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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Living La Vida Sundance: The Inevitable Paris Hilton

Flavorpill and DivX crash the TAO nightclub to scope out the inaugural Blender Sessions party, with a live performance by Damian "Junior Gong" Marley, the youngest (and possibly coolest) of the brothers. Packed to the gills, it was the party par excellence of the evening, indicated by the presence of — oh yes — Paris Hilton herself. Some say Sundance is still about the movies, but we'd wager Paris might disagree.

Interview: Salvage actress Lauren Currie Lewis

We sat down with Lauren Currie Lewis, the star of the new slasher flick Salvage, set to premiere at midnight tonight, at the Starbucks Salon. Some highights: what it's like to be a Brooklyn girl in the middle-of-nowhere Ohio, her nightmares about blocking, and how to relive your own murder.

Interview: Director Larry Clark

Flavorpill Sundance got a chance to talk with director Larry Clark (Kids, Bully) about his new film, Wassup Rockers, which opens Slamdance, and his piece in Sundance's Destricted. Especially given that Clark had been giving interviews for hours already, he was patient and supercool. Check it out.

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