Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a plethora of reviews from Park City that are all pics I'm interested in catching myself. We have Hitchcockian ADAM'S APPLES, Charles Bukowski flick FACTOTUM, Steve Carell's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, noir flick with a great cast LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN, Jennifer Aniston in FRIENDS WITH MONEY, Bobcat Goldthwait's directorial debut STAY, dark comedy THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, Ed Norton/Paul Giamattie period magician flick THE ILLUSIONIST, Paul Giamatti's fun with pets movie THE HAWK IS DYING, the Kevin Smith produced documentary SMALL TOWN GAY BAR, comed THE DARWIN AWARDS, the MPAA-slamming documentary THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED and Ryan Gosling in HALF-NELSON. Enjoy!
Hey Harry,
Maidy here with a bunch of movies from Sundance. I sent you a review of "Walk the Line" a few months ago, and now I've got some time to kill in Park City before my next screening. Thought I'd throw you my (brief) thoughts on a the screenings I've attended, most of which I haven't seen up on the site....
Adam's Apples - A dark, quirky and seriously messed up retelling of the story of the Book of Job, featuring a Neo-Nazi in need of some redemption and a deluded priest with a serious allergy against the truth. The movie looks and feels like a story Hitchcock was just dying to tell. A few surprise twists and a really unlucky cat make this movie absolutely worth seeing.
Factotum - I agree with the comments I heard from many people exiting the theater at the screening of "Factotum" that I attended. If you like Charles Bukowski and his writings, you'll like this movie. It's incredibly true to the short stories it derives from, and Matt Dillon does his best to keep the Bukowski spirit alive. Not my taste, as I don't really dig the combination of misogynism and alcoholism, but performances from Dillon, Lily Taylor and Marisa Tomei are quite good.
Little Miss Sunshine- The feel-good movie of the festival! At 8:30 in the morning, any screening that has the audience screaming with laughter and rising for a standing ovation deserves the distribution deal that it got. If you're looking for a family comedy with a lot of heart and more than a little bite, this is a good one to catch. (It'll be out in wide release this summer.) As a side note, I love Steve Carrell all the more for giving a big hug to a member of the audience who...asked for a hug.
Lucky Number Slevin - An extremely violent, twisty thriller with a good performance from Josh Harnett, and a surprisingly perky, really good performance from Lucy Liu. Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and Bruce Willis deliver as well, but the real fun of this movie is trying to figure out who really done it. The big problem with this movie is that the director & screenwriter felt the need to explain ABSOLUTELY every piece of the puzzle, leaving nothing to the imagination. Half the fun of a noir flick is knowing that there are mysteries left to be solved, and this movie didn't leave a single one.
Friends With Money- Any fan of Nicole Holofcener (and I'll out myself as one right now) will love this movie about four friends, and their financial and love life problems. It's a bit of stretch, as always, to imagine Jennifer Aniston as the least successful and loneliest of a group of women that includes Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand & Catherine Keener, but the story is so cute, and the performances so good, that you tend to let the details slide in this one. Equally strong performances from the husbands of the story (including Jason Issacs). A good way to spend an hour and a half, that won't make you think too hard.
Stay- I don't think I have to say too much about Bobcat Goldthwait's directorial debut. There's a dog. An disturbing sexual act. A really bored college coed. Surprisingly, though, once you get past the initial one-joke setup, this is a really heartfelt movie that goes a long way towards capturing the turmoil of getting engaged, dealing with a dysfunctional family, and getting past all the bumps along the way. While the film looks cheap (even the crew will admit to that), this is a cute little film with a really brave performance by Melinda Page Hamilton (the nun from Desperate Housewives).
Thank You For Smoking- I expected more of a political statement from a movie all about the tobacco industry, but instead, got an enjoyable comedy about a sleazy lobbiest for the tobacco industry who doesn't really care who he sells cigarettes to (teenagers, elementary school kids, etc) as long as they sell. This is a fun movie (even without the infamous Katie Holmes sex scene), and one that I'm sure will do well when it goes wide.
The Illusionist- A sweet fairytale about an illusionist who works some serious mojo to win his childhood sweetheart back from an evil Prince. The actors (including Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti & Rufus Sewell) really seem to be enjoying themselves, and the movie is a pleasant, although not exceptional way to spend a few hours. I enjoyed the movie, didn't enjoy the last 5 minutes which suddenly morphs into a blatant steal (or possibly homage) to The Usual Suspects. Still, allowing for that one misstep, this is a fairytale that will make a great first date movie.
The Hawk is Dying- I love Paul Giamatti, and I would most likely watch him read a phone book. As always, he gives a realistic and powerful performance as a guy whose obsession with capturing and training a hawk is the only thing that gets him through the day. But this movie drags through its first hour, and even another great performance from Michelle Williams can't make it quite work. Brave through to the second hour to see Giamatti's monologue about why he wants so badly to train the elusive hawk, and it makes the two hours you've spent in the theater, worth it.
Small Town Gay Bar - A documentary you'd never expect to see coming out of View Askew. The real thrill of this screening was, of course, getting an intro from Mr. Smith himself. After many cock and dick jokes, he left the movie to the filmmakers. Considering the subject matter, there aren't any ground-breaking revelations about being gay in a small town, but the few men and women that get a decent amount of screen time make it clear that gay or straight, everyone is really just looking for a place where they feel they belong. A good documentary to possibly break in segments of the population that might not be so accepting of the gay culture, especially with Kevin Smith's name to make the more homophobic folks feel comfortable.
The Darwin Awards - This should've been a really cool movie. Great concept (anyone who hasn't should check out the website the stories from the movie are based on), and a great cast, including Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, the voice of Wilmer Valderama, and extended camoes by David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Lukas Haas, Judah Friedlander, Tim Blake Nelson, Alessandro Nivola, Metallica, and the late Chris Penn, amoung others. For the most part, the performances feel phoned in, and the romantic subplot is forced and unnecessary. A movie that should've been really funny only produced a few chuckles and a single belly laugh involving Joseph Fiennes, a bathtub and some bungee chord. The most interesting part of this screening was Winona Ryder's disjointed, but heartfelt speech about Chris Penn following the screening. Following her advice, I'll spread the word. If you haven't, check out "At Close Range" for a great performance from Penn.
This Film is Not Yet Rated - How brave a filmmaker is Kirby Dick? He single-handedly takes on the MPAA, Jack Valenti and the Motion Picture Appeals Board, with the help of a few directors that remain pissed that they received an NC-17 rating. This is a film that every filmmaker, fledgling or otherwise, should see and stand behind. Dick's appeal is not to abolish the system, but to make it fair to filmmakers and allow them to see the faces of their accusers, and the documentary makes it almost impossible to see how any other system would make sense. While Kirby Dick puts himself directly in the line of fire, the real star of the documentary is Becky, a private investigator who reveals the identities of a until- now anonymous members of the ratings board, and the appeals board. The audience was on its' feet when she took the stage after the screening. Check this documentary out if you can. And extra props to IFC and Netflix for backing the project.
Half-Nelson - Ryan Gosling gives a performance every bit as good as his Sundance debut, "The Believer" in this movie about a New York teacher with serious issues, and the pre-teen that he needs to save, but who might end up saving him. A tough movie to sit through at 9 in the morning, but absolutely worth it. This is a small, personal redemption film, about a guy who might not be redeemed, and might take down everyone around him in the process. Shareeka Epps, a 13 year old, steals every scene she's in as a inner-city kid put into situations she can't necessarily handle. Really strong performances, and a touching script make this movie one of the best I've seen at the festival.
That's it for now. I've still got a few more movies to get through, so you'll hear from me again soon.
Maidy
