Here’s the latest cinema news about the Cuesta brothers’ Tribeca Film Festival movie, “Roadie” starring Ron Eldard who plays a 45-year-old band roadie who returns home to Queens after being dumped by the band he toured with, Blue Oyster Cult. He goes from living his teenage dream to returning back home, having to face the unpleasantness of his adult reality. He sees the neighborhood he grew up in has become a slum and he is reunited with his mother for the first time since his father’s funeral.
The Daily News said, “Roadie is deceptively direct; as Michael Cuesta said before the Tribeca Film Festival started, ‘I wanted to make a very simple, sweet movie.’ And he did. But this lovely drama is also a marvel of honesty, written and performed with remarkable intuition.”
Gerald Cuesta co-wrote the film with his brother, Michael the director. It premiered to a packed, enthusiastic crowd Saturday night, April 23rd. Movieline.com raved about the authenticity of the film which was shot in Queens. Michael said, “There’s a quaintness to Forest Hills. As soon as I was on that street, I was like, ‘This is the look.’ And then it became about knocking on doors, literally. When you’re at that budget, you’re like, “We’re making a film, would you like $500-600 per day,” instead of $2500 a day that a studio film would pay. Actually, a studio film would talk them down to $500, then destroy their house. We didn’t do that. The mother actually passed away, and the children were selling the house, and they extended the contract for us.”
Showtimes:
AMC Loews Village VII, 4pm today 4/26; Sunday 5/1 4pm.
Clearview Chelsea Cinema, Thursday 4/28, 10:30pm; Saturday 4/30, 3:30pm