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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 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?

Living La Vida Sundance: What Not to Wear 7: Hats Off, Redux

Looks like Joe Fiennes and Liz Phair missed our memo, as did Robert Downey, Jr., and Michael Rapaport. You're indoors, people.

Review: Come Early Morning

Maybe it's the slightly Lifetime TV subject matter of her film, but something about first-time director Joey Lauren Adam's Come Early Morning brings out the inner tabloid writer: Finally, finally, poor Ashley Judd crawls out from under the long, grizzled shadow of Morgan Freeman to shine in the sunlight of (wait for it) Early Morning....

In sooth, because it so fully fleshes out its portrait of a working-class alcoholic woman, Come Early Morning deserves significantly less glibness. And from its opening shots, it's clear that Judd, puffy eyes squinting in too-bright sunlight, mouth twisted in a battle between defiance and self-reproach, finally delivers the versatile, fierce performance she's had in her all along. (Maybe because she is finally free of Morgan Freeman's long, grizzled shadow). [KEEP READING...]

Review: Songbirds

Make no mistake: Were it not for its serious-as-a-heart-attack subject matter, Songbirds could be the next Rocky Horror Picture Show — Showgirls be damned. What else to do with a musical documentary about real-life British female prisoners who sing songs like "I'm Oh So Very Sorry!" while they dance under a stream of animated blood? I am genuinely curious about where, if anywhere, a movie like this could live, and I do hope it finds some kind of home. "Insane," declared one other critic upon exiting (early) a screening of the film, but I was slightly charmed. Rather than being mocked, the prisoners are compellingly, lovingly rendered — at least until they launch into songs like the ensemble number about international drug trafficking, "Mule It." Then, they're just plain highlarious, and ain't nothing wrong with that.

The Films: Slamdance Winners

Slamdance has announced the winners of its 2006 festival. Lynn Shelton's We Go Way Back, "a sly and tender depiction of one young woman's journey of self-rediscovery," snagged the Grand Jury award. The Special Jury Recognition went to The Guatemalan Handshake, a mystery about a vanished demolition derby driver by writer/director Todd Rohal. A film about Sierra Leone, Philippe Diaz' The Empire in Africa, won Best Documentary, and the Documentary Jury Recognition went to the controversial Forgiving Dr. Mengele, by Bob Hercules and Cheri Pugh. Tim Skousen's The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.

The official site has the complete list of awards, including the Screenplay Competition and the Sparky Award for Global Anarchy. Best-of screenings are held today in Salt Lake City, and winning films will come to New York and LA soon.

Glossary: The Sundance Croup

A term for the rattling cough virtually every Sundance attendee sports by the end of the festival regardless of how many green-tea infusions, vitamins, and herbal remedies he's imbibed. Often touted as a badge of festival pride or Sundancennui, as in Man, I hit five screenings, four parties, and the slopes yesterday. No wonder I've got the Sundance croup.

In Transit: Bus Interview #5

The shuttle bus drivers are an interesting part of the local color here at Sundance. They range from angry and bitter to jovial and helpful, and every stop in between. Some ten different shuttles go to various places around town, but few visitors — even those who are here for over a week — make an effort to learn the routes, which means that at every stop, bus drivers are bombarded with questions about where they are going. I'm impressed that all of them haven't gone postal by now.

I talked with one still-upbeat driver yesterday about his Sundance experiences. Since it was clear what he was doing (read: driving my bus), I deviated a bit from the usual Flavorpill Five questions.

The Subject: Mike Murray, shuttle bus driver, Deer Mountain, UT
Where: Bus to Holiday Village Cinema

Have you seen any films here at Sundance?
Nope. I really haven't had a chance to do anything but prepare for Sundance, run around and put up the special signage, and then drive my bus.

Have people been generally friendly? Have you met anyone?
People have been really nice for the most part, and I like meeting people from all over. Generally, I'm too busy to talk to them, but I usually have interesting conversations when I get a few minutes to chat with someone new.

Are there any films you'd really like to see?
I don't even know what's playing. I saw Brave Toaster in like 1982, and I watch the Sundance Channel sometimes.

Interview: Exit Only #1

Around these parts, a lot of people talk about Sundance not being what it used to be. But no matter how much things have changed, the fact is that droves of true film aficionados still flock to Park City every year to get a first look at movies that may never see a wider release. Here, we chat with one such cineaste, Claire, as she exits screenings of Thin and TV Junkie. A true documentary lover and a smart lady, Claire talks about her thoughts on the films she's seen thus far and her jam-packed viewing schedule.

The Films: Award #1: The Sundance Sloan Prize

The House of Sand, directed by Andrucha Waddington and written by Elena Soarez, won this year's Alfred P. Sloan Prize. The award, which goes to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology, comes with a pretty nice cash reward: $20,000. Waddington's second feature doesn't take place on a spaceship or a computerized wasteland; the epic story about three generations of Brazilian women is set on a remote sand dune. "A poetic meditation on the physics of time and the biology of human variation," pronounced the jury panel. The award will be presented in Park City tonight. Along with a whole host of others.

Interview: Director Maria Maggenti (Puccini for Beginners)

With an opening montage that lands on Lincoln Center Plaza, Puccini for Beginners quickly announces its milieu. For non-New Yorkers, that translates to "the realm of the acculturated Manhattanite" — the sort of people who use words like milieu. Actress Elizabeth Reaser plays Allegra, a little-known lesbian novelist whose girlfriend breaks up with her because she can't commit. On the rebound, Allegra, much to everyone's surprise, falls for a man, and then, unwittingly, for his girlfriend. And so the stage is set for this screwball comedy where intellectualism meets carnality, which, when you think about it, ain't a bad definition of opera.

In a Sundance year when melancholy or outright depressing films are a dime a dozen, Puccini's zany take on brainy New Yorkers and light-hearted lambaste of gender politics feels as airily refreshing as a glass of seltzer after so many cups of black coffee and regrets. We sat down with director Maria Maggenti (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love) to talk about finding the perfect cast, how New York has changed, and why it took her seven years to make this three-act comedy.

Review: Wild Tigers I Have Known

With Wild Tigers I Have Known, director Cam Archer is clearly gunning to make the next Tarnation (director Jonathan Caouette even makes a guest voice appearance) or Mysterious Skin. But where those films draw on a raw-bitten realism, Tigers relies on stagey sets and stilted dialogue to feed us empty notions of alienation and sexual confusion. The film follows a young teen, Logan, who has a crush on a beautiful older boy, Rodeo (pronounced, unfortunately, as "Rod-aye-oh"). Shortcutting authentic narrative development, Tigers trades in heavy-handed symbolism and paints characters with single, crass brushstrokes. We know that this will be a story about the dangers of unacceptable desires because a news clip about a wild mountain lion cuts to a cage-like shot of a chain-link fence. We know that Rodeo is a brooder because he always sits alone, his hooded sweatshirt pulled close around his face. And we know that Logan wants to be loved because he writes "I JUST WANT TO BE LOVED" in black magic marker on his naked body. But what we don't know is why we should care.

January 27, 2006

Living La Vida Sundance: Starbucking the System

After over a week in Park City, our veins are now coursing with pure Starbucks. It seems to be the only easily obtainable coffee in town, and we've also conducted numerous interviews within the cozy confines of their "pop-up" Starbucks Salon on Main Street. Here, we take you inside the Salon, which has been sponsoring a number of packed peripheral Sundance events, from readings to live music. Witness Salvage actress Lauren Currie Lewis (who we chatted with earlier in the week) reading from J.T. Leroy's The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and hip-hop artist Buck 65 laying down an eerie soundtrack to David Lynch's Eraserhead — plus comic relief from Adult Swim's Brendan Smalls.

Living La Vida Sundance: Queue It Up

It may not be pretty, but standing on line to get into films is a quintessential part of the Sundance experience. Flavorpill Sundance crashed a queueing party one bitterly cold night to talk to die-hard cineastes about what the wait is all about.

Living La Vida Sundance: Don't Believe the Hype

Somebody had better slip Adrian Grenier some Public Enemy, stat. It sounds like the altitude at Sundance has the Entourage star confusing reality with the show's plotlines. How else to explain his busy week?

Late Monday night, he rescued a pretty PR flack when she passed out cold at a party. Tuesday, the pseudo star scored some very real sex toys from the Booty Parlor at Canyons Hotel, then took them for a test drive with two lovely unnamed ladies. Bonding tape, vibrating couples ring, and a beaded blindfold — oh, my! Is this HBO's new viral marketing scheme?

Living La Vida Sundance: What Not to Wear 6: Hoods; Arty Glasses

German director Wim Wenders just doesn't give a f*ck. Rock on, Wim!

Living La Vida Sundance: Powder-white Ghost Town

A full week into the festival, I finally hit the slopes for a few hours yesterday to do some "research" about Sundance attitudes on the mountain. As one old-school Sundancer we talked to reminisced, the festival used to be about skiing from 9am until 3pm, and then watching movies till 3am. These days, non-movie-watching time seems to be much more focused on wheeling and dealing.

The happy side effect of this drift away from ski-and-a-movie culture, however, is that during the ten days of Sundance the slopes are relatively deserted. Many of the usual ski and snowboarding tourists are scared off by the herds of film- and party-goers, while the locals hole up at home for the duration of the attack. But, riding the lifts at Park City Mountain Resort yesterday, I discovered a small set of savvy skiers — from North Carolina to the District of Colombia to southern California — who travel to Utah every year specifically to ski during Sundance because they get the mountains all to themselves.

Of course, one can still run into trouble even in a pristine natural environment: as we rode up the lift for a final run, we saw a snowboarder wipe out while carving through a stand of aspens. Half-laughing, half-crying, he shouted out to his friend, "that tree totally did not move!"

Glossary: Rampant Bloggotry

A term used by nonbloggers to describe Sundance's hyper-documentation by those pesky online kids.

The Biz: Deals and Hits

Lionsgate plunked down $2 million for first-time director Chris Gorak's Right at Your Door, a dark thriller about the aftermath of a dirty bomb attack on Los Angeles. The Darwin Awards was acquired by Bauer Martinez; the financial specifics haven't been released. A big deal is expected any minute for the fest's still unattached hot commodity The Illusionist. Produced by Michael London (Sideways) and starring Edward Norton, Neil Burger's period romance certainly has good credentials.

Bobcat Goldthwait's provocative and perverse romantic comedy Stay also had a big premiere, audiences laughing their heads off (while staying attached, of course). Discussing the film, Goldthwait made every possible effort not to sound like a clown. It was standing room for An Inconvenient Truth, the sizzling Al Gore documentary about global warming. Considering the fact that 2005 was the warmest year on record, here's hoping the film gets major international play.

Review: Stephanie Daley

Hilary Braugher's first movie, the uber-contrived Sticky Fingers of Time (1997), sank with nary a trace — a shame, as it was also a highly original lesbian time-travel science fiction novel with a very, very dry wit. Now Braugher has finally helmed Stephanie Daley, her long-awaited second feature, and, rather than refining the sensibility she introduced nine years ago, it's as if she utterly reinvented her vision, complete with a whole new set of flaws. The story of a pregnant court psychologist (Tilda Swinton) evaluating a teenaged girl (Amber Tamblyn) who killed her newborn baby no one even knew she'd been carrying is ambitiously naturalistic, relying on little cinematic schtick and even less humor. Instead, it dwells, bare-bones, on whether women really do experience an irreversible bond to the young that they conceive. Swinton and Tamblyn do their best with the too-broadly sketched roles, but the tension simmering beneath the surface never really adequately comes to a boil, largely because most of the major events of the film are conveyed in disjointed flashbacks or in conversational references. Such minimalism may be preferable to the big-studio tendency to burden viewers with overexplanations, but Stephanie Daley might be one of the first movies I've ever seen, especially at this festival, where too many babies have been killed.

Review: Neil Young: Heart of Gold

After guest-blogging Sundance in absentia for a week, a happy reward comes my way: a few days after its festival premiere, the latest Neil Young concert movie, directed by Jonathan Demme and shot in August 2005 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, had an NYC screening. Both Young and Demme are old hands at this sort of thing, and they transform the show, which introduced the new album Prairie Wind and then proceeded with Young classics, into a strikingly confident movie.

No trace here of the 70 cuts/minute of the Beastie Boy's Awesome! I F*ckin' Shot That. Demme's direction is all steady shots of Young and his band, which grows and contracts with each tune: Emmylou Harris, Neil's wife Pegi, a slide guitar, a string quartet, a horn section, and a group of gospel singers come and go. Says Demme: "I honestly felt that if we went for this classic approach, with fixed cameras and extended takes, it might just feel fresh and avant-garde." Avant-garde isn't the word that springs to mind, but there is something reassuring in the steady simplicity of Heart of Gold — without frills, a master songwriter performs songs about fathers, daughters, friends, dogs, god, the wind, and his old guitar. There is a lovable, straightforward courage and doggedness in it that speaks for itself.

Interview: Isabel Coixet (The Secret Life of Words)

Director Isabel Coixet premiered her new film, The Secret Life of Words — her second starring actress Sarah Polley — at Sundance last night. Wryly funny and very intense, the Spanish director talks with Flavorpill Sundance about her wanderlust and why she's obsessed with human suffering.

Review: Flannel Pajamas

Flannel Pajamas is curiously off. It begins on the first date of a couple. Stuart (Justin Kirk) and Nicole (Julianne Nicholson) verbally express attraction to each other, though their physical language conveys only a turgid wariness. They are also both immediately unlikable characters — she, brittle and unstable; he, controlling and wildly self-involved — although neither of them seem to register how obviously unappealing the other one is. If this level of self-involvement was the thrust of this movie, it'd be an interesting conceit that until now hasn't been explored much. Instead, the two fall into a dance of false intimacy, in which they transform into other irritating characters, rather than reveal the vulnerabilities fueling their irritating bravado. All of this movie, in fact, has that same feel of lousy improvisation. Major details about the characters emerge from left field during dialogue and major events transpire off screen, so that you're not sure what the events that do occur onscreen are intended to amount to, especially as they spool out so rapidly. And yet, this movie is not easy to dismiss out of hand, maybe because it answers harder questions about why people don't stay together than most films even dare to ask. Its chief problem is no small thing, however: it is as unlikable as its characters.

January 26, 2006

Living La Vida Sundance: Waist-Deep in 'Danceland

Yesterday marked the festival's halfway point, and to commemorate the occasion Lisa and I stopped off at Sundance HQ to shoot the breeze about what we've learned thus far. Listen in for the firsthand scoop on movie trends, details on the 'danceland environment, and whether all this talk of schwag is really true.

Big Picture: Thank You For Not Opining

There's a rumor going around here that critic Roger Ebert has a two-hour rule. For the first two hours after viewing a film, he not only won't offer his opinion but won't listen to anyone else's, either. Pity that more filmgoers don't take a page from his book of cinetiquette.

Everyone's been guilty of it at some point: You're sitting in a theater, the film's only halfway completed, and you're already calculating an opinion guaranteed to razzle and dazzle. You may even be concocting a catch phrase to zing as soon as the credits roll. [KEEP READING...]

Living La Vida Sundance: What Not to Wear 5: Lose the Zero

Dear Corey Feldman,

White boy former child actors throwing gang signs are not fashionable at any altitude.

PS: Nice overbite.

Living La Vida Sundance: AntioxiDance

I spotted (and felt the need to consume) this 16% fruit juice beverage whilst awaiting a video shoot at Starbucks. But it wasn't until after my purchase that I observed this Odwalla's oh-so-apt nomenclature. Was this drink tailor-made to be drunk at Sundance? Or is it a mere coincidance?

Glossary: Floater

A term for a film that doesn't sell and consequently floats through festivals without distribution.

Interview: Director So Yong Kim (In Between Days)

As muted and doleful as the masterful In Between Days is, its director So Yong Kim proves an equally animated interview subject. Thank goodness! Flavorpill Sundance talked with her yesterday about her feature about two Korean teenagers, workshopping her next project at the Sundance lab, and — most importantly — where she found her sassy boots.

Big Picture: Snarkdance

There's quite a bit of persnickety snarking going around Park City, so let's collect the negativity in one place, breathe, and let go.... Freeloading celebs are easy to mock, and general indictments of the variety "Sundance has lost its cultural mojo" are dime a dozen. The smack talk gets juicier the more personal it gets: Terry Zwigoff is entertaining "a sophomoric audience," Al Gore and his soil erosion slide show is "the biggest hurdle" ever faced by an indie film, and Lou Reed himself calls Factory Girl "one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen - by any illiterate retard - in a long time." Ouch. By comparison, it's almost quaint when the head of the MPAA ratings board calls the director of This Movie is Not Yet Rated "a little bit disingenuous." Here's the ultimate put-down for any attention addict: "In two years, nobody's going to remember that name; mark my words. But to be fair, two years from now, nobody's gonna remember mine either." Says who?

Glossary: Graze Anatomy

A term used to describe the body of a Sundance attendee after 10 days of a high-carb, high-altitude, beggars-can't-be-choosers, cocktails and cocktail franks diet. To wit: Dang, I think even Jennifer Aniston's got Graze Anatomy by Saturday.

Interview: The Bullfrog

Flavorpill Sundance knows that no festival discussion is truly complete without an interview with the beloved Bullfrog. Yesterday the legendary amphibian told us how he became the festival's unofficial mascot.

In Transit: Burrito Interview #1

When you travel, especially to festivals, your world shrinks. In many ways, it's like being a kid again — you just hang out with whomever happens to live next door. I found myself shacked up at Harry's Burrito — halfway between the Albertson's grocery and the Holiday Village theater, and a much better option than Giant Panda — with Hungarian filmmaker Bálint Kenyeres, whose film, Before Dawn, is part of Shorts Program V.

While ungraciously stuffing burritos into our mouths, we chatted about the festival thus far. Bálint, who was nominated for a Palme D'Or at Cannes last year, gave me the downlow on the features he'd seen, and I must say he struck me as a man of good taste. Though he loves Paris, Texas, he didn't go in for Wim Wenders' new flick Don't Come Knocking, about which Lisa and I are both very curious. He loved Michel Gondry's new film The Science of Sleep, and shares my penchant for its female lead, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

He agreed with Lisa on Friends with Money's high quality even if he thought it lacked a certain luster, and was as impressed as I with Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in Sherrybaby. Meanwhile, Bálint's opinion of the dubiously titled The Hawk Is Dying was decidedly low. After lunch (and the inevitable biz card exchange), we went our separate ways, but I have a feeling he's going to turn up again...

Living La Vida Sundance: A Supermarket Love Song

Yes, we've all heard about Roger Ebert's tragic search for 7-11 sustenance by now, but what was in John Waters' shopping cart at Albertsons that night? [You got the picture but missed the story, indieWire.] And why didn't Karina Longworth immediately dispatch a phalanx of Cinematical bloggers to cover the supermarket?

Never fear. Thanks to the hard-hitting reporting of the Salt Lake Tribune, we can reveal what America's best Friend with Money supped on at Sundance.

Jennifer Aniston got ahi tuna with two caviars, Alaskan butterfish, and flourless chocolate cake with cardamom ice cream. Sting and Paris Hilton were served beef tenderloin with oxtail ravioli and Krispy Kreme bread pudding. Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel slurped seafood stew with shrimp, scallops, and mussels.

Of course, these meals were prepared by celebrity chefs like Ming Tsai as part of the invite-only ChefDance. According to the SLT:

Each night, a different chef prepares a four-course meal for the cast of festival films — along with the 250 other influential folks who manage to get on the guest list.

Still, you should feel free to replicate the Park City epicurean experience in the even more exclusive comfort of your own homes.

A votre sante!

Glossary: Coincidance

Used to describe occurrences at Sundance that happen by accident but seem to have some connection. Par example: We seem to be on the same post-press screening bathroom schedule, quel coincidance!

Living La Vida Sundance: Fahrenheit 501

We've already talked about brand presence at Sundance via commentary on the slew of Moviefoners scurrying around town (and our endless references to schwag), but AOL ain't the only company hitching its cart to the Sundance wagon. While we were busy in the dressing room finding the perfect pair of 501s, DivX talked with the Levi's staff about their "pop-up" dry goods store on Main Street and how you can give back by buying bootcut jeans.

January 25, 2006

Review: Steel City

By all rights, Steel City shouldn't be as good as it is. The story of 20-year-old P.J. struggling to piece together a life while his dead-beat dad serves time for manslaughter and his mom cobbles together a new family is the depressing stuff of which Sundance 2006 is made. But first-time director/writer Brian Jun makes sad-and-slow work, partly because he never condescends to his working-class Midwestern characters nor resorts to such novice tics as an intrusive soundtrack. His cast doesn't hurt, either. American indie film actors tend to fall into three categories: 1. The up-and-coming 2. The overlooked 3. The dregs. Jun sidesteps Category 3 like a pro, providing character actors Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) and John Heard (The Chumscrubber, The Sopranos) with material they can sink their well-seasoned chops into. And relative newbies Tom Guiry (P.J.) and Clayne Crawford shine in serious turns as brothers bouncing off each other and their legacy of neglect. It's in those explorations of male relationships that Steel City shines brightest; scene after scene comprised solely of grunts and nods and, yes, fisticuffs lead us back to how little wiggle room restrictive codes of behavior allow men who're wrestling big emotions. Some shoddy editing, as well as its possibly unmarketable subject matter, may keep this film under the radar, but let the record show that it won't be deservedly so.

Glossary: Tweener

A film that's demographically hard to sell as an art-house title because it contains too many conventional elements, but also lacks the ingredients for a mainstream release. To wit: Sundance distributors think this year's festival is chock-full of tweeners with an inflated sense of their market value.

Interview: Director Ian Inaba (American Blackout)

We've always dug the Guerrilla News Network, and GNN's own Ian Inaba premiered the final cut of his new documentary, American Blackout, here at Sundance this past Monday night. We met up with the very charming and articulate Ian at ye olde Starbucks Salon to discuss the problem of African American disenfranchisement and why cool soundtracks are good for connecting with the kids.

The Biz: IFC Films Gets Wordplay

Lisa reviewed Wordplay. IFC Films bought it. Which confirms what you probably suspected: IFC has become a serious player, with their own branded art house theater, a Bukowski movie, and the soon-to-come IFC's First Take, a video-on-demand program that allows subscribers access to independent films at home on the day of their theatrical release.

Living La Vida Sundance: Pedro for President

I lost my mansion party virginity at the Fuel TV chalet, so it will always be special to me. Here, Flavorpill Sundance takes you inside this den of x-treme sports action for a special tour with Napoleon Dynamite's Pedro (aka Efren Ramirez), who talks about his slew of upcoming projects and his love of Salvador Dali in between hamming it up for the camera and stacking up the schwag.

Big Picture: Chris Penn 1962 - 2006

Chris Penn, the oft-underrated costar of such indie staples as Reservoir Dogs and Short Cuts, was found dead in his Santa Monica home. The causes are as yet unknown. His latest film, The Darwin Awards, was set to premiere tonight at Sundance.

The brother of Oscar winner Sean Penn and son of TV director Leo Penn, Chris suffered from a cinematic case of always a bridesmaid, never a bride. But it was that inconspicuousness which rendered his performances so immediately accessible. In his roles he often channeled the more vulnerable colors of the human condition. It is to the film community's great loss that he will not be able to do so anymore.

Living La Vida Sundance: What Not to Wear 4: Hats Off

What percentage of your body heat allegedly escapes through your head? We can't remember, either, but we know it's enough that you should heed your mother's advice and slap on a cap when it's cold outside.

Ahhh, but what kind of lid sends the right message in see-and-be-seen Park City? After conducting a scientific study, we can conclusively report that the chapeux of Sundance break down something like this:

The Hat Squad: Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man... in a fedora. Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Houston, and Nick "Nice Shirt" Nolte chose style over comfort.

Knit Wits: What can we say? Watch-caps may be dorky, but they are warm. Note the toasty ears on Paul Giamatti, Terrence Howard, Sting, James Van Der Beek, D.B. Sweeney, and Jack Osbourne (more of a git than a wit), as well as our own Lisa Rosman.

Newsies: Who knew? Fans of the Christian Bale Disney flick were out in force. Note O.G. indie icon Dennis Hopper in a snapshot by Roger Ebert, as well as Julianne Nicholson in a scally, and Tim Hutton busting out a Greek fisherman variant.

Surprising no one, Bai Ling went her own way in a fuzzy fuschia beret.

Review: small town gay bar

At a flyweight 81 minutes, Malcolm Ingram's small town gay bar feels epic — and not in a good way. This Mississippi-set documentary investigates gay culture (or the lack thereof) in the deep South through two bars: Rumors in northeastern MS, owned by Rick Gladish, and the now-shutdown Crossroads in Meridian, MS, formerly owned by Charles "Butch" Graham. In talking to the present and former patrons of both bars, a single sentiment emerges: these venues provide a safe place for the scattered southern LGBT community, somewhere that people can be themselves and let off steam. As one interviewee says, "sometimes it's just nice to get out where you don't have to encounter terrified heterosexuals." Over and over, we hear drag queens, fags, and dykes say that they just don't know what they would do without such an outlet. The bars are the community.

As diligent Flavorpill Sundance readers may know, stgb was among the top ten films I was excitedly anticipating at the festival. And it has its moments: seeing drag queen performer Jim Bishop out of makeup and in scrubs at his vet office dayjob, where he's slight, fey, and utterly adorable; witnessing the bristly anger of Reverend Phelps as he says, "'God hates fags' is a serious, profound, philosophical statement," with a Godhatesamerica.com banner proudly displayed behind him (apparently, God also hates Sweden); and pulling for lesbian couple Lori and Ruby as they rebuild the Crossroads bar and, thus, revitalize Meridian's LGBT scene.

There is no doubt that the film's heart is in the right place (it's dedicated to Scotty Weaver), and there is no doubt that the struggles of the gays in the film are both valid and touching — not to mention that their wry resolve is often quite funny. But stgb drags; the last third of the film feels like a long, drawn-out goodbye. That said, it's hard to blame Mr. Ingram for wanting to linger with a group whose voices are so little heard.

Interview: Snapshot

The Subject: Ian Goggins, Senior VP, Sales and Operations, Maple Pictures
Where: Yarrow Theatre #1

Why are you here, and from where?
I'm here from Toronto, looking to buy films.

Who paid your way?
My company, Maple.

What films are you most excited about?
I can't really say which films I'm professionally excited about, I guess. Personally, I'm excited about Glastonbury, the festival movie, as I'm a music guy. And, yes, the Beastie Boys doc, the Leonard Cohen doc, the Neil Young.

He's a Canadian, too.
Yes, he is.

Where'd you get your boots?
Australia. They're great.

Lastly, oh music guy, what's the last song you listened to on your iPod?
Feist. "Now at Last."

The Biz: Night Listener, This Film Is Not Rated

The industry types are already complaining that the festival is a big old letdown, that nothing will top that $10.5 million Little Miss Sunshine deal. As a faithful member of the audience, I'm always tempted to tune out the biz noise. It's not about the money and the business, dammit, it's about the artistry! But box office takes and distribution rights have become an essential part of film news. So, here they are, the two latest Sundance deals.

Night Listener: Miramax Films picked up the North American rights. "A highly cerebral and a great popcorn movie simultaneously," Pattrick Stettner's adaptation of the Armistead Maupin story features Robin Williams, Rory Culkin, and Toni Collette (who also stars in Little Miss Sunshine).

This Film Is Not Rated: BBC acquirred British broadcasting rights for Kirby Dick's IFC-produced documentary about the MPAA film ratings board. Who gave it, as you might have heard, a damning NC-17 rating.

Interview: Team Stephanie Daley

Flavorpill Sundance was part of the press machine indeed when we interviewed Stephanie Daley director Hilary Brougher and actors Amber Tamblyn and Timothy Hutton at the W Las Vegas Lounge. We were hustled in and out so fast that there was barely time to genuflect at Brougher's feet for making 1997's excellent Sticky Fingers of Time — let alone tell Hutton that I once dated a real cad just because he resembled him. Uh, maybe that's for the best.

Living La Vida Sundance: Thank You For Loitering, Moviefone!

Like Sundance's own special army of red ants, Moviefone drones scurry up and down Main Street — the most ubiquitous fixture at the fest beyond timesucks (e.g. getting a sandwich, waiting for the shuttle bus, standing on line). But, despite their omnipresence, it's unclear just exactly why the Moviefoners are on hand. They're not handing out promo literature; they're not (more tragically) passing out swag. They just loom. Seeing so many of them, everyone naturally assumes that the MFs are here to help: Where can I get pizza? Where can I find a bathroom? Where's the Levi's store? These are questions they can answer. But today, I tried the vaunted Flavorpill Five (the questions we ask In Transit) on an MF, and we couldn't get past Question 1. Apparently, the existentialness of "Why are you here?" was a bit too much, so my man-on-the-street interview request was denied. Guess that's what you get when you try to talk to branding!

Glossary: Gobbler

A term used by distributors to describe a film that would never sell. As in: turkey.

Interview: Snapshot

The Subject: Lois Dino, associate director of programming, Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, New York
Where: On line for a Wordplay screening

What brings you here?
I'm part of the Sundance Institute Art House Project. I'm representing one of 14 art houses that are here to establish Sundance programming at our venues.

Who paid for you to come here?
The festival. I'm very fancy.

Where'd you get your sassy clog boots?
eBay. Is that awful? I love eBay.

No, that's not awful. That's savvy. And do you have an iPod?
I don't. But I'm researching how to buy one for my daughter on eBay!

Living La Vida Sundance: Seen But Not Snapped

Cruising down Main Street today in search of the Levi's store — yes, denim is the order of the day at Sundance — I happened upon the grand poo-bah himself, Robert Redford. He gave me a friendly smile and I had my digital camera at the ready, but alas, the battery was dead. (In lieu of that stifled snapshot, I give you this goofy 2005 picture of a fresher-faced Bob with an unidentified Flavorpill contributor.)

Other "I spy"s include SNL's Amy Poehler getting good-naturedly roped into conversation with a number one fan, Crispin Glover (gone all gray) striding out of the North Face lodge with multiple bags o' schwag, and director Michael Rapaport being whisked away for a heli-skiing trip. Stay tuned for forthcoming video footage that takes you inside North Face's uber-posh "experience" lodge.

January 24, 2006

Review: Wordplay

Wordplay may be a trifle, but it's a fun trifle. The documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle provides irresistible access to the mysterious man behind the black and white [drape, seven letters], Times puzzle editor Will Shortz.

The first half of the film paints every cog in a puzzle's life cycle — from its constructor to its editor to its solvers — as exacting and witty, albeit in an NPR capacity. One constructor's best line: "'Unkind Donuts' is an anagram for Dunkin' Donuts, and I do believe I've had a few of those." His second best line: "The Sunday breakfast table standard is a pain. I can't tell you how many times 'enema' would've helped me out of a constructing jam if I could use bodily function terms." Once Shortz gives his editorial approval, a host of celebrity crossword addicts, including Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls, Ken Burns, Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina, and Jon Stewart, devour it when it appears in the paper. Clinton and Dole reminisce about the 1996 post-election day puzzle that featured two entirely different sets of answers: "BOB DOLE IS ELECTED," and, alternatively, "CLINTON IS ELECTED." Ken Burns waxes Burnsian about the humanizing, meditative populism of the puzzle. Stewart growls, "Ah, Shortz. This is a Tuesday puzzle. I'm using pen, pen. No, I'm using gluestick!"

As long as the film sticks to the Puzzle and Celebrities Who Love It, it's breezy and very, very clever. When it shifts to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which Shortz hosts every year in Stamford, CT, it smacks unpleasantly of Spellbound and War of the Words. It's nice that this solitary hobby bonds intellectually versatile, punny people of all shapes and sizes, but a few too many wacky shots of crossword puzzle-inspired headgear bog down the story's momentum. Even at 90 minutes, Wordplay feels a bit long. (Nearly all the Sundance entries feel too long this year.) Make no mistake, though: Mike Mussina uttering "QED" and "ENE" aloud makes it all worth your while.

Interview: Thin director Lauren Greenfield and producer R.J. Cutler

In the very heart of Swag Central, Village at the Lift, the Flavorpill Sundance team got a chance to talk with two key members of the Thin team. Given the gravity of this tremendous documentary about eating disorders, we weren't sure what to expect, but Greenfield and Cutler turned out to be gracious, charming, and extremely accessible — a clue to how they achieved such intimacy with their typically private subjects. As the very pregnant Greenfield said: "We know what it's like to be on the other side of the camera."

Interview: Snapshot

The Subject: Daiki Chiba, radio commentator for Tokyo's J-Wave
Where: Festival Headquarters, after Daiki interviewed me. Tres new media!

Why are you here?
I'm here from Japan for my radio show to explain what the festival is and to interview publicists and distributors. We are really about describing the business side. I'm here to meet the people, not see the movies so much.

Who paid for you to come here?
My producer paid for me to come here, my company. I came here three days ago and am suffering because it is so cold. All I have is this blazer. So I've seen only a few films because it is so hard for me to get in, even with my pass, and I keep having to wait in the cold in the lines.

What film are you most excited about?
Lucky Number Slevin, which is kind of like a Reservoir Dogs thing. I saw it last night and, oh, it was pretty amazing. Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu were there, very nice and cool, very kind. Not stereotypical stars at all.

Where'd you get your boots?
In LA, like eight years ago. Combat boots. I really like them.

What's the last song you played on your iPod?
"All I Want for Chistmas," from the Love Actually soundtrack. The singer's name is Olivia Olson [blushes fiercely]. God, that's embarrassing!

Living La Vida Sundance: What Not to Wear 3: Coffee, Tea, or Me?

Plucky indie darling Robin Tunney