Sundance: part one

(The beautiful, exceptionally talented Jennifer Lawrence, in Debra Granik's superb Winter's Bone. All images courtesy of Sundance Film festival.)

In January of 1992, I came into some money and decided to take the trek, via train, to Park City for the Sundance film festival. That was the first time I ever heard of Quentin Tarantino, whose Reservoir Dogs screened in the competition that year. Other films screened that year were Tom Kalin's Swoon, Gregg Araki's The Living End, Alexandre Rockwell's In the Soup (the eventual grand prize winner) and Paul Schrader's Light Sleeper.

And Monster in the Box, Nick Broomfield's adaptation of the monologuist Spalding Gray's performance piece. I interviewed Spalding, with the Super Bowl between the Redskins and Bills playing in the background, and he talked about the one-two punch of that film and his novel, Impossible Vacation, published simultaneously by Knopf.

It was a great, freewheeling interview. Years later, when Spalding took his own life, I always thought of our interview. (Now Steven Soderbergh's new piece on Spalding, And Everything is Going Fine, screens at Slamdance.)

I've been in Park City about a day and a half. The weather has a frightening beauty, with large swaths of blinding white snow falling uninterrupted. It's hell right now to get around, but that makes just want to avoid moving anywhere and just going to the movies.

The festival has a new artistic director, John Cooper, who was replaced Geoff Gilmore. There's already been a lot of conjecture about the festival, about the culture, about the insularity of the selection committee and whether or not they have capitulated too egregiously on the side of the sponsors and commercial interests.

My bigger issue has been the omission of too many significant works. Sundance makes a big deal out of the movies they select, but we always find out, one way or another, films that get lost. My friend Scott Macaulay has a strong piece about the very thing. Sundance has to become more inclusive of a certain brand of filmmaking.

Already, I have concerns.

It's patently ridiculous, for instance, that Aaron Katz, one of the best American directors working today, is premiering his new film Cold Weather at SXSW.

Sundance is the festival that has, in recent years, bypassed David Gordon Green's George Washington, Andrew Bujalski's Funny Ha Ha, Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories and Antonio Campos's Afterschool.

That's inexcusable.

The festival opened Thursday night with screenings of two titles in the competition, the narrative drama Howl, about the seminal work by Allen Ginsberg, directed by the documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Times of Harvey Milk); and Restrepo, by the filmmaker Tim Hetherington and journalist Sebastian and Junger.

So far, I've seen nine films: Nowhere Boy, Sam Taylor-Wood's disappointingly pedestrian piece about John Lennon's formative year; Restrepo; Obselidia, a first feature by Diane Bell about a smart, square man whose life is jolted by the appearance of a beautiful woman.

Here's my larger consideration of Obselidia. Theoretically I should love any movie that finds a way to reference Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar. It's not without interest, sharply photographed, but the tone is too varied and the hectoring and didactic touches too heavily yoked over the rest of the film to develop much emotional connection to the slimly conceived characters.

I also write about John Wells' The Company Men. (Some friends at mine disagree rather violently with my appraisal of the film.)

The strongest competition film is Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, a hillbilly noir set in the Ozarks, featuring an absolutely stunning performance by Jennifer Lawrence. I liked Granik's Down to the Bone, with Vera Farmiga, which premiered six years ago, but this is really something to see. It mixes styles and tones beautitfully, and it's colored by some beautiful uses of music, folklore and the down low. It's the kind of film where every single performance feels note perfect. I'll have more about it later.

So, an encouraging start. 


(Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Affleck in John Wells' The Company Men.)

Comments

[John Boland]

Do you still have a copy of your interview with Spalding Gray? I'd like it for the web site.
I assume/hope that you will comment on new Documentary and that my google alerts will pick it up.
Please let me know re interview. Best to go to site and click on Contact.
Thanks,
jb
webmaster for Estate of Spalding Gray
www.spaldinggray.com