Hey folks, Harry here with a late offering from this year's Sundance and from the look of the list that Joe Bradley put together, I have to say that it sounds like a nice as can be run of films. Although, I would've liked to have heard what Joe's disappointment with THE SINGING DETECTIVE was... That's a film I'm very much looking forward to seeing. Here ya go...
Hi Harry -
"Joe Bradley" here with my Sundance 2003 report. This was year seven at the festival for me, and, let me tell you, it was as crazy and as great as it's ever been. As has been reported in the New York Times and other media outlets, this was a particularly wild and woolly year outside of the screening rooms. From J-Lo's traffic stopping appearances outside Harry O's to the ever present parade of of low ridin' jeans-wearin' model/actress/wannabes in the local Starbucks, if you wanted Access Hollywood-type action, you could get a Super-Size serving of it just about anywhere you turned. Although the clash of art and tart is par for the course most years at the Festival, it was especially noticeable this time around. If you fancied watching Dustin Hoffman shop for earmuffs or seeing Britney Spears canoodle with Fred Durst in a local watering hole, well, all you had to do was show up on Main Street and wait. Park City 2003? Call it Celebrity Country Safari this year.
That said, for those of us who were there to see the movies as well as the star booty, it was an extraordinary festival, almost as good as the 2001 fest (the year of "Hedwig" "Donnie Darko" "Memento" and "In the Bedroom"), which has come to be known as the 1939 of indie filmmaking. So here's my annual Sundance Top Ten, year 2003.
(1) The Station Agent
One of the best things about Sundance is that almost everyone gets misled by the hype. Every year, there are several films that get all the pre-festival buzz, that become the films you just HAVE to get into, but that invariably turn out to be disappointments. This year, for example, "The Singing Detective" and "The United States of Leland" were THE films to see, generating huge pre-screening lines and creating paparazzi and acquisition exec feeding frenzies. Yet both films were extremely underwhelming - the first, a dramatic mess, despite great performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson; the second, a pretentious snore, even with great work from Kevin Spacey and Lena Olin.
On the other hand, there are always those films that come with little or no advance word and turn out to be completely brilliant and compelling. "The Station Agent" was one of those movies. I had heard nothing about the film when I selected it as the last movie on my pass. All I knew was what I had read in the festival catalogue, where it was described as a film "blessed with a sweet humanity." That kind of summary would normally make me run screaming from the theater, but I needed to fill an 11:30 PM slot on my schedule. I told myself I would give it fifteen minutes - if it sucked, I would be out of there and in a bar nursing a Dewars without a second thought.
Of course, I was completely surprised. The movie, the story of a jaded and emotionally reserved dwarf (played by Peter Dinklage) who inherits a railroad station in a rural New Jersey town and becomes friends with two of the town's more unusual characters, was funny, moving, and yes, dammit, blessed with a sweet humanity. Even though it was the last of six movies I saw that day, it gave me by far the most pleasurable movie-watching experience of the festival. Patricia Clarkson, the Parker Posey of this year's festival, gives an incredibly graceful and wonderful performance as one of the friends, a woman coping with a great loss with dignity and humor. The movie won this year's screenwriting and audience awards and deserved both - and with shrewd marketing, it should be winning additional awards this time next year.
(2) 28 Days Later
OK folks, this is the real deal - the scariest movie I have seen since "Night of the Living Dead." The new film by Danny Boyle, director of "Trainspotting" and "The Beach," is about what happens to the UK when PETA-type activists free monkeys from a lab carrying a virus that turns human beings into flesh-eating zombies. Sound ridiculous and far-fetched? Well, duh, but trust me - THIS MOVIE FRIGGIN' ROCKS!!! The editing, sound and lighting are used to create an environment where the audience is in complete and intense terror for ninety minutes. I was literally in the fetal position with my hands over my eyes throughout most of the movie, as was my movie companion, who compared the whole experience to being on a "psychotic rollercoaster with no brakes." This film shows up "The Blair Witch Project" for what it really was: the Bad Film School Assigment. "28 Days" doesn't have a release date yet, but Fox Searchlight should position it for summer, because it is unquestionably the best popcorn movie of 2003.
(3) Pieces of April
One of the pleasures of Sundance is that it allows little-known character actors to become indie film superstars, and then later, based on the Sundance street cred, to become mainstream sensations. For example, Patricia Clarkson has been around for years, but trust me, this year, either for this film or for "The Station Agent," she will be nominated for a best actress Oscar. Like "The Station Agent," "Pieces of April" is an extremely well written film that allows Clarkson and her fellow actors - Oliver Platt, Katie Holmes, and Sean Hayes among them - to give brilliant performances. The writer/director, Peter Hedges, wrote both "About a Boy" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," and like those films, the movie couples humor and tragedy in an affecting mix. It is also the wittiest dysfunctional Thanksgiving movie set in the Bronx that you will ever see.
(4) Bend it Like Beckham
Although Sundance is mainly devoted to American filmmaking, often the best films at the festival are from overseas. True to this rule, the UK's "Bend it Like Beckham" was probably the most purely entertaining film I saw at the festival. The story of a high-school girl with disapproving Indian parents who becomes a soccer hero, this is this year's "Full Monty" - a low budget, wildly fun British gem. It is already a huge hit in England, and with proper marketing should duplicate that success here in the U.S.
(5) Die Mommie Die
Having lived in New York City for a number of years, I was aware of Charles Busch's reputation as Off Broadway's favorite legitimate theatrical drag queen. However, this movie- a hilarious tale of Hollywood greed and treachery - was my first exposure to his talents. And all I can say is, America, your search for the next drag superstar is over! With a performance that channels equal parts Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Ida Lupino and Shannon Doherty, Busch will soon be amazing multiplex patrons with his unique and wonderful talents. The Sundance jury awarded Busch a Special Jury award for this performance, and it was well deserved. The guilty pleasure of the festival.
(6) Stevie
While the films in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance are often of varying quality, the documentaries in competition are are almost uniformly excellent. This film is no exception. Directed by Steve James, who also helmed "Hoop Dreams," the movie tells the story of a kid for whom James served as a "big brother" ten years in the past and who in susequent years has become a child molester. This extremely personal film examines the question of whether James owed any responsibility to this kid during the intervening years, and the more general question of whether once we have become part of a troubled person's life, whether we can fully remove ourselves from that life. "Stevie" is a painful and moving film to watch, and has been picked up by Lions Gate for distribution. Hopefully it will get the wide audience that it deserves.
(7) Normal
Another pleasant surprise. Jessica Lange stars as a small town wife who discovers that her husband (Tom Wilkinson) wants a sex-change operation, and the movie examines what happens to their family as a result. Although the film had the potential to be an oh-so-earnest examination of the impact of trans-gender issues on a family, the writer/director, Jane Anderson, infuses the story with humor and honesty that reflect the way we the audience view the uncomfortable issues being dramatized on screen. Tom Wilkinson with breasts is funny and disturbing, and Anderson allows us to process this without any preaching or annoying messaging.
(8) Thirteen
Rivalling Patricia Clarkson for best actress honors at the festival this year is Holly Hunter, who stars in this afterschool-special-on-speed about a teenage girl who slides into a world of sex and crime. Hunter plays the girl's emotionally immature mother with a ferocity that should win her acting accolades come award time next year. Equal credit should be given to Evan Rachel Wood, who gives a frighteningly real performance as the teenage girl falling off the edge.
(9) The Murder of Emmett Till
This movie tells the story of the kidnapping and horrific murder of a 14 year old African American Boy in Mississippi in 1955, the reaction to which arguably provided the spark for the civil rights movement in the 1950s. Although this film was shown on PBS last week in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday, it is an incredibly powerful film that deserves to be seen on the big screen.
(10) Buffalo Solidiers
Joaquin Phoenix and Anna Paquin star in this film about corrupt soldiers on a German army base in 1989. Incredibly cynical yet incredibly funny, this one has been sitting on the shelf for several years and probably won't get a release anytime soon given the current political climate. The audience reaction at the festival was mixed, but the film's dark humor is especially welcome at this point in time.
Honorable Mention: The Education of Gore Vidal; Born Rich; Commandante; The Cooler
Guilty Pleasures: Bollywood Queen; Party Monster
Disappointments: the Singing Detective; All the Real Girls; Levity, The United States of Leland;
Well that's it for this year. See you at Sundance 2004!!
"Joe Bradley"
