Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with two more for the pile. Getting close to the end now! SNOW ANGELS I think SNOW ANGELS is perhaps the best film I saw at Sundance. It might not be my favorite, the one that I'll watch a hundred times... that would probably have to go to either THE SIGNAL, ROCKET SCIENCE or SON OF RAMBOW. But SNOW ANGELS really knocked me on my ass. I missed the press screening of this film, opting to see DELIRIOUS, I think. So I went to an early early morning screening one of the last days of the festival. I'm sure I could have gotten a free seat with my press badge, but I ended up buying someone's extra ticket on the bus to the Library Center Theater. It is the only ticket I purchased during the festival, so in a way it's the closest to being in an average ticket-buyer's mindset. Depressing, hopeful, cynical, happy, sad, tragic and everything in between. SNOW ANGELS is complex and incredibly emotional, filled to the brim with outstanding career-best performances by all involved. Sam Rockwell plays Glenn, a suicidal man who has been reborn and the only things he has in his life, to keep him from reverting back to suicide, are the love of his baby daughter and the desperate hope that his estranged and separated wife (Kate Beckinsale) will take him back. Beckinsale's plate is full. She doesn't want Glenn back, even has a lover on the side (Nicky Katt), has a full time job as a waitress in a Chinese food place and is taking care of her little girl. To contrast that dark, depressing, cynical and plain old heavy storyline, we're also given a story of young, awkward and innocent love. In the local high school is Arthur (Michael Angarano), a band nerd who is shy and inexperienced and a new student, an awkward outcast of a girl named Lila (Olivia Thirlby). The electricity between Angarano and Thirlby is tangible and sweet as hell. It makes the heart grow big, which is desperately needed as the main storyline makes the heart shrink. This isn't a film for everybody. It's a compelling character piece that treads into some incredibly dark territory and features some amazing, Award-worthy performances, but the tone has thrown many people. At Sundance I heard many people talking about how little goes on in the movie, but I think they just didn't look close enough, perhaps not wanting to immerse themselves into this dark story. There is a lot going on in this movie, there's just not an explosion every few minutes. Also in the cast, in supporting parts, are an unrecognizable Amy Sedaris, a semi-recognizable Tom Noonan and a very recognizable Griffin Dunne. It was great seeing them all pop up, especially the last two. The movie really blew me away. The performances are just plain fantastic, with special recognition going to Michael Angarano. He's one of those people that pop up and you just can't quite place, but you know you've seen him before. It took a trip to IMDB, but I felt incredibly stupid when I saw he was not only Young William in ALMOST FAMOUS, but he was also in SKY HIGH... and I had just seen him in the first handful of 24 Season 6 episodes. Without the heart he brings to the movie, the darkness would have been too much even for the most masochistic of audience members. I loved this film and can't wait to find out when it gets its US release. Good on David Gordon Green for an incredible film... even though he looks like he's 18 years old... I had no idea... the subject matter of his films is so mature, I guess I expected some greying middle-aged man. I have a picture and it's on the server, but for some reason it's not popping up... maybe this'll be fixed soon and you can see the amazing picture I took... CLUBLAND This was a leap of faith pick for me. It sounded like an interesting premise and I had an open slot in my schedule, so I gave it a shot. The focus of the film is on an Australian family. The one-hit wonder father is absent, working as a security guard somewhere in the city and the controlling passive-aggressive (sometimes just plain aggressive) Roseanne-ish comedian mother and their children. The main character is the handsome, but shy 20 year old son who loves his mother and works to help her and his handicapped brother get through life. Tim (Khan Chittenden) works as a mover and one day a beautiful blonde by the name of Jill (Emma Booth) enters his life. They connect, despite his shyness, and soon become quite the item. His mother, Jean (Brenda Blethyn), freaks out and tries to undermine the relationship, guilting Tim into spending time with the family rather than with his girlfriend and being incredibly cruel to Jill when he brings her over. Despite all that, it's really a sweet little film. There's some cruelty, of course, but every single character is sympathetic, including Blethyn. Her career has been going downhill since she had her kids and she's lost a lot more self-confidence than she wants to let on. She's gotten to the point where her kids are her life and she views Jill as an interloper trying to break up her family. Emma Booth is incredibly gorgeous in this film she very much holds Tim's inexperienced hand through the early stages of their relationship. Tim can trust her, so we feel like we can trust her. Everybody is likable, the movie flows well and I didn't ever feel the urge to glimpse at the watch. It's a sweet little movie that the parents can relate to, some good nudity for the more lustful viewers and entertaining for just about everybody. I really dug it. -Quint quint@aintitcool.com
