Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Today’s festival wrap-ups are huge, and I’m seriously running out of gas, so let me get out of the way and just give the floor to Swissburger...
Hey Harry,
You can call me Swissburger. My take on the Sundance offerings differs a bit from the opinions already posted, so I felt compelled to make my first AICN submission. Feel free to pitch it if it’s tired, old news or give it a posting and let the peanut gallery rip it to shreds. All in all, I was very pleased with the 15 films I attended. Sundance is still a great time. Elaborate plot summaries generally strike me as a waste of space (grab the .pdf @ sundance.org if you need them); I prefer to focus on reactions and the occasional tidbit from post-screening Q&As.
Animation Shorts (* * out of four)
The chances of these shorts touring as a group are nil and that's not much of a tragedy. With a couple exceptions, this was a surprisingly average collection. Even Plympton's latest - Parking – struck me as unremarkable. The standouts for me were The Erlking and Dog. Mixing hand drawings and animated sand to great effect, the Erlking looked like a badass woodcut come to life, while Dog played like Davy and Goliath from hell. Hopefully these two gems will find their way into a Spike and Mike fest or at least surface as AVIs on the net. Interestingly, there were only two CG works among the 13 films. I'd really like to see more CG shorts with weightier themes and more stylistic looks than the usual Pixar fare but there just isn't much out there yet. The Freak from Menithings had some wonderfully stylized Seussian environments but was marred by weak character animation and popcorn delivery.
Baroness and the Pig (* * out of four)
Michael Mackenzie's quirky tale involving an American Baroness's efforts to reconcile her modernist tendencies with 1800s Parisian society and her asshole husband. The film focuses on the Baroness's latest pet project - shaping a woman raised by pigs into a trusted house servant. Despite solid performances from Patricia Clarkson and the rest of the cast, BatP never gels and takes way too long to deliver a predictable finish. This is a decent reworking of the My Fair Lady trip with some cool integration of 18th century science, but by no means a stand out. HD video aficionados might want to check this one out, though; the palette and lighting are sumptuous and I'm obliged to admit that it could pass for 35mm. I'm thinking they should have called it Pigmalion.
Life Show (* * * out of four)
A Chinese urban drama from Huo Jianqi involving a single woman in Shanghai and her efforts to get her dysfunctional family and love life in order. The lovely Tao Hung is fantastic in the lead; she's definitely one to watch. Mrs. Swissburger and I were split over this one. I found the protagonist to be too manipulative and self-serving while Mrs. Swiss thought she was just forced to make some brutal choices due to her station in life. If you're in the mood for Chinese Art house, this film might spark some debate, but I don't think it's likely to stay with you. A respectful note to the Sundance crew - Please stop showing subtitled films at the Yarrow Hotel. Everyone behind the front row had to bob back and forth to read the lines. We looked like we were watching a 3D film.
Rhythm of the Saints (* * * out of four)
Sarah Rogacki’s solid, small-scale indie flick exploring the relationship between a teenager, her mother and the mother's creepy boyfriend with some interesting elements of mysticism thrown in for good measure. Daniella Alonso and Sarita Choudhury totally nail the mother / daughter scenes and the rest of the predominantly rookie cast is convincing (Okay, the cops and lawyers are indescribably awful, but they're not onscreen long enough to torpedo the works). The main hook for me was the films skillful inclusion of Santeria, and its very believable appeal to the daughter's circle of friends. If you can get beyond the low-budget trappings, there's a decent drama to be found here.
Party Monster (* * * out of four)
Macauly Caulkin and Seth Green ham it up as two glam rock drag queens with a monstrous appetite for narcotics. While Mac received most of the attention at the screening, he's passable at best and clearly outclassed by Seth Green, who really shines in the latter half of the film. The recreation of the New York club and drug scene is well done and the flamboyant costume design is simply superb, easily surpassing any of the drag queen epics from the last decade. Nevertheless, Mac never comes close to winning our sympathy in the lead and an interesting cast including Chloe Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Dylan McDermot and Marilyn Manson never gets the chance to provide more than scenery. This novelty factor of seeing America's fave child star sporting spandex and sniffing coke will carry this film quite a ways. It's certainly worthwhile, though not memorable.
Predictably, the audience asked Mac if he was purposefully attempting to erode his angelic image. Even more predictably, Mac responded that the challenge of the project had been the chief attraction in a canned statement. I'm thinking he gets one, maybe two more opportunities to prove himself and then it's off to the Surreal World. Seeing Mac and Seth excitedly snapping pics of the audience with their digicams was pretty cute, though.
Commandante (* * * * out of four)
Oliver Stone and his handy cam crew bring us the warmer, fuzzier side of Castro. I'll admit freely that I'm not the biggest Oliver Stone fan, that many of Castro's replies are suspect and that hearing Oliver continue to obsess over the Kennedy assassination is just painful. With that out of the way, I found this to be one of the most worthwhile films at the festival. No matter how you view the dialogue, the film unquestionably succeeds in capturing aspects of Castro rarely seen outside of Cuba. We really get a sense of Fidel's charisma, wit and charm. Fidel and Olie gloss over obvious topics such as the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, but then delve deeper than expected into others, such as Che Guevara's character and current perception in Cuba. Though Olie pitches a few clunkers and cuts the Commandante off a few times, he's generally on the mark and even broaches some unexpected subjects like the Cuban governments attitudes towards gays and the amount of prostitution in Havana. Even the scenes of them tooling around town in automobiles are remarkable - Fidel and Olie cram into the backseat with an interpreter and you can't help but be floored by the lack of security. This film isn't out to exonerate Castro or even take him to task and I think that's in great part why it succeeds. Anyone with even a passing interest in history has to check this film out, as it delivers a remarkably intimate view of one of the most important living political figures from the 20th century. Olie was around to answer questions after the show. Fidel, unfortunately, couldn't make it.
It's All About Love (* * out of four)
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's slightly absurdist, dreamlike vision of a worldwide emotional crisis in the not-too-distant future. Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes star as ex-spouses rekindling their relationship while unwrapping a sinister organization's bizarre plot. Prior to the film, Vinterberg claimed he wanted the film to speak for itself and then proceeded to read us a two-page statement describing the major themes he was attempting to capture. After the film at the Q&A, a perplexed audience member offered to "throw himself on his sword" and asked the director directly what the film was about. This was met with a smattering of applause from the rest of the audience. The director offered an apology that the audience member "didn't get it" and then stated quite plainly that he couldn't stand in front of the crowd and pitch his film. The dodge was met with thunderous applause and then a series of pandering remarks. Getting to see a confused and intimidated audience member attempt to go after a director is one of the many reasons it's great to attend the festival, but wait; it gets better.
After the theater had cleared, my wife cornered Roger Ebert and asked for his thoughts on the film. Ebert said he never offered opinions at the festival but was really curious to hear how the Q&A had progressed since he ducked out as soon as the film had ended. After Mrs. Swiss passed along the audience's unwavering support for the director, Ebert exclaimed "Sycophants!" Then, when asked if he was in the "get it" camp or not he shrugged and replied, "I don't know what the fuck that film was about, either." Mrs. Swiss felt validated and I gained a lot of respect for Ebert.
While the film has some lush visuals, it’s truly deplorable Art house, indie film exploitation – the belief that the public will mistake a degree of abstraction or just meandering self-indulgence for depth. The film fails on numerous levels, none of which can be chalked up to the public's receptiveness to more impressionistic filmmaking. There’s simply more substance in any five minutes of a Peter Greenaway film than the entirety of the hackneyed, high school existentialism crapped out by It's All About Love. Joaquin Phoenix does his best while wading through a sea of cliché metaphors but deserves so much better. For me, the film would have succeeded more had it taken the abstraction much further and really pushed the importance of the cosmic disturbances (i.e. floating Ugandans and spontaneous death), which never collide in any meaningful manner with the trajectory of the protagonists. I'm really hoping this film gets a major theatrical release to see how the public reacts.
Dot the I (* * * * out of four)
A love story with a well executed, self-reflexive twist from Matthew Parkhill. “This year's Memento" is going way too far - DtI isn't anywhere near as inventive - but this film can be recommended with no qualifiers. The cast is thoroughly appealing; Natalia Verbeke gives a blistering performance and it's a wonderful surprise to see that Gael Garcia Bernal is as comfortable in English as he is in Spanish. He is unquestionably headed for international superstardom. The director let slip that all Gael's incredible film work over the past couple of years was completed during vacations he was attending the British Dramatic Academy. Evidently the school strictly prohibits students from making films during their tenure. At any rate, the aforementioned plot twist plays out well even if you have some inclination that it's coming. I won't go into the details for fear of ruining the fun but seeing this flick at a film festival and then seeing the director talk about it was extremely eerie. Please give this film a shot when it's released, if only to get Parkhill a bigger budget for his next feature. This one is pure entertainment.
All the Real Girls (* * * * out of four)
David Gordon Green hooks us up with a moving tale about a small town lady-killer completely dismantled by a local virgin. I couldn't disagree more with Memento Man; I think it was one of the best films at the festival and Ebert really got into it. It’s extremely refreshing to see rural Americans take the spotlight and not be portrayed as eccentric or moronic. All the characters get time to develop in this gentle, charming drama and the pacing is perfect.
Dopamine (* * * * out of four)
The debate on whether our emotions are any more than a series of basic chemical responses gets a thorough working over in this smart, dialogue-driven drama from Mark Decima. The springboard for most of the discussion is the protagonists CG virtual pet, which is getting a test drive at the local pre-school. This could easily have come off as contrived but the competent cast burns through the sometimes weighty dialogue with ease and keeps it light. The characters aren't so much believable as interesting and I think the director deserves some hefty kudos for deftly integrating a number of disparate elements. Don’t let this one slip under the radar.
The Event (* * * out of four)
Thom Fitzgerald's account of a NY AIDs victim's goodbye party; friends and family gather to help him take his own life to escape the inevitable and complete dehabilitation by his illness. There are unquestionably problems, but the fact remains that about half of the 1300 people attending the Eccles premiere were crying as the credits rolled. The last few minutes with Olympia Dukakis pack an emotional punch. As much as I love Parker Posey, her character's involvement in the central conflict is just crap and several of the other cast members are pretty mediocre. Flaws aside, The Event delivers where it counts. I’d take the dates to Dot the I, though.
Die Mommy Die (* * * out of four)
Mark Ruckers film version of the Charles Busch play riffs on Mommie Dearest with a healthy injection of drag queen hilarity. Not laugh out loud funny throughout but still a hell of a lot of fun. If you're craving a giddy, Rocky Horror-esque romp, you won't be disappointed. Jason Priestly (Actor) and Anthony Edwards (Producer) attended the screening and looked absolutely scared shitless. The warm response from the crowd chilled them out a bit but I'm thinking they don't make it to too many premieres. Bring on the midnight showings!
Quattro Noza (* * out of four)
A highly stylized, gritty spin on Romeo and Juliet from LA director Joey Curtis. Curtis claims some of the cast was literally pulled off the street and it's pretty easy to believe. Noza, especially, really gives this film a documentary feel. The real star, though, is the workover this all DV feature received in post. There’s a relentless barrage of digital editing flourishes, most of which succeed in building a great sense of impending doom. However, one of the most important editing skills - cutting out the crap - seems to have eluded Curtis. A half hour or more of endless car races need to be stripped before this one is ready for a major release. It’s a shame, though, because it's definitely a very intriguing and near miss. Hearing the director drone on about how cool the LA racing scene didn't do much for me, either. "We actually drove the cars used in the film out to Sundance from LA." Snooze.
The Technical Writer (* * * out of four)
Scott Saunder's bizarre story about a sexually adventurous NY couple's attempts to bring the geek living in their apartment's basement out of his shell. Most of the AICN readers will probably identify with the latter (Don't worry, he gets some). Tatum O'Neil shows she's still got some gas in the tank and William Forsythe just fucking busts out. I have never seen him this dominant and alive. The play between the members of the central trio is sharp but it’s the delightful interactions with other tenants in the building that send this one over the top. Pamela Gordon, especially, is wonderful as the geek's invalid confidante. Give this one a look; it's definitely different. At the Q&A, Tatum made it pretty clear that she's hungry for some attention, and from her acuity I'd say a good portion of her hiatus was devoted to hardcore partying.
Maldonado Miracle (* * * * out of four)
Salma Hayak's directorial debut about a small town coming to grips with a potential miracle - a bleeding Christ in the local church. I'm really at odds with the opinions previously voiced on this picture. Please keep in mind that it’s a family film and, as such, it really works remarkably well. Peter Fonda is restrained, but entirely effective and the courtship scenes between Ruben Blades and Mare Winningham are just outstanding. The crowd delivered the only standing ovation I saw at the fest when Salma took the stage. She then dragged 50 (yeah, 50!) members of the cast and crew up to join her. For a first effort, I think it's damn strong and, at least so far, terribly underrated.
Thanks for reading on the off chance you made it this far. Please give some of these titles a go if they wind their way through your local Art house cinema. Until next time, keep it cheesy.
Swissburger
I’m getting that deep ache of envy. I want to go to a festival... right... damn... now. Maybe FantAsia this summer... but I need something. I just can’t handle reading about these incredible overdoses of cinema without wishing it was me.
"Moriarty" out.
