A scene from "Fido."Films better, parties worse than 2006
By John Esther
Once again this January, numerous filmmakers, producers, actors, wannabes, babes and snow junkies descended on Park City, Utah, for the annual Sundance Film Festival. America’s most important film festival, and the world’s in terms of independent filmmaking, this year’s festival ran Jan. 18-28.
As ticket sales and acquisitions soared, the consensus was – and this four-year-veteran agrees – the quality of films was up while the parties were down for Sundance 2007. Several films were acquired for a considerable amount of money, including “Son of Rambow” (a reported $8 million), “La Misma Luna” ($5 million), “Grace is Gone” ($4 million), and “Weapons” (low seven figures). In fact a dozen films were sold with at least a half of them going for $4 million or more.
As happy as a few filmmakers must have been, there were apparently thousands of unhappy partygoers. The energy that was present the last two years was missing. This no doubt had to do with the fact that far too many DJs were spinning old and new Top 40 music. Could there be anything less independent minded in “art” than Top 40 music?
On the other hand, this year marked the inaugural New Frontiers on Main. Continuing Sundance’s commitment to experimental and independent film, New Frontiers on Main was a showcase for several moving image installations, most of which were excellent.
The following are a few of the dozens of films I saw this year:
“An American Crime” -- One of the two best features I saw at the festival, Tommy O’Haver’s film chronicles a story about mass conformity that would give Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery a run for its money. Except this story is based on fact. It is 1965, Indiana, and two sisters (Ellen Page and Romy Rosemont) are left in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener), a woman hard at work, drinking and raising children. Before long, rumors start flying, the truth is denied, and one person ends up dead. To further drive one of the film’s sentiment home, O’Haver comes up with a narrative device about the responsibility of recreating the tragic past that is as un-Hollywood as you want it to be.
“Away from Her”–- Julie Christie makes a remarkable return to the screen as a woman with Alzheimer’s in Sarah Polley’s competently directorial debut. Married for 45 years, Fiona (Christie) and her husband (Gordon Pinsent) must come to grips with the passage of time, memory and love. While both know each other inside out, their reactions to her decline are in stark contrast. Based on a short story from Alice Munro, although Polley’s screenplay is bourgeois politically, watch out for a walloping remark against the current occupation of Iraq.
“Fido”–- Questioning whom the real zombies are, screenwriter-director Andrew Currie creates a 1950s world of conformity where people do not own people(s) of color, but rather those wacky cannibalistic undead. Everybody on the block has a zombie but the Robinsons. Helen Robinson (Carrie Anne Moss) cannot stand the social inequality but her husband (Dylan Baker, excellent as usual) is afraid of them. Eventually peer pressure wins out and the family Robinson acquires Fido (Billy Connolly). Fido befriends 11-year-old Timmy Robison (K’Sun Ray), which leads to camaraderie and chaos. Amusing.
“Longford”-- In a festival of downers, ubiquitous writer Peter Morgan (“The Queen,” “Last King of Scotland”) and director Tom Hooper’s film was a happy treat. Inspired by true events, Frank Aungier Packerham, the Earl of Longford, was an unconventional politician who shocked his country by actually acting like the Christian he professed to be. “The outcast’s outcast,” Longford was a devout Catholic who visited the deplored and incarcerated. In the 1960s his faith was put to the test in when he started visiting Myra Hindly (Samantha Morton), a person who instilled the same kind of loathing in Britain that Charles Manson’s would a few years later across the pond. Riveting with topnotch acting, Longford will appear on HBO this month.
“Offscreen”–- With technology becoming increasingly accessible, film crews are nipping and tucking their way down to millions of autofocus tales, told by fools, full of self-pity and self-aggrandizement, recording everyday banalities for entertainment. At once playful and cautionary, writer-director Christopher Boe’s story is about what happens when Boe lends a camera to actor Nicholas Bro (the two previously collaborated). Bro/Boe create a subject obsessed with capturing every moment of itself on reel at the cost of the real.
“Strange Culture” – Lynn Hershman Leeson has made a documentary with profound immediacy. Her subject is Steve Kurtz, SUNY Buffalo professor and founding member of Critical Art Ensemble. In 2004, Kurtz was working on an exhibition addressing genetically modified food. During that time Kurtz’s wife, Hope, had died in her sleep. When the medics arrived they became suspicious of Kurtz’s art supplies and called the FBI. Within hours post-911 hysteria was in the Kurtz household. Kurtz was labeled a suspected terrorist and is currently part of an on-going trial. Because Kurtz cannot not talk about particular parts of the case Lesson hired actors to recreate what happened. During the retelling the actors sometimes stop acting and comment on the case as themselves. As artists and humans, they know what is at stake if Kurtz goes down.
“War Dance” -- What is a film festival without a story about African children triumphing over adversity? Set in war-torn northern Uganda, wife-husband team Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine’s documentary chronicles a part of the world where kids kill and are killed in the name of the father. Amongst the strife, kids at the Potango refugee camp -- protected by the military – learn to channel their roots, youth, sorrow and pity through song and dance. Through this these young kids achieve an unprecedented mark in Ugandan history.
“Weapons” -– An extraordinary achievement in independent filmmaking that had audiences strongly divided, Adam Bhala Lough’s film starts off with one of the most unforgettable opening scenes of the past five years and then roars the rest the way. A tale of revenge including rape, guns, basketball and way too much partying, this is a work of art marked by smart storytelling, strong performances, crazy comedic moments and brilliant music by DJ Screw.
“Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait” –- An examination into notions of subjectivity, memory and the gaze – particularly male, Phillippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon focused 17 different 35mm cameras on soccer player Zinedine Zidane on one game on April 23, 2005. Before Zidane made world headlines for his headshot in the final moments of the World Cup 2006 -- thus, subjectively speaking, blowing the game for France -- the then-captain of Real Madrid (over David Beckham) is watched from head to toe, literally, in much (not all) of his instinctive grace, joy, anger and spittle. As time runs out, Parreno and Gordon contextually arrange Zidane against the larger world. Amazing and thought provoking, Zidane was my favorite documentary at Sundance 2007.
“Zoo”–- Far too refrained for its own good, co-screenwriter and director Robinson Devor’s documentary about man and his love for non-human animals blows a fantastic subject out to pasture. Based on the true story of men who were having sex with Arabian horses out in the Pacific Northwest, the film’s interesting aesthetics for recreating what happened does not compensate for its lack of humor, psychoanalysis and, most importantly, social analysis. We can imprison, torture, slaughter and consume millions of animals annually, use them for game, entertainment, clothing or any other way that satisfies our wants, but sexual intercourse is considered an abomination. What does that say about human conditioning?
By John Esther
Once again this January, numerous filmmakers, producers, actors, wannabes, babes and snow junkies descended on Park City, Utah, for the annual Sundance Film Festival. America’s most important film festival, and the world’s in terms of independent filmmaking, this year’s festival ran Jan. 18-28.
As ticket sales and acquisitions soared, the consensus was – and this four-year-veteran agrees – the quality of films was up while the parties were down for Sundance 2007. Several films were acquired for a considerable amount of money, including “Son of Rambow” (a reported $8 million), “La Misma Luna” ($5 million), “Grace is Gone” ($4 million), and “Weapons” (low seven figures). In fact a dozen films were sold with at least a half of them going for $4 million or more.
As happy as a few filmmakers must have been, there were apparently thousands of unhappy partygoers. The energy that was present the last two years was missing. This no doubt had to do with the fact that far too many DJs were spinning old and new Top 40 music. Could there be anything less independent minded in “art” than Top 40 music?
On the other hand, this year marked the inaugural New Frontiers on Main. Continuing Sundance’s commitment to experimental and independent film, New Frontiers on Main was a showcase for several moving image installations, most of which were excellent.
The following are a few of the dozens of films I saw this year:
“An American Crime” -- One of the two best features I saw at the festival, Tommy O’Haver’s film chronicles a story about mass conformity that would give Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery a run for its money. Except this story is based on fact. It is 1965, Indiana, and two sisters (Ellen Page and Romy Rosemont) are left in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener), a woman hard at work, drinking and raising children. Before long, rumors start flying, the truth is denied, and one person ends up dead. To further drive one of the film’s sentiment home, O’Haver comes up with a narrative device about the responsibility of recreating the tragic past that is as un-Hollywood as you want it to be.
“Away from Her”–- Julie Christie makes a remarkable return to the screen as a woman with Alzheimer’s in Sarah Polley’s competently directorial debut. Married for 45 years, Fiona (Christie) and her husband (Gordon Pinsent) must come to grips with the passage of time, memory and love. While both know each other inside out, their reactions to her decline are in stark contrast. Based on a short story from Alice Munro, although Polley’s screenplay is bourgeois politically, watch out for a walloping remark against the current occupation of Iraq.
“Fido”–- Questioning whom the real zombies are, screenwriter-director Andrew Currie creates a 1950s world of conformity where people do not own people(s) of color, but rather those wacky cannibalistic undead. Everybody on the block has a zombie but the Robinsons. Helen Robinson (Carrie Anne Moss) cannot stand the social inequality but her husband (Dylan Baker, excellent as usual) is afraid of them. Eventually peer pressure wins out and the family Robinson acquires Fido (Billy Connolly). Fido befriends 11-year-old Timmy Robison (K’Sun Ray), which leads to camaraderie and chaos. Amusing.
“Longford”-- In a festival of downers, ubiquitous writer Peter Morgan (“The Queen,” “Last King of Scotland”) and director Tom Hooper’s film was a happy treat. Inspired by true events, Frank Aungier Packerham, the Earl of Longford, was an unconventional politician who shocked his country by actually acting like the Christian he professed to be. “The outcast’s outcast,” Longford was a devout Catholic who visited the deplored and incarcerated. In the 1960s his faith was put to the test in when he started visiting Myra Hindly (Samantha Morton), a person who instilled the same kind of loathing in Britain that Charles Manson’s would a few years later across the pond. Riveting with topnotch acting, Longford will appear on HBO this month.
“Offscreen”–- With technology becoming increasingly accessible, film crews are nipping and tucking their way down to millions of autofocus tales, told by fools, full of self-pity and self-aggrandizement, recording everyday banalities for entertainment. At once playful and cautionary, writer-director Christopher Boe’s story is about what happens when Boe lends a camera to actor Nicholas Bro (the two previously collaborated). Bro/Boe create a subject obsessed with capturing every moment of itself on reel at the cost of the real.
“Strange Culture” – Lynn Hershman Leeson has made a documentary with profound immediacy. Her subject is Steve Kurtz, SUNY Buffalo professor and founding member of Critical Art Ensemble. In 2004, Kurtz was working on an exhibition addressing genetically modified food. During that time Kurtz’s wife, Hope, had died in her sleep. When the medics arrived they became suspicious of Kurtz’s art supplies and called the FBI. Within hours post-911 hysteria was in the Kurtz household. Kurtz was labeled a suspected terrorist and is currently part of an on-going trial. Because Kurtz cannot not talk about particular parts of the case Lesson hired actors to recreate what happened. During the retelling the actors sometimes stop acting and comment on the case as themselves. As artists and humans, they know what is at stake if Kurtz goes down.
“War Dance” -- What is a film festival without a story about African children triumphing over adversity? Set in war-torn northern Uganda, wife-husband team Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine’s documentary chronicles a part of the world where kids kill and are killed in the name of the father. Amongst the strife, kids at the Potango refugee camp -- protected by the military – learn to channel their roots, youth, sorrow and pity through song and dance. Through this these young kids achieve an unprecedented mark in Ugandan history.
“Weapons” -– An extraordinary achievement in independent filmmaking that had audiences strongly divided, Adam Bhala Lough’s film starts off with one of the most unforgettable opening scenes of the past five years and then roars the rest the way. A tale of revenge including rape, guns, basketball and way too much partying, this is a work of art marked by smart storytelling, strong performances, crazy comedic moments and brilliant music by DJ Screw.
“Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait” –- An examination into notions of subjectivity, memory and the gaze – particularly male, Phillippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon focused 17 different 35mm cameras on soccer player Zinedine Zidane on one game on April 23, 2005. Before Zidane made world headlines for his headshot in the final moments of the World Cup 2006 -- thus, subjectively speaking, blowing the game for France -- the then-captain of Real Madrid (over David Beckham) is watched from head to toe, literally, in much (not all) of his instinctive grace, joy, anger and spittle. As time runs out, Parreno and Gordon contextually arrange Zidane against the larger world. Amazing and thought provoking, Zidane was my favorite documentary at Sundance 2007.
“Zoo”–- Far too refrained for its own good, co-screenwriter and director Robinson Devor’s documentary about man and his love for non-human animals blows a fantastic subject out to pasture. Based on the true story of men who were having sex with Arabian horses out in the Pacific Northwest, the film’s interesting aesthetics for recreating what happened does not compensate for its lack of humor, psychoanalysis and, most importantly, social analysis. We can imprison, torture, slaughter and consume millions of animals annually, use them for game, entertainment, clothing or any other way that satisfies our wants, but sexual intercourse is considered an abomination. What does that say about human conditioning?
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