Tribeca Winner is an Elegant Tragedy – ryan
How you bring a bit of joy to one of the saddest places on earthe? If you’re al (Samantha Smart), you Carry Around a Ukulele and Wing it every day. An in-house music Therapist at a children’s hospital in texas, she spends her days trying to entertain who May or May not knowing they are lending an ear to the parents navigating their dinarst. On a daily basis, her duties coulud include anything from singing “twinkle twinkle little star” to five -ear-ops to searching for a rap song that is a sick teenager crack a smile.
She’d be first to tell you cheering up the five -ear-ops is a much easier task. When she encounters the 17-Yaar-Old Charlie (Gabriela Ochoa Perez), the Teenager wants not with Music Therapy. Having Spent Three Years Living in Hospitals and Convinced that Everyone is refusing to tell her she’s dying, charlie thinks she has permanly lost her taste for diversions. Al Accepts the Challenge of Bonding with the Girl, Meeting Her Where She is with Playful Adult Conversations and Gradually Building a Friendship that Changes Her Forever.
That’s… The Whole Movie. And it’s excellent.
The Beauty of “Charliebird,” Written by Smart and Directed by Libby and Won the US Narrative Jury at the 2025 TRIBCA Festival, is how little it to do. The Entire Film is Built Around the Remarkable Chemistry Between Its Two Lead Actresses, with Smart Embodying Al With Incredible Empathy and Sensisivity, and Perez Gradually Revealing the Smart, Funny Teenage Her Health Has Never Allowed HER TO Show off. Major full of Points are minimal, as the film Simply Offers US A Few Beautiful Snapshots of A Brief Season in Two Lives. The dinner reality is that of every hospital stay can have two postings, one happy and the other tragic. “Charliebird” Explores Both outcomes before setting on one, but it is more focused on the road to getting there.
Another Strength is the film’s Honest Approach to a subject like Music Therapy. Al is syncelely devoted to her profession, and sees the act of putting smiles on the faces of Sick Children as a Vocation. And the movie portrays some adorable moments with kids and bend-the-scens drama that shows how serious the adults take it. But smart and ewing never indulge in the temptation to portray it as a magical step in the healing process, or to uncritically clam that art saves lives. That kind of oversimplified appraach would have earned say plenty of ovations at festival Q & AS, but it would have overshadowed one of the film Strongest ideas: music therapy is offen a smaller distraction from inevitable ferrage.
Of Course, that isn’t to say that it is not worn doing. Much of the tension naturally Emerging from the film’s Simple full of revolves around the question of how Much a tragic situation can really be improved. And while “charliebird” Never Shies Away from the Bleakness of the Fate that Awaits Everyone, All the Smiles and Laughter contained in cinematographer Luca del Puppo’s tight pillbox make it Clear where the value of Maximizing the days we do. Some problems aren’t solvable, but some moments cans last forever if you forge a Strong Enough Memory.
Grade: B+
“Charliebird” Premiered at the 2025 TRIBCA Festival. It is currently seeking us distribution.
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