Say what you will about the sprawling Tribeca Film Festival, which has taken over Lower Manhattan and continues through May 4, but they do have the biggest press badges of any festival we've been to. The festival itself, however, has scaled down slightly, and after the first weekend, the ratio of exciting discoveries to disappointments has been encouraging.

Julianne Moore in period clothing is something to see -- the pale, freckled skin, the gorgeous dresses, the campy sun glasses.  In Tom Kalin's Savage Grace , an oddly compelling film about contemptible people doing contemptible things to each other, Moore plays American socialite Barbara Bakelite, who was infamously murdered by her son in a shocking case that captured the nation's attention. Eddie Redmayne, primarily known for his work on the British stage, plays Moore's emotionally and sexually conflicted son Tony; he proves himself to be equally pale, wan and good looking as his famous on-screen mother -- no small feat. ***

German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim's Two Mothers is a fascinating trip through family secrets and Nazi archives into a mysterious past. Shortly before her death, the 97-year-old woman von Praunheim called his mother revealed that she had adopted him during World War II. In the Latvian capital of Riga, he follows vague trails and manages to uncover his real mother's identity and many of the dark truths surrounding his birth. ***

Ever since it screened in Berlin, the description of Yousry Nasrallah's The Aquarium has become a bit of a running joke because it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the seeming arbitrary subject matter of many festival movies: an Egyptian anesthesiologist roams the streets of Cairo and visits the local aquarium at night. We finally had a chance to see the film, which blends surreal sights, movies-within-the movie, and actors breaking character with vital cultural concerns. The sleepless doctor performs secret abortions, a talk radio host fights censorship: fear, pain, and alienation are the central themes in a film that squanders what little dramatic traction it manages to conjure. **

The Aquarium was preceded by two of Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno shorts, which playfully illustrate the sex life of bugs. Catch them if you can! ****

We also saw Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans again, this time at a sold-out public screening followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers Dawn Logdson and Lolis Ellis Elie as well as former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial. It was wonderful to see how came alive the documentary became on the big screen: from the joyous music of the brass bands to the emotional impact of seeing historical photos blown up, every face inviting you to look deeper into the city's history. The audience, clearly moved by the film, focused their questions on how to help rebuild New Orleans. ****