Sundance Wrap-Up!

This is it. Monday, January 29th -- the day after the last day of Sundance.

A little catch-up for those of you who don't know: Mary, our friend Tina (who makes documentaries), and myself spent the past ten days in Park City, Utah, for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival -- our first.

We didn't quite know to expect, despite doing all the homework in the world, and we did get in the end was an amazing little chalet to live in, 12 films, 9 short films, 2 days of skiing, 1 morning of Alpine Coaster-sledging, 4 or 5 panels and discussions, a couple parties -- and all in all, an amazing time.

These below are the films we ended up seeing (we missed some of the big ones, as Hounddog, Son Of Rambow, and Manda Bala would turn out to be), ordered in the order we saw them, along with my REVIEWS for them -- read, enjoy, and hopefully catch them soon in a theater near you!

Expired -- [Starring Samantha Morton, Jason Patric and Terri Garr, this one tells the story of Claire (Morton), a nice, shy meter maid who, as she deals with how crap and seemingly meanigless her life is, meets Jay (Patric), a badass, angry, full-on parking agent. They start a romance -- the problem is, Jay isn't just angry, he's abusive...]
Expired gets the honor of being the worst film I've seen at Sundance this year -- and quite possibly the worst I've ever paid to see. It drags on, it doesn't know what tone it wants to be, it doesn't really go anywhere, it doesn't make any logical sense, and at the core just truly felt like one of those indie films that will just throw every little fucked-up idea the writer/director can come up with in and then call itself "offbeat and realistic". The script is crap, unrealistic, forced, unfunny, and staged. It doesn't exploit any of the comedic potential of its set-up, but it's not even close to being emotionally effective either -- mostly because the characters are paper-thin and the film's theme non-existent. No one really changes as the film goes -- Claire gets slightly more backboned, but Jay ends the film as much of a dick as he was at the beginning, only at this point, Claire seems to like it -- which makes Expired the only film I have ever seen whose message seems to be "it's better to be in an abusive relationship than to be alone". What the fuck?
The acting is also painfully terrible -- the whole supporting cast makes their stiff lines sound even stiffer, and Samantha Morton (of whom I'm usually a decent fan) delivers another lazy performance -- you know, one of those where, instead of actually giving her character any depth, she just makes her childish and, seemingly, slightly retarded, and hopes that endears the audience into mistaking it for depth. The one saving grace here is Patric, who delivers a solid performance, and who, if he had been anything to work with, probably would've pulled off making his character seem human.
Like I said -- an awful film. Absolutely do NOT recommend. 2/10

Comrades In Dreams -- [A documentary by German filmmaker Uli Gaulke, dir. of Havana Mi Amor, the film tells the story of four small cinema owners around the world -- in Wisconsin, USA; in India; in Burkina Faso; and in North Korea.]
This one was the first documentary we saw at the festival -- and it turned out to be one of my favorite films of the whole shindig. It's not easily accessible -- it's slow, it confronts several very specific cultures you need to have a certain care and appreciation for, and just per its subject, you need to have a deep-rooted love for cinema, and for those little home-owned theaters in specific, to be engrossed in it as much as I did. But the stories told are still fascinating -- from Anup, a young 25-year old who owns a traveling cinema tent in India, and whom we meet as his family is trying to set him up with a bride; to Han Jong Sil, a North Korean woman who operates her cinema to help support her comrade farmers and workers; to Lassane, Luc and Zakaria in Africa, who lease out an outdoor cinema from the state and work 24/7 to make enough money to buy it for themselves; and finally to Penny Teffertiller and her friends, who run their theater, The Flick, from inside what looks like a barn in her small Wyoming town. Separated by language, distance, and culture, they're all brought together by the same things -- the issues in their personal lives, and how their cinemas act as a meeting point and an anchor in their respective communities.
It's fascinating to watch -- not least of all because of the North Korean segment, which gives a rare and insightful peak into day-to-day life in N. Korea (turns out it actually is a lot like a tiny little Soviet Union. Full of Asian people.). To me the film had only one shortcoming, and that was its ending -- it focuses too heavily on paralleling Penny and Han Jong Sil, and their common loneliness, and never comes back to Anup, the Indian cinema owner, arguably the most interesting one in the lot in the sense that not only is he running his cinema, but he's also struggling with marriage -- he seems to want a marriage for love, but this is India, and marriages aren't made for love. It's an engrossing dilemma, and it's frustrating when it's just let drop without even a hint at a conclusion.
But in the end, the film is definitely worth seeing, if only for some of its singular, exceptional glimpses into what exactly "a night at the movies" might be around the world -- cowboys at church, over 2,000 Indians wrestling their ways through fences and into a cinema tent, and showing Titanic around the world. 8/10

Interview -- [Directed by Steve Buscemi, this adaptation of Theo Van Gogh's 2003 film of the same name tells the story of a fading political journalist (Buscemi) who, after falling out with his editor, is forced to interview America's newest bubble-gum movie star (Sienna Miller). As he does, they both unearth unexpected secrets about each other...]
A massive surprise -- and by far one of the best films of the festival this year. Buscemi's 6th feature-film directorial effort, and a remake, the film is an amazing acting showcase, tight, and shot in a way that perfectly uses the qualities inherent to HD.
The film pretty much takes place in two locations: first our two characters meet in a restaurant, Buscemi bungles the interview by being rude and unprofessional, Sienna walks out, but Buscemi has an accident in the seconds after leaving the joint, and in an unexpected act of kindness, Sienna takes him back to her place around the corner, where they resume the interview.
Some might say the film feels mostly like an on-camera play -- I disagree. It's shot and edited with energy, and the performances are purely cinematic, contained, subtle, and complex -- if you saw this on a stage, you'd miss 75% of it.
The film's a very intense piece, engrossing and amazing to watch, and a lot of the credit goes to the acting. The two leads are virtually the only actors in the film -- and they never make you want to see anyone else. Buscemi is his usual scene-stealing self -- solid, slightly sleazy yet oddly likeable, most of his work done with his voice and his eyes. But surprisingly it's Sienna Miller who makes the movie what it is -- she's fascinating, captivating, and builds her performance with amazing self-confidence. She's sad, she's funny (has anyone ever noticed what a terrific physical comedienne this woman is?), she's sexy, she's serious -- and most of all she's believable.
If you live near an art-house theater -- definitely catch this one when it comes out. 9.5/10

Broken English -- [Directed by Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of John Cassavetes, the film tells the story of Nora (Parker Posey), an NYC hotel manager who, in her 30s, starts freaking out -- everyone around her seems to be in love, or in a relationship, but she, invariably, is alone. She sets out to find a man...rom-com stuff ensues.]
Mare and I got our tickets for Broken English pretty early on -- it was a priority for us, we had heard good things, people were introducing Zoe Cassavetes as the new Sofia Coppola...So we made sure we got tickets, got to theater early, got good seats...
...and ended up with one of the most massive letdowns EVER.
The film isn't even really worth summing up -- girl feels lonely, everyone around her is in a relationship, so she sets out to find the perfect man, but is there such a thing? The whole fucking thing is the exact opposite of an indie film -- it hits every single mark a Hollywood rom com would, from starting at-the-anniversary-party-of-friends-where-main-character's-mom-makes-a-reference-to-how-
she-should-be-shacked-up-by-now to the cliched serendipity ending, all the way through completely unrealistic romantic visions of what Paris and the French are, and using the tired old morality lesson that "to find true love, you must first really find yourself". Oh, sweet fucking please.
The film does have a stellar cast -- Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo, Griffin Dunne, Justin Theroux and Gena Rowlands are in for the ride -- but it absolutely wastes it. Posey (whom I usually like) delivers one of her stiff, wooden, annoying-girl performances; de Matteo, as usual, lets the Sopranos acting do the work; Theroux seems like all he did was just be his own up-his-ass self; and Rowlands gets stuck in a lame, unsurprising, unoriginal whiny overbearing mom role (all six or seven minutes of screen time she gets). Peter Bogdanovich is in the film for all of three minutes, and doesn't even utter a complete sentence. The only redeeming component here is French actor Melvin Poupaud, who plays the main male interest -- he's not exactly good, and his character, all puppy-eyed weight-of-the-world-on-my-shoulders naivete, is no gift; but the man does have a certain charm. In another film and another language, he might just be endearing.
I'd criticize the script but there didn't seem to be much of one at all -- none of it is funny, none of it is sad, none of it is moving, and you can predict the next three scenes even before the one you're currently watching starts. The camerawork is horrid -- shabby Steadicam married to flat, disgusting HD and an absolutely inexistent sense of composition -- and a special mention must be made for the music, all by Scratch Massive, which not only sounds like the Devil's nails screeching on Hell's blackboard, but is also used here amazingly out of place.
The whole thing essentially feels like little Zoe got her mom and her celebrity friends to play make believe in a little thing she wrote about her self-involved, cliched, boring romantic woes -- and you know what? I'll bet you dollars for biscuits that's exactly what it is. 2.5/10

Girl 27 -- [A documentary by magazine and biography writer David Stenn, this film uncovers the truth around the life of Patricia Douglas, who as a young woman, along with 100 other underage dancers and actresses, was tricked into attending the 1937 MGM Convention, used as meat to arouse the conventioneers, and was raped by one of them. When she came forth with her claim -- the first federal rape case ever -- her life was slowly, and horribly, broken down by MGM in retaliation...]
I had always been fascinated by the Patricia Douglas story, ever since I read about it in Stenn's famous Vanity Fair article. I've always been fascinated by old Hollywood, I love trying to break at the bleak reality behind all the glamour and gloss, so this documentary was something that I had fairly high expectations for.
And in a way, it delivered -- there's plenty of information here, there's some really fun little insights into a couple Hollywood scandals (including...Clark Gable's hidden daughter!), and the best comes towards the end, as we get to hear (and SEE) an aged Patricia Douglas talk about what she's been through and where she's at now.
But the film is ultimately frustrating and annoying -- and a large part of that is the fault of writer-director David Stenn, who manages the incredible feat of turning the film into a film about himself. He's got more on-screen time than anyone else in the film, the film starts with a 3- or 4-mn monologue by himself, and there's at least half a dozen scenes where the man does nothing else but praise his own work, be it his past books, his Vanity Fair article, or how much work he's put into THIS "groundbreaking and challenging" documentary. I mean, I can understand that his relationship with Douglas might be an interesting, and important, part of the piece -- after all, he's the one who brought her case back to light after 60 years, and he's also the one who brought her out of reclusive hiding -- but after watching a 5-minute scene of the guy whining because "let's face it -- Patricia is old, and sick, and if she dies now, this great story dies with her", I had to stuff my popcorn bag down my throat to keep myself from throwing up. If the woman dies, it's a tragedy because a rape victim will have died alone, after over 60 years of injustice and shame -- not because you can't get your little documentary, dude. (The memorable scene where Stenn takes the liberty to actually dance on her rapist's grave kind of went a tad too far, too, if you ask me.)
It doesn't help that Stenn is just an annoying person himself anyway -- you wouldn't stand five minutes of the guy at dinner or in a bar, so having his smug, self-involved, fake-tanned face plastered all over a big screen for 2 hrs is no treat. He's not an especially good filmmaker either -- the interviews are unfocused and tend to kind of fly all over the place, contradicting themselves every second, and too many wacky characters are introduced who actually diminish the film's strength (I mean, the flamboyant gay grandson?). Worst of all, the film tries to make the (otherwise valid) point that, in the 30s and 40s, near-rape sexism and machismo was not only tolerated or looked over in the cases, such as this one, where it occurred, but that, in a very subtle way, MGM film fare of the period encouraged and condoned it -- but the way this is put forward is weak and undeveloped, Stenn essentially just using the same 4 movie clips over and over again, and pretending that their existence defines the whole era.
Overall, a painfully flawed film on a topic that deserved better -- and one I would only recommend if you're sitting in the comfort of your own home, with a remote in your hand, ready to fast forward 75% of the bloody thing so you don't have to put up with the Self-Involved David Stenn Show (TM). 4/10

Crazy Love -- [A documentary by Dan Klores, about the real-life ups and downs of the relationship between Burt Pugach, NY lawyer extraordinaire, and his love of once and always, Linda.]
I know, I know -- I could've done a much better job of summing up this movie than THAT. But I don't want to. I went into this film not really knowing what it was about, and that was such a lucky thing -- because I absolutely, totally did NOT expect any of what it was about to throw at me. And loved it.
What does need to be say about the film is this -- it's about exactly what the title suggests it's about, it's wonderfully made, and it's pretty much THE most entertaining documentary I have seen in a long time, if not ever (rocking soundtrack, dudes). The great strength of the piece is that it manages to take this amazingly disturbed, and disturbing, story, and to present both sides of it -- without ever spoiling any of its twists and turns, without ever judging any of the characters involved, without ever taking itself too seriously but without seeming irrelevant either.
A short review to reveal as little as possible, but definitely see it -- it's worth its money. 8/10

Snow Angels -- [Directed by indie wunderkind David Gordon Green, the film, based on the bestseller of the same name, interweaves the lives of several people living in the same small town in America, around a tragedy that brings them together -- and breaks them apart. Starring Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Amy Sedaris, Nicky Katt, Michael Angarano and Olivia Thirlby.]
A sweet, little film -- well-written, well-directed, and sublimely acted. Its one -- and main weakness -- resides in its very subject matter -- it essentially ends up feeling just like every other nostalgic "slice of life" piece about love, being a kid in high school, and life in a small town. It doesn't feel like it's challenging itself either -- every single person involved here, starting with director Gordon Green, seems like they could, and should, be involved in much bigger, more challenging pieces, a thought I personally couldn't get out of my head throughout.
The film is great and enjoyable, though, despite feeling slightly irrelevant (in a very, very odd way -- in the sense that it doesn't feel like it has anything to say, really). It's all built around a couple unexpected twists and turns, and mixes sweetness and tragedy together rather well and maturely, making it an interesting character study.
The performances are the major attraction here, and they're all great, from top to bottom. Sam Rockwell stands out, building a layered, disturbing, complex character as usual, breathing humanity right into Glenn's lungs. Kate Beckinsale does a solid job, despite her character essentially being an unlikeable, aggressive, selfish, one-note bitch (another one of the film's flaws); and supporting cast Sedaris and Katt do all right, if nothing noteworthy. The two young 'nes, Angarano and Thirlby, are terrific -- they infuse such lovely sweetness, innocence, and grace into their characters' first-love relationship that, despite being written in a rather old and tired way, it comes to life uniquely on the screen. They're both cute and likeable, and Thirlby, especially, I think, is worth following -- she had great depth, and with a half-dozen other movies in the works at the moment, we should see soon if she actually does or if I, well, don't have any fucking taste.
A solid movie. Flawed, but worth seeing -- if only to prove, yet again, that Sam Rockwell is a genius. 7/10

Ghosts -- [Feature debut by acclaimed documentary maker Nick Broomfield, the film tells the story of Ai Qin, a young Chinese single mother, who smuggles her way into the UK as an illegal immigrant, trying to find work so she can support her young son back home.]
A unique, chilling peak at modern-day slavery -- flawed, but with enormous power, impressive for a first-time director.
Broomfield brings his obvious documentary experience to how he shoots, edits, and puts together the film -- it's realistic, it's plain, it's powerful. Best of all, it's just the right length -- no self-indulgent 2hr film to be found here.
The film is part of a new breed of take-action films that's been flowing into our cinemas for months now, and I like this new movement -- I like watching a good, entertaining, moving film, about a real issue, and then being able to take action about it if I'd like. It's a great type of social filmmaking, one I commend and respect.
Everything here is technically great -- it's engrossing, the acting is natural and captivating, and the editing and shooting is so good it's barely noticeable.
The film has a couple of flaws -- mainly the massive one that, even though it's supposed to be an illustration of what desperate people are pushed into, Ai Qin, the main character, starts off seeming everything BUT desperate. She's living in what's shot as beautiful China, with her full family. We see her put her kid in a great-looking, American-style school, and then we see her at dinner, surrounded by a healthy family -- all eating to contentment, with more food spread all over the dinner table -- and she suddenly breaks into tears and shouts about how she ABSOLUTELY needs to risk everything to go to England or her son will have no life. What?
It starts the film on the wrong foot, unrealistically and weakly, but once that is passed, you get swept away by the dramatic and tragic real-life story of that specific little group of Chinese illegals -- and I challenge you to leave the cinema after watching it without wanting to do something about the situation. A powerful film. 8.5/10

Chapter 27 -- [A first film about Mark Chapman (Jared Leto) waiting outside the Dakota building so he can shoot John Lennon (played, oddly enough, by a guy named Mark Chapman.]
And that's exactly what the film is. A guy waiting outside a building for three days. There's no script, there's no action, there's no tension, the film's very averagely directed, with unnoticeable editing, and looks decent but no more. Jared Leto is fat and good, and if he had any movie to act in, he might've been able to build an Oscar-worthy performance around the character he's putting together. But this is a slow, dull movie, and the rest of the performances are terrible -- Lindsay Lohan is god-awful, playing a useless, illogical part; Jonah Friedlander is one-note and uninspired; and, well...that's pretty much all the cast there is. Stay away from this one. 3/10

Fido -- [Directed by Andrew Currie, the film takes place in a 50s reality where America has just come out of the Zombie Wars. As humans have come out victorious, they have invented a control collar which enables every American family to have their own Zombie servant -- whether you need it to mow the lawn, pick up the kids, or do the washing up! Starring Carrie-Ann Moss, Dylan Baker, Billy Connolly, K'Sun Ray, Henry Czerny, and Tim Blake Nelson.]
One of the cool surprises of the festival -- a horror-comedy completely unlike Shaun Of The Dead, budgeted at $8 million but that looks like it cost three times that, and even though it fails to fulfill some of its satirical potential, a really, really entertaining film.
The film uses the setup described above to essentially tell the story of Timmy, a young kid who, when his family buys a Zombie for the first time, suddenly finds himself with his first real friend. But shit hits the fan when Fido (the aforementioned Zombie)'s collar breaks, and he attacks the town's little old lady, starting an epidemic...
The film is a really funny piss-take on 50s melodramas, with hilariously violent bits and terrific deadpan delivery from its actors, who all make it all the more funnier by acting as if they were in the year's most recent Oscar contender (you know what I mean). Carrie-Ann Moss is at her best, Dylan Baker's face twists in new, amazingly funny shapes, Henry Czerny steals the show every frame he's in, and let's face it -- even Billy Connolly can be funny when all he can do is grunt (as he's our titular zombie).
The film does fail to delve and bite into some of the issues it could've (racism, slavery, and so on -- I mean, exactly like Mexican immigrants, the Zombies in this film are used for middle- and upper-class manual labor, everyone looks down on them despite being essential to their hypocritical society still running, and the rest of them are kept outside borders by fences), which does somehow take away from the film, as it's got great potential to be even more than it already is.
In any case, if marketed right, Fox Searchlight have got a minor hit on their hands, I think, and rightly so. Go for a late screening, grab some popcorn and a large Coke, and just kick back and have fun. 7.5/10

Chicago 10 -- [Directed by Brett Morgen, of "The Kid Stays In The Picture" fame, this documentary mixes CG-animation and actual news footage to tell the story of the anti-war "riots" at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and the ensuing circus of a trial, forever known as the Chicago Conspiracy Trial.]
And the last film we saw -- ended up being, in my eyes, by far, the best film of the whole thing. A groundbreaking documentary in terms of style and form, the film is a terrific ode to the 60s, a great, great anti-establishment, anti-war film -- one that made me exit the theater outraged, angry, proud, and ready to take action about what I believe in, all in the same time.
The film essentially mixes CG-animated recreations of the trial itself (as there was no actual video footage of the thing, other than transcripts), in which all the players are voiced by the likes of Hank Azaria, Nick Nolte, Dylan Baker, Mark Ruffalo, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, and Roy Scheider (all of which donated their services for free); with actual, period, news footage of the demonstrations that, because of police brutality, turned into violence and chaos -- and surprisingly, it all meshes beautifully, mixing the continuity up but never confusing, ambitious but never pretentious, and it just ends up stirring your guts like the perfect pre-battle pep talk.
It's all set to a rockingly anachronistic soundtrack -- Rage Against the Machine and Steppenwolf meet Eminem here -- but it all works, setting amazingly simple parallels with America and Europe's situation today, and making you regret the days of the 60s and the 70s, when people actually had the balls to pick up their long-haired courage and go organize shit in the streets and in the parks of our cities to make our politicians know that, as Abbie Hoffman (our new hero, more on that later) put it, "the highest authority in the land is the people".
The thing is full of amazing characters -- from Rennie Davis, one of the main anti-war shit-stirrers, and one of the most brilliant speakers I've ever heard; to Dave Dellinger, a unique image of middle-aged, soft-spoken, persecuted decency; to William Kunstler, one of America's most notoriously outspoken lawyers; to Judge Julius Hoffman, the trial's senile, narrow-minded, self-serving Court; to Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley, a man who made Al Capone look like a poster boy for lawfullness...
...to Abbie Hoffman, who might've been famous before my generation but whom I heard of that night for the first time, and who is now a new personal hero. Hailing from New York, long-haired but intelligent, Hoffman was the leader of the Yippie movement, and is the centerpiece of the film. He was made famous at the time of the trial by answering to every government-engineered persecution, every narrow-minded sneer, and every dead serious insult with a joke, a laugh, a prank -- and won over the nation in the process. (I am now researching my ass off on the man, whose life happens to be full of such great moments, before and after these events).
Morgen weaves the whole thing together admirably, with intelligence and force -- and it's one of those rare films that'll end up stirring not only your guts, but your heart and your brain at the same time.
The best of the fest, and a shame and crime it hasn't been picked up for distribution yet. Sure, it's a uniquely hard sell -- but it's a uniquely special movie. So get some uniquely talented marketers on it and fuckin' sell the beautiful thing. 10/10

And that's my wrap-up. A mixed bag -- but definitely glad we went, definitely glad we did it all, and since this is what a lot of people care about when it comes to Sundance, here's also a quick, short, SUNDANCE CELEBRITY WRAP-UP!

Celebs met: Parker Posey, Brett Morgen, Christine Vachon
Celebs seen: Nick Nolte, Simon Pegg, John C. Reilly, Drea de Matteo, Jared Leto, Steve Buscemi, Sienna Miller, Olivia Thirlby, Perez Hilton (if the bloodsucking leech's name can even be spoken without it being a capital sin), Guillermo Arriaga, Billy Baldwin, Chris Klein

I know. I know. But what the hell. :)

Cheers. T'care.