Hey folks, Harry here and we've got a TON of reviews here... so check em out... Here ya go...
My background: I am a college student who went to Sundance for a weekend. I enjoyed every film I saw. I only saw 7 films: 3 on Friday and 4 on Saturday. Let's start from the beginning.
LOLA
Lola is a Canadian film about a woman's search for herself. I incredibly enjoyed this film. This is going to be a cliche, but this was my first fresh look at movies on the big screen. Before I had only seen mainstream and studio movies. Lola is not contrived; there are no movie moments, those moments that have the score and the close-up and the eyeful acting that are meant to make you feel something. While I do love those movies too, this was just a burst of realism. Lola captures reality that takes you through her life changing road trip. Some chide this realism because they misunderstand it as a meandering story and not fully explained. This feeling was intended. It felt like a documentary, the quality of the film [which might not've been intended, only budgeted], the directing, and the acting. Many of the conversations were improvised thus adding stalls and keeping it from flowing like normal movie fantasies do. The camera work solidified this theme. Lola's cameraman is an experienced documentary cameraman and it works enjoyably well with the conversations. At times it seems as if the camera doesn't know who to focus on simply because the cameraman doesn't know who to focus on. He drifts and makes it a very well done movie. If you feel you need a reference to how the camera works, the closest analogy I can make is Dancer in the Dark, though Lola only has a few clips filmed in Super 8. This is an enjoyable movie and I recommend it for those who love movies grounded in realism.
AUSTRALIAN RULES
Next I saw Australian Rules, a movie about a small bayside town and it's Australian Rules Football team. It stars some teenaged talent that acts rather well. There is no easy way to summarize this movie because it uses all of its time. It has a similar theme to Romeo and Juliet, but possibly more like West Side Story in its subtle differences. It's well directed, well acted, well written, and very enjoyable. There isn't much else to say without spoiling the movie. The hero is tested many times, by his friends, his family, and his own conscience. The supporting cast is very loveable and funny. Obviously a bit more funny for Americans with those great accents. I must warn you though, even though the movie is incredibly light-hearted in the beginning, it does become more dramatic and intense. The scenes when his conscience is tested provide for the best chance of movie magic and it pulls through on some levels. Australian Rules is worth watching.
SOFT FOR DIGGING
The last movie I saw on Friday was Soft For Digging. The Black Box Theater is small and crappy, because it was a press room last year, or so I was told. Soft For Digging is an NYU film student's thesis project, and like the stereotypical filmmaker, he is a bit arrogant. The concept of this movie is ingenious, a silent film that makes it's few lines of dialogue that much more creepy and confusing. The plotline is basically an elderly man witnesses a murder of a child, and her burial in the neighboring woods. He is plagued by nightmares and tries to tell people, but is predictably judged insane. The rest of this movie is anything but predictable. Yes this movie can be boring, there are at least 7-10 minutes of footage of the star driving, and another scene of him walking towards an orphanage that lasts at least 10 minutes. The director uses his soundtrack with finesse and gives some of the more boring parts a bit of life. Overall this movie isn't very captivating, but later it does become intriguing, forcing you to think.
Prerequisite Roger Ebert Sighting
I didn't see a movie until the next day, but I did see Roger Ebert make an ass of himself on the bus. Apparently he, or his entourage, cannot read a map so they got on the wrong bus and complained to the bus driver about it, delaying our ride only a minute. A wait that was very worth the memory. Mostly because I didn't know it was him until later and at the time, I was cussing him out under my breath. You might not think it's funny, but I sure did.
KILLING TIME
The first movie I saw on Saturday was Killing Time, a first time movie by a slightly experienced screenwriter. Basically Killing Time is about killing time, or a road trip in Manhattan without a car. The director's goal appears to be one man trying to find his meaning to life, and it seems that the director searched for himself too. We follow a bum, a.k.a. Slacker, around NYC on his way to an interview. The lead actor is possibly the only low point of the movie, but he isn't awful, just not the best man for the job. He accomplishes the goals laid out for him. It's full of great shots of the City and a few shots that must seem cool to the director, but only come off as an attempted neat trick. The script is full of random and crazy quotes that I will be repeating for awhile, though sadly no one will know what I'm talking about because no one I knew has seen it yet. Killing Time also has the realistic feel that Lola has, although slightly different and better. The script, the overall acting, and the directing make this the most enjoyable movie I saw at Sundance
LOVE IN THE TIME OF MONEY
After that I saw Love in the Time of Money is absolutely hilarious. Everything about it, the script, the acting, the soundtrack, and the directing is so ridiculously absurd that I laughed throughout the movie. The most notable stars [to me] are Steve Buscemi, Carol Kane, Rosario Dawson, that guy from Drive Me Crazy, Chris from the Sopranos, Jill Hennesy, and Malcom Gets. We follow men and women through a kind of tag going from one story to another with one character linking them together. Of course Love in the Time of Money is dark and irreverent comedy if only because it's meant as a drama.
A PLACE ON EARTH
Next, after a brief nap during A Place on Earth, which looked interesting, but I left early because my sleep deprivation had reached a culmination, and because I guy past out from what someone told me later was a self-castration scene.
RUN RONNIE RUN
After a good amount of cafine from Burger King, I went to Run Ronnie Run, which was by far my favorite experience at Sundance, just barely in front of Ebert. I felt incredibly hyped by it because of my friends there [I had no idea what it was until the night before]. Of course I felt the hype because I knew Jack Black would make a cameo and Mr. Show is one of the funniest shows on television. I was mildly disappointed that Kyle from Tenacious D wasn't there, but maybe he was and I just don't know what he looks like. The movie follows a white trash mullet-wearing Poison-loving hick from Georgia and his change to stardom. He is the bane of the town and is taken away by an out of luck Hollywood bigshot to star in Ronnie gets Arrested. This movie is filled with tons of hilarious cameos, Jack Black's being the funniest barely over the combined cameo of Dave Foley, Andy Richter, and Sarah Silverman. A great movie, and it came with a great free T-shirt, well at least for me because I was the first out of the door on my way to May.
MAY
May cannot be categorized. Someone called it a horror/comedy, but that just doesn't make sense. It is by far the most disturbing film I've ever seen, the director being slightly more disturbing. This movie is extremely well acted, well directed, and well written. While at times it's light-hearted and great fun, there's always a sense of terror that carries from the opening scene well to the end of the movie. I guess I had the most normal reaction to this, while everyone else had the 'hip' reaction. The hip reaction being everyone there loved it off the bat. My first instincts were "genuinely psychotic and all around fucked up." I still hold true to that description, but after 24 hours, I've realized that May was the best movie I saw at Sundance. Even if you hate this movie in the very depths of your soul, you still have to concede that it is extremely well put together.
That ends my time at Sundance. I must apologize for not knowing any facts about the movies, I couldn't get my hands on the film guide, and I was too lazy to look it up at the online film guide. If you want to know about directors and actors, I suggest you check out Sundance's website: Sundance.Org . I have more to say on my time at Sundance, more in depth reviews and a report on a Digital Dialogue Friday noon, and I'll try to get those posted on http://www.grey-sanctuary.com by Thursday. Harry, if you don't like advertisements, just delete this last line.
Sir Mordred
