Searching the Sundance Lineup

Michael C from Serious Film here.

This Tuesday the Sundance Film Festival announced its 2011 Dramatic Competition lineup. It's ironic that a festival devoted to independence and originality has me looking over the list of films like the crassest studio boss ever to chomp down on a cigar behind a giant desk. You can't help but gravitate towards big stars and familiar concepts. "You've got fifty words, kid. Wow me!"

One can't help but run over the list trying to spot the future of filmmaking somewhere in there. Last Winter's festival had Blue Valentine, which is still a big part of the conversation, and Winter's Bone, which gains momentum by the day. In fact, the roots of the current awards season goes all the way back to the 1998 festival where Darren Aronofsky was awarded for directing Pi and Lisa Cholodenko won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Prize for High Art.

History has shown that festival hits come out of nowhere and can't be predicted. The flick that was supposed to be the hot ticket ends up barely limping into release, while the film no one had their eye on ends up with lines that resemble the run on the bank scene from It's a Wonderful Life.

That said, if I were filling out my dance card now here are three films that I would make a point of catching based on nothing but their capsule summary and my gut instinct. We can check back in a few months to see how sharp my intuition is.

Terri: (Director Azazel Jacobs; Written by Jacobs and Patrick Dewitt) Described as a story about an orphan "mercilessly teased by his peers and roundly ignored by his teachers" Terri has echoes of previous festival winner Welcome to the Dollhouse. The fact that it goes on to describe an unlikely friendship between Terri and a vice-principal played by John C. Reilly suggests it doesn't follow too closely in that films emotionally bruising footsteps. Still, films that can accurately capture the hell of high school life are few and far between, and for all his familiarity I am still not immune to Reilly's goofy charms. Mark me down as curious.

Higher Ground: (Director Vera Farmiga; Written by Carolyn S Briggs and Tim Metcalfe) Vera Farmiga has been one of the most welcome presences in movies in the past few years. I was one of those who thought she deserved a nomination for The Departed for the way she made a somewhat thin role three-dimensional and plausible. The fact that she is transferring that powerful perception to the director's chair is reason enough to pique my interest. That the story of a mother trying to break free from a religious fundamentalist community sounds topical and rich with potential seals the deal. The presence of current Oscar dark horse John Hawkes (go John Hawkes!) doesn't hurt either.

On the Ice: (Directed and Written by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) The film with the briefest description of any in competition: "On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder." It features unknowns in front of and behind the camera, but then the first Sundance Film Festival was won by two unknown brothers from Minnesota and their efficient little murder story Blood Simple. I'm always a sucker for lean and mean thrillers that strip suspense down to its essential elements and this one looks like it has a unique setting to boot. On the Ice has my attention.

Here's the complete lineup from Sundance.org
Which film grabs your attention?

Continuing the Conversations...

Though I had a won-der-ful time on vacation, I do love the movie conversations. Some recent comments I wanted to respond to (for the patient and/or longwinded-like-me among you).

Clint totally approves of the Jodie Foster casting of God of Carnage (I agree that it's interesting and I hope she pulls it off) but I'm sure he'll be relieved to hear that Matt Dillon is no longer with the film. Not me.

Er... okay, I don't know which husband is which.

I was actually just discussing this with friends recently who had all seen the play and were kind of annoyed that John C Reilly will be playing Kate Winslet Jodie Foster's husband. He's not... handsome. Hollywood loves to pair anything from average to ugly men with ridiculously beautiful women, but it's clearly audience pandering to feed male ego fantasies: i.e. I can have / deserve to have a supermodel in my bed, no matter what I look like. It's okay once in awhile of course but all the time? Not realistic. Reilly is a very good actor but it's kind of silly when you stop to think of his screen conquests; he's already had (implied) movie sex with Julianne Moore, Renée Zellweger, Marisa Tomei, Jenna Fischer, Melora Walters, and Jennifer Aniston! Has he ever been paired with a homely woman? He's like a less cocky/noisy version of the Philip Seymour Hoffman phenomenon.

But mostly I'm just annoyed that...

...Matt Dillon never got a prestige gig or a meaty role as reward for that Oscar nomination. Most people do. And I'm also still slightly weirded out that even this play -- that was mounted with name stars -- got a complete cast overhaul. Usually when they replace a stage cast, it's because the stage cast are largely unknown to the public outside of theater fandom. You knew, for example, that Cherry Jones wasn't going to get her Doubt role on the screen or that the August: Osage County originals weren't going to transfer but Marcia Gay Harden (Oscar winner), Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels (longtime film regulars) and James Gandolfini ("Tony Soprano" himself)? These aren't unknowns.

Moving on...

I liked the comment conversation in the Silkwood post (thanks Tim) though I don't remember the bumper stickers that Deborah does from the 70s "Who Killed Karen Silkwood?" -- I was completely unaware of the politics surrounding that movie and first saw it only by way of combined Meryl/Cher fever 'round about '87/88, the next time they were both nominated. (I still find it odd that Silkwood missed a Best Picture nomination in 1983). Another controversy-friendly post from Erich ("Chicks of the Assimilated Animus") also provoked some interesting reaction and I liked Erich's defense of his own amusing/provocative list-making

Even the old and sexist templates of Freud and Jung have value as stepping off points, especially when dealing with the way our love of film icons intersects with unconscious archetypes...  dreams lag notoriously behind reality when it comes to updated social mores..

True that.

Manuel, who must have been searching that Cate Blanchett label, wonders when the great actress will try directing-- has she expressed an interest??? -- and  if we'll ever see a new film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire which Cate did on stage (I doubt anyone would dare. Oh god, please tell me no one would dare?) and he even free-form rhapsodizes thusly...

intelligent, gorgeous, respected, fashion icon, versatile, risky, husky voice, theater, loyal, quality, chameleon face, humble, dedicated

Though Cate is not really one of my favorites, I appreciate obsessive actressy devotions in all their diverse manifestations. If you love any actress this much, peace be with you!

DJ XRay loved Paprika Steen's performance in Applaus. You may remember I went wild for the Danish film earlier this year. UPDATE: Oscar qualifying run begins December 3rd. [thanks to Kyle for the info]. I hope it's opening in NYC in time to qualify for the Film Bitch Awards but I doubt it. Those Oscar qualifying runs usually only bother with LA. Pity that. But if you don't play in NYC -- the place for American cinephilia-- you are dead to The Film Experience.

Speaking of this site's awards. I'm all over everyone's suggestions (i.e. FYCs) for the forthcoming 11th annual Film Bitch Awards. I consider everything.

You Will Link a Tall Dark Stranger

Scott Feinberg points out that Sony Pictures Classics is the first studio out of the gate with Academy screeners. This is a good strategy as I've noted previously. I am anxious to watch Please Give again (very funny movie with delightful actressing throughout... in other words: my kind of movie). I haven't yet screened You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger but shall very soon now that it's here. I am feeling the fan guilt as it's one of only two Woody Allen movies I missed in theaters since I saw my very first one back in *gulp* 1984. No, Woody has not always deserved my slavish devotion... but he came very very close twice in the last decade to giving me what I needed from him (Match Point & Vicky Cristina Barcelona, duh!) so there's still a sliver of hope each year.

In related news: Animal Kingdom! I know I've been mentioning that one a lot but I keep hearing from disgruntled moviegoers who missed in when it hit their town. Don't let this happen to you.

Julianne Moore for Allure

LinksPopWrap Julianne Moore "the hundred year old model"
Film Biz Asia It's hard to keep track of all the Asian film awards but the APSA nominations are out. Three Oscar submissions were nominated for their Best Picture prize: Aftershock (China), Monga (Taiwan) and Bal / Honey (Turkey).  Poetry, which should-have-been Korea's Oscar submission (it's so good), was also nominated.
Awards Daily State of the Race and the Winter's Bone boost. People were bitching at me for believing in this movie as a Best Picture contender and the Gotham Awards have gone and illuminated my foresight. That loud smacking you hear is me kissing my own ass. Someone's got to do it!
Journalistic Skepticism compares 70s stars to arguable modern counterparts. Interesting comparison though I had to take issue with the idea that DiCaprio needed Scorsese... DiCaprio was a big deal long before Scorsese adopted him. I've never seen the media fawn over a teenage (male) actor the way they fawned over him in the early to mid 90s. It was like he was the media's only begotten son, they had already set up a trust fund and they had big dreams for him. He could be a doctor, an astronaut or the President!

Leonardo & Hilary in the 1990s.

Antagony & Ecstasy I know I link to this blog a lot but it's because Timothy Brayton is such a damn fine critic. Here in the Conviction review, he provides the most plausible theory yet as to who is responsible for Hilary Swank.
OMG Blog Admit it. You've always wanted to photoshop James Franco to look more like a drag queen.
Empire John C Reilly has replaced Matt Dillon in Roman Polanski's God of Carnage. That's too bad. I thought that was a good get for Dillon. Isn't it weird that he never got that career uptick that usually follows a first Oscar nomination (Crash). Wonder why that was?

Off Topic
Here are a bunch of young'ish Broadway actors, banded together for a benefit song to help the very worthwhile Trevor Project that fight for LGBT youth.



All the suicides and bullying stories on the news lately are so sad. There has definitely been a resurgence in racism and homophobia and all the other uncomfortable isms and phobias and realities of life in the past couple of years -- and depressingly egged on by people in positions of power, too (shame on them) -- but the way I like to look at it is that it's the death rattle of very backwards ways of thinking. When people see their way of life dwindling -- even if its a hateful way of life/thinking that everyone (including themselves) would be happier if they let go of -- they get very scared and get loud. Change is difficult for people as is progress. But I'm drifting off of the off topic (!) The point is: I can take one moment in this post in case anyone reading is having it rough and say this: Hang on. Life has peaks and valleys but you do not wanna miss the peaks. God the peaks are good.

It's like when you see a terrible movie and you think "god, movies have gotten so bad!" and you think you're done with them and them, ta-da, some actress starts shimmering onscreen, some setpiece makes you wanna devour your entire popcorn bucket while cheering, or some director sums up his whole theme with one perfect shot, or you see a masterpiece and it's all magical again. You don't wanna miss the masterpiece movie on account of the crappy soulless ones. See, now we're...

...Back on Topic!
Here's the new trailer for The Fighter which suddenly renewed everyone's Oscar faith in the movie on Sunday night when it aired during Mad Men. I like the trailer and it does look like Melissa Leo & Amy Adams may hog 40% of the supporting actress category together... but what is with the total D-R-A-M-A of that painfully elongated ridiculously familiar phrase "Based on a True Story"? I can't recall ever seeing a trailer trying to make that as gargantuan a SELLING POINT as this one does.



I mean is there anyone out there who is watching going  "yeah, yeah, I like Amy Adams and Mark Wahlberg and boxing movies well enough. but OMG. it's based on a true story?!? Are you serious? Get me my credit card. I'm buying my ticket now!"