Coming to a close

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So that’s it for me at the 2007 Sundance film fest. Over seven days I managed to see four short films, twelve dramas and eight documentaries. So… 24 films in all. There was a lot of phenomenally good stuff this year. Wish I had another week to see all of the other films that I wanted to check out but didn’t have the chance. But… now it’s back to LA and real life…

In other news, I just learned that The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate came together to buy the rights to Teeth, so hopefully it’ll find some kind of theatrical distribution without too much being cut.


So... the rundown on films for yesterday and today:
Teeth – Wow… definitely one of my top films of the fest. NOT a film for everyone (read my thoughts above)
Songbird – One of the better dramatic shorts I’ve seen.
Hounddog – Panned by critics and slammed by the media. But… very well received by the audience. I thought it was quite good.
Blame it on Fidel – Fun to watch. I enjoyed this one quite a lot.
Welcome Europa – Great documentary. Totally immersive in the world of illegal immigration to Europe.

Haunting

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We just finished our last screening of the festival with Welcome Europa, a visually poetic portrait of several young immigrants to Europe. It’s a devastating story of Kurdish, Moroccan and Romanian immigrants who come looking for a better way of life, hoping to make enough money to send something home to their impoverished families. What’s revealed is a community of men who move from city to city, hoping that each will be better than the last. Instead, they’re left destitute and struggling to survive, most sleeping in boxes and turning to male prostitution as a way to simply survive. Before embarking on the project, Bruno Ulmer spent nearly a year living with these men and getting to know them before turning on the camera in an attempt to show the world their amazing story. The documentary that was born from his experiences blurs traditional lines and immerses the audience in this gritty world, using vivid, sometimes impressionistic imagery. Sorrowful, humiliating and emotionally powerful throughout, Welcome Europa is a documentary with a lot to say. Highly recommended.

A good night's sleep

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Today we're only catching one screening for which we already have tickets, which of course means that I was able to sleep in until 10:30a, thus getting over ten hours of much needed sleep. Currently we're waiting in the Broadway theater for a screening of Welcome Europa.

Blame It On Fidel, the film we saw last night, was really pretty good. The story follows Anna, a young girl who's parents are political activists in France. They try very hard to teach Anna the importance of standing up for one's beliefs, showing group solidarity (ie protesting) and for speaking out against evils in the world. Unfortunately, Anna doesn't quite understand the contextual importance of these lessons and applies them incorrectly to her daily life. She attempts to show group solidarity at school and otherwise applies the concepts of political activism to things to which they were never meant to be applied. The result is an intriguing and very funny film that seeks to show how personality and social interaction are influenced by the world around us. Worth checking out.

Freakin' exhausted

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The three hours of sleep from last night and a week's worth of rising at 5:30a have caught up with me. Thoughts on Blame It On Fidel will need to wait until tomorrow.

The Dakota Fanning rape movie

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So Hounddog, the film that's been referred to as the "Dakota Fanning rape movie" at the fest and panned by critics was surprising. Not that it was an amazing film, but it wasn't bad at all. It definitely deals with some very sensitive subject matter (the rape of an eleven year old girl), but it does so with a lot of respect and taste. The story takes place in the rural Deep South and follows the life of Lewellen, a young girl played by Dakota Fanning., over a period of a few weeks. This girl loves to perform Elvis songs, particularly Hounddog, complete with gyrating hip movements and passionate lyrics (Dakota took voice lessons four times a week for nine months before filming). Her father and surrogate mother (the sister of her real mother, now deceased) have a strained and shaky relationship, with both of them leaving for long periods of time. When both of their absences overlap, Lewellen stays with her disapproving and highly religious grandmother nearby. I'd go into more detail on the rest of the story (father is struck by lightning while riding his tractor, Elvis comes to town, Lewellen is raped and then has to figure out how to go on with her life. The story is very meandering and there's very little closure. But that's life. Ultimately the film is really about personal growth and finding a way to overcome such a traumatic experience and live life on your own terms. I generally thought it did a good job and there's little I would have changed. The film has yet to be picked up for theatrical release, so I'm not sure what kind of life this film will have. Deborah Kempmeier, the film's director, said that although the film has sparked a lot of negative press and has received poor critical reception, the audiences at the fest have received it quite well and that she believes it will ultimately find it's audience through wider release.

That was awesome!

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Just got out of our Teeth screening. Wow... what a film. I'm not even sure where to begin. This was a film that Kit and I put down on our early list of potential to-see films and once we started hearing all of the amazingly positive buzz, we had to see it. I'm so glad we did.

The story is based off vagina dentate mythology and follows a Christian high school girl caught up in her school’s purity campaign. Starting from a very innocent state (she’s not even aware of her own body), she discovers by complete accident that she’s very anatomically unique, a state of being that is both victimizing and empowering. Her boyfriend is becoming aggressive and her bad stepbrother is the poster child for immoral teenage conduct. The film, full of symbolism and metaphor, defies categorization, becoming part horror film and part dark comedy that is fundamentally a story of a heroine overcoming male evil and finding self-empowerment.

The film is extremely well executed - from the performances, to the cut, music, photography, etc. I've been thinking a lot about what I'd like to see change and I can't come up with a single thing. Not only is the story powerful, funny and intelligent, but it's also a joy to watch. There's a lot of graphic and disturbing stuff (as one might guess from the subject matter), but it all fits so well into the world of the film that, although shocking to an extent, it works extremely well and doesn't leave you feeling burned. It took serious balls to do this film. Mitchell Lichtenstein, the director, was fortunate enough to do it completely with private funding, allowing him to make the film he wanted without worrying about what people would think.

I doubt very much that this film will ever be distributed in its current state... which is really a shame since I'd hate to see anything changed. Yes... there's a lot of graphic, disturbing stuff, but it all serves a purpose and really sets the film apart. Hopefully this film will find a way to a larger audience. While this is not a film for the feint of heart, I absolutely recommend this to anyone who's ready for a film that defies the usual boundaries and really pushes the envelope of what can be done on film.

Screening before Teeth was a short film entitled Songbird. Simple premise: woman loves her dove, woman hates her evil slob of a husband and his angry mutt of a dog, husband hates dove, dove sings during dinner, husband bites head off dove, woman chops head off husband's dog and cooks it for dinner, husband vomits up head of dove, woman puts head back on dove and dove comes back to life, woman leaves husband. It's a relatively simple story, but what makes the film interesting is that it's enacted without a single piece of dialog and in a style that can really only be described as live action stop motion. Although the sets, actors and props are all real, they all move like they're done through claymation. It's really a very nice look.

Tickets for the day

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It was touch and go there for a bit, but I managed to grab tickets for everything I wanted. Here's what we're looking at for the day:

Teeth - Lots of good buzz around the fest on this one. Supposedly disturbing and category defying. Why not? It's one of four films at this year's fest to be on the "audience advisory" list for explicit material.
Hounddog - What has come to be called "the Dakota Fanning rape movie." Reviews have been luke warm, but it's Dakota Fanning and Robin Wright Penn. Figure it's worth trying.
Blame It On Fidel - A French film in world dramatic competition about a little girl with activist parents that seeks to show how our experiences shape us and how political consciousness is formed. Haven't heard any buzz one way or the other, but the blurb in the festival program makes it sound worth checking out.

Yawn...

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Three hours of sleep later, I'm back in the queue at the SLC festival box office. It's going to be tight: I've got one film that has six tickets left and another that has twelve. Fortunately I got here a bit earlier than I have been and secured a spot two people in from the front of the line. We'll see how things go...

So... Black Snake Moan. This was the world premier (I'd say at least half of the films at Sundance are premiers) of Craig Brewer's follow up to Hustle & Flow. This film, much like his previous, is another story set around music in the Deep South. Whereas Hustle focused on underground rap, Moan takes inspiration from the blues. Here we follow two souls in a small Tennessee town who are thrown together in the crossroads between rage and love. Discovered beaten and half dead on the side of the road by Lazarus, a farmer and ex-blues guitarist played by Samuel L Jackson, is Rae, a no-self-respect anemic nymphomaniac played by Christina Ricci. Lazarus takes her into his house to nurse her back to health and then goes to extremes to "cure" her of her wicked ways. Oh yeah... and Rae is white and Lazarus is black. The film ultimately becomes a journey toward salvation for the both of them that, while lacking some of the beauty and spontaneity of Hustle, proves to be an intensely compelling and emotional morality tale. This film is hugely intense and powerfully raw, but is also quite enjoyable. It also wins the prize for best line uttered in a festival film this year:

"Lazarus, why is there a half-naked white woman chained to your radiator?"


So... the rundown on films for the day:
Girl 27 - Amazing story. Worth seeing just for that.
Scaredycat - Intriquing.
Chasing Ghosts - Biggest surprise at the fest so far. Great!
Hot House - Extremely interesting but requires some general knowledge of Middle Eastern political issues.
Black Snake Moan - Good, but nothing like Hustle & Flow

Intriguing

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Waiting for the shuttle bus after having just gotten out of a screening of Hot House, a doc from Israel about Palestinian incarceration. Most Israelis regard the nearly 10,000 Palestinian prisoners as murderers and criminals. To the Palestinians, however, they are heroes and freedom fighters, many of whom were and are extremely politically active. Granted unprecedented access to the prisons, director Shimon Dotan discovers that these cells have become a breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders and a hotbed for terrorist plots against the Israeli State. What we see in the film is a glimpse of everyday prison life, with people who are not only well cared-for, but who are also educated and intelligent thinkers who are fully immersed in the political reality outside the walls of the prison. Extremely informative and well built, the film puts a very human face on the conflict and violence between the two states. I only find fault in Shimon's doc through the simply fact that he assumes the viewer already has a basic understanding of Israeli and Palestinian politics and the issues and motivations that surround their turf war battle. Worth seeing regardless of whether or not you have any knowledge of the Middle East (in fact... if you know nothing about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, you need to see this film.

Gamers scare me

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I think it's safe to say that the biggest surprise at the fest so far is Chasing Ghosts, a doc about the rise of competitive arcade gaming in the early 1980s. Reading the description in the festival program really didn't make it appeal much to me. I mean, how interesting can a bunch of hard-core gamers be? I'd been hearing a substantial amount of positive buzz from people around the fest - nearly everyone giving rave reviews. So I decided to take a chance and see what it was all about. I gotta say, I wasn't disappointed in the least. This film was not only really well constructed, but it really presented the subject matter in a way that totally sucked you in to this alternate world. Plus... it was really funny. It managed to walk a very fine line between paying homage to these insanely talented teenagers who could play any arcade game for several days straight on a single quarter without ever loosing a life and making fun of the fact that they were all geeky eccentrics who lacked basic social skills and desperately needed to bathe. Although the film could use a 10-15 minute trim, it generally moves well and does an excellent job of throwing you headfirst into this bizarre world of hard-core Pac-Man, Centipede, Asteroid and myriad other "classic" arcade game play. It's also a lot like a "then and now," as the filmmakers track down all of the big players from the early 80s and interview them about their past, present and future. It's really a lot like Dog Town and Z-Boys but with arcade games. Highly recommended.

Amazing journey

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It's really quite balmy today. I'm standing here waiting for the shuttle to take me from Prospector Square up to Main and I'd say it's probably at least 30 degrees. Maybe this sounds really cool to some of you, but to me it feels pretty good. My jacket's unzipped, no gloves, no hat. If I had shorts I would wear them.

So I just got out of a screening of Girl 27, a doc about Patricia Douglas, a movie extra who was raped at a big MGM party back in 1937. She pressed charges, but was made a fool of in the press and ultimately the whole story was covered up. Enter David Stenn, a biography writer specializing in the golden age of Hollywood. While working on a story about another actress, he came across the newspaper headlines on the case and was struck by the fact that neither he nor any historians had ever heard of her story. So he decided to dig. Four years later, he presents this film, chronicling his efforts to unearth this woman's story and his ultimate triumph in finding Patricia alive and, after months and months of work and patience, willing to talk about her experiences. The result is a film that is not only a documentary of what happened to Patricia back in 1937, but also about the amazing relationship that forms between the two of them. All this culminates in him writing an article on her behalf for Vanity Fair that allows her to fully share her story with the world for the first time in 65 years. Within weeks of her story being published, Patricia is admitted to the hospital and dies a few days later. The night before she dies, she tells David how much she appreciates what he's done and how she finally feels at peace.

From a filmmaking standpoint, Girl 27 isn't anything amazing. It's David's first film ever and he self-admittedly had no idea what he was doing. What makes this film remarkable is the story and the journey that David and Patricia take together. I absolutely recommend seeing this film if it ever finds theatrical or DVD distribution.

Screening before Girl 27 was a short documentary called Scaredycat. This is a film about fear and prejudice. What makes this interesting is that it's a film about the filmmaker. See... the director, Andy Blubaugh, has serious OCD: he obsessively straightens things (pictures on a wall, things on a desk, abandoned newspapers on bus benches), can't walk on cracks in the sidewalk... etc. One night while biking home, five guys mug him. In the aftermath, he develops a huge fear of black men, which even Andy himself considers to be strange and unfounded since only two of the five guys were black (two white guys and a Latino make up the balance). This film is basically his own exploration of his fear and his attempts to understand why he's so afraid. Extremely interesting and well done. Probably one of the only self-documentaries I've seen that isn't masturbatory, Andy's film manages to be a really objective, yet personal look at the issues and reality of social fear.

A bit late today

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I ended up getting out the door a bit late this morning. As a result, I'm eighth or ninth in the line so I'm not sure what ticket availability will be for a few of the hotter screenings on my list. So... I've put together a list of alts should I need them. Chasing Ghosts only has 10 tickets left, so it's likely it'll be sold out by the time I can buy anything. Guess we'll see what happens.

Hmmm… what can I say about this film

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Grace is Gone is a film I can’t quite put into words. Not that it’s all that far out there, but more that it goes to some interesting emotional places and doesn’t really contain a lot of substance beyond the huge personal journeys traveled by the characters. Stanley Philips, played by John Cusack, is a patriot and father of two. When he learns that his wife, Grace, has been killed in the Iraq war, he attempts to rally his strength to tell his young daughters that their mother won’t be coming home. Faced with this incredible task, he instead throws everyone in the car for a road trip across the country from Minnesota to Florida for a visit to their favorite amusement park. Over the course of the trip, Stanley attempts to figure out who his daughters are and, ultimately, how to break the horrible news. The result is a film about an incredible emotional journey that may take awhile to gain momentum, but ultimately discovers an incredible bond between a parent and his children. God... this is sounding ridiculously sappy already. Please just trust me that it’s not sappy or cliché… but genuinely heartfelt and natural. Best parallel I can draw is that the emotional journey in Grace is Gone is much like the one in Little Miss Sunshine.

The Weinsteins picked this film up earlier in the week, so it’ll get theatrical distribution sometime in the next few months. It’s what I consider to be a good film, though not amazing in any respect.


So... the rundown on films for the day:
Trade – Excellent but very emotionally heavy film. Definitely worth seeing provided you’re okay with some graphic nightmares for a day or two.
Bajo Juarez – On the fence. Intriguing and risky subject, poor execution.
Grace is Gone – Good, but nothing amazing.

Needs some polish

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Bajo Jaurez – When you’re already seeing one film about the rampant crime in Jaurez, Mexico, why not see another? This morning it was a fictionalized portrayal of the sex trade. This evening it was a documentary that follows unsolved and highly publicized crimes against women in the same city. Focusing mainly on young women and girls who are kidnapped, raped and killed, this doc takes serious risks in subject matter, but ultimately fails to do much more than ask a lot of questions without giving any answers. Certainly there are a lot of women being killed. Yes, the Mexican government appears to be covering things up. But do we really have any idea what has been happening in Juarez over the past 13 years? Doesn’t look like it. While I appreciate the fact that the filmmakers took huge risks in bringing this story to a mainstream audience, it doesn’t seem like they really sought answers to their own questions. Why are women disappearing? Is the government covering things up? What hard evidence exists? If none can be found, why not? And ultimately, what can be done to affect a change? Beats me. All I can tell you is that there’s some really nasty stuff happening in Mexico that has a lot of people freaked out. And if you’re not going to answer any of the questions you raise, at least learn how to 1) focus the camera, 2) hold the camera steady and 3) expose correctly so things aren’t incredibly washed out and 4) hire a company that can create subtitles that don’t look like they were made on some kid’s circa 1985 Amiga computer.

Should you see this film? It’s worth checking out as a means to educate yourself about the evils of Juarez, Mexico. Beyond that, there are better things to do with your time.

Playing paparazzi

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I purposefully took this afternoon off. Probably should have spent it sleeping, but I didn't. Some of the afternoon was spent meeting up with various friends who are also at this year's fest. But mostly I went and shot off a lot of film (both real and digital). Yeah... you knew it was coming :) I've actually been very focused in my time at the fest and haven't brought any kind of camera gear with me. Instead, I’ve opted to just watch films and enjoy the experience of being at the fest without feeling obligated to photographically capture everything around me. So… today I decided that I’d take a good chunk of my afternoon and shoot. However, I probably shot about half of the stuff that I wanted to because I got waylaid by a big, private screening. I was walking up Main around 3:30p this afternoon and discovered they were in the midst of setting up crowd control and a red carpet for some random event. So I hung out for a bit and ultimately convinced the head of event security that I was a member of the press, thus granting me access to the event and the “photographer area” along side the red carpet. Most of the random celebrities that showed up weren’t terribly interesting. However, I now have some rather nice pictures of Cuba Gooding Junior and Matthew Lillard. I then spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures of icicles.

Emotionally damaged

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Just got out of the Trade screening. Think it's safe to say it'll be awhile before I'm fully recovered from the experience. The film is phenomenally good. Great performances, excellent cutting, great photography and great attention to detail. The subject matter, however, definitely leaves you reeling. It's incredibly powerful and heart wrenching. God... what else can I say other than that it's a film you'll never forget. Just know what you're getting yourself into before seeing it. This is not a film for those unwilling to loose themselves in a dark, sinister and very real (the film's story is based closely on real life) world.

Now that I've filled a good chunk of space with drivel over how awesome and disturbing the film was, I'll go into a bit more detail on the story itself. The film takes place in Juarez, Mexico - a city know for crime and human trafficking. A young girl of 13 is abducted and her brother, Jorge, already doing petty theft from tourists, tracks her down through several levels of international organized crime to discover that she's been abducted for sale into sexual slavery. He manages to follow her trail across the border into the United States where he unites with an insurance fraud investigator (who we later learn has a personal connection to the story, played by Kevin Kline). Together they hatch a plan to save Jorge's sister and crush at least those immediately involved in her abduction. I realize I'm making this sound like an overblown Denzel Washington movie (ala Man on Fire), but trust in that this is not your typical big-budget "let's be really cliché, kill the baddies and blow shit up" Hollywood film. It's done with a lot of intelligence, sensitivity and polish that really bring the story to an almost-too-real reality.

Lionsgate is releasing the film wide on April 13th for those of you interested in checking this out.

On the list for today...

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Today I'm going to try and get tickets to...

- Trade, a gritty film set in a sinister world where young children are sold into sexual slavery. It's directed by Marco Kreuzpainter and stars Kevin Kline among other relatively unknown actors.
- Grace is Gone, a James C Strouse film with John Cusack about a patriot and father who receives news that his wife has been killed in Iraq.
- Bajo Juarez, a documentary from Mexico about border towns where there is a plague of unsolved crime against women

Twists and turns

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So… still trying to make up my mind on Joshua. Certainly there’s a huge creep factory and as well as a solid helping of “WTF was that?!”, but there’s also a lot to be said for the fact that the experience of watching the film is a lot like the world experienced by those in it…. i.e. you don’t really know what the hell is going on and you’re constantly trying to second guess what you’re being told by the frames on screen. Basically, Joshua is a story about a family who, after the birth of their second child, starts experiencing a lot of strange activities in their NYC apartment that seem to be attributed to their nine-year-old and uber creepy son. I actually came away from the screening feeling really unsure of what really happened… but listening to George Ratliff, the director, talk for 10-15 minutes following the film really helped firm things up and actually made me appreciate much more the craft in this film. I would love to go into more detail, but I’d be giving far too much away. So… I’m going to be vague and really just say that if you’re looking for something creepy and mind-fucking, this is worth checking out.

So... the rundown on films for the day:
Manda Bala – One of the best docs I’ve ever seen. Phenomenally good. Don’t show this to children…. Ever…
Fay Grim – Another great Hal Hartley film. Fun, quirky, political and ultimately a joy to watch.
Joshua – If you’d like a creepy mind-fuck, this will fit the bill nicely.

I love Hal

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I really like Hal Hartley’s work. Over the past twenty years, he’s produced some truly great independent films that have a pretty unique style. Fay Grim, a follow up to his 1997 film Henry Fool is a really fun and involving film…and very much a Hal Hartley film. What makes it a Hal Hartley film? For one, the dialog is extremely fast-paced and incredibly detailed. Hal actually warned the audience prior to the screening that there would be a barrage of dialog… but it wasn’t important to follow all of it. Secondly, there’s a definite visual style (he opted to dutch the entire film – which basically means the camera is always skewed one way or another). Lastly, there are (as always) great performances from every single member of the cast. So… what is the film about? I think the Sundance program write-up sums it best. The film simply asks, “can a neurotic mom from Queens (with help from a friendly stewardess/part-time topless dancer) elude spy agencies and Afghan terrorists before her ex-husband, who isn’t dead, is killed over eight volumes of illogical, pedantic gibberish?” The result is funny, political, quirky, and ultimately a really fun ride. Even those who aren’t familiar with Hal’s work will undoubtedly enjoy the exuberant joy that has so clearly been poured into this project by everyone involved.

And for those of you who are familiar with Hal’s work, especially those who enjoyed Henry Fool, Hal and Parker Posey (who plays Fay) told the audience during the Q&A following the screening that there was already movement on a third act to the saga.

Wow…

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Manda Bala... quite possibly one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. It's a deftly woven story of kidnapping, political corruption, plastic surgery and frog farming in Brazil. Eliciting nearly every emotion from the audience in its 85 minute running time, this film manages to not only tell an incredibly compelling and emotional story about the rampant crime problems in Sao Paulo, but also to weave together several seemingly disparate story lines into a single, cohesive piece of cinema. Not only is the film amazingly cut, but the cinematography is several steps above anything I've ever seen on a doc. Jason Kohn, the director, clearly spent a huge amount of time (five years, according to him) shooting and cutting the film, paying incredible attention to detail. He really approached it more like a feature, going above and beyond what most directors would do for a doc. Case in point - during a section featuring plastic surgery reconstructing a severed ear on a kidnap victim, Jason and his crew laid dolly track in the OR and set up a full lighting rig. He also managed to gain unprecedented access to key players in the story and allow them to speak their own perspective. It's really quite a remarkable film. I strongly urge you to check it out. However, I will warn that there are sections of the film that are quite graphic.

There may be hope for Noise

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So I've been thinking about Noise. I'm usually not one to say this, but I feel like this film could really benefit from the involvement of a studio. Usually I feel like studios shit all over most films and turn them into mediocre crap. But... if a studio were to buy Noise and recut it, they might come out with something really good. The concept is there... the material is there... it just needs to be recut (and maybe some new ADR as well so you can freakin' understand the one or two mumblers). For those of you unfamiliar with Sundance, everything here for the most part is done without any studio involvement. The films come in as what's basically a "director's cut" without any kind of MPAA rating. Once studios buy the distribution rights to a film at Sundance, they'll sometimes also "tweak" a film to help it get a certain rating, help it reach a certain target audience or because they simply feel it needs "adjusting." So... maybe Noise will find a life after all. It all depends on what happens if someone picks it u

Way too early

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It's another day and as usual I'm back hanging out in the line at the SLC festival box office. Today I took a shorter route and used the building's service entrance (the line forms inside) instead of walking around for five minutes trying to find an unlocked door.

So... about Hear and Now... as I mentioned last night, it's a documentary about a 65-year-old deaf couple who decide to get cochlear implants. The striking thing about this doc is that it's directed by their daughter, Irene Taylor Brodsky. She somehow manages to walk the line between daughter and filmmaker and ultimately produce a piece that really makes you feel like you're going through the experience along with the entire family. Although not the greatest documentary film from an artistic standpoint, the subject matter lends itself quite well to the medium and the journey is pretty emotional. After 65 years of living in a completely silent world, they both now must come to terms with the chaos around them and learn (relearn?) how to understand sounds they've never heard before. One of the more interesting aspects of this learning is the fact that, unlike to rest of us hearing people, the couple featured in the doc need to gain the ability to filter sound to avoid having it overwhelm. I won't speak too much about what actually happens or how things turn out, but suffice it to say their new ability to hear is a profound experience. I'd have to say my favorite moments are the few days after the implants are turned on - both of them go running around like children, repeatedly doing things simply because they make a sound. Sally, the mother/wife, spends long periods of time banging on walls, flipping light switches, closing doors and watching birds. Paul, the father/husband, repeatedly takes his car through the car wash because he likes the sound so much. Although Paul and Sally didn't join Irene for last night's Q&A (she said it was past their bedtime), it was good to hear her talk through the process of making the film and how difficult it was to be objective while cutting. As she put it, "the daughter cut a 130 minute film, the filmmaker cut an 87 minute film."

Also screening before the Hear and Now was a documentary short called In Passing that chronicled the experience of a mostly-blind woman navigating the streets of London on a daily basis. Stylistically unique, I appreciated how the film was crafted both visually and audibly to mimic the woman's experience. Nicely done.

Deafening roar

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Just got out of a screening for Hear and Now, a great documentary about a 65-year-old deaf couple who decide to get cochlear implants and how their new ability to hear sounds affects their life and relationships. I desperately need to sleep since I’m again jumping out of bed at 5:30a to wait in line for day-of-show tickets, so I’ll be writing more tomorrow on the film. For now, we’ll just say that it’s definitely a film to see. It was shepherded by HBO Documentaries, so it’ll likely get some play on HBO at some point in the near future.


So... the rundown on films for the day:
Waitress – Best film I’ve seen so far at Sundance and easily one of the better films I’ve seen in a long while. You must see this.
Noise – Avoid like the plague.
Hear and Now – Check this out if you have the opportunity.

Two hours of my life I will never get back

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This morning we saw an absolutely beautiful film. This afternoon we saw the antithesis: a completely inane experience lasting an hour and 45 minutes but feeling more like three. Another world premier at this year’s fest, Noise had a lot going for it. It’s an Australian film that’s a feature debut for Matthhew Saville, a guy who’s done a lot of short film work over the past few years. The basic story centers around a young police constable who’s assigned a night shift at a mobile police station placed near the scene of a pair of heinous crimes that occur in the opening minutes of the film. The twist is that Graham McGahan, the police constable, suffers from a chronic, debilitating hearing problem thought to be caused by a possible brain tumor. The first fifteen minutes of the film were fantastic. Lots of suspense, lots of really nice textural detail and a huge potential for some really amazing things to happen. And then…. it went nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. Great setup and then an hour and a half of some of the most boring cinematic work ever produced. I’m really disappointed. And I feel really bad for the director, considering he got up before the screening and blubbered about what an incredible dream it was to be screening his first feature film at Sundance. After the screening finished, 80% of the audience left before the credits had even finished rolling. The Q&A must have been depressing with so few people remaining to congratulate the director on his work. Most people, like Kit and myself, felt the need to bold as quickly as possible so as to avoid any additional exposure to such inane tripe. Unfortunately… I’d say stay the hell away from this film *if* it ever finds an American distributor (and that’s a big if).

Best film of the fest so far!

Park City

We're now sitting back at the Egyptian just a few minutes away from a screening of Noise have just grabbed some food after getting out of Waitress. So what about Waitress… I was very pleasantly surprised. There's been a lot of hype surrounding this film, mainly because of director Adrienne Shelly's untimely death this past year. This film, premiering at Sundance, now marks her final directorial effort. I'm always wary of hype, particularly Sundance-related hype. But this film really stood out as a beautiful piece of cinema. Simple in plot yet extremely complex in character and style, this is definitely a film befitting of its place as Adriene's last work. It’s a film that really captures her style in a beautiful way. Genuinely heartwarming and even though you know where the film is likely to end up at, the journey there is unexpected and a joy to experience. I’d best describe the feeling walking out of the theater as euphoria.

We learned from the Q&A following the film that it’s been picked up for US distribution by Fox Searchlight, so this one’ll be in theaters sometime in the coming months. Definitely make this one a must-see.

Have tickets, will travel

SLC

Aight... two hours in line and countless solitaire games later, I have tickets to everything I wanted for the day. Now, back to the apartment for a quick nap, a much-needed hot shower and a second pass at breakfast.

Another day, another line

SLC

Bright and early, I'm back in the line at the festival box office in SLC. At least there wasn't any new snow last night and the cool weather, at a frigid 11 degrees, definitely forces one wake up.

Assuming enough day-of-show tickets are released (all films are considered sold out at this point, but the fest releases a handful of tickets the day of if you're early enough to grab them), we plan on seeing Waitress, Noise and Hear And Now. Two dramas and one doc - should be a pretty good day of screenings.

Damn it’s cold

Park City

We're now huddled under a propane heater waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to the Eccles parking lot having just gotten out of Save Me. Damn. That was a really good film! Quick synopsis: Mark is a lost, young, gay man who leads a wild life of meaningless sex and drugs who gets checked into a 12-step, Christian, “ex-gay” ministry specializing in healing “sexual brokenness” by his brother after he “hits bottom.” While in this program he develops a close relationship with out of the other guys in the “program“ that challenges both themselves and those around them. The result is a really poignant tale about love, understanding and personal and spiritual growth. And I don’t mean that in a cliché way at all. The film is really quite beautiful and would be so even without the sensitive subject matter. Deep down, it’s really a story about love and acceptance of self regardless of sexual orientation. I think Kit really hit the nail on the head when she described it as “the film that did everything Brokeback Mountain was supposed to have done but failed miserably at.” Meaning… it’s not a film that is only interesting or noteworthy because there’s a scene of man-on-man action. I highly recommend seeing this film if it gets picked up for US distribution.

So... the rundown on films for the day:
On A Tighrope – Good documentary. Well received. Check it out if you have the opportunity.
Tanju Miah – Don’t go out of your way.
The Legacy – Nice film, but lacking in character substance.
Save Me – You have to see this.

Fun with coffins

Park City

I started writing this a half hour ago while we were in line for Save Me and then I got talking to an drunken festival goer. C'est la vie. So... The Legacy was a really cool idea. Basically it's a film about three French travelers in Georgia who, along with their French/Georgian translator, take a two day bus journey to visit a ruined castle that one of them has inherited. Early in the trip a young man and his grandfather board the bus along with a coffin. The coffin, we find, is meant for the grandfather who is traveling to the village of their family's enemies to be killed as repayment for past deaths. And then... well... you'll have to see the film for yourself. I liken the film a bit to a French version of Little Miss Sunshine in it's general quirkiness and random characters and plot twists. However, both Kit and I felt that the characters weren't very well developed and there was a genuine lack of empathy produced. But... it is an interesting look into Georgian life even if the characters are difficult to connect with.

Warmth is completely underrated

Park City

After waiting in a line outside the Egyptian for the first Park City screening of The Legacy we're now snuggled in the very warm and comfortable theater. Truly... being warm is the most underrated thing on the planet. I think I'm going to start carrying around my own little propane heater to avoid freezing in line.

That's a lovely dead fox you have there

Park City

Kit and I have been enjoying making snide remarks about the disgusting trendiness of some of the people here at the festival. It's like being in Bev Hills on Rodeo, but it's 20 degrees outside and everyone's crammed into a much smaller area. Regardless, there are way too many dead animal pelts draped over people who disappear when they turn sideways.

First screenings of the fest

Park City


Waiting in yet another line... this time to grab some grub at the Main Street Deli after seeing our first two screenings of the day. Just about half an hour ago we got out of a screening of On A Tightrope, a film showing in World Documentary Competition. This film focuses on the Uighur people, China's largest Muslim minority. What's striking about this film is that it's the first one to be made by a foreigner in a region where information is strictly controlled and contact with foreigners is curtailed. Director Petr Lom somehow managed to convince the Chinese government to allow him access to an orphanage over a period of 18 months where he filmed the stories of four children learning the ancient Uighur tradition of tightrope walking. It's a pretty powerful story that ultimately turns toward a small bit of hope for the children. What I respected most about the film was the fact that Petr consciously chose to limit the amount of politically sensitive material and focus more on the story of the children themselves. Petr made it very clear while speaking after the film that he wanted more than anything to protect the people featured in the film and to not make it a "political" piece about the blatant human rights violations that were clearly a daily part of their lives. If this film gets picked up by a US distributor, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Screening before On A Tightrope was a 13 minute documentary short titled Tanju Miah that paints a short portrait of a nine year old boy in Bangladesh who cleans tables at a roadside food stand in a distant rura area. He was abandoned by his mother some time before and now dreams of her return. Very interesting glimpse into a life very different from my own. Also very depressing.

Must have plow experience

SLC

So here I am waiting in a line. Something I'll probably be doing a lot of over the next week.

Today marks my first official day of Sundance. And, of course, it's already been anything but dull. Rising at 5:30a to camp out for day-of-show tickets (as necessitated by the fact that when we committed to doing Sundance the passes were sold out and we weren't able to get a slot for locals-only ticket sales) is a nasty prospect nearly anywhere, but it becomes more of a chore when it's 13 degrees outside and there's at least an inch of fresh snow on the ground. Sure, those who are native to wintry climates will probably scoff at this and say that such weather is normal. But, even with 18 years in Minnesota, living in Santa Monica has turned me soft. Cold air in my face, slippery, freshly snow-covered sidewalks and a nice big snowplow working on the driveway and parking lot greeted me as I left Kit's apartment. After dusting the new snow off of the car, I slid down the road about a mile to the SLC festival box office on yet-to-be-plowed roads making excellent use of AWD, ABS and heated seats. And now, watching yet another parking lot get once-overed by a plow, I sit and wait until the box office opens at 8a and see what films I can get us into..