Hey folks, Harry here with two more positive looks at STOLEN SUMMER and PUMPKIN and our first look at Romanek's ONE HOUR PHOTO. Seems like ol Memento Man had a damn fine day of Sundancing. Here ya go....
Hey Harry!
I'm back with another report after an extraordinary day of screening three
excellent films.
STOLEN SUMMER
First, the lovely STOLEN SUMMER, by Pete Jones. This, of course, is the
"Project Greenlight" film that we've been watching about in the 12-part HBO
documentary (about which Pete Jones kept grumbling for "weasel-y" and "whiny"
way he feels it's portraying him.) His film, STOLEN SUMMER, was really quite
moving. Eight-year-old, Roman Catholic Pete O'Malley goes on a spiritual
quest to help his Jewish friend, Danny, get to heaven. The films explores
some complex dynamics between the two religions and raises some
soul-searching questions all with extremely sharp screenwriting (I can see
why this script was chosen by "Project Greenlight.") The audience would be
laughing one moment and weeping the next (which is something not easily
achieved from a hardened Sundance crowd!) A delightful film. (BTW, a
hilarious short by Ralph Macchio about two young brothers ran before the
film. How does Ralph Macchio continue to look like he's only 16? He must
have made a deal with the devil. Either that or Dick Clark.)
PUMPKIN
Next, Christina Ricci plays a callow, rich, "perfect" sorority chick who sees
the hypocrisy of her family and the greek system when they reject her for
befriending (and then loving) the mentally challenged PUMPKIN. I tend to
agree with Der Colonel's take on the film rather than John Robie's. Robie
thought that the film was making fun of the mentally challenged. I wish he
could have heard the directors, Adam Larson Broder and Tony R. Abrams talk
about that issue today in the Q&A. They explained the care and sensitivity
with which they approached this subject, including having a specialist and
advocate for people with mental disabilities work with them during all stages
of production. She spoke about how she loved the script: at last the person
with the disability gets the girl! The directors also explained how it was
the hypocrisy of the greek members that they were exposing and satirizing,
not those with disabilities. I personally found the film to be wickedly
funny at some times while genuinely arresting at others. (BTW, you HAVE to
see the short that runs before this film: ERNEST AND BERTRAND about two
muppets [Ernie and Bert] who try to deal with all of the press's rumors about
their homosexual relationship. The audience couldn't contain their
explosions of laughter all the way through this one.)
ONE HOUR PHOTO
Last, what may turn out to be one of the big delights of Sundance this year, Mark Romanek's ONE HOUR PHOTO, starring Robin Williams who reinvents his image in a chillingly creepy role. He plays Seymour Parrish, a one-hour-photo-shop developer who collects extra copies of photographs from a particular family in town and then begins to live his life through them as his imaginary family. It's the objects, the photographs, that enable him to confront life. The film's gorgeous cinematography beautifully captures the rich symbolism of the script that explores how sometimes, a picture can become more real than the real, or at least safer. After the screening, Robin Williams gave an unbelievably funny Q&A dissing everything from a woman-in-the-audience's mongollian sheep coat ("What was that? Roadkill?") to the Park City Olympic security ("Ahhh! What's all that white powder?" "That's snow, you idiot!") He even pulled up his shirt and showed us his belly after a slightly larger man in the audience did! This was quite a change from the very dark and bizarre (but astounding) film we had all just seen. Be ready for a very different, but still as brilliant Robin Williams as a true cipher in this film.
Three fabulous films on a very cold day!
(Also, in case Jankypryck doesn't have an Ebert moment to share with us today, I'll share mine. I sat close by Roger Ebert during one of the screenings and was awed by the number of people that felt like they needed to come up and schmooze. One dude came up to Ebert and said, "Can I ask you which films you've enjoyed here at Sundance?" and Ebert responded, "No.")
More tomorrow! For now, this is Memento Man signing off!
