Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film festival is happening in and around my neighborhood this week and this weekend promises to be a very busy one with a family festival taking place all day on Greenwich Street. I've only had the opportunity to see one film thus far and it was a free one being presented as part of their "Drive-in" series last week at the World Trade Financial Center. The featured film was called "P-Star" and it was about a young girl named Priscilla, who at the age of 8, becomes the youngest rap artist among the latino population. This documentary follows her life as she performs live at a night club rapping at a tender age and follows her as she matures into a young teenager and having to deal with the many bad decisions made by her managing father (who had served some time in prison.) Priscilla's story at first seemed like a classic case of child exploitation. Here you have a young girl who is "home schooled" by a father who clearly looked like a drop-out himself, becoming the sole provider for her family. Her older sister, who is not as cute and not at all talented is left to fend for herself, while the father and P-Star live a short-lived "15 minutes of fame" life traveling around cities performing at large venues and driving hummers only to later end up at the end of the film with little to show for their hard work. This is a classic case of bad decisions, bad timing and to some degree bad luck. You definitely feel sorry for the young Priscilla, although her precociousness was a little annoying at times, and as for the Ron Jeremy looking father, you just want to smack him a few times, strip him of all of his bling-bling and cash it in for some parenting classes. In anycase, an entertaining film by all accounts and I'm glad I saw it, especially since it was free and outdoors on a gorgeous Saturday night.