Hey folks, Harry here with the last report from the 2001 Sundance Film Festival from MOMENTO MAN!!! He's been with us all along giving us a wonderful new look at the films of Sundance. And I have to say if you are assembling a list of films to see coming out of SUNDANCE... These Seven would be an excellent place to start. And I have to say in my biased hometown pride way of things that I'm very pleased to see Momento Man enjoy and praise both of Linklater's latest films. Richard is someone that dreams of cinema so completely that he collects the posters, sponsors a film society that is Nationally Recognized as being one of the very bests. The first conversation I ever had about Preston Sturges was with Rick about 8 years ago. Some of the first real conversations about the actual process of making film came while he was perusing our Lobby Cards looking for CAPE FEAR and JERRY LEWIS and BLOODY MAMA. For Richard to deliver two films of the sort of quality that these two seem to be being held in and to have them both ready for the same festival and be in totally different styles... Well, that's Linklater. As for the rest of these... Especially HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH... I'm dying to see it! Now, let's look at the films MOMENTO MAN loved...
Hey Harry:
I just got back from some of the awards screenings at Sundance and am ready to give you one more list of favorite films.
MY TOP SEVEN FAVORITE FILMS AT SUNDANCE
1. MEMENTO
Hands down the most interesting, intelligent, orignal film at the festival. The film's protagonist, Lenny, has a "condition" whereby he has no short-term memory–he can't remember what happened ten minutes ago. The screenwriter/director, Christopher Nolan places us in Lenny's space by creating a film that goes backwards in time, where the spectator is required to try to figure out what has happened ten minutes earlier, just like Lenny. Nolan brilliantly achieves one of his goals of demonstrating the inability to latch onto an objective reality. The perfect postmodern film that will have audiences talking about it for days after they see it. It deservedly won the WALDO SALT SCREENWRITING AWARD.
2. WAKING LIFE
Richard Linklater returns to his SLACKER-like roots with a protagonist who wanders around talking to different people about the reality/unreality of life/sleep/death. A marvelous, philosophical exploration of deep questions that only Linklater knows how to ask. The film is enhanced by its technique: Linklater shot the film digitally and then had it animated over the footage. Items in the room continually float about, placing us in the dreamlike state that his protagonist occupies. It deserved to win something, but may have been too intelligent for the judges.
3. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Heralded by nearly everybody as the next ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, this film is as fun as it is moving. Hansel gets a botched sex-change operation (leaving him with an "angry inch") and a readiness to start a touring rock group. The songs in this musical are wonderful and stay with the audience long after the film is over. The film won not only the DRAMATIC DIRECTING AWARD but the DRAMATIC AUDIENCE AWARD.
4. SCOTLAND, PA
This hilarious, witty adaptation places Shakespeare's MACBETH in a white-trash Pennsylvania setting in the 70s. Wonderful performances, especially by Maura Tierney's Pat McBeth and Christopher Walken's McDuff add to the wonderful screenplay by Tierney's husband (and the director), Billy Morrissette. The fast-food milieu and 70s soundtrack adds to the kitsch. The funniest film at the festival.
5. THE DISH
An Australian film about a dish in the small town on Parkes, Australia that is chosen by NASA to aid in the transmitting of the televised images of the first moonwalk in July, 1969. Perhaps the only "feel-good" film of this cynical festival, it had funny dialogue and wonderfully charming characters like WAKING NED DIVINE or BILLY ELLIOTT. I hope it becomes a small, foreign hit for Warner's this spring.
6. THE BELIEVER
A harsh, brutal, challenging film about a Jewish kid who becomes a neo-nazi and goes around organizing anti-semitic groups, beating up Jews, and planning to blow up Jewish places of worship. It wasn't pleasant to watch but its risky subject matter and its open spaces for audience interpretation (this is another one you'll need to talk about after you see it) must have been why it won it the DRAMATIC GRAND PRIZE AWARD (although I still think that Aronofsky, one of the five judges, should have chosen MEMENTO!)
7. TAPE
Richard Linklater's experiment with digital shooting (on Sony consumer camcorders) and digital projection (for us at Sundance, although he's transferring it to 35) makes a story about a friend blackmailing another friend with a tape where he confesses to a date rape all the more interesting. The whole film takes place in one hotel room and, at times, feels a bit "locked in" but perhaps this is why Linklater chose this play to make for his small, digital film. Good performances by Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Robert Sean Leonard help out.
It's been great to be a spy for you!
MEMENTO MAN, signing off, until next year!
