Art & Copy

Director Doug Pray, along with his crew and a smattering of advertising luminaries highlighted in the film, present the world premier of Art & Copy at Sundance

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

Though the weather is far warmer than last year's balmy 5 degree highs, it's still most definitely winter outside in Park City. Thus I'm quite glad to be back in front of a nice, warm fire after returning from the world premier screening of "Art & Copy." Here's a documentary film that's really masterfully put together. It at once informs while still being incredibly entertaining and even, dare I say it, uplifting. The film centers on the world of advertising, specifically the huge creative revolution that occurred in the 1960s and what ended up coming out of that. It's a "celebration" of the top advertising creatives (words of Doug Pray, the film's director). Sure, there's a slight history lesson hidden between the pages, but really it's about what creative advertising attempts to accomplish and how that process has formed over the years. Various advertising luminaries, including Lee Clow, George Lois, Hal Riney and Dan Wieden, present their own views of how campaigns like "Got Milk," Nike's "Just Do It," and the famous Apple "1984 won't be like 1984" came into being and how, in many cases, they almost didn't even make it to market. Portions get a bit long in the tooth, but overall it's quite an enjoyable ride. Masterfully directed and edited, this doc really stands out in my eyes as a shining example of what documentary filmmaking should be. And for anyone who works or aspires to be in a creative field, this film definitely leaves you excited about possibility.

"Art & Copy" was preceeded by a short film entitled "The Archive," a seven-minute documentary focused on Paul Mawhinney, the owner of the world's largest collection of records. Numbering over two and a half million, the vast majority of his collection can't even be purchased anymore. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection. It's quite a fascinating window on an individual, as well as on the state of phonographic records in general. Very well directed and edited... I wouldn't be at all surprised if we find director Sean Dunne doing more great cinematic things in the near future.

You can watch the entire documentary on Vimeo at www.vimeo.com/1546186

I'm going to try and get in some downtime tonight before launching into tomorrow. I've got five scheduled screenings starting with the 9am premier of Antoine Fuqua's newest film, "Brooklyn's Finest" with Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. Catch you all on the flipside.

Boy Interrupted

Dana Perry, Hart Perry and editor Geof Bartz discuss their film

PROSPECTOR THEATRE, PARK CITY

"Oh my God, we're at the Sundance Film Festival because my son killed himself."

These are the words spoken by Dana Perry, director of "Boy Interrupted," when asked what was going through her head while watching the world premiere of her documentary film.  Since leaving Temple Theater about 30 minutes ago, I've been searching for the right way to talk about this film - a film directed by the mother of a boy who committed suicide at age 15 after 10 years of battling with diagnosed bipolar disorder.  He goes through periods of happiness, then periods of extreme depression.  Suicide is a subject all-too-common since the age of 5.  All seems to be going well for the first time in years as he moves into his teenage years, but then he's slowly taken off meds and, without warning, he jumps from his New York apartment bedroom window. It's a heavy experience, so here's what I'm going to do - split this two ways:

Emotional:  Hard to argue with such a personal story.  With both parents of Evan Perry, the subject of the film, intimately involved with the project as director and cinematographer, respectively, it's nearly impossible to imagine how it must have been to distance themselves enough from the material.  Hart, the father, made it clear to the audience during the Q&A that this film was really about sharing the experience of their journey toward trying to make Evan well and not about the extreme grief of losing a child to suicide.  However, it's tough to escape that framing since it underscores so much of the film.  Both Dana and Hart entered into the project also hoping it might allow them some closure, but found that not the case in the slightest.  Though Evan's death is now three years in the past, the wounds are clearly still fresh.  As Dana said following the film, "that's the first and last time I'll have seen this film with an audience."

Technical:  This is not a film that prides itself on production quality.  Told mostly through somewhat blurry home video clips and talking-head interviews, it's not a film that will win awards for cinematography or for editing.  At first I was struck by the lower perceived level of quality, but at the end of it all, the quality of the imagery on screen doesn't really matter.  The story is communicated effectively and with a lot of emotion.  What more is needed?

Should you see this film?  Not if you're disturbed by teen suicide or the thought of your children killing themselves.  But if you're up for an emotional story about loss and a family's journey to try and save their son from his own mind, then it's definitely worth a look.

You can find out more at www.boyinterruptedfilm.com

It Might Get Loud

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

Just returned from the US premier of "It Might Get Loud," my first screening of this year's fest. I was pretty excited to be able to catch this film here at Sundance since it got pretty good buzz when it first screened back in May at the Cannes Film Festival and subsequently in September at the Toronto Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics has already picked up distribution for the film, so it'll definitely find a home at a theater near you.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, who most recently directed "An Inconvenient Truth" and made Al Gore a movie star, "It Might Get Loud" is a documentary film about the history of the electric guitar framed through the eyes of three accomplished guitarists - Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin fame), the Edge (of U2 fame) and Jack White (of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs). The basic premise... take all three musicians and lock them in a soundstage together for two days and see what comes out. It sounds unstructured, but out of this loose idea Guggenheim manages to get some really interesting things out of all three as they trace their steps back through their own artistic upbringings to arrive at where they are today. Each has a unique sound and a very different story, but at the end all three find many common threads. As Guggenheim mentioned during the Q&A following the screening, most documentaries about music are either encyclopaedic and try to cover everything or they focus on the personal stories of drugs, alcohol and bus crashes. With this film, he made a concious decision to not do either, instead opting to simply let the three artists tell their own stories and develop from that an arc that allows you glimpses into some of the definining moments that lead each to their current relationship with their instruments and music. Jack White talks about how for him it's all about creating a "challenge," eschewing the synthetic and fighting with instruments, Jimmy Page disusses his beginnings creating Musak (really), and the Edge allows a brief glimpse into what his work sounds like once you turn off all the layered effects that so define his style. Ultimately it's a fantastic glimpse into each artist's process and how they relate to their work.

Will you like this film? Maybe, maybe not. For those who feel that rock music speaks to them or consider themselves electric guitar officianados, this film will land itself high on your "most awesome documentary ever" list. For those who don't feel rock music is a window to the soul or tire quickly of listening to artists spout what many might consider cliche words about their art, then you're probably better off seeing something else. I, for one, thought it was fantastic and want to immediately go back and watch it again.

Learn more at www.itmightgetloud.com

Perhaps there's still money flowing

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

If the conversations at the opening night party are any indication of the festival landscape, it may well be that the 25th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival proves that there's still plenty of opportunities to sell a film. While in the midst of flowing absynthe (not to be confused with absinthe, illegal in most countries) and, for once, a decent DJ, I picked the brains of several who were at the fest in support of particular films. Spirits are high. Interest seemingly abounds. One woman exclaimed that she'd already sold three films just tonight. The trades are also reporting that several deals have been made - HBO just today picked up US television rights to "Burma VJ" ahead of it's North American premier, which I'll be seeing Sunday night. Also today, Sony Classics reportedly finalized a deal for North American rights for James Toback's documentary "Tyson," which originally premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival and centers on none other than boxing heavyweight Mike Tyson.

Expectations are still tempered, but perhaps the economic downturn isn't going to breathe as strongly down the neck of the fest as most say it will. We'll see how the rest of the week shapes up.