Hey folks, Harry here with our yearly report from Marty McFly, who is back in time to give us his time traveling opinion about the films that lept out at him at this year's Sundance experience. BTW - Who do I have to have Moriarty blow to set up a screening of 28 DAYS LATER? Sheesh, I want to see that movie!
SUNDANCE REVIEWS FROM MARTY McFLY
Hey Harry. I just got back from the chaotic Sundance Film Festival yesterday after squeezing in about thirteen movies in five days. Many of the ones I have seen have been reviewed adequately. I admired but hated THE SINGING DETECTIVE and I was quite indifferent towards THE U.S. OF LELAND. CONFIDENCE is a failry predictable but fun house of mirrors and 28 DAYS LATER is a terrifying arty zombie flick. LAUREL CANYON is well-acted but very flawed. I only walked out of one film (GARAGE DAYS) but here's some short reviews of other flicks.
FEAR X
FEAR X is from Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, who cowrote the script with REQUIEM FOR A DREAM author Hubert Selby Jr. However, the film is in English and set in Wisconsin. John Turturro stars as a mall security guard whose wife is murdered by a gunman in the mall's parking lot. Turturro becomes obsessed with finding the killer by studying hours and hours of security camera tapes. Finally, the unlikeliest of clues leads him to a couple in Montana (James Remar and Deborah Kara Unger) who may know why his wife was killed.
After reading the plot summary, FEAR X sounded like a fairly conventional suspense thriller, but the casting of Turturro assured me that this film had a quirky edge. Refn lets the action unfold at a snail's pace and allows many shots to linger about thirty seconds longer than necessary. Refn uses his visuals to compensate for what the writing lacks. Turturro is adequate as the man who is slowly unraveling but he is betrayed by the script, which is all build-up and no payoff. I like films that leave me asking questions but FEAR X is a frustrating display of ambiguity.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS
Without a doubt the best film I saw at the festival, Neil LaBute's THE SHAPE OF THINGS is his best since IN THE COMPANY OF MEN. Paul Rudd, with the help of subtle prosthetucs, plays a slightly overweight, geeky, grimy college student who gets involved with a beautiful classmate (Rachael Weisz). He falls hard for her and gives new meaning to the term "pussywhipped." She gets him to lose weight, work out, dress stylishly, etc. Soon enough, he looks like Paul Rudd.
That is just a little setup for a film that is best viewed with as little knowledge as possible. LaBute has once again made a devastating portrayal of the mundane evil between men and women. THE SHAPE OF THINGS made me squirm in my seat. The emotional impact of the film was overwhelming, especially thanks to the career best work of Rudd and Weisz. These actors obviously perfected these roles on the stage to the point where these characters feel real enough to touch. As with any play adapted for the screen, the film is extremely dialogue driven in faily narrow in scope. However, good material is good material in any medium, and THE SHAPE OF THINGS is outstanding.
PARTY MONSTER
The curiousity factor on this film was the highest of any movie at the festival. Nobody was really excited to see it but Macaulay Culkin's presence made it a must-see. I must say that the first five to ten minutes of this film are jarring. The kind of start to a film where you just have this feeling you are going to hate the film. Luckily, PARTY MONSTER starts to grow on you. The puberty process was not kind to Culkin and watching him is surreal and creepy.
From the first shot in which we see Seth Green waiting for the "Action" cue, the movie seems like one big joke that the audience is being let in on. Culkin portrays real life figure Michael Alig. The film chronicles Alig's rise to fame among the New York club circuit and his subsequent fall from grace, resulting in the murder of famed drug dealer Angel Melendez. Culkin gives it his all. It takes him a while to settle into the role but he effectively plays Alig like a wounded little boy. In the most pleasant surprise of the festival, Green absolutley steals the show in what may be one of the best performances I saw in Park City. He is perfect as James St. James, Alig's mentor and friend. He balances St. James' over-the-top flamboyance with a hint of the underlying emptiness that constant clubbing and drugs will bring. Unlike Culkin, Green doesn't ever come off as some kid playing dress-up and although Green may not have the pretty look of Alig, he may have been a better choice for the role. As of now, the film had no distribution and it will have a hell of a time finding an audience.
SPUN
In the latest music video director's transition to feature film, Jonas Akerlund comes onto the scene after memorable videos for Prodigy, Madonna, and Metallica. SPUN will msot likely be known as a comedic version of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Akerlund blatantly rips off many of Aronofsky's techniques but, ultimately, his own unique visual style comes through.The film is about the world of speed junkies as seen through the eyes of Jason Schwartzman's character. The blandness of Scwartzman in the leading role may have been a strategy for the rest of the ensemble to come off as colorfully as possible and it works.
John Leguizamo, Brittany Murphy, Mena Suvari, and Peter Stomare create memorable characters but the biggest impression is made by Mickey Rourke's The Cook. This guy makes his own speed in a motel room, and he is surely the only thing people will talk about coming out of this flick. Rourke oozes coolness and there's even a fun little scene that reunites him with POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE costar Eric Roberts. Akerlund's film suffers from the usual problems of a first film from a music video director. It's all style over substance. These are all characters with no depth. Rourke manges to reveal a little vulnerability to his character but much too late for us to care. Akerlund tries hard to shock with his X-rated animated sequences and his shots of Mena Suvari taking a dump but I found myself fairly desensitized to the whole thing. I applaud Akerlund for making this his first project instead of taking on a big Hollywood blockbuster but let's hope he has a better script next time.
The highlight of the festival was certainly taking a piss in the presence of Roger Ebert next to me. How cool it must be to walk through that festival with the knowldge that your review can make or break a film? I'll see ya in the future!
Marty McFly
