SUNDANCE TWENTYTEN: The Wrap-Up!

By Marlow Stern

The gifting suites and lounges have reverted to art galleries; tinted-windowed Honda’s sped off into the sunset; and Park City’s Main Street is devoid of women in obnoxiously conspicuous fur costumes. It’s a ghost town.

Yes, the snowy 2010 Sundance Film Festival has come and gone. Running from January 21 to 31, the premier independent film festival on the planet – dubbed ‘Sundance Twentyten’ – boasted 113 feature-length films representing 36 different countries and 44 first-time filmmakers.

Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” was the fest’s big winner, taking home the U.S. Dramatic Competition’s Grand Jury Prize as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Granik’s film weaves the tale of a teenage girl living in a remote, impoverished region of the Ozark Mountains who faces violent relatives in a quest to track down her drug-dealing father.

The U.S. Documentary Competition topper was “Restrepo,” a raw war documentary following a platoon of soldiers during their 15-month deployment in Afghanistan. Directed by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, the film created major buzz following its premiere screening on Sundance’s opening night.

John Cooper’s appointment as Director of the Sundance Film Festival was a key factor in many of this year’s changes. Former Sundance Film Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore, who headed the fest for nearly two decades, moved on to head the Tribeca Film Festival. In past years, you would walk out of certain films and wonder not just how they found their way into one of the world’s most prestigious film festival’s, but how they even got made in the first place. At Sundance Twentyten, there were less of these unfortunate outliers and the overall quality of the non-Indiewood flicks was noticeably stronger.

As with every film festival, there were several recurring themes during this year’s Sundance. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as expected, made their presence known. In addition to the aforementioned “Restrepo,” there was the doc “The Pat Tillman Story” chronicling the death of the former Texas Ranger/NFL player. “Tillman’s” U.S. distribution was acquired by the Weinstein Co. The predictably grim “The Dry Land” starred and was produced by “Ugly Betty’s” America Ferrera and concerns her husband returning from Iraq totally PTSD’d out. It’s a more indie “Brothers,” minus the flashy stars and incestuous relationships. Ryan Reynolds starrer “Buried” [pictured below] concerns a U.S. citizen working as a contract driver in Iraq who, following an attack on his convoy, suddenly awakens to find himself buried alive inside a coffin with nothing more than a lighter, a cell phone and a hazy memory of how he got there.

Another topic that loomed large over the festival was the economic recession. Mediocre ensemble drama “The Company Men” [pictured below], helmed by “E.R.” creator John Wells, was billed pre-fest as “Up in the Air” meets “Traffic.” Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Rosemarie DeWitt and Maria Bello topline the film, but the corporate downsizing-themed pic is a ‘made for television’ bore that offers little to no insight into the economic crisis, as well as a host of one-note performances from the otherwise talented cast. The only people who escape with their reputations fully intact are Rosemarie DeWitt as Affleck’s doting wife, and Chris Cooper as a severely depressed corporate downsizee. Mat Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom’s documentary “The Shock Doctrine,” based on Naomi Klein’s best selling book, chronicles the rise of disaster capitalism and the effect it has had on the world over the past 50 years.

As far as acquisitions are concerned, gone are the days of the $15 million pickups like “Little Miss Sunshine,” however, unlike last year, 2010 marked a major improvement in acquisitions during the festival. The most notable ones were “The Kids Are All Right,” a film by Lisa Chodolenko (“Laurel Canyon”) about a lesbian couple (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) who have two kids conceived by artificial insemination. The kids grow up and try to reconnect with their birth father, played by Mark Ruffalo. The film sparked a bidding war among several companies, and was eventually acquired by Focus Features for $5 million. The aforementioned Ryan Reynolds-starrer “Buried,” shot from a first-person P.O.V. inside a casket, went to Lionsgate for $3.2 million. Hanover House acquired the rights to craptastic filmmaker Joel Schumacher’s latest crapfest “Twelve” for $2 million. The film had an awful reception, and was probably only acquired because of its star cast, including: “Gossip Girl’s” Chace Crawford, 50 Cent, Rory Culkin, Emma Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland narrating. Prizewinner “Winter’s Bone” found a home at Roadside Attractions, while the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams relationship drama “Blue Valentine” went to Weinstein Co. One of the festival’s biggest buzz films was the documentary “Catfish.” The film follows Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer, who is contacted by Abby, an eight-year-old girl from rural Michigan, via MySpace seeking permission to paint one of his photographs. When he receives her remarkable painting, Nev begins a friendship and correspondence with Abby’s family, including a budding romance with her attractive older sister, Megan. Strangeness ensues. The film was picked up by Rogue Pictures a few days after the festival wrapped.

Now to the fun stuff…

My buddy Josh and I arrived in Park City the morning of Thursday, January 21 – the first day of the festival. We checked into our condo at the Lodge at Mountain Village, a part of the Park City Mountain Resort. If you ever wish to go to Sundance – it’s an amazing deal. For a little over $300/night, you get a spacious two-bedroom condo, two-floor condo with a full kitchen and huge living room equipped with a flat screen TV. The couch pulls out into another bed so you could easily sleep 3-5 people.

Since I wasn’t aware of whether or not I could pull off the trip to Sundance financially until the eleventh hour, we didn’t have press/media passes. But I prefer to attend the public screenings anyway with actual audiences (as opposed to a group of aging, muted, cynical film journos). So, pass-less and relatively ticket-less, we queued up to see the opening evening premiere of “Howl” [pictured below], a buzzed-about film about the Allen Ginsburg obscenity trial starring James Franco as the celebrated beat poet. After waiting almost four hours on the wait-list line, they kindly let us know that NO ONE would be getting a wait-list ticket.

Depressed and tired, I decided to camp out at the Sundance box office overnight to ensure not getting screwed over on the waitlist line on Friday. For those not in the know, the ticket-buying situation at Sundance is a travishamockery. You register on the festival website and are given a random (usually shitty) time to purchase tickets online. So, if you’re screwed with your purchasing start time, you’re usually forced to queue up on the waitlist line between 2-4 hours before the start of a film at Sundance to guarantee yourself a waitlist ticket. However, every evening during the festival at 7 or 8 p.m. they post a list of available tickets for each film for the following morning when the box office opens at 8 a.m. It’s usually wise to camp out by the Main Street box office or arrive at 4 a.m. and wait, because then you’re all set with your tickets for the day and don’t have to queue 2-4 hours for each film. I ended up scoring tickets to buzzed-about documentary “Catfish,” the premiere of “Hesher,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman, road comedy “Douchebag” (mostly for the title), the midnight screening of “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil,” a horror-comedy about rednecks hunted by rich college kids (a play on “Deliverance”), and tix to the aforementioned corporate downsizing ensemble drama “The Company Men.”

“Catfish” was very compelling, and takes you on twists and turns you don’t see coming.

“Douchebag” was a decent road comedy about, well, a douchebag (played by Andrew Dickler), who, on the verge of getting married to the lovely Steph (Marguerite Moreau), insists he escort his awkward younger brother (Ben York Jones) on a hunt to track down his fifth grade girlfriend/love of his life. The film is most notable for the effective, low-key soundtrack, some sharply-written scenes between the two brothers, and Andrew Dickler’s magnetic performance as the bearded, pretentious, hypocritical vegan.

“Hesher” [picture below], which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the titular pyromaniac outcast who shacks up with a trouble child following a tragedy, was a disappointment. Boasting a huge cast, including “The Office’s” Rainn Wilson as the child’s depressed father, Piper Laurie as the grandmother, and Natalie Portman as a random shopgirl who bonds with the child, it’s a very cloying and awkwardly-pitched movie that is only slightly redeemed by it’s denouement. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as usual as the anarchic loner, and you can tell he had a lot of fun filming it, but Natalie Portman’s character is narratively pointless and the film fails to fully immerse you in it’s melancholy world.

“Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” is a fairly humorous comedy of errors about a group of dumb rednecks on a fishing excursion who are mistakenly preyed upon by a group of revenge-hungry, preppy college kids. The Murphy’s Law approach works for a little, as college kid after college kid meets their accidental demise, but gets very repetitive as the blood-splattered film chugs along. Still, if you’re flipping around the movie channels late one night, it would be a fun watch.

Friday was movie day. Saturday was for partying.

The day began with drinks. My buddy Josh and I arrived at the VILLAGE AT THE YARD gifting lounge and entered the bar area at 11 a.m. We ordered Red Bull & vodkas, to which the bartender replied, “Congratulations, you’re the first person to drink today.” I guzzled two, and followed it up with a delicious Caesar salad and chicken sandwich at the T-Mobile Diner.

Back to business. A screening of “The Runaways” [picture below], a fast and solid rock ‘n roll flick about the titular 70s punk/glam rock outfit comprised mainly of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie – and starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, respectively. The film is mainly about Cherie Currie, and drags a bit towards the end, but Kristen Stewart’s non-“Twilight” body of work has been impressive. She pulls off the badass rocker shtick with flying colors, and I thought her performance in last year’s “Adventureland” was Golden Globe nomination-worthy. Next up was “Cyrus,” the first studio film – Fox Searchlight, to be exact – by mumblecore filmmaking duo Mark and Jay Duplass. The film stars Jonah Hill as a strange child whose umbilical cord is still basically attached to his single mom, played by Marisa Tomei (he still lives with her and sleeps in her bed). She begins to seriously date a man, played by John C. Reilly, and all matters of awkward hilarity ensues between the Oedipal son and the Shrek-a-like paramour. The film is a big laugher and I’m anxious to see what the directing brothers, who made their filmmaking debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Fest with “The Puffy Chair,” come up with next.

After movie #2, I stopped by the ALIVE! VIP LUXURY ECO-LOUNGE to get a free massage – really hit the spot – and check out the nature-friendly products offered. The early morning Red Bull & vodkas proved to be a terrible idea, as my energy level gradually sank over the course of the afternoon. Took a nap back at the condo, and then we went out to the SPIN party at the LUXURY LOUNGE preceding a JOAN JETT concert at HARRY O’S on Park City’s Main Street. The Joan Jett & the Blackhearts concert was packed to the nines and just fantastic. I never realized how many hits Jett has and her energy was off the charts. The party was to promote “The Runaways,” and stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning embraced Jett onstage prior to the encore.

Then, we headed to the AT&T HOUSE OF HYPE to check out JOHN LEGEND & THE ROOTS play together. It was a star-fucking extravaganza replete with a Queen (Latifah), the richest man on the planet (Bill Gates) and a gaggle of model-types. I will admit, I’ve knocked John Legend in the past, having always viewed him as an effete crooner with a girly fanbase. Was I wrong. Legend is a fantastic live performer with a strong, soulful voice, and, with instrumental accompaniment courtesy of the always-stellar Roots, it made for a fantastic show. When you can get Bill Gates to do a tipsy rendition of ‘the Macarena,’ you know you’ve brought the thunder.

Sunday, January 24, was our final one Sundancing. Half-asleep, I stumbled to a 9:15 a.m. screening of “Jack Goes Boating” [picture below], Philip Seymour Hoffman’s adaptation of the off-Broadway play by Bob Glaudini (which he also starred in). The film tells the tale of the forlorn Jack (Hoffman), a limo driver into Rastafarian music who finds love with the delicate Connie (Amy Ryan) over a Manhattan winter. Meanwhile, Jack and Connie’s mutual friends, the married couple Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega), are on the down slope of their relationship. The film features heartfelt performances by all involved, a mature hand by Hoffman in his directorial debut, and a stellar soundtrack with songs from indie rock stalwarts like Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes. It was one of my favorite films of the fest, and will be released by Overture sometime in the fall. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, grabbing swag at the Village at the Yard suites for my little sister, conducting interviews, and screening “Night Catches Us.” Written and directed by Tanya Hamilton, the film is set in 1976 race-torn Philadelphia, and involves complex political and emotional issues brought to the fore when a young man (Anthony Mackie), returns to his old neighborhood during the Black Power/Panther movement. Backed by talented supporting actors Kerry Washington, “The Wire’s” Jamie Hector and The Roots frontman Tariq Trotter, it’s a heavy-handed letdown that the always-brilliant Mackie, who recently starred in “The Hurt Locker,” can’t quite salvage.

Following the screening, we ate dinner and watched some NFL playoff football – my New York Jets losing to the Colts and the Vikings losing in overtime to the Saints – and then I had to head to Salt Lake City airport for a redeye flight back home. Exhausted. Can’t wait to navigate through the hordes of film fanatics on Main Street [picture below] next year!

Tags: parties, sundance 2010, winners