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Chicago – The pain and passion of prepubescent youth and adolescence unravels in the excellent directorial debut of Daniel Patrick Carbone, “Hide Your Smiling Faces.” Carbone captures the isolation and meticulous boredom at a time of life when everything conspires to happen on a daily basis.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The film is a meditation, with shades of Terrence Malick-like contemplation. When the suicide of a troubled boy resonates a wave of reaction in a rural town, two brothers look inward to their own fragility. The soul searching and almost beautiful ache of this snapshot is contained within the raw emotions exposed in the boys during their first experience of human mortality. The story is set in a property-less rural region of the country, a place where exploration is wide open, both in territory and soul. The boys are both seekers, and as the reality of death and the bitter sameness of their lives unfolds,...

Title: Hide Your Smiling Faces Director: Daniel Patrick Carbone Starring: Nathan Varnson, Ryan Jones It’s possible for a movie to confirm the innate filmmaking gifts of its helmer while still not quite succeeding as a standalone film. Such is the case with the artful yet frustrating ”Hide Your Smiling Faces,” directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone. A coming-of-age drama that values tone over incident, the movie pays homage to the impressionistic moves and rhythms of Terrence Malick, but has trouble establishing a strong and memorable identity of its own. Reminiscent of films like David Gordon Green’s stirring debut, “George Washington,” and, more recently, ”Tchoupitoulas” and “Only the Young,” Carbone’s movie centers on a [ Read More ]

The post Hide Your Smiling Faces Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

One of our 13 Films To See In March, you'll have to find the time to close out the month with a film that deserves a bit of love when competing against the showier studio films, and one that may introduce you to a filmmaking talent worth keeping an eye on. Director Daniel Carbone's "Hide Your Smiling Faces" is headed into limited release, and if you're looking for an intimate tale, told with evocative precision, this one is for you. Starring Nathan Varnson and Ryan Jones, the film tracks two brothers over one summer as they deal with adolescence and mortality. And as you'll see in this exclusive clip, dying is a subject on their minds, even as they swim and play against a bucolic background where it seems nothing could go wrong. "An engrossing debut film" that " skillfully articulates the inexpressible; the weird, beautiful struggle that is life," "Hide Your Smiling Faces...

In a strangely beautiful and unnerving moment, "Hide Your Smiling Faces" opens up with an arresting visual: a close-up of a snake—its mouth wrapped around a fish, slowly struggling to swallow it whole. It's disturbing, fascinating and the shot lingers with a sense of awe, curiosity and wonder. And it many ways, this remarkably captured moment sums up everything this striking debut feature is about. In a summer seemingly like any other of early adolescence, two brothers, Eric (Nathan Varnson) and Tommy (Ryan Jones), their dog and their friend Ian (Ivan Tomic) explore the fringes of their rural American surroundings. They ride bikes, swim in dirty lakes, wrestle with each other to let off steam, shoot Bb guns at wildlife, investigate the nooks and crannies of the local woods and mess about like kids are wont to do. However, the bucolic feeling of the milieu is disturbed early on...

Solemnity and restrained naturalism seem like indie-movie affectations now, so the challenge for writer-director Daniel Patrick Carbone's feature debut is to transcend a certain festival-ready familiarity and simply seem true to itself.

Obviously a personal project, Hide Your Smiling Faces concerns a young teenager (Nathan Varnson) and his little brother (Ryan Jones) whose lazy woodsy summer is intruded upon by a new awareness of mortality. If this sounds coyly opaque, that's because the movie is, a little, but it's also so as not to give away the one event most resembling a plot point.

Although generally favoring dreamlike drift over narrative determinism, Carbone does stack his deck with a few automatic doom signifiers, encouraging us to worry for the boys before we'v...

Premiering to enthusiastic reviews at the Berlin Film Festival (world premiere) and the Tribeca Film Festival (North American premiere), writer-director Daniel Patrick Carbone's debut feature "Hide Your Smiling Faces" is finally coming to theaters on March 28th. This coming-of-age story has been described as a "dreamlike portrait of adolescence unfolding over one hot, hazy summer." In his rave review, The Playlist's Rodrigo Perez writes that the film "skillfully articulates the inexpressible; the weird, beautiful struggle that is life." The film stars mostly unknown actors, including the talented young newcomers Ryan Jones, Nathan Varnson, and Thomas Cruz, in addition to Christina Starbuck, Colm O'Leary, and Chris Kies. Watch the trailer below for what appears to be an eerie yet poetic drama of youth that has been compared to Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life." The recent winner for Best New Director at the 36th Starz Denver Film Festival, "Hide Your Smiling Faces...

It is amazing just how close to death (or severe injury) kids get on a daily basis. Two brothers -- Eric (Nathan Varnson) and Tommy (Ryan Jones) -- and their friend Ian (Ivan Tomic) use the densely forested landscapes surrounding their rural hometown as a giant playground. They explore long-abandoned structures, play with dead animals, swim in dingy lakes, aim [possibly loaded] guns at each other, stand eye-to-eye with a bear, and wrestle without any adult supervision. It may all seem a magical capturing of adolescence, but there is a menacing air (thanks to Robert Donne's eerie score) that seems to be following the kids around. The menace boils to fruition when Eric discovers a dead body, though we are given no hints as to which way the story will go next. There seems to be a murder-mystery lingering on the periphery of the narrative, but Eric and Tommy seem much...

In a strangely beautiful and unnerving moment, "Hide Your Smiling Faces" opens up with an arresting visual: a close-up of a snake -- its mouth wrapped around a fish, slowly struggling to swallow it whole. It's disturbing, fascinating and the shot lingers with a sense of awe, curiosity and wonder. And it many ways, this remarkably captured moment sums up everything this striking debut feature is about. In a summer seemingly like any other of early adolescence, two brothers, Eric (Nathan Varnson) and Tommy (Ryan Jones), their dog and their friend Ian (Ivan Tomic) explore the fringes of their rural American surroundings. They ride bikes, swim in dirty lakes, wrestle with each other to let off steam, shoot Bb guns at wildlife, investigate the nooks and crannies of the local woods and mess about like kids are wont to do. However, the bucolic feeling of the milieu is disturbed early...

Ifp recently congratulated the following eleven of its alumni projects screening at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival:

Alias Ruby BladeDocumentary, HD Cam, 2012, 78 minutesDirector: Alex MeillierProducer: Tanya Ager MeillierIsa: Mercury Media

Kirsty Sword Gusmao aspired to be a filmmaker and instead became a revolutionary. Whilst working for the Timorese resistance she fell in love with the imprisoned guerilla leader, and risked everything. Together they fostered the birth of a new nation.

Cutie And The BoxerDocumentary, Dcp, 2013, 82 minutesDirector: Zachary HeinzerlingProducer: Sierra Pettengill, Patrick Burns, Zachary HeinzerlingExecutive Producers: Kiki Miyake, Lydia Dean PilcherIsa: K5 International

This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role of assistant to her overbearing husband, Noriko seeks an identity of her own.

Hide Your Smiling Faces Drama/Coming of Age, HDCam, 2012, 80 minDirector: Daniel Patrick CarboneProducers: Daniel Patrick Carbone, Matthew Petock, Zachary Shedd, Jordan Bailey-HooverCast: Ryan Jones, Nathan Varnson, Colm O’Leary, Thomas Cruz, Christina Starbuck, Chris Kies, Andrew Chamberlain, Ivan Tomic

An atmospheric exploration of life and death in rural America, Hide Your Smiling Faces vividly depicts the young lives of two brothers who abruptly come of age through the experience of a friend’s mysterious death.

Big Joy 82 min. – Documentary

What or who is Big Joy? Big Joy is James Broughton, pioneer of experimental cinema in the 1930s, and trickster poet who was a precursor to the beat movement in San Francisco. Big Joy is a documentary that explores the twists and turns in the life of a very colorful character, plus how art has the power to save lives and make the world a better place. Broughton is a role model of living one's life to the fullest, or "follow your own weird" as he called it. Big Joy features interviews with experts, colleagues, friends and lovers, plus images from his films, and the words of many of his kooky poems.

Let The Fire Burn 88 min. – Documentary | Drama | History

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped two pounds of military explosives onto a city row house occupied by the radical group Move. The resulting fire was not fought for over an hour although firefighters were on the scene with water cannons in place. Five children and six adults were killed and sixty-one homes were destroyed by the six-alarm blaze, one of the largest in the city's history. This dramatic tragedy unfolds through an extraordinary visual record previously withheld from the public. It is a graphic illustration of how prejudice, intolerance and fear can lead to unthinkable acts of violence.

Big Men 99 min.- Documentary Director: Rachel BoyntonProduction Co: Boynton Films Production [Us]Country: United States

Dancing In Jaffa DocumentaryDirector: Hilla MedaliaProduction Co: kNow Productions [Us]Country: United States

Renowned ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine takes his belief that dance can overcome political and cultural differences and applies it to 11 year old Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. What occurs is magical and transformative.

Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors DramaDirector: Sam FleischnerProduction Co: M ss ng p eces [Us]

The story of an autistic youth named Ricky who, after a particularly difficult day at school, escapes into the subways. It's here that he starts his real journey, on a days-long voyage of discovery while, above ground, his mom frantically searches for him.

Bluebird

90 min. – Drama

Director: Lance Edmands

Production Co: Act Zero Films [Us]

In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman's tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences. Weaving together several connected story lines, Bluebird explores the profound and transcendent effects of a tragedy on an isolated American town.

The Genius Of Marian85 min. – Documentary | Drama | FamilyDirectors: Banker White | Anna FitchCountry: United States

The Genius of Marian follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Her son, the film maker, works with her as she attempts to write a book that tributes her mother, the artist Marian Steele. As Pam's family comes together to support her, they must also prepare for the new reality that Alzheimer's brings. The film is a powerful work of art with many visual textures, interweaving observational film making with super 8 family movies, Marian's paintings and old photographs. The Genius of Marian is both an intimate look at a much feared illness and a loving portrait of the meaning of family.

TeenageDocumentaryDirector: Matt Wolf (IV) Production Co: Cinereach [Us]Country: United States | Germany...

Daniel Patrick Carbone’s Hide Your Smiling Faces can be compared to Stand By Me in several ways. In both films, boys find the dead body of another boy in the woods. There are also meaningful interactions with woodland creatures and nature, dysfunctional parents, and the tethering bond of brotherhood, but despite the parallels between the two films, Hide Your Smiling Faces is its own entity. It is deeply meditative about life and death, about the relationship between humans and nature. And all of these meditations, very intriguingly so, come from two young boys. Perhaps the most admirable thing about the film is that it never falls victim to what’s expected. It veers away from typical coming-of-age tropes and thinks beyond the norm. Brothers Eric (Nathan Varnson) and Tommy (Ryan Jones) live with their loving parents in rural New Jersey. Eric is in the budding stages of being a teenager and is appropriately surly to the...

2013 is shaping up to be the year of Kids with Guns (cue that Gorillaz song). From Mia Wasikowska toting a rifle in Stoker to those Disney darlings forcing James Franco to fellate a pistol in Spring Breakers, youth gun violence is percolating throughout pop culture. But Hide Your Smiling Faces isn’t a hedonistic look at violence; it’s a quiet contemplation of death through the eyes of children (with guns).

When a young boy is found dead (presumably an accident), his friends in a rural American town suddenly face their own mortality. 9-year-old Tommy (Ryan Jones), who was closest to the boy, finds the inexplicability of death most befuddling and worrisome. His older brother Eric (Nathan Varnson) is initially disturbed (he’s the one who finds the body at the bottom of a bridge) before internalizing his confusion over his feelings about death into a deep rage. But it...

Tribeca Film Festival organizers on Wednesday announced 46 of the 89 feature films screening at the New York-set festival starting next month, including selections in the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film sections, as well as out-of-competition Viewpoints screenings.

"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.

"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced the first half of its 2013 movie slate today, including its World Narrative and Documentary Competition film categories, along with selections from the out-of-competition Viewpoints section, which highlights international and independent cinema. Festival organizers reviewed more than 6,000 submissions to select 89 feature-length films from 30 different countries for this year’s festival, which boasts 53 world premieres. “Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” said Frederic Boyer, Tribeca’s artistic director. “The cinematic proficiency that harnesses this lineup is remarkable and we’re looking forward to sharing these new perspectives, powerful performances,...