CFDBNYC Out and About

MARIO is a new documentary that premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival is a riveting story about Mario Cuomo, one of the most beloved governors in the history of New York State. The film is mainly set in the 1980s where Reagan is President and running for a second term but something or in this case Cuomo is gaining momentum to become the next President. The backdrop of Reaganomics and Reagan’s vision of America sets the tone for Cuomo’s rise and his journey through American politics in the 80s. The mix of archival footage and original interviews from family, friends and colleagues gives the audience a peek inside the complexity of Cuomo who wanted to help the people of the city that he cared about but also wanted a quiet life. This is where the film thrives: the duality of Mario Cuomo.

Even though you will see where the current administration get some of their ideology from as you watch some of the excerpts of Reagan’s speeches. That is not the topic of course but those speeches along with Cuomo’s upbringing and personal interests sparked a movement where many of the general public wanted him in the White House in 1984. As we watched many interviews throughout the film, you get a sense that not only Cuomo didn’t want to be President but he had no interest in national politics just the state that he loved so dearly. When AIDS hit New York hard and no help from the national government Mario steps up and create a bill to fund research in the state. His foray into running for governor for the first time is discussed with lots of details as for why he considered even though he doesn’t like politics.

Mario discusses so many memories for the people in New York State who lived through his tenure and down the line his son’s. It’s amazing how much ground was covered by the directors who got access to his personal diaries and videos to cram everything into 90 plus minutes. Seeing the family and colleagues discuss his waffling with running for president and the conversations after that was very important and detailed because there was many layers that lead to the decision and you see most of them talked about and visualize while watching the documentary. Overall Mario handled the subject matter quite well and made sure that the public saw a man who wanted to be a public servant without being a public servant. Very thought out from the pacing to the sequence of events leading to the end where he discuss death. This is a great documentary that nailed the subject properly and we look forward to seeing it in theaters.