Sundance 09 – Pt 1
 | Author: Jauretsi | Posted: January 20th, 2009 | Filed under: Film, Film Festivals | | Comments Off |
Our in-house Entertainment Editor, Greg Krelenstein, is braving the snowy mountains of Utah now. Here’s the inside report on all things cinematic happening these days from our Starworker.
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Sundance- Pt1
By Greg Krelenstein
While this year’s festival feels a little calmer than past years, it has no shortage of indie kings and queens (Zooey Deschanel, Lou Taylor Pucci) present and some really special films.
(Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zooey Deschanel)
The buzz has been centered around Fox Searchlight’s summer release 500 Days of Summer, starring the aforementioned Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, another Sundance favorite (Mysterious Skin and Brick were past hits), and Push, which has generated Oscar talk for Mo’Nique!
Carey Mulligan star of An Education and The Greatest is the one to watch.
So far, only midway through the festival, but I’ve already seen a lot so let’s get started…
Spread
Ashton and Anne Heche have a lot of sex…a lot! Margarita Levieva as the girl who captures Ashton’s heart is the most gorgeous girl I’ve seen on screen in some time.
Don’t Let Me Drown
Reminiscent of other films set in the ethnic neighborhoods of NYC (cue Victor Vargas and Guide To Recognizing Your Saints) this film adds a backdrop of 9/11 aftermath and finds great performances in the two young leads EJ Bonilla and Gleendilys Inoa.
Paper Hearts
This was the film I was most excited to see because I’m in love with Michael Cera, but this is essentially a one woman show with his real life girlfriend Charlene Yi narrating throughout an exploration of what love is, and why for some reason the feeling has eluded her. The faux documentary touched all the right places, mostly when Charlene travels the globe to speak to couples who share their personal stories.
500 Days of Summer
I dont want to hype this one up, as you’ll have to wait until July to see it, but the feeling I walked out of here was something I hadn’t experienced since I screened Juno or Garden State for the first time (Fox Searchlight has certainly cornered the market on quirky youth generational zeitgeist films) The movie had me hooked in the first five minutes, when it flashbacks to Joe Gordon Levitt as a Morrissey-Joy-Divsion loving little freak. This movie takes the conventions of its genre and spins it around to tell the characters love story in an original way. By far, Sundance’s most beloved film.
I Love You Philip Morris
A comedic love story about 2 prisoners (played by Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor) who fall in love in jail? What? And its based on a true story! My advice is to just go with this throughly entertaining ride and ignore the tonal problems some felt it had. It’s nice to see Jim Carrey take on his first complex role in some time!
An Education
Carey Mulligan is this festival’s true star! Out of nowhere she stars in the 2 films that are bound for distribution and has roles in Jim Sheridan’s Brothers and Michael Mann’s Public Enemies coming up for 2009. Set in the 60s, this is the tale of a girl who falls in love with a man who may not be all he says he is (Peter Sarsgaard plays swine so well). Their relationship drives her off her perfect Oxford bound course until she realizes that experience is perhaps the greatest education she’ll receive. The film also features the who’s who of current British cinema, Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson, Rosamund Pike, Sally Hawkins and another sweet newcomer Matthew Beard.
Good Hair
A documentary by Chris Rock about the black hair industry is so outrageously fun! Who knew the top black hairdressers carried on the tradition of Paris is Burning balls facing off once a year at the Bronner Bros International Hair and Beauty Show in Atlanta? The documentary spotlights the stars of the industry, but also traces the whys and the hows of black women’s weaves and their origination in a temple sacrifice in India.
Peter & Vandy
This is what I can only file in the Sundance indie category– the audience follows the ups and downs of a twentysomething couple that was based on a play. Its saving grace is the performances of Jason Ritter and Sundance alum Jess Wexler (of Teeth).
Arlen Faber
What were Kat Dennings and Olivia Thirlby thinking to take on such thankless roles? Those future indie queens should be ruling this but instead the movie centers around the budding romance of a reclusive author (Jeff Daniels) and a chiropractor (Lauren Graham). They are certainly charming, but this movie truly belongs to Lou Taylor Pucci. When Thumbsucker premiered at Sundance he was poised to be one of the most exciting actors of his generation and this performance as a recovering alcoholic working as used bookshop owner shows why.
