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In 2006, Flavorpill covered the Sundance Film Festival firsthand, dispatching daily video and blog posts from Park City. Relive some of the highlights here.

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January 2006
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January 19, 2007

Big Picture: Taking a break

Flavorpill skipped out on Sundance this year, holing up instead in our SoHo, NYC headquarters crafting an entirely new film publication. Set to launch in the coming months, this will be your source for all things cinematic — an indispensable guide to the friends, gems, and future trends of the silver screen. Sign up now, and look for us back out on the Park City slopes in 2008. In the meantime, get your small-screen video fix with Flavorpill's newly launched video page — filled with exclusive content created by the M SS NG P ECES camera crews.

February 01, 2006

Living La Vida Sundance: Sundrunk Love

I think Lisa spoke for both of us with her tremendous Sundance '06 wrap-up piece below. As with all film fests, we saw some truly inspirational flicks, met a boatload of incredibly kind people, and jumpstarted more than one dance floor. Now drunk on Sundance, we're officially closing the Flavorpill Sundance blog for this year. But all of the content will live on here in the ether, so don't be shy about continuing to troll through our archived reviews and video interviews — or telling your friends to.

Big Picture: Sure, It Was the Movies, Stupid. But Not Just the Movies

So many movies, so little wireless time to write about them, at least up there in the mountains. All in all, I screened (at least part of) 28 films at Sundance 2006. The irony, of course, is that those 28 were but a drop in the pan of how many films I wish I'd caught; the worst was missing the only press screening of Spain's Princesas, which I'd hotly anticipated. That's the name of the festival game, though. You plan your film schedule carefully, fiddle with it based on word-of-mouth during the week, and, at the end, still wonder queasily about what could have been. I thought that the remorse might've been my own Rosmania, but pretty much everyone I talked to copped to the same malingering regrets. Still, many more films than 28 and I might now be languishing with a case of cinennui to rival a Tulsa projectionist's.

By far, the documentary categories proved strongest, whereas the American dramatics largely buckled under the weight of their own, ill-advised quirkiness and dime-store psychoanalytical revelations. In general, a few films rocked my world one way or another; a surprisingly many could reincarnate as excellent legal soporofics if they don't find other distribution; and pretty much everything was too long. Why the long films? Extending a feature past its ideal length is like adding extra spices to a stew: if it's bad, it'll just taste worse, and if it's good, why mess with a masterpiece?

Some cheers, jeers, and barely theres:

After all the bally-hoo surrounding Alpha Dog, it'd be nice if director Nick Cassavetes's cinematic drama rivaled his legal one. Predictably, though, the film itself never transcends its Titanic syndrome: You know the ending, and it ain't good. What's best are some of the startling strong performances Cassavetes coaxed out of his young actors, most notably from Six Feet Under's Ben Foster as Jake (get this) Mazursky. Such Hollywood homages proliferate the film, which is highly well-intended. But it's hard to make a film about such unsympathetic, self-involved people as Valley teenagers sympathetic. Apparently, too hard. And Cassavetes' legal problems translated into a sloppy tacked-on ending including at least five minutes of Sharon Stone weeping copiously in a fat suit. Come to think of it, though, that last bit may have had more to do with problems fulfilling a diva's contract. [KEEP READING...]

Big Picture: How Distribution (Doesn't) Work

During Sundance 2006, as our trusty metabloggers documented, a bevy of films sold before you could even utter Whatchyou talkin' bout, Weinstein? But even after speaking with industry types and filmmakers galore, I still don't think there's a clear method to the madness of what lands deals.

For sure, there are open-and-shut cases. Little Miss Heaven sold because it worked; the much-anticipated and then much-maligned Open Window didn't because it didn't. Other deals draw on past successes — Right at Your Door was snapped up because it smacked vaguely of Blair Witch Project, for example. And then there are deals stemming from outright guesswork loosely masquerading as cynical scientific equations. As in the case of the somewhat hackneyed Wordplay (admittedly, a movie I really dug): Times crossword puzzlers = moneyed, educated leisure class = enough cashish to hire a babysitter + willingness to hit an arthouse flick on a Saturday night = good investment. Not that there's anything wrong with that. [KEEP READING...]

Big Picture: The August Cliff Doerksen Weighs In

I struck up Time Out Chicago critic Cliff Doerksen's aquaintance at Sundance press offices, and found him comic, just snarky enough, and kind enough to oblige us with a few of his final Sundance thoughts:

Nothing blew me away as comprehensively as Bobcat Goldthwait's perversely charming rom-com Stay, starring the wonderful Melinda Page Hamilton as a nice girl with a disgusting sexual secret in her past. The rancid Tarantino rehash Lucky Number Slevin was a drag (and boy, did I get tired of being told how "smart" it was), but nothing bummed me out worse than the inexplicable British "musical documentary" Songbirds, in which the inmates of a women's penitentiary lip-synched to stillborn rap numbers about their hard lives.

I'd never been to Sundance or any other fest before, so I've got nothing to compare it to, but I had way more fun in Park City than I thought I would. The people-watching was great, especially if, like me, you dote on middle-aged Eurotrash in black leather trousers and high-concept eyewear. But all the conspicuous fabulousness notwithstanding, the atmosphere was absurdly friendly and sociable. I don't know when I've had as many interesting conversations with total strangers. Just on those grounds, I'd say Sundance has a continued right to exist.

For more of Cliff's Sundance edicts, check out his Time Out Chicago home base.

January 31, 2006

The Films: Shortcut to Sundance

Sundance is all about access this year, which is good news for videophiles like ourselves. Courtesy of Adobe, you can now view over 45 of the short films that were in competition this year, including award winners Bugcrush, Preacher with an Unknown God, and Before Dawn. All you need is the latest Flash plugin, and they load lickety-split.

Review: Man-on-the-Street Mashup

In addition to jotting down our bus, burrito, and on-the-street interviews throughout the festival, we were also talking to people on camera about the films they saw, and the lines they waited in. We've got a bit more written wrap-up content coming, but it seems only fitting that our last video is dedicated to the plain-old, die-hard moviegoers who come year in, year out, just for the love of film. We've rounded up some of the most (and least) articulate of the bunch here to opine on Al Gore's agenda, Justin Timberlake's hotness, and a movie we're now really sad we missed, Wristcutters.

January 30, 2006

The Films: Fireside Cineaste

Just before we hopped on a plane back to the big city yesterday, Lisa and I sat down to fully embrace Utah's mountaineering metaphors with a fireside chat about a handful of the movies that we both saw at Sundance. Click through for our Ebert & Roeper-style take on Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep, Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking, Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's The Trials of Darryl Hunt, and Brian Hill's Songbirds. Can you tell I'm concentrating really hard on my posture?

The Films: See for Yourself

Throughout the festival, the DivX crew worked hard to amass as many high-quality trailers as possible for Sundance 2006 entries. To complement our written and video coverage, you can now watch trailers for over 45 of this year's films, including Friends with Money, Steel City, Sherrybaby, Little Miss Sunshine, and Thin.

Interview: Somebodies Director and Star

We'd been trying to land a sit-down all week with Hadji, but the young writer/director/star of the Southern comedy Somedbodies was a much sought-after commodity. Finally, on the last full day of Sundance 2006, he filled us in on the hustle and bustle of launching your first feature while nursing the Sundance croup. Rest assured, his easy-peezy manner doesn't entirely cloak those bright eyes that don't miss a beat.

In Transit: Bus Interview #6

A swan song to our In Transit interviews, this is the last of our shuttle bus conversations.

The Subject: John Larkin, an SF-based real estate broker
Where: Prospector Square bus stop

Why are you here?
I'm here as a traffic liasion. But I also came to shop around my screenplay.

What's it about?
An idiot-savant bookie.

Any interest yet?
Not so much. But I haven't been hustling that hard.

So who paid for you to come here?
I did. But if you volunteer, the festival pays room and board. It's not so bad. You work four hours a day and then you can see whatever movies you want, so long as there's space. And the place where they put you isn't bad at all.

Sounds like a good deal. So what movies have got you hot and bothered?
Well, the Tom Waits. Wristcutters, I mean. I love Tom Waits. Who doesn't love Tom Waits? And that Bobcat Goldthwait movie, Stay.

And what's playing on that iPod there?
Miles Davis, Miles Smiles.

Does he smile? He has always seemed pretty serious to me.
Well, he makes me smile.

Big Picture: Film Comment Critic Amy Taubin Weighs In

Amy Taubin, esteemed Film Comment critic, was kind enough to pen a few words for Flavorpill Sundance about her thoughts on this year's festival. Here's what she had to say:

This the first Sundance where I didn't fall in love with at least one one film. Perhaps I chose badly (twinge of guilt), but I don't think there was a Donnie Darko, a Primer, a Police Beat or, to revisit some ancient history, a Safe, a Kids, a Clerks or a sex, lies and videotape. Gone are the days when a wild-haired Steven Soderbergh had nothing better to do while waiting for the premiere of the film that would put Sundance on the Industry map than to take a shift or two driving one of the shuttle buses. The films I liked quite a bit at Sundance '06, and I suspect I'll like even more in less hectic circumstances, are Kelly Reichardt's delicate, melancholy Old Joy, which should have been in the dramatic comepetition and not in the marginalized Frontier section, and the Larry Clark section of the artist-make-porn omnibus Destricted. The rest of Destricted is pretty lame, but Clark's hefty half-hour was, hands down, the best documentary at the festival, where, as usual, the docs, as a group, easily out-class the fiction films.

Living La Vida Sundance: Down from the Mountains

Now that Jocelyn and I have safely wended our way back to our NYC headquarters, we'll be posting our wrap-ups — as well as those of a few others — through tomorrow, so keep checking back. Man, we are so into the higher oxygen levels here at sea level.

January 29, 2006

Living La Vida Sundance: What Becomes a Sundance Legend Most?

(We'll give you a hint: It ain't Blackglama.)

Yo, Silent Bob, love the Vans, but Dogtown screened five years ago. Somebody get Kevin Smith to the swag suite for some socks, stat!

The Films: Sundance 2006 Winners

The big surprise of last night's awards ceremony — aside from the crazy range of resort-town high-occasion garb — was that in both the documentary and dramatic categories, the grand jury awarded their prizes to the same films that won the audience awards: God Grew Tired of Us, the documentary about Sudanese children; and Quinceañera, the story of a 15-year-old Mexican girl, shot by two honky gay male directors.

Frankly, we were a little surprised: Although both films were quite good — and the Quinceañera team were so goofily grateful that you couldn't begrudge them a thing — we'd hoped that either Thin or The Trials of Darryl Hunt would've taken home one of the unwieldy glass squares they call an award around these here parts. Other big winners of the night: the documentary Iraq in Fragments' James Longley took home awards for editing, cinematography, and directing. Not so shabby, James!

We were most gratified that American Blackout was awarded a special jury prize for documentary; that the very endearing So Yong Kim received the Independent Vision award; and that In the Pit, about Mexico City construction workers, took home best world documentary. As the directing/production team took the stage, the audience whistled Mexi style, and Juan Carlos Rulfo screamed, "This is for the workers!"

Overly commercialized or no, moments like that are what Sundance will always be about. A complete list of the winners is posted after the jump.

[KEEP READING...]

Living La Vida Sundance: Brazilian Girls on Main Street

In addition to the films, Sundance also brings a flurry of big-name musicians to town. Broken Social Scene, Metallica, and Liz Phair have all played gigs, and the Music Café series showcased artists like Rufus Wainwright, Mike Doughty, and Inara George.

But the biggest show in Park City is the Music on Main concert. The night was exceedingly cold, with intermittent (and very picturesque) snowfall. DJ WildeStyle got the crowd warmed up, then rockers Robbers on High Street played, and Brazilian Girls headlined. We captured Flavorpill favorites the Brazilian Girls onstage as they seduced the crowd with their sexed-up, electro tropicalia.

Living La Vida Sundance: Homos Away from Home

Since January 20th, the Queer Lounge has been creating a haven for the LGBT community amidst the Sundance storm — and given that we're in Utah, where Brokeback Mountain's release lasted for about a heartbeat, it's not a bad idea. In addition to hosting conversations with directors Gus Van Sant, Kirby Dick, and Maria Maggenti, the QL has thrown some of the fest's best parties. We stopped by their last shindig, the Homos Away from Home party, where we hung out with the super-nice QL staff, drank the free-flowing Absolut, and learned that you can't actually put money in the go-go dancers' undies in UT.

In Transit: Flavorpill Sundance

We're flying back home today, but we'll still be offering continued coverage — perhaps a bit lighter than usual — throughout the day. Flavorpill Sundance will live on through this coming Monday and Tuesday as we post more video and present wrap-up pieces with our final, big-picture thoughts on the 2006 festival. So stay tuned.

January 28, 2006

Glossary: RAZRettes

A term for the Hilton wannabees fluttering down Park City's Main Street. Refers to the slim-jim mobiles surgically clamped to their ears.

Living La Vida Sundance: Rumor Milling

Some amusing, thoroughly unsubstantiated stories flying about the festival: Scarlett Johansson nearly came to blows with a festival volunteer who wouldn't grant her early access to a screening. "Don't you know who I am?" the girl with the bee-stung lips reportedly bellowed before she threw out a pair of elbows. Another volunteer who did not recognize Glenn Close reportedly refused the actress/Sundance Board member entrance to a roped-in Board section. The less collagen-laden thespian is said to have not pulled a Johansson. Winona Ryder was as wild-eyed as ever at the premiere of her movie The Darwin Awards. Anne Heche brandished a cute-as-pie parka but, alas, no extraterrestial dialects. Tres-thin Fairuza Balk pushed her food around on her plate, actress style, at Grub Steak. Director Wim Wenders chastised a journalist for using too much cream in his coffee. Twice. An identified member of the Syriana team failed to suppress a yawn when a cab driver of Arabian descent told him he'd seen his film four times. Meanwhile, in a cab across town, Jennifer Aniston, en route to a Chefdance event, sat with a driver while her entourage lounged in the back. "I want to be in the front!" she reportedly declared while exhaling fumes of a no-doubt fine vintage of red wine. Should have thought of that before you made Rumor Has It, Jennie. And lastly, Corey Feldman just being Corey on Main Street. Really, his mere presence is enough to fuel a rumor or two, don't you think?

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