Hey folks, Harry here with The Maus reporting in from Sundance with his views and musings upon the sights and sounds he saw and heard whilst watching away! And he ain't finished yet... The Maus is a studious comic character of sorts and understands the thirst for filmic knowledge and buzz... So enough of me and on with the show....

I want to report on two more films. As you know, there are audience awards for best film and we rank the films from 1-5 (5 being the best). There were three films that I gave a five - Dark Days being one of them.

The other two were Girlfight and a Norwegian film called Bloody Angels.

BLOODY ANGELS

I want to start with Bloody Angels. I don't know what possessed me to pick this subtitled, 8:30am police thriller as my first Sundance screening. I think I was on the phone with the box office, had a couple tickets left to buy (they let you purchase a maximum of twenty over the phone) and I just took a chance.

And that chance was rewarded with a very deep and rich portrait of a small town in turmoil. [minor spoilers ahead] A girl is raped and murdered in a small town and a vigilante group forms to avenge her murder. The detective, Ramm, from Oslo comes to the small town to apprehend those who have taken the law into their own hands and we suspect solve the mystery of the of the little girls death. [spoiler end]

The set up is that of a conventional thriller. And the beauty of the film is that it explores those conventions while totally taking us on a journey in a different direction. Ultimately the film is a portrait of how a small town copes with a severe trauma. We watch as Ramm, the outsider, delves deeper and deeper into the psyche of a small town while trying to maintain his own professionalism, integrity, and beliefs.

The pain and despair of the community suck Ramm into the center of the mystery and into his own, personal demons.

Before I went to Sundance, I read your review of Two Family House and bought four tickets. I know how you must have felt, uncovering a little gem that you want to share with the world. That is how I feel about Bloody Angels. At the festival, those of us that saw it were amazed. It did not seem to be generating much buzz, however, there was an October Films logo on it so I assume it will be getting released soon.

On a sadder note, I had to give away my tickets to Two Family House because people I know worked on Drop Back Ten (James Le Gros is great as the sardonic, washed-up journalist) and I had to take a gander at that. The screenings conflicted and time was running out. However I suspect that Two Family house will make its way to NYC soon.

GIRLFIGHT

Now I want to turn my attention to Girlfight. The third film I gave a five to. When I was watching it, I was blown away. A strong performance by an unknown (Michelle Rodriguez - who I had the pleasure to meet. She couldn't have been sweeter). Assured direction by Karyn Kusama and stunning cinematography by Patrick Cady (Whom I also hung out with before I saw the film. The wonderful thing about Sundance is getting to hang with many of the filmmakers and actors.) My guess is that everyone associated with the film were really great people. Every element came together to make a rousing, exciting picture. When I was watching it, I knew I was seeing something special. A glimpse into a tough Latina family living in Red Hook. There was a huge out pouring from the crowd at the end of the film.

Now here's the problem. I judge a film not only by my immediate reaction but also how well the film sits. Something like Magnolia (which I hated upon viewing it) I could not get out of my head. There was so much going on I couldn't stop thinking about it and piecing all the bits of the film together. Even today I couldn't tell you how I felt about the film but I can assure you it has had an affect on me.

Films like Bloody Angels and Dark Days are still with me as I ponder their meanings, messages and ideas. These are films I would see again. They are deserving of the fives I gave them.

I have no real need to see Girlfight again (except if my wife wants to go and I'm sure she will). The reason: although it is an excellent film, upon reflection it is thin. It is true WYSIWYG. It is like that candy puff you eat and is gone. There is nothing startling about the themes and ideas in the film. Should you see it? Absolutely. Will you enjoy it? Undoubtedly.

It is strange because it treads on similar ground as Rocky, Karate Kid. And yet I feel that those two films (not their sequels of course) have a certain resonance that Girlfight does not have. Perhaps it's because I was at a certain age when I saw those films. Perhaps it's because Girlfight it so similar to those films that I say to myself that I've seen this before. The formula is well served up in Girlfight; the subculture of women's boxing is fascinating. I would be very curious to read in talk back (especially by people who have seen the film) what they think.

Harry, that is all for now. I will be writing something on two more films: Snow Days and You Can Count on Me for my next report. Until then, faithfully yours.

Sundance Report III

Snow Days and You can Count on Me and references to a bunch of other films

I can't believe it. It's another brother team. I'm a filmmaker and I'm very, very jealous of the brother teams that can work together so closely. I must be great, great fun. The Marcus brothers, Kipp and Adam have crafted a fun film called Snow Days.

SNOW DAYS

Adam "Jason Goes to Hell" Marcus directs this romantic comedy and brother Kipp does everything else - writes, stars, produces. The amount of talent in this family is just unfair.

Snow Days is about falling in love with the girl next door. Structurally, it owes a great debt to When Harry met Sally (and that owes a whole lot to the tradition of romantic comedies).The story begins when the two leads (Kipp Marcus and Alice Dylan) are seniors in high school and follows them through friendship and love (with other people) until their ultimate, well, I don't want to give anything away ?

What is wonderful about the film is it's unabashed corniness. Kipp plays the love-lorn James who spends much of the film either mugging to the camera or looking like a wounded pup. Kipp has great charisma and he just pulls us through the film. Alice Dylan as Sarah works really well as the girl next door but strangely, as the film progressed and she matured into some sort of professional woman (I forget her exact job title) she seemed less attractive.

I think it is because the film, at it's heart, is about a schoolboy crush and as the film follows the two would be lovers into adulthood the story moves away from that. And for that reason, I just didn't quite buy the happy ending. However, the slapstick scene that precedes it involving some wedding cake, an engagement party, a jealous would be lover and a groom helps make the last moments of the film enjoyable.

Minor quibbles. I'd like to just go through some salient goodness.

Bernadette Peters as James' relationship-challenged mother is a wonder. After the screening, Kipp told the (well rehearsed) story of how they got her for this low budget film. He wrangled her fax number out of someone and he faxed her the entire script! She had a thermal paper fax. You know, one of those that feeds paper off a long roll. If anyone knows the myth of Jack Kerouac and On the Road, you know that he wrote it on a continuous roll of paper so he didn't have to feed paper into the typewriter. Kerouac eventually published one of the seminal works in American literature and Bernadette Peters said yes. What conclusions you draw from this are up to you..

Adam Marcus has a cameo as a crazy teacher in the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). He's just great. In fact, all of the supporting characters work really well.

Snow. For a film called Snow Days, you have to have snow. And the gods were smiling on the Marcus brothers. Although they had bought snow in a can for the brown ground up in North Conway New Hampshire they were blessed with a blizzard on the day of the shoot. They claim, and rightfully so, that if they had NOT bought the snow in a can, then it wouldn't have snowed. Such is the logic of mother nature and producing the low budget feature.

I know that when I left Sundance, Snow Days was rumored to be the subject of a bidding war. Artisan, Miramax, and Lions Gate were some of the names being bandied about. Whatever the truth is, we're sure to learn it in a day or two.

I'd also like to say that Snow Days had the best marketing campaign at Sundance. There were Snow Days hats (I have one), a pin with a snowflake (on my jacket), stickers (it fell off my jacket when I took a tumble skiing), some sort of internet cash-card cross-product placement synergy type thing, an association with ReelPlay.com and a few Snow Days parties. (I will be writing about the Sundance parties in another article if my fingers hold out.)

I also want to put a shout out to the sound designers (unsung heroes most of the time) Barbara Parks and Peter Levin (of Splash Studios) and the executive producers Donny Epstein and Yeeshai Gross who took a chance on an independent film. (I met them at two separate Snow Days parties)

I'd like to note that Barbara and Peter also sound designed Dark Days and their work on that particular film is inspired. The moods they capture (the incessant rumble of Amtrak Trains, dripping water, rats, fire) and the journeys they take you through aurally (from particular underground sounds to the above world sounds) are carefully planned and considered and have great impact. As someone mentioned in a talk back, DJ Shadow did the music for Dark Days and the interplay between music and sound was beautifully done.

(There is a Paramount film called Snow Day coming out February 11th. Yikes. It has nothing to do with Snow Days except the fact that Snow Days may have to have a name change. Or not.)

I promised I would also write about You Can Count on Me although I seem to be burning out at this moment. However, I will give it a try.

Before I go on, I want to note that I am a very tough critic. There are a few factors contributing to my effusive praise of these Sundance films. First is that I am reporting on films that I really enjoyed first (the ones I didn't like as much will come later, if at all). Secondly, I tried to go to films I knew I would find interesting in the first place or that had been recommended, or films that people I knew had worked on. Third, this is Sundance, one of the most competitive festivals in the world. The theory is that most of the dross is drummed out. Finally, as reported elsewhere, this is considered to have been one of the best Sundance festivals in years. In fact, this past 12 months or so has been an amazing ride for all film -- independent and Hollywood alike.

I'm dreadfully sorry that Harry didn't make it to the festival this particular year but his agents are there and thus his spirit. I wish I could have hung out with Lynn Bracken rather than just meeting her in passing on a bus and I'm sure some other Ain't It Cool News Reporters are working their keyboards at this very moment. Hopefully Harry and I will cross paths at a future festival. Until then, crossing in the ether.

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

Onto You Can Count on Me starring Laura Linney. I am a huge fan of Congo. Yes, that's right, I'm not enamored of the Truman Show (for which she is best known) but for her performance in one of my favorite B-movies of recent years (Anaconda was the other). Congo had it all. Tim Curry as the greedy archeologist, an ape that spoke in sign language, Laura Linney as the beautiful scientist (more believable than Helen Hunt in Twister), lost cities, killer apes, diamonds, lasers, revolution and corruption in a small African country. Loved it. Loved it.

And You Can Count on Me is on the other end. Serious acting. Serious story. And yet very funny too. And she is great in this story of a dysfunctional brother/sister relationship. Her brother is played by Mark Ruffalo and his was simply the best performance I saw at Sundance. When I saw it, I immediately thought of my brother. And that's what an amazing performance and story does - trigger emotions and resonances in your own life. He plays the troubled, though perceptive Terry who moves in with Linney's Sammy and becomes a surrogate father/friend to her son played excellently by another Culkin (Rory).

The film has many, many strengths from an emotionally affecting story (though I found the beginning confusing) strong performances (Matthew Broderick is great in a small role as Linney's anal-retentive boss), technical proficiency. Although writer/director Kenneth Lonergan claims to know little about the technical side, he obviously surrounded himself with people who did. Competently shot, extremely well edited, and the rest of the technical end simply complement the simple story and allow the complex relationships to unfold.

A subtle and beautiful film, it is really worth catching.

My next story will be about two films that were shot on Digital Video: Chuck and Buck and Everything Put Together. Here the claws are really going to come out, especially about digital video. Rant mode ON.

Until then,

The Maus