Thanks again for reading the Missives. You can find my Sundance photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com
Enjoy!
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
A compilation of musings from a Sundance Film Festival volunteer.
Hi everyone!
Well, I've made it back home. The snowstorm on my last day turned my shuttle ride from Park City to the airport into a 3 ¼ hour ordeal. It should have taken 45 minutes, but apparently the highway got shut down for a while. I got to the airport 40 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off, so I quickly checked my bags with the skycap and rushed through security with 20 minutes to spare… only to finally take a look at the departure board to see that my flight was going to be delayed for three hours. I suppose it could have been a lot worse.
Just as in years past, Sundance was a lot of fun for me. This year was all about the movies for me. Some people would consider what I was doing (seeing up to the three movies a day) drudgery, but I enjoyed it. I saw more movies (24 total) than I have in past festivals. That's because I didn't take any days for snowboarding or for walking around like a celebrity. John Henry Smith-Bourbon was apparently around Park City, but it's amazing what a year can do to his fame – he had no entourage or camera crew and he basically went unnoticed amongst the crowd. He's going to have to find himself a new publicist if he wants any future in this town! Also this year, I was able to escape Park City without catching any of the various colds and flus that debilitated a lot of the volunteers. Got to love those zinc lozenges!
Below is my ranking of the movies that I saw. No movie blew me away like "The Nines" did last year, but there was definitely some good stuff out there. Of course, with the good, there also has to be the bad to balance things out. (By the way, in case I hadn't mentioned it, "The Nines" was release on DVD on Jan. 29th.)
4 ½ Stars:
4 Stars:
3 ½ Stars:
3 Stars:
2 ½ stars:
2 Stars:
I hope you enjoyed reading this year's missives. You can relive all of the Sundance excitement at http://teds-sundance-missives.blogspot.com/. Still working on the photos, but they will be available soon.
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
Hi everyone!
Got up this morning to see the World Cinema Jury Award winner, "King of Ping Pong (Ping Pongkingen)", a Swedish film about an overweight teen who is the best ping pong player at a community youth center. Other than that claim to fame, there's not much going right in his life – he's picked on by bullies, his younger brother is making the moves on a girl that he likes, and there are questions about the father figures in his life. Most of the film is plodding and tedious, but then it seems to take a tragic turn, but even that turns out to be tedious and not as tragic as it first seemed. I really don't know what the jury was thinking. 2 ½ stars (out of five).
I then went to see the film that won both the Alfred P. Sloan Prize (for a film's use of science) and the Screenwriting Award. It is a Mexican film called "Sleep Dealer" which deals with people being connected through implanted nodes to machines which allow them to work at jobs around the world from central factories. The implanted nodes can also be used to download memories to sell to other people. People can also connect to each other via the nodes to increase sensations during intimate encounters. It was a pretty good story of a young man dealing with newly implanted nodes and the people that he comes into contact after that. 3 ½ stars (out of five).
It was then time to work my final volunteer shift. Unfortunately, it wasn't with my usual midnight crew, so it wasn't nearly as fun. But everything went smoothly because the screenings were sparsely attended. There's a snowstorm coming tonight, so it seems that many people checked out early. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to make it home on my afternoon flight tomorrow.
I'll write more when I get back home…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
After yesterday's depressing movies, it was good to see a very fun comedy, "Hamlet 2", today. This time I did laugh along with the rest of audience at this tale of a Tucson high school drama teacher (Steve Coogan), who has tried, unsuccessfully, to produce staged versions of popular movies (such as Erin Brockavich). The bane of his existence is the ninth grade newspaper critic who repeatedly rips into his shows. Eventually, the school department cuts budgets and the theater department is on its last legs. In order to save the department, Coogan's character ends up writing a ridiculous, musical sequel to Hamlet, which includes elements of time travel so that characters that died in original can be saved. I won't spoil things by saying what else is included in the performance. It's some very funny stuff. Elizabeth Shue has a great role in playing herself as a Tucson nurse. Catherine Keener costars as Coogan's wife and David Arquette plays their roommate. Arquette doesn't do much in the film, but he gets some good laughs with some simple gestures. 4 ½ stars (out of five).
I then went to see the "Animation Spotlight", a program of animated shorts. One of the shorts, "Madame Tutli-Putli" was just nominated for an Academy Award, but after seeing it, I wouldn't pick it to win – it was just bizarre. This series was hit or miss, with a couple of the shorts, "Lapsus" and "For the Love of God", being quite clever, while others were just strange. Overall rating: 3 stars. FYI, many of the shorts that played in the festival will be available for viewing via iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox Live.
The Prospector Square midnight crew always loves the final Saturday night of the festival. This is the night when the brilliant schedulers at Sundance decide that there should be an 8:30pm screening of the Documentary Award Winner, which is not announced to us until about 8:25pm. Up until that point, everyone in line keeps asking us what film will be playing. They all think that we are lying when we tell that we don't know. We even made signs saying that we would tell them as soon as we know. They do this every year and every year we tell them how silly it is. Then, after the first screening, everyone crowds around the winners lists we have posted around the lobby. Some nice patrons even stole some of the posted lists. Oh well. People are funny. Our final midnight screening was of a flick called "Funny Games." I didn't watch it, but apparently it was quite disturbing as many people left about a third of the way through. A couple people were in tears as they left. I've never seen that sort of reaction from a Sundance crowd before.
Tomorrow, I'm going to try to see a couple of the award winners and then I'll be working my last volunteer shift in the afternoon/evening. The festival has gone by so quickly.
Until the next report…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
PS – I know that I posted pictures within my missives last year, but I'm just going to post my favorite Sundance photos from this year once I get home.
Hi all!
Welcome to dysfunctional family day here at Sundance. Saw two movies today – both with emotionally disturbed characters, which made for quite the depressing movie-going day.
The first flick of the day was called "Birds of America" which I saw with my friend, Michelle, who was in Park City for a few days. (Hey Michelle!) The movie dealt with a family lead by Matthew Perry who had begun raising his younger siblings (Ginnifer Goodwin and Ben Foster) when he was 18 and their father died. It's now years later and they all have lots of issues to deal with. That would have been fine if any of the characters were likable, but that wasn't the case. Lauren Graham costarred as Perry's wife and she had a few humorous scenes. Hilary Swank was also poorly cast in a role of an overbearing, somewhat fake, next door neighbor. The audience laughed at this dysfunctional comedy much more than I did. I guess I just didn't get this one. 2 stars (out of five).
I went from that one (where I did at least smile every once in a while) to "Downloading Nancy" which was just dark and depressing through and through. It stars Maria Bello as Nancy who is in an emotionless marriage with Rufus Sewell. Nancy contacts Louis (Jason Patric) through a chat room and they begin a disturbing, masochistic affair. The time frame jumps around to different points of the story, but you know from the beginning that things are not going to turn out well. The movie is shot in cold, blue tones (adding to the depressing nature) and the acting is powerful. But it's just not an entertaining or enjoyable film to watch. 2 ½ stars.
I really need to a see good comedy tomorrow.
Until the next missive…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
Hi everyone!
Feeling nice and rested today. It's amazing how much a couple extra hours of sleep can help. This morning's first show (at 11:30am) was called "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North." A friend of mine (Hey Katherine!) mentioned that a friend of hers was involved in this documentary, so I decided to check it out. The director, Katrina Browne, had found out that her ancestors had been one of the largest slave traders in the 1800s. She contacted a bunch of her close and distant relatives (including Katherine's friend, Dain) to take a trip re-tracing the trade route that was followed, from Rhode Island to Ghana to Cuba and back to Rhode Island. They had different interactions with locals and had many discussions amongst themselves about how they were feeling about what their ancestors had done. It feels like it is not a complete film, but rather something that will promote future discussions about what can be done for descendants of slaves. 4 stars (out of five).
After that, I went to see "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," based on a novel by Michael Chabon (which I had read years ago). I remember loving the book and I really liked the movie as well. It's about a recent college graduate (Jon Foster, who I had never seen before, but I was very impressed with his acting. He's Ben Foster's younger brother.) who is the son of a gangster (Nick Nolte). He is being pushed into training as a stockbroker, a career that he doesn't want. For the summer, he decides to work at a bargain book store, where he starts out sleeping with his manager (Mena Suvari, who was hysterical). He ends up meeting a couple (Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard) and gets entangled in their relationship. There are lots of complications with interactions between different people in his life. It was really well done and with many beautiful shots of parts of Pittsburgh. 4 ½ stars (out of five).
At tonight's volunteer shift, I was able to catch "Assassination of a High School President" which involved a sophomore (Reece Daniel Thompson) working on a story for a high school newspaper when he uncovers scandals and conspiracies about SATs and illegal prescription drug sales. It's a fun detective movie, just set in a high school (much like the movie, "Brick" but with more comedy). Bruce Willis plays the militaristic principal in what looks like a fun role for him to play. Mischa Barton plays the femme fatale character. 3 ½ stars.
Until the next report…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
Until the next report…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
After my nap and some lunch, I went to see a Danish film called "Just Another Love Story." From the description, it almost sounds like a remake of that Sandra Bullock movie, "While You Were Sleeping" – guy is mistaken for the boyfriend of a coma patient and continues the charade when the woman wakes up and has amnesia. Luckily, it was so much better - and it wasn't a romantic comedy. There were many twists and turns and complications in this very film noir-ish tale. The cinematography was wonderful, especially the scene of the car crash that put the woman in the coma in the first place. I would highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance. 4 ½ stars. The director, Ole Bornedal, was there for the Q&A and mentioned that he likes to mix the spectacle of American cinema with the cerebral-ness of European cinema. That really is an apt description of this film.
During tonight's volunteer shift, I was able to catch a screening of "Goliath." This was about a guy living in suburban Austin, working at a dead end job, getting a divorce, and also searching for his missing cat (named Goliath). This leads to many comic adventures as he starts going off the deep end. Unfortunately, it also leads to some bizarre scenes that seem to go on for way too long, such as the five minute scene with no dialogue as he and his wife are signing their divorce papers, page after page after page. 3 stars.
Until next time…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
I was then going to try to see "Be Kind Rewind" with Jack Black and Mos Def, but all of the volunteer tickets were given out, so I headed to a nearby theater to see "Phoebe in Wonderland." I didn't know much about it before going in, but it was a good flick. It stars Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman as parents of Phoebe (Elle Fanning). This film made me realize how much more I like Elle in comparison to her older sister, Dakota. She doesn't totally annoy me when she's on screen. (And she costarred in my favorite movie from last year's festival, "The Nines" which is being released on DVD at the end of the month.) Phoebe has a form of Tourette's syndrome, which makes things difficult at home and at school. She did an admirable job of portraying this and Felicity Huffman was great as the struggling mother. 3 ½ stars (out of five). Elle, Felicity, Patricia, Bill, as well as the first time director, Daniel Barnz, were there for the Q&A afterwards.
After seeing three movies, I needed to take a quick nap before my volunteer shift. When I did get to the theater, Isabella Rosselini was leaving after the screening of the short film that she directed. She's not as tall as I thought she would be. Our first screening was another shorts program, which included a short directed by Kirsten Dunst. She attended the screening, but I didn't see her. I really, really wanted to go up to her and tell her how much I didn't like Spider-man 3. Oh well – maybe I'll see her on the street tomorrow. Our last screening tonight was called "Chronic Town" and before the show I saw one of the actors, Dan Butler (who was Bulldog on "Frasier"). Those were my celebrity sightings (and near sightings) for today.
Till the next report…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted
There were some scheduling snafus that had to be worked out today. I had signed up to work the same job and shift (box office on the midnight shift at the Prospector Theater) as last year, but I suddenly had shifts in the middle of the day. That would have allowed me to attend evening parties that I've missed in the past, but it would also mean not working with a good group of friends. In the end, we were able to trade shifts with other people, so the Prospector Midnight gang has been reunited!
Tonight, I saw my first film of the festival. They had a screening of "Mermaid" for the volunteers before the festival gets into full swing tomorrow. This was an interesting Russian film that followed a young girl's life from living at the seashore to moving to Moscow. She was a quirky character with an active imagination, who could every now and then make wishes come true. It had a lot of the same vibe as the movie, "Amelie," but also with some darker tones. I didn't love it and I didn't hate it, so I'll give it 3 stars (out of five).
I'll write more tomorrow…
Your Sundance correspondent,
Ted