Laura Smiles @ Tribeca Cinemas

I signed up for the Tribeca Film Festival newsletter emails thinking they were just sent out during the festival and then discovered they have events going on all year round!

Their newsletter is how I learned about the "drive-in" movies they had at Rockefeller Center. And it is also how I found out about a free preview screening of a new independent film called "Laura Smiles".

A friend was able to join me on this outing - which was good because this was a good movie to have someone to discuss it with! And unlike my failed outing to a Hairspray preview (they way over invited with passes), this one wasn't nearly as packed. In fact, the theater worker was surprised at how early everyone was there to see the movie - he wasn't even officially opened yet and finally decided to unlock the doors a half hour early as he kept having to go over to the door and let people in.

The Tribeca Cinemas has a marvelous view of the Empire State Building and is just down the street from the Moondance Diner.

The preview audience was mostly female - but I'm not sure you'd call "Laura Smiles" a 'chick flick'.

The story revolves around Laura who lost her true love just a day after they were engaged to be married. The movie picks up again 9 years later where she is married to another and has a son. When the audience sees her again, it appears that perhaps she's operated on autopilot since her fiance's death and now all those feelings that weren't dealt with are wreaking havoc on her seemingly perfect life.

The story takes some surprising turns - even when you know Laura isn't in a perfect state of mental health. Some parts of her history are explored more thoroughly than others, thus leaving the audience with many questions - many leading with, "why?" Perhaps this was done intentionally to the viewers as even Laura doesn't quite know why she's functioning the way she is - what is real and what isn't?

The actress that plays Laura (Petra Wright) is probably not a name familiar to most but I would not be surprised to see her rise in the ranks soon as this film is an impressive showcase of her talent. More familiar faces in the movie include Jonathan Silverman (also impressive in his small amount of time on screen), Kip Pardue and Mark Derwin (best known from One Life to Live).

Will be interesting to see what kind of buzz this movie gets as it opens today in NYC and next week in L.A.

If you see it - make sure to take someone with you! You'll definitely want someone to discuss the events that transpire or give sideways glances to as you witness what Laura's life is and was. (I would add that this is probably a better movie to watch with a friend rather than a date though.)