That's a wrap

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN SALT LAKE CITY AND LOS ANGELES

Well folks, this is it for me from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Over the past five days I've caught twenty-five films, including shorts, and am now in serious need of sleep and relaxation. Hopefully you've enjoyed at least some of my ramblings and have caught a slight glimpse into this year's 25th anniversary festival. For those wanting a quick summary of all the films, here goes...

Documentary

• Afghan Star - Follows several contestants on "Afghan Star, " an "American Idol"-like television program in Afghanistan. A great window into post-Taliban Afghanistan through the eyes of a pop music contest.
• Art & Copy - If you have any interest in the inner workings of the world of advertising and how campaigns are created, this documentary is for you.
• Boy Interrupted - "The boy who wanted to die." A mother chronicles her own son's bi-polar disorder that ultimately leads to his own suicide at the age of 15. Intense but well done.
• Burma VJ - Get close up and personal with the events of the 2007 revolutionary uprising in Burma. Through the eyes of a dozen undercover reporters with handheld video cameras, an amazing story takes shape. Excellent.
• It Might Get Loud - If you like electric guitars, this is the film for you. It brings together Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page to give their version of the instrument's history and what it means to them as music artists. Excellent.
• Joel Stein's Completely Unfabricated Adventures - Documentary short covering Orange County's toilet to tap program for recycled drinking water. Plays like a more-fun-than-usual educational film.
• Lies - Short film with three lies put to animation. Nothing to write home about.
• Over the Hills and Far Away - Fantastic documentary about a family's quest to "cure" their son of autism by traveling across Mongolia on horseback in search of shamanic healers.
• The Archive - Excellent short film about the man who owns the world's largest vinyl record collection - more than 2.5 million of them.
• The Kinda Sutra - Fun short film giving a humorous slant on what we were told as children about where babies come from.
• The Yes Men Fix The World - The Yes Men document several of their own "culture-jamming" activist projects, including coming forward as Dow Chemical to take full responsibility for the largest industrial disaster in the world. Well done.
• Theresa's Story - Short film overcutting two versions of a child telling a story. Most of the world won't be ready to understand this film.
• Tyson - Can world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson come across as a human being who now sees the damage he's done to himself and those he loves? Experience some emotionally raw moments with the boxer in this excellent film.
• We Live in Public - Does the Internet bring us closer, or make us feel more alone? Internet media pioneer Josh Harris conducts social "experiments" on himself and others to show the impact of overly-public lives, with debilitating results.

Narrative

• Brooklyn's Finest - Antoine Fuqua brings "Training Day" to New York. It's a classic return to a familiar genre that will leave you bleeding. Powerful stuff, though not as good as it's predecessor.
  
• Cold Souls - Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti, a man who choses to have his soul put in storage to lift emotional weight from his shoulders. If you like "Being John Malkovich," this film is for you.
• Dead Snow - Undead Nazis unleashed on Norwegian students vacationing in the snowy mountains. Possibly the most awesome film I've seen in months. Sure to become a cult classic.
• Endgame - Chronicles what lead up to the fall of apartheid in South Africa. Very historical.
• I Love You Phillip Morris - Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor make out and get it on. But beyond that it's actually a pretty fun, comic film that keeps you guessing.
• Sex, Lies and Videotape - Screened this year for its 20th anniversary. Go rent it.
• Spread - Ashton Kutcher is a young man in LA looking to find fame and fortune... by trading sex with powerful women for a place to stay and free meals. Better than I expected and not half bad.
• The Messenger - Two military men form a strong friendship when assigned to notify next of kin when soldiers die in combat. Not much to write home about, though not a bad film.
• This is her - Excellent short film about a woman who delves into her own future to draw lines between herself, her husband and the "bitch" who will one day steal him away and ruin her life.
• Treevenge - Christmas trees have had enough and now they're fighting back. Don't watch this until your own Christmas tree is safely recycled. You'll never look at Christmas the same way again. Brilliantly fun.
• Unmade Beds - Two people in their early 20s float adrift in London looking for personal connections. Unless you're into European cinema, you'll hate this film.
  

Unmade Beds

Fernando Tielve, Déborah François and director Alexis Dos Santos talk about making "Unmade Beds"

MAIN STREET, PARK CITY

Having just taken in my last screening of the 2009 festival, I'm taking a brief pause up on Main Street before heading to the airport for a flight back to LAX. The weather is warm, the crowds have thinned quite a bit from the past few days and there are camera crews everywhere talking to people about today's historic inauguration of Barack Obama.

This last film for the festival was "Unmade Beds," a quirky British film that takes place in an exuberant London where longing and zeal plunge young expatriates into lusty adventures and momentous encounters. When wide-eyed Spaniard Axl comes to London on a quest for the father who abandoned him before his earliest memories, he lands in the middle of a creative hotbed - a free-spirited community of squatters. Among them is Vera, a Belgian girl seeking to restore her faith in romantic destiny after meeting a charismatic stranger. As Axl and Vera separately pursue these connections, they circle each other's orbits.

This is a film as much about people trying to reconnect with themselves as it it about people looking for meaning within their external relationships. The film, much like its characters, spends much of its time adrift in search of a connection, feeling a bit work-in-progress as it winds its way through the streets of London. Does this impact the ultimate message of the film? It does, but mostly through imbuing a sense of disconnect in the audience that's an echo of the experiences of those on screen. Those not up for a slightly-quirky, very European film that focuses almost entirely on character without bothering to develop much of a story arc will feel immensely disappointed by this film.

Preceding "Unmade Beds" was a fantastic dramatic short film from first-time director Katie Wolfe entitled "This is her." It's a 12-minute tale about the bitter aftertaste of love. As she watches her younger self in the throes of childbirth, a woman's wry commentary reveals exactly what life has in store for her, her loving husband, and the 6-year-old, "bitch", who will one day steal his affections and destroy her life. Masterfully directed - I expect to see great things from Wolfe in the near future.

The Messenger

Director Oren Moverman, Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and a large group of other cast and crew at the world premier of "The Messenger"

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

With three months left in the service, Will (Ben Foster) has spent a good deal of time in army hospitals, healing scars from his time in Iraq. His chance at a fresh start lies in working shoulder to shoulder with Tony (Woody Harrelson), a senior officer who teaches him the ropes of his new post with the Casualty Notification Office. Will, who narrowly escaped death, must now break the news about those who didn’t. Between assignments, these two soldiers form a bond that helps them in their struggle to get back to "normal" life, fully knowing nothing will ever really be normal again. Foster adds yet another layer when Will faces an ethical dilemma because he is drawn to one of the young widows, played by Samantha Morton.

At it's center, this is a film about two guys who choose to live life and the relationship that grows between them. The fact that it's painted over the backdrop of the military is mostly inconsequential. It's a film that doesn't pack a huge emotional punch and leans toward predictability, but still proves to be enjoyable and insightful. It keeps a mostly even-keel, rarely challenging the depths of the characters.

We Live in Public

Director Ondi Timoner, Internet pioneer Josh Harris (who flew in from Ethiopia) and others take audience questions

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

This film is a total mind trip.

Internet pioneer Josh Harris has spent his life implementing his unique vision of the future, where technology and media dictate human social interaction and define our personal identity. At the turn of the millennium, Harris launched an art experiment called Quiet: We Live in Public. He created an artificial society in an underground bunker in the heart of New York City. More than 100 artists moved in and lived in "pods" under 24-hour surveillance in what was essentially a human terrarium. They defecated, had sex, shared a transparent communal shower—all on camera. On January 1, 2000, after 30 days, the project was busted by FEMA as a “millennial cult.” Undeterred, Harris struck again, this time using himself as the subject. Rigging his loft with 32 motion-controlled cameras, he convinced his girlfriend to allow him to record streaming video of every moment of their lives from the toilet to the bedroom. After several months, the project backfired, his relationship imploded, and Harris went broke. Mentally unhinged, he fled to an apple farm in upstate New York and later to Ethiopia to escape creditors.

This documentary film is quite a ride, ultimately serving as an exploration of the way society and interpersonal relationships react to the proliferation of technology that's supposedly there to "help" us communicate. It reveals some pretty scary stuff, namely that the more "public" our lives become, the more we feel alone. Technology is an enemy with great power and must be dealt with carefully. Most of the audience left the screening with their heads reeling and with great fear over what humans can do if pushed to certain limits. An extremely well-made film.

Harris himself appeared for the Q&A following the world premier screening to take questions, though he admitted that he hadn't actually come in to watch the film saying that he ironically didn't want to watch himself relive all that history.

Check out a sneak peak at some of the early work-in-progress of the film at http://www.vimeo.com/457221

Sex, Lies and Videotape

Steven Soderberg, Laura San Giacomo, Andie Macdowell and Peter Gallagher talk about making "Sex, Lies and Videotape"

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

Earlier today I attended a 20th anniversary screening of "Sex, Lies and Videotape." This film quite literally changed the landscape for independent cinema when it came out in 1989. At the time, the filmmakers didn't really realize what they had. In fact, they weren't even certain that an audience would show up for the screenings as they had no posters or advertising. But by the second screening it was clear the film had found a voice. It went on to win the Audience Award for drama at the festival and soon landed the Palme d' Or and the best actor award for James Spader at Cannes. Suddenly, for good or bad, Sundance was on everyone's radar.

Screened from Steven Soderberg's personal print, the film was followed by one of the best Q&A sessions I've encountered at Sundance. Soderberg, joined by Andie Macdowell, Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo reminisced quite casually about their experiences shooting a film with nearly no budget and no idea where it would ultimately take them. It's what you really want from those silly featurettes on a DVD, as opposed to the typical "praise the director and cast" creations that you typically get. Great insight into the creative process as well as some fantastic stories about how they all ended up working on the film.