Hey folks, Harry here with the final series of reports from Memento Man, who has, yet again, turned in a simply wonderful series of reports from the Sundance Film Festival. I always enjoy reading Memento Man, because of his tongue firmly placed in cheek fashion of lampooning and loving Sundance in equal measures. The place is wondrous, yet ridiculous in many ways, and he rarely misses a beat... well, except for... Well, here... I'll let him tell you all about it...
It was the disaster to end all Sundance disasters. No, I'm not talking about the man in the FOREIGN AFFAIR Q&A who asked Tim Blake Nelson why he has played characters named Jake in all his films. [He never has before.] No, it's much worse than that. I had sold my tickets for three (count ‘em, three!) screenings in Park City today so that I could do the wait line for PIECES OF APRIL, the film with perhaps the most buzz here at the Festival. I got to the Sundance Screening Room (about an hour away from Park City) before 2:00pm, more than two hours before the 4:00 screening. I was fourth in the wait line! Fourth! I knew this film was mine! The fourth person always gets into the movie. After all, Sundance policy states that they start selling tickets to the wait-line people fifteen minutes before a film starts. Ticket holders know that their seats are given away if they're not in them fifteen minutes ahead of time. Finally, the rapturous moment arrived! It was fifteen minutes before the screening and I was sold a ticket. I wasn't allowed to go in yet, but there was smile of absolute joy on my face, like Ebert after getting the last roast beef sandwich at the Eccles theater. At long last, I would get to see this film! There was no denying it now! I checked the time with nervous anticipation. Ten minutes to showtime. Then five. Hordes of skiers began pouring in at the last minute with clunky, snowy boots (and, even more unfortunately, their tickets) but still I wasn't allowed in. Ahh . . . but then! They let the first three wait-line people go in. I was next in line! I couldn't wait! My pulse was racing! My palms were sweating like Peter Fonda in a Salma Hayek film. All my sacrifice was about to pay off! I was finally going to be able to see PIECES OF APRIL! Three minutes after the film started, and just as the ushers were going to bring me into the theater, four more people arrived with tickets. Instead of being turned away (like all good Sundance ticket-holders know they should be), they whined to the ushers, were let in, and I was told that all the seats in the theater were now filled. I was sent away dejected, like Bob Dylan after MASKED AND ANONYMOUS was screened for an audience. This is an affront to hard-working wait line people everywhere! Such injustices would never happen at Slamdance! It almost made me mad enough to throw a water bottle at Anna Paquin.
I refrained, however, and returned to the evil Sundance Screening Room at 10pm to see:
OWNING MAHONEY (Richard Kwietziowski) * *
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN on downers. Based on the true story of Dan Mahowny, who manages to get the bank he works for to give him millions in cash off patron's accounts. He then gambles it all away at Atlantic City. The brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman returns to his depressed, LOVE LIZA persona, only this time the addiction isn't huffing, it's gambling (or as Mahowney would say, "a financial problem.") John Hurt adds strength as the head of the casino who tries to take care of Mahowny's every need so he will continue to lose money as he plays. The film as a whole, though, gets weighed down in its own hopelessness. If you want to see a good film about playing the tables, a more sure bet would be to place your money on THE COOLER.
Hi Harry!
I was in the Eccles for four films in a row today! During one point, it had reached the time when I needed to throw out my gum. (Gum is always a necessity after bringing cold, leftover Mexican food from last night up to Sundance.) I walked over to the trash can, tossed in my gum and looked up right into the faces of Forrest Whitaker and Tilda Swinton who were standing around the trash can chatting! Mercy! Can you imagine accidentally throwing your gum on Forrest Whitaker? I don't even have a panic room for protection. Unless you count Ebert.
Here's what I saw today:
CAMP (Todd Graff) * * * 1/2
Sundance's guilty pleasure: the funniest and most fun film of the entire festival. At a musical theater summer camp, Vlad (the only straight boy there), finds himself with lots of attention from the girls. His roommate, Michael (thrown of the house after his father saw him dressed in drag and bleeding after being beat up on prom night) struggles to figure out why things are so hard for outsiders. Michael's friend, Ellen, likes Vlad but has some competition from the cutest and nastiest girl at the camp.
All of the teen actors in this film are unknowns, but amazingly talented singers, dancers, and performers. Even Stephen Sondheim himself shows up briefly in this, his first time in a movie. With hilarious musical numbers and comic situations aplenty, CAMP certainly contains a lot of its namesake. But if the standing ovation this morning was any indication, I wasn't just the only who thought this film was worth a song and dance.
WHALE RIDER (Niki Caro) * * * *
One of the best films of the year. A powerful new iteration of Joseph Campbell's Hero Cycle, this mythic New Zealand tale moved a hardened Sundance audience to tears and applause through almost the entirety of the closing credits.
When Pai's mother and twin brother die in childbirth, her father flees the village, leaving her to be raised by her grandfather, a man who is looking for the next chief in the form of a first-born boy. Unable to see past Pai's sex, he foolishly misses the Chosen One who has been sent to bring unity back to the people. Pai takes her place among some of the other unlikely mythic heroes of recent film such as Frodo, Luke, Simba and Neo, but in a cinematic telling whose beauty is unmatched. There's not a false move in the assured performances of this fine cast. The script is beautiful, the camera lyrical. A truly remarkable film.
RAISING VICTOR VARGAS (Peter Sollett) * * 1/2
With a grungy, cinema verite style (almost in the flavor of KIDS, but not nearly as harsh), RAISING VICTOR VARGAS brings us into the world of the lower east side where teenage Victor Vargas rages with angst and hormones. He's being raised by his grandmother, who at one point, gets tired of his behavior, drags him down to a juvenile court, in hopes of turning him over to them. As he grows closer to his girlfriend Judy, he softens a bit, and wants to do whatever it takes to stay with his family.
After winning the short film prize for "Five Feet High and Rising" at the 2000 Sundance Festival, Peter Sollett workshopped the VICTOR VARGAS script at the Sundance Institute. He hired many of the same unknown teenage actors from his short for this film. Instead of giving them the script, he let them do a lot of improvising, hoping that their own experiences would provide richer performances. Sometimes the rawness works; sometimes one longs for the original dialogue that was discarded.
LEVITY (Ed Solomon) * * 1/2
Only partially successful film that ponders the possibility of redemption. Billy Bob Thornton gives another strong performance in the MONSTER'S BALL vein as Manuel Jordan, a man who is released from prison after serving 21 years for killing a young man during a robbery. Manuel is a ghost, haunting the streets of the city, searching for redemption, but wondering if such a thing is ever possible. He is weighed down (unable to find levity) on many levels, one of which is the picture of his murder victim that he always has hanging in his room as a reminder. Manuel is taken into a community house as a janitor by Miles (Morgan Freeman who seems, in this film, to have the hair and voice of Oscar the Grouch.) Here he runs into Sophia, (Kirsten Dunst) who also seems to be haunting the streets as a ghost. Meanwhile, Manuel seeks out Adele Easley (the marvelous Holly Hunter), who is the sister of the boy Manuel murdered all those years ago. Som! e of the symbolism becomes a bit heavy-handed near the end, but strong performances become this pic's saving grace.
The Festival awards were just announced! Here's the press release with the winners:
CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL WINNERS AT THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL!!!
Hi Harry,
On this, my last day of reporting, I sat in Ebert's chair in the Eccles theater twice! Hopefully it won't impede my judgment or make me throw temper tantrums.
THIRTEEN (Catherine Hardwicke) * * 1/2
KIDS as told from the girls' side of things. This film, the winner of this year's Dramatic Directing Award, has a similar grunge style as that other film (lots of handheld camera works, in-your-face zooms, and natural lighting). The story concerns 13-year-old Tracy who hooks up with a new friend named Evie (13-year-old Nikki Reed who co-wrote the screenplay with director Hardwicke, who dated her father). Together, Tracy and Evie smoke, drink, shoplift, get high, try to sleep with older guys, perform self-mutilation, and kiss each other. Eventually it becomes too much for Tracy's mother (played by Holly Hunter) and the whole family starts to fall apart. Black, depressing, and nihilistic, this film may put you off thirteen-year-old girls forever.
THE STATION AGENT (Tom McCarthy) * * * 1/2
Subtle and nuanced, this film really does live up to all the buzz surrounding it. (It's also the winner of this year's Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award along with the Dramatic Audience Award.) Four foot, five inch Finn McBride wants to stay away from the world that seems to view him as a spectacle (the cashier at a local convenience store takes a picture of him as he's getting some groceries.) Instead, he gets pulled into friendships with a lonely hot dog vendor named Gorgeous Frank (the laugh-inducing Bobby Cannavale) and a woman struggling to cope with past pain (the wonderful Patricia Clarkson, who won the acting award at this year's festival for this film and two others that played here.) Together, these three find a bit of humanity as they all learn to enjoy Finn's love of trains. Sounds strange, but it really is a delightfully charming film.
AMERICAN SPLENDOR (Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini) * * *
Winner of this year's Dramatic Grand Prize, this film shines, but not with all the splendor one would hope. This biopic recounts the life of Harvey Pekar, a disgruntled Clevelandite who, tiring of fake comics, decides to tell the everyday stories of himself and those around him in a comic book called AMERICAN SPLENDOR. This film (which tells that story) is tremendously innovative in the way it mixes together filmed scenes with actors (like Paul Giamatti who plays Pekar) with Pekar himself. For example, to retell the time Pekar goes on Late Night with David Letterman, we see Giamatti in the green room and then as he walks out on stage we see footage of the real Pekar on Letterman's show. On top of this, is the cool comic book look that sometimes mixes with the footage of the actors. That style is, as Ebert says, "brilliant"; yet, after it's all over, you may feel like putting this comic book down and turning off the light.
My list of favorites is up next!
Here's my final list of all 31 films that I saw this year at Sundance, in order of preference:
2003 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
EXCELLENT
Whale Rider
dot the i
The United States of Leland
The Shape of Things
VERY GOOD
Camp
The Mudge Boy
The Singing Detective
The Station Agent
Normal
Soldier's Girl
GOOD
The Cooler
American Splendor
Laurel Canyon
The Event
Commandante
Bookies
Levity
It's All About Love
FAIR
Good Fences
Raising Victor Vargas
thirteen
The Purified
In America
Owning Mahowny
The Maldonado Miracle
Buffalo Soldiers
A Foreign Affair
AVOID WITH YOUR LIFE
People I Know
Off the Map
All the Real Girls
Masked and Anonymous
Until next year, this is your Sundance spy, Memento Man, signing off!
