 (2015) - comedy movie hd a comedy about allie and harper and their needlessly difficult journey to the beach. you' re quite the artsy one, aren' t you? fandango movieclips film festivals & indie trailers is the destination for... well, all things related to film festivals & indie films. if you want to keep up with the latest festival news, art house openings, indie movie content, film reviews, and so much more, then you have found the right channel .
“ fort tilden, ” written and directed by sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers, stars bridey elliott and clare mcnulty as two slacker brooklynites experiencing mishap after mishap on a journey to the beach .
“fort tilden” makes no secret of these characters’ shallowness — indeed, allie’s chances of surviving war - torn liberia when she can hardly manage bushwick form one of the better running jokes — but their repartee is far less witty than the film seems to think it is, and these two generate ever escalating levels of annoyance that never quite cohere into satire .
we promise to deliver on these fun rewards! and considering that fort tilden has already been shot, you needn' t worry about your donation not going to use. your help will make a big difference !
if you dug fort tilden as much as we did, you’ll be psyched to hear that a couple of its creators are involved in a new film opening locally at cinema village today. co - produced, co - written, and starring tilden ‘s executive producer ariana bernstein and edited by its writer - director sarah - violet bliss, delusions of guinevere lacks some of the earlier film’s satirical edge, but it has a similarly dark take on the new york dating scene and the staring - at - their - reflection - in - the - iphone - screen narcissism of kids these days. keep reading »
the girls talk a lot about karma, and their karma catches up with them. after all their whining and sense of entitlement, their comeuppance is earned. that' s the thing that ultimately humanizes the two — and salvages the film .
fort tilden
is cringe - worthy but true. maybe that' s why it' s so uncomfortable to watch .
a carefree day off turns into the beach day from hell in the sun - blasted, acid - tongued send - up of millennial culture
fort tilden ,
written and directed by sarah violet - bliss and charles rogers .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
“clara’s ghost” bridey elliott is is an actress, writer, and director. she starred in the sxsw grand jury prize winner “ fort tilden. ” her other acting credits include “ battle of the sexes ” and “ mosaic. ” her directorial debut, the short comedy “affections, ” premiered at the 2016 sundance film festival, and went on to win the special jury prize at the independent film festival of boston. “clara’s ghost ” will premiere at the 2018 sundance film festival on january 19. w & h: describe the film for us in your own words. be: the film is a portrait of a family over one drunken night in their home in connecticut where a spirit is beckoning clara, the matriarch of the family, to step out of the shadow of her self - obsessed family members. w & h: what drew you to this story? be: well, it’s a very personal story. i wrote it about my family and they play themselves in some sense .
unfortunately, the film’s uneven tone is largely the result of the filmmakers choosing to fudge this distinction—whether harper and allie are vapid and ineffectual incompetents or self - absorbed - but - insightful truth - tellers—depending on the scene. considering this is a film about quarter - life crises, these fluctuations in maturity make sense to a point, but this blurring of how we’re supposed to perceive harper and allie isn’t helped by the fact that the tone of the film and the quality of the dialogue also vary scene to scene—even line to line. this film is a giant mood swing: at times in hysterics; at others distracted and impatient .
how will it play? with the sxsw grand jury prize undoubtedly luring some distribution interest, “fort tilden” is likely to receive a solid theatrical release, although its lack of stars and mixed word of mouth will limit its mainstream commercial potential .
exclusive: new york - based producer mollye asher [ pictured ] is gearing up for a summer 2016 shoot of her next production you & me both. jennifer cho suhr will direct the film from her own script. the story follows two estranged korean - american sisters (one of whom is a recovering drug addict) who, after the death of their adoptive mother, take a road trip from iowa to alaska to find their birth mother. the film will soon cast for a summer 2016 shoot, possibly in canada standing in for the us. carolyn mao is also producing. as an independent producer, asher’s credits include sundance and cannes selection songs my brothers taught me, fort tilden and she’s lost control. you & me both was selected for a tribeca all access grant in 2015 and nalip’s diverse women in media residency lab 2015. mao also went through film independent’s producing lab. asher is attending goa’s film bazaar representing new york - based gamechanger films, which focuses
with a $ 20, 000 grant from the national endowment for the arts, and in honor of the centennial of the national park service, the rockaway artists alliance presents a summer street art show which extends across its gallery and outdoor walls on fort tilden’s grounds. the exhibition includes the works of 14 invited artists, which are inspired by the environment and history of the fort and jamaica bay .
the lower east side film festival | made with ♥ in new york. | © 2018 all rights reserved. info @ urltoken | 181 north 11th street # 401 brooklyn, ny, 11211
some movies comment on a generation by virtue of the colorful personalities who epitomize it, with richard linklater’s “slacker” still the paragon of the genre. others take the simpler route of turning their characters into symbols of the times. “ fort tilden, ” directors sarah - violet bill and charles rogers ’ goofy portrait of self - involved millenials over the course of a problematic brooklyn day, falls into the latter camp. while frequently very funny and sustained by a pair of boldly unlikable female protagonists, “fort tilden” adopts the glorious stupidity of its stars, and echoes their gratingly obnoxious temperaments .
despite harper and allie' s hellish struggles, the film has an easy, funky groove and captures the sweaty perfection of a new york city summer, where things always look better on instagram .
the film owes as much to romy and michele’s high school reunion as it does to lena dunham ’s girls, its characters mired in extended adolescence as they blunder toward the challenges of adult independence and responsibility. but there’s also a pleasing air of 1990s french comedies like cedric klapisch ’s when the cat’s away wafting through fort tilden, with its steady pileup of delays and mishaps, its depiction of thorny individuals who don’t quite fit into their designated group, and its portrait of village life within a sprawling metropolis .
the idea of literally and figuratively exposing harper and allie in the final scenes might not be subtle, but it’s still effective—a sight gag with some bite. for all its exquisite theater - of - cruelty viciousness, fort tilden is finally a work of empathy about people whose own supplies are running on empty .
in the cheerfully caustic comic odyssey fort tilden, two privileged, 20 - something williamsburg slackers, harper (bridey elliott) and allie (clare mcnulty), decide they deserve a day off from doing nothing and head across brooklyn in their rompers on bikes to the beach at fort tilden, where they plan to meet up with cute guys (jeffrey scaperrotta and griffin newman) they chatted with at a rooftop concert and take molly and get laid. the movie is broad and mean and for a while very funny, but even when it goes sour — when the world slaps them in the face for their sins — it doesn’t lose its momentum .
take the potty - mouthed, woman - centric millennial sensibility of hbo’s “girls, ” turn down the drama and turn up the comic amorality, and you have “ fort tilden, ” the highly amusing debut feature from sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers. rarely has a movie so humorously illustrated the meaning of “frenemy. ”
outrage over the weekend shutdown of rockaway’s city beaches made the cover of the daily news (excuse to put a bikinied hardbody on the front page, much ?), but fans of patti smith and james franco found more welcoming sands over at fort tilden during the kickoff of the “rockaway! ” art festival. keep reading »
“ fresh off the boat ” star constance wu has come on board the independent drama “ you and me both, ” variety has learned exclusively. the film is the debut feature for writer - director jennifer cho suhr. production is expected to begin in the summer. wu will play a struggling addict who, along with her estranged sister, embarks on a road trip from iowa to alaska in search of their birth mother. exploring themes of grief, forgiveness and belonging, the film centers on the bond between siblings and the resilience and humor necessary to overcome trauma — and is aimed at showcasing the breadth and range of the asian american experience with complicated and deeply human characters. “ you and me both” is produced by carolyn mao (“ good enough ”) and mollye asher (“ songs my brothers taught me, ” “ fort tilden ”). the project is supported by tribeca all access, nalip and film independent. wu, 33, is a taiwanese - american who was raised in virgina .
and that could very well explain why it won the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival, which attracts a large crowd from the same demographic as allie and harper: the movie works so hard to make a statement about modern personalities that it bludgeons viewers into accepting it. watching “fort tilden, ” one can feel trapped in the redundant cycle of their lives even while laughing at its crass extremes. in its closing scene, allie refers to a cutesy indie rock melody as “tediously adorable, ” but by then there’s no doubt who she’s really talking about .
“ fort tilden, ” sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers’ day - in - the - life chronicle of two vapid twentysomethings on an ill - fated odyssey through “deep brooklyn, ” contains several scenes that manage to skewer the infantile predilections of the williamsburg jet set with truly ruthless, subtle precision. unfortunately, it fails to find much humor in them, and its potent sense of place and underlying ideas never compensate for the tiresome millennial musings that constitute most of its runtime. future festival play seems likely, though the film may well alienate more audiences than it seduces .
i' ve seen people hound down this film, trying to say it' s a hipster collage. that is untrue; this film is really a quite detailed, funny and critical view of the today of near - teenaged, white, monied persons who are lost in solipsism while being... spoiled brats, would actually be a good generalisation. the two headliners try to get to fort tilden by bike, which isn' t as easy as it sounds (to them). this is like
the warriors
without the physical violence. as they make their way they find stuff out about themselves while seemingly learning nothing. it' s an epic film, in the true sense of the word. i' ve also gotta say, the scene where one of the lead characters picks up david foster wallace' s
infinite jest
and drops it onto a visible part of her apartment to increase her chance of getting laid later as she hopes to drag a guy back to her apartment is brilliant to a dfw geek like myself .
this is not to say that fort tilden goes easy on its characters. one of the script’s structuring motifs is that harper and allie end up throwing out every item they acquire over the course of the film, culminating in an absurdly awful bit of business involving a litter of stray kittens. (though it’s a measure of the film’s intelligence that it’s possible to see these lost little furballs as analogues for the human characters who discover them rather than their victims .) even when bliss and rogers stray perilously close to the edge of generational portraiture—the sort of urban - ethnographic satire practiced weekly on girls — they manage to keep things specific and complex, aided by their stars’ expertly modulated double act. a long interlude featuring four topless female characters offers up the sort of smartly confrontational staging that lena dunham often attempts but only rarely brings off .
in the midst of their respective quarter - life crises, allie (clare mcnulty) struggles to prepare for the peace corps, while harper (bridey elliott) awaits checks from her father to fund her artistic dreams. but the two friends quickly shun responsibilities for the day when a pair of cute guys invite them along for a carefree fort tilden afternoon .
last week, we caught a glimpse of katharine grosse’s installation at fort tilden– part of ps1’s “rockaway! ” series– while it was in progress. the german artist had spent the past days spray - painting the skeleton of a building on the former army base with colors that call to mind either the sunset or david bowie’s aladdin sane makeup. the piece, which had been roped off and guarded by security as if nike missiles had returned to tilden, opened to the public sunday with an outdoor reception that was really more of an insta pose - fest .
drew barrymore and toni collette are best friends dealing with pregnancy and cancer in this ho - hum british dramedy female friendship is a dynamic that is so rarely touched on screen and even when it is, the topic of conversation usually revolves around men. it’s why the bechdel test exists. so it’s worth celebrating a particularly ripe time in both tv and film with shows such as broad city and girls and films like mistress america, fort tilden and clouds of sils maria all providing depth and humour to an under - served audience. related: i saw the light review: tom hiddleston electrifies dull hank williams biopic continue reading ...
a restaurant and bar dedicated to promoting surfing, rockaway beach surf club also offers an extensive calendar of cultural events, including live music, dance parties, and the new york city women’s surf film festival. be sure to check out the exhibitions below while you’re there .
“fort tilden, ” sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers’ day - in - the - life chronicle of two vapid twentysomethings on an ill - fated odyssey through “deep brooklyn, ” contains several scenes that manage to skewer the infantile predilections of the williamsburg jet set with truly ruthless, subtle precision. unfortunately, it fails to find much humor in them, and its potent sense of place [ … ]
after such a messy trajectory, it’s a small comfort to find that “fort tilden” arrives at one especially shrewd image: allie, topless on the beach, holding up her cell phone and getting an earful from her peace corps contact. the movie plays fast and loose with its ironic outlook, but in that fleeting image, it finally offers a lucid statement about the disconnect between the recklessness of youth and burgeoning adulthood .
if you happened upon a grimy, abandoned barrel sitting on the street, your first thoughts might run to, ew, or even, how many spiders does that probably contain? in this very important way, you are different from deliriously privileged hipsters harper (bridey elliott) and allie (clare mcnulty), whom we follow in the new comedy fort tilden (out this friday in new york). these two brooklynites spy that street barrel and immediately respond to its
wear
— how authentic! — and start making an overpriced deal with the dude who just happens to be sitting next to it. their hilariously blinkered perspective led our critic david edelstein to call fort tilden a
cheerfully caustic comic odyssey ,
even if satirizing hipsters is a little bit like shooting fish in a... well, you know .
harper and allie are indeed damsels in distress, and not just because they can’t efficiently navigate the way from a brooklyn loft to the rockaways (a disastrous, distended day trip to hook up with some boys, which makes up the film’s entire plot). they’ve been shaped by a parentally subsidized lifestyle that permits neo - bohemian arrogance without the threat of actual starving - artist poverty; their family ties simultaneously insulate them from harm while rendering them defenseless against the smallest challenges to their egos and routines. far from the exercise in vicarious hipster - voodoo - doll skewering its basic setup suggests, fort tilden is at once less sentimental and more incisive about privilege and its discontents than the recent films of noah baumbach .
all of these journeys track, emotionally and thematically, providing a strong backbone to an interrogation of the lives of these two women. but…if we rewind back to that scene in the store? the dialogue is only fine. underserviced. despite strong performances from elliot and mcnulty and an easy, fraught chemistry between them, there are just too many scenes where the dialogue is only okay for fort tilden to get a no - reservations recommendation .
). “we like to showcase people who innovate with things other than money, ” says castle. “you know, there’s something endearing about watching a film where you can understand how they put it all together, in a really imaginative way. ” music to the ears of struggling filmmakers everywhere .
although it has already drawn numerous pre - screening comparisons to a certain hbo program featuring wry brooklyn hipsters of the same age and gender, “ fort tilden ” takes a far dimmer view of its subjects, and clearly derives its plot structure from martin scorsese’s “after hours, ” as 25 - year - old roommates allie (clare mcnulty) and harper (bridey elliott) are perpetually waylaid while trying to make it to a date across town .
orion releasing has acquired u. s. and latin american distribution deal for fort tilden, the comedy that premiered at the 2014 sxsw. an august 2015 release in theaters and vod is planned. written and directed by sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers, the pic stars bridey elliott and clare mcnulty who play two slacker brooklynites experiencing mishap after mishap on a journey to the beach. bliss and rogers now write on netflix’s upcoming series wet hot american summer .
moments like these keep popping up, the actors and filmmakers achieving a sort of comic omniscience; jokes keep revealing facets of both the teller and receiver. when harper boldly insults the sex appeal of her and allie’s neighbor, saying that “fucking him would be like being trapped under a cold sack of mashed potatoes, ” one’s not primed to laugh at the sad sack we’ve just met, who exhibits more decency than anyone else in the film, but at harper’s panicky cruelty, which springs from allie’s potential moving out, and at the originality of elliott’s delivery, which allows us to see that harper’s revising her put - down mentally as she goes along. this touch is characteristic of the film’s delicacy; it’s smart without making a show of it. harper and allie are often obnoxious, but their obnoxiousness has stature. the women are insufferable partially because they have the soul to understand they’re stuck and compromising both themselves and society. they know the boat of girlhood has sailed, which is never more apparent than at the heartbreaking climax where harper and allie actually find fort tilden .
“the distress is authentic, ” harper (bridey elliott) says, describing a barrel on a beach, admiring its organically worn qualities in contrast to a similar barrel that she and bff allie (clare mcnulty) impulse - bought on a brooklyn street corner mere hours before. of course, that barrel now sits at the bottom of their stairs, devoid of umbrellas or whatever it is they feel like filling it with, while this one rests freely on the sand, a somehow superior bit of nothing. is it a spoiler to say that these two broke girls do in fact make it to fort tilden when the entire plot of “ fort tilden, ” insomuch as there is one, concerns their misguided day - long adventure to locate said beach? perhaps it’s a tad trite to say that the journey matters more than the destination, but in the case of sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers ’ comedy, it really does .
a few weeks ago, we received a press release for a film called fort tilden, a
comedy
set to debut at sxsw. wading through an avalanche of cringe - inducing press releases is one of the drags of the job, but this one caught our attention when we realized our teeth were grinding audibly and blood was trickling from the corners of our eyes. the premise, it said, follows two williamsburg - based 20 - somethings struggling to get to the beach, coping with
creepy neighbors, unpredictable traffic patterns, indignant cabbies, and each other .
was it ironic? tongue - in - cheek? or just hideously stupid? we couldn' t tell. we couldn' t look away. here' s an excerpt, which has it all :
directors sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers keep the timing brisk and have the taste to make even their whiniest, silliest characters deliciously whiny and silly. i loved the toxically dweebish neighbor (neil casey), the dealer–cult figure of prospect park (peter vack), the pair of insufferably do - gooding teachers (desiree nash and becky yamamoto), and the final foursome at fort tilden. there are so many trenchantly observed hipster types that it’s a surprise when a bit actually misses .
just as it’s difficult to decide whether to like or hate harper and allie, it’s hard to determine whether the end of “fort tilden” offers a moment of hope or resignation. as much as bliss and rogers are indicting the worst qualities of today’s post - collegiate generation, they also seem interested in exploring how young people use cynicism or cruelty to deflect their own insecurity or fear of responsibility. when allie describes a song as “tediously adorable, ” the intriguing contradiction is all - too fitting .
“sometimes, you have to live a little to know who you are, ” one of the women says, but in “fort tilden” they can’t seem to get that process started. by its end, they’re perpetually trapped in a cartoonish loop of sophomoric indecisiveness. it’s a blunt observation, made with far subtler touches in recent portraits of young new yorkers ranging from “tiny furniture” to “appropriate behavior, ” but no precedent in this topical subgenre goes as much out of its way to make its subjects so incredibly contemptible .
it’s especially frustrating because the scenes that do work do so incredibly well—and holistically speaking, the structure of this film is impeccable. the underlying theme of the clothing store scene is that harper and allie, both of whom seem to live at the pleasure of harper’s rich father (harper directly, and allie probably by not really having to pay rent), are giddy to find fashionable clothing at such low prices, while surrounded by women of color and working - class women. of course, by the time they get to the register, they’re already second guessing the clothes they were so excited about only moments ago, and events later on in the film prompt them to abandon the garments altogether without a second thought. that they do so adjacent to a scene where they find a barrel on the beach that is identical to the one they purchased much earlier in the film, “only it’s naturally distressed, ” shows how well crafted the plot of this film is: everything is disposable for harper and allie; they invest lots of meaning in their goals (to get to the beach; to have sex; to make art; to buy clothes; to join the peace corps), but once they attain them they feel empty inside. they’ve both learned that it’s better to stay in the attainment process, permanently, because at least there’s something to tell people you’re working towards .
it’s difficult to create enjoyably unlikable characters; a fine line separates hilarity and hostility. for all its bull - in - a - china - shop crassness, larry david ’s persona is a delicate thing to pull off well. with “fort tilden, ” writer - directors sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers have created two women who are drawn so vividly and so viciously, they’re hard to dismiss. and with great chemistry and – ultimately – vulnerability, co - stars bridey elliott and clare mcnulty bring them sharply to life .
roommates harper (bridey elliott), dim and mean, and allie (clare mcnulty), dim and whiny, set off for the beach at fort tilden in the rockaways of new york' s long island, hoping to meet up with a couple of cute boys. as harper and allie' s journey becomes increasingly arduous — they' re broke, their bikes are stolen and they' re stranded without reliable cab service — their snarkiness reveals itself to be bitter and abusive, a stark contrast to their cutesy romper outfits .
amidst quarter - life crises, allie struggles to prepare for the peace corps, while harper awaits checks from her father to fund her artistic dreams. but the two friends quickly shun responsibilities for the day when a pair of good - looking guys invites them along for a carefree fort tilden afternoon. as the two young women board their bikes and embark on a lengthy journey to the beach, they quickly realize that, akin to their confusing, transitioning lives, they neither know where they’re going nor how they plan to get there .
the golden venture
by comic and mural artist christopher cardinale. the legend reads :
on jun 6, 1993, around 2am, the golden venture, a cargo ship carrying 286 refugees from the fujian province of china, ran aground on the beach at fort tilden. they had been at sea for 112 days on the boat operated by smugglers known as snakeheads. ten people drowned in their attempt to get to shore. for the survivors this was just the beginning of their efforts to seek asylum in the usa .
and then they’re off, wandering deeper and deeper into the bowels of brooklyn, whining and sniping at everyone in their reach. with its one - note progression, bill and rogers’ straightforward narrative is oddly conventional in spite of the ongoing attempts to make harper and allie into utterly contemptible beings. at its best, the movie works like an indie riff on “romy and michele’s high school reunion, ” turning the plight of its clueless leads into an amusing romp in tune with their perspective. but “fort tilden” struggles to express their neuroses with much ingenuity .
“it’s authentically distressed, ” says allie (clare mcnulty) of the barrel she and her friend harper (bridey elliott) find lying in the sand near the end of fort tilden. like so many lines in sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers’ caustic comedy, it’s a sharply double - edged observation. not only is the chipped wooden container in question more genuinely weathered than the one the women had already purchased as a conversation piece before beginning their trip to the beach, but allie’s observation also stands as a piece of inadvertently pointed self - analysis .
when we first meet harper and allie, they’re trading insulting texts while enduring their friends’ rooftop acoustic guitar performance, which is (admittedly) shrill and self - indulgent. but the night isn’t a total waste: they end up meeting a couple of guys (jeffrey scaperrotta and griffin newman) whom they awkwardly flirt with and make tentative plans to meet the next day at the beach at fort tilden. (awkwardness, by the way, is the name of the game throughout as the ladies stumble from one uncomfortable situation to the next – usually of their own making. )
throughout, harper and allie have been fighting an early assertion that they are basically twins, employing the argument that their personalities are so different that the distinctions are obvious. the film’s end suggests that while each woman’s interpretation of and explanation for her actions are wildly different from the other’s, their actions (or inactions) end up being effectively the same. yes, the assertive one helps the spineless one be more assertive and the compassionate one helps the harsh one be more compassionate, but in fort tilden this typical character arc only serves to prove that harper and allie are the twins they’ve been mocking. one romper is plain; one’s floral—they’re still just rompers, as a multitude of characters point out. the final scene puts a lovely button on all of this, but it’s another example of how thoughtful and confident bliss and rogers can be as filmmakers. there’s just a little too much chafe for the strong parts to overcome, even if those strong parts are really worth a viewing .
let’s be honest: no one desperately needs another comedy about desultory twentysomething white brooklynites waiting for their grownup lives to begin. but fort tilden, the debut feature co - written and directed by sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers, showcases a satirical voice so dyspeptic it’s almost endearing, never letting the abrasive lead characters - - or anyone else for that matter - - off the hook for their self - absorbed entitlement. a mini - road trip that nudges its protagonists outside of their bubble, where the portrait of generational inertia ain’t pretty, this minor - key comedy of discomfort has a bittersweet bite .
the comedy stars clare mcnulty and bridey elliott as allie and harper, two millennials struggling with their quarter - life crises, who decide to blow off their responsibilities for the day to go to a secluded beach with two guys. throughout the film, allie procrastinates preparing to join the peace corps and harper waits for money from her father to pursue her unclear artistic dreams, all while facing new challenges along the way .
there’s a wicked strain of equal - opportunity awfulness running through characters across multiple age ranges here, whether it’s the smug gen - x parents of cobble hill, the self - justifying millennials or the obscenely confident late teens, next to whom 25 suddenly seems ancient. but the writer - directors and their cast maintain a light touch that prevents even their cruelest observations from curdling. one of fort tilden ’s strengths is that, even as harper and allie’s respect for themselves and one another deteriorates, and the summer skies give way to cloudy chill in the final section, bliss and rogers never deny their affection for the characters .
it’s a shame that parts of the movie aren’t as fleshed out as they might be, because it seems the filmmakers have some really interesting things to say about identity and responsibility. harper and allie do eventually make it to the beach, but by the time they get there their nerves have been frayed to the point where they lash out at one another, and this is before coming to the harsh realization that the two boys they were looking to hook up with aren’t what they expected. then, in one of fort tilden ’s finest moments, the denouement sees allie growing a spine while cracks appear in harper’s acerbic mask .
the first hour or so of the williamsburg comedy “ fort tilden ” is an endurance test. watching aimless hipsters harper (bridey elliott) and allie (clare mcnulty) snipe at each other and everyone around them is rather like being forced to listen to a loud and inane conversation between two nasty idiots on the bus. by the fifth time the two start whining about how they need coffeeeee soooooo baaaaad (like, omg), you start hoping writer - directors sarah - violet bliss and charles rogers will do you a solid and have their defiantly unlikable characters hit by a truck. stat. unlikability is a tricky game .
yet the filmmakers display such reckless confidence in their comedy that “fort tilden” can’t help but nail its punchlines from time to time. elliot, in an effectively snotty performance, plays off mcnulty’s pouty - eyed gaze with constantly bubbly results. the comedic high point arrives when the duo encounter a group of catty gay men — they deserve their own spin - off — who trade barbs with the women in the midst of a drug deal. the beach - set finale, in which one character makes an awkward pass at another while the drugs slowly kick in, effectively brings the various misconceived ingredients into a fully realized calibration of awkward humor .
before that misadventure kicks off, “fort tilden” elaborates on its leading ladies’ selfish existence: hoping to get lucky, the moody harper rearranges their apartment’s furniture (“i want the place to be sex - ready, ” she asserts) and makes a phone call to her millionaire businessman father, who offers to send her more money; allie anticipates an upcoming trip to libera to join the peace corps while dodging texts from her superior; she nabs a bike from the next door neighbor by taking advantage of his evident crush on her, rolling her eyes the whole time. the script never hesitates to remind us that we’re watching monsters of privilege preying on everything around them .
when harper (bridey elliott), the petulant, chronically impulsive daughter of an affluent father, and allie (clare mcnulty), her comparatively responsible but equally self - obsessed roommate, meet two guys at a rooftop party in williamsburg, brooklyn, they resolve to bicycle the next day to the fort tilden beach in queens to meet them. but en route, they encounter assorted distractions: an errand to score drugs, shopping opportunities, a failed quest for good coffee, a stolen bicycle, a fickle livery - cab driver and a bike collision with a baby carriage whose occupant has parents even more demanding than the young women. (a concerned citizen is played by jarreau carrillo. )
though the characters leave something to be desired, both leads have a great deal of chemistry — at their best, allie and harper manage to suggest a sort of sociopathic romy and michele — and the actresses embrace their more loathsome qualities with an admirable lack of vanity. (one scene even manages to challenge “before midnight” for the title of longest sustained unerotic topless scene .) well photographed and edited, the film looks quite good for its budget, and manages to dig into all sorts of underexplored corners of the city .
allie and harper' s, um, journey starts out innocuously enough—the opening scenes feature the two mocking their friends' rooftop guitar performance via vitriolic texts, bandied between their cell phones as the the two sit wordlessly beside each other. but any initial sense of warmth or camaraderie between them (and the viewer) dissipates in the coming minutes. their interminable journey to the beach swiftly reveals both characters for what they are: helpless, whiny asshats, their indignation perpetual and their pouty lips curled into permanent moues of either rage or disgust. the film is around 1. 5 hours—the mouths of both harper and allie spend the entire time rankled .
unlike the perceived losers and wannabes that surround them, these bored antiheroines are convinced they have the reins of their destinies in hand, their bond fortified by elliott and mcnulty’s relaxed chemistry. harper feels sure that she’s only one big idea and another handout from daddy away from taking the art world by storm, while allie is heading for liberia with the peace corps for two years before studying law or acupuncture or something. the shallowness of these half - baked growth plans is steadily exposed as they trek to the rockaways beach that supplies the film’s title, intending to rendezvous with two guys from the party, russ (jeffrey scaperotta) and sam (griffin newman) .
1) update your iphone 2) commit apostasy 2) craft six truly hilarious tweets 3) gain a rudimentary understanding of cricket 4) start a car fire 5) drown a litter of kittens. (which, by the way, they do in the film .) 6) watch 83 percent of 12 years a slave 7) write and publish a' why i' m leaving new york' essay for thought catalog. 8) cultivate a perfectly raked tabletop zen garden, ensuring that not a grain of sand escapes its assigned concentric ring (1 hour, 29 minutes, 36 seconds). smash the garden with your closed fist. (24 seconds .) 9) file for divorce 10) go to jones beach
a late wake - up leads to a scramble to find bikes (neil casey appears briefly and amusingly as the needy upstairs neighbor who helps them). every decision they make before they leave the house is inspired by vanity: no breakfast, no sunscreen and a carefully placed copy of david foster wallace’s “infinite jest. ” then there’s a side trip to prospect park to get some molly from harper’s hot ex (peter vack), who ends up being the voice of reason even though he’s the most outwardly vapid person in the film. (“ are you a hat person now? ” he asks derisively of harper’s style choice for the day .) and on and on it goes through various neighborhoods on a palpably steamy late summer day in brooklyn .
this year’s sxsw film festival is currently raging in austin, texas, complete with a packed slate that should keep festival attendees pretty happy in between bouts of chowing down breakfast tacos and basking in the good ol’ texas sunshine. as ever, the festival features a strong lineup of both fresh premieres and festival favorites, new and returning stars, and plenty of opportunities for talent to break out on the festival stage. from filmmakers to actors (and, sometimes, both at the same time), familiar faces looking to try a new craft to total newbies, this year’s festival has plenty of stars on the rise to look out for (ouch, so bright). read more: sxsw 2017: 13 must - see films at this year’s festival who’s going to break out in a big way at this year’s festival? we’ve got some ideas. ansel elgort, actor, “ baby driver ” if you
but long stretches of the movie lack (funny) jokes entirely, as if a punch - up writer only got around to 30% of the dialogue. a mid - film shopping montage featuring harper and allie asking a series of rote questions about each other’s style falls flat, like the brainstorm session for funny things williamsburg hipsters might say and do in a discount clothing store in a working - class brooklyn neighborhood got cut short in production and nobody thought to reschedule it. this lack of interesting content especially drags after a similarly limp scene in which harper and allie—both of whom seem shallow and self - absorbed; neither of whom seem stupid—try to get iced coffee from a small bodega that clearly doesn’t sell iced coffee, but also after an incredibly sharp and interesting moment where harper surveys the entire neighborhood only moments before and is “inspired” to start a new art project called “dollhouse ghetto. ” this movie isn’t afraid to hang its two main characters out to dry as horrible people, which makes it weird when it occasionally chooses to present them as merely stupid, often in the service of half - assed jokes in half - assed scenes.
fort tilden is a 2014 american independent , comedy film , written and directed by sarah-violet bliss and charles rogers , starring bridey elliot , claire mcnulty , neil casey , alysia reiner , and peter vack . the film had its world premiere at sxsw on march 8 , 2014 , where it won that year 's grand jury award . the film was acquired by revived orion pictures and was released on august 14 , 2015 , in a limited release , and through video on demand . 
fort tilden is a 2014 american independent, comedy film, written and directed by sarah-violet bliss and charles rogers, starring bridey elliot, claire mcnulty, neil casey, alysia reiner, and peter vack. the film had its world premiere at sxsw on march 8, 2014, where it won that year's grand jury award. the film was acquired by revived orion pictures and was released on august 14, 2015, in a limited release, and through video on demand.
fort tilden is a 2014 american independent, comedy film, written and directed by sarah-violet bliss and charles rogers, starring bridey elliot, claire mcnulty, neil casey, alysia reiner, and peter vack. the film had its world premiere at sxsw on march 8, 2014, where it won that year's grand jury award. the film was acquired by revived orion pictures and was released on august 14, 2015, in a limited release, and through video on demand.