Tribeca 2026: The Leader

'The Leader' Review: Tim Blake Nelson & Vera Farmiga In Cult True Story

Writer-director Michael Gallagher, another filmmaker who got his start on YouTube with millions of followers for shows like TotallySketch, has always been a bit obsessed with the infamous Heaven’s Gate 1997 mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, right outside where he grew up in San Diego. His interest in this horrific event and the […]

Tribeca 2026: The Leader

Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Many a cult movie has crossed my path over the years, but few have been as brilliantly executed and disturbingly unnerving as The Leader. Writer/director Michael J. Gallagher (Smiley) digs under the surface of caricature to uncover what lies beneath. This passion project dares to inject cutting dark humor into the proceedings that helps the jet blackness go down just a little easier. Vera Farmiga and Tim Blake Nelson play t…