Sundance reports
Because Variety has said a big F.U. to non-suscribers and THR’s reporting thus far has been rather spotty, let’s see what The Wrap has to say about the Sundance Film Festival:
A Powerful Opening Night for Sundance:
The Sundance Film Festival opened with the usual fanfare yesterday: A press conference; anxious filmmakers, journalists, distributors, and sales agents scrambling around town; a couple of parties.
But in one sense it was completely different: While in previous years, Sundance opened with a single film that received an overwhelming amount of attention from everyone in attendance and had to represent the entire spirit of the festival itself, newbie festival director John Cooper decided to take a different approach, littering a quartet of opening night events across town: two competition films screened back-to-back at the massive Eccles Theater, while short films and experimental works were unveiled on the bustling Main Street.
“Hersher”: More of that Self-Indulgent Sundance Curse”:
“Rebel” is the byword of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but everyone seems to be wondering: against what?
Thus far the movies seem to be not much different than in all of the year’s past, and if anything, there are too many with the same self-indulgent, uneven flaws of all previous festivals that these days scream: Buyer beware.
John Wells Explores Corporate Downsizing in “Company Men”:
In “The Company Men,” which premiered to a full house in Sundance on Friday night, writer-director John Wells takes a close look at the effects of downsizing in corporate America. Ben Affleck plays a young, successful sales executive for a shipping manufacturer who is suddenly laid off.
From that moment, his Porsche, his suburban mansion and his country club membership are in great peril. But more importantly, his entire self-worth is challenged. Unable to find a new white-collar job, he loses his house, must move back in with his parents and take a manual labor job.
Angsty Teen John Lennon Is, Well, Nowhere Boy:
While may movies at Sundance show up with desperate sales agents in tow, others merely allow for the opportunity to bathe in the massive media exposure the festival offers before continuing on their guaranteed route to distribution.
“Nowhere Boy,” director Sam Taylor Wood’s account of John Lennon during his angst-riddled teenage years, fits the latter slot. A typical awards bid from the Weinstein Company, it contains a string of melodramatic performances and the sort of historical backdrop that’s bound to get some attention.
Winning Romance: ‘Douchebag’ and ‘Happythankyou’:
Two charming relationship films with no-name casts, one shot in Los Angeles and the other in New York, debuted this weekend at the festival, both for sale and both bringing an of-the-moment, coastal flavor to modern romance.
Party-Time: Ben Affleck and Harvey Weinstein Dissect Indie Film:
Ben Affleck, flanked by Harvey Weinstein during the after-party for “Company Men,” wanted to know why the movie industry no longer produces the kind of interesting independent film that it did, say, 10 years ago.
And why, he wanted to know, is it so hard to sustain independent film companies? Affleck is in the midst of editing the film he recently directed, “The Town.”
Why doesn’t anybody make the kinds of movies Miramax used to make, he asked pointedly.
“We’re making those films,” Harvey responded quickly. But he had a more complex answer, which had to do with American audiences being unwilling to see less than cheerful movies.
“The audiences have changed,” he said.
For more, hit the links.
Any good reports you find from Sundance, please post in comments or email to me:
scottdistillery@gmail.com