A recent e-mail blast related to Sundance housing offered up hotel rooms at the Yarrow for $399 a night—holy crap! If you think that’s reasonable, have I got a bargain for you. Somewhat surprisingly, we’re still looking for someone to share our condo at the Three Kings on Three Kings Drive off of Silver King Drive and Empire Avenue. It’s less than a 10 minute walk to the Library, Albertsons, the shuttle buses, the Yarrow, and the Holiday Village Cinemas, so it’s a real good location. There’s two other Florida folks besides myself, and we’ve got the place for the first half of the festival, Jan. 17 - 22 (six nights). What’s available is an upstairs loft with a king size bed, and the rate is $200 a night. Anyone interested please get in touch as soon as possible ((JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)). And if I don’t get another chance to say it before offices start closing for vacation, best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday to all.
Now that I’m back in cloudy, rainy F-L-A, I can emerge from my layers of winter clothes, finally put on a pair of sneakers again, and reflect on my last couple of days in Park City. By some strange quirk in the schedule, a nice chunk of my movies in the second half of my Package “A” happened to be music docs. Stewart Copeland’s Super-8 video diary of the meteoric rise of his little trio, EVERYONE STARES:THE POLICE INSIDE OUT, was fascinating even for the casual fan. Co-produced by Brit Marling and co-edited by Mike Cahill (BOXERS AND BALLERINAS, FFF 2005), the film features some amazing, rough versions of key songs (“Demolition Man!”) and reminds us of this supergroup’s punk roots. But I still wanted to ask him about the “Clark Kent” single ever coming out on CD.
GLASTONBURY is the latest offering from Julien Temple (THE FILTH AND THE FURY), an exhaustive portrait of the summer solstice music festival that’s been going on in the British countryside for 35 years now. Rather than identify artists and years and dwell on statistics, the film jumps back and forth through time to create a total experience of British eccentricities and incredible music (including the likes of the reformed Velvet Underground, Terry Reid, David Bowie, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse, Pulp, Coldplay, and dozens of others both famous and obscure). In his introductory remarks, the director described the music festival “like a Woodstock that’s never ended.” Throw in a little FESTIVAL EXPRESS and a lot of “Burning Man” and you get the idea.
NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD is another exquisite concert film directed by Jonathan Demme (STOP MAKING SENSE, STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK). Shot at the wonderfully sounding, world famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville by the likes of Ellen Kuras and Declan Quinn, this presentation of the recent “Prairie Wind” material and assorted acoustic greatest hits (along with one Ian Tyson cover) elevates them to a whole new level. Young looks fit after his recent medical issues and sounds great (as does his band of assorted Stray Gators, Emmylou Harris, his wife Peggy, and others), providing witty and poignant anecdotes throughout the two nights of filming in front of a packed house. A gentler, beautiful entry in the canon of concert films produced by this legendary musician, this probably won’t convert any non-believers. Genuine fans however, will be in heaven.
Short cuts: OPEN WINDOW - another terrific performance by Robin Tunney, but this aftermath-of-rape drama is overly melodramatic and features a lackluster male lead; ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL - not quite GHOST WORLD, but an often hilarious and wickedly barbed satire about celebrity, college life, and the subjective nature of art; THE FOOT FIST WAY - absolutely hysterical North Carolina comedy about a deluded karate instructor, his troubled relationship with his trashy wife, and the body of students at his school. One of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time; SUBJECT TWO - a somewhat gory but unscary modern spin on the Frankenstein legend set in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado. The need to keep murdering the med student-turned-immortality experiment subject over and over again was a nasty bit of business, but I saw the final twist coming a mile away. Still, a fairly cerebral indie horror flick does earn some points and admiration from this fan of the genre.
Finally, I’d like to give kudos to Sundance for coming up with an incredibly cool series of trailers this year. The whole Icarus and storytelling theme rendered in paper cut outs was very effective and colorful, and I can’t say I grew tired of them even after 18 viewings…remarkable.
When we got home Wednesday night at 2:45 am I still had to pack. Bright and early the next morning, Kevin from Sundance Channel came and picked me up for a breakfast meeting at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. A thousand feet higher than Main Street, I was winded just walking from the car. The Lodge and it’s views are gorgeous and breakfast was incredible. The meeting went well too.
Back at the condo before everyone was even packed and gone, I met up with Suzy for one last lap of Main before we connected with Matthew at the Three Kings condo offices and headed down the mountain to the airport. It was sunny and warmer than the past few days. We had a ton of fun this year, but it was nice to be going home. The plane was full of golfers going to the PGA show here in town…ahh, Florida.
Tuesday I skipped my first two screenings in order to get caught up on the hundreds of emails flooding my Outlook. Mornings at the Starbucks are always an adventure. The person that wi-fis their condo is a genius, unfortunately that person doesn’t exist…yet. I then ran around and picked up our tickets to the Sundance Channel and Kodak parties. God love the volunteers at the Marriott…twice we got sent on wild goose chases through the hotel looking for the right place to pick up credentials, tickets, etc. If you want to have fun, you gotta work for it.
I dropped off the merch I bought while wondering around the hotel and headed all the way up the hill to the Egyptian for OLD JOY. Easy to see why it was in the frontier section, it is more of a poem than a narrative. No story to speak of, but very beautiful and very real. I met Suz at Java Cow beforehand to give her her party tix and we decided to check Chimayo on the slight chance we could get a dinner reservation…and score! We did.
The Sundance Channel party was hopping when I arrived after my screening. Everyone was in a frenzy because BOB was there! Always a great event the party was full of familiar faces and new friends. I met the gang from GA (and formerly of GA—Brian Newman now with National Video Resources). The ladies from Women Make Movies were there, as was Jeff Dowd, and the indieWIRE gang.
At six Suzy, Matthew and I headed to Chimayo having fun with our schwag from Sundance Channel on the way. Matthew was going on about having to get to a screening and only sitting with us for a few minutes until Paul Devlin (POWER TRIP, SLAMNATION) joined us. Sure, Matthew. Once he saw the food and the menu, he wasn’t going anywhere. Paul joined us and we had a lovely, leisurely two-hour dinner of elk, buffalo, and a butterscotch flan to die for.
We shopped up and down Main as we waited for the Kodak party at the Riverhorse to begin. BTW, the bathroom at the transportation center is the best kept secret of Sundance. So clean it even smells good! At about 9:45 we got in the ever-growing line for the Kodak party. As we were waiting there I saw a small woman and a few filmmakers get in line behind us…could it be? was it? PHONE SEX GRANDMA! We are going to play the short doc that premiered at Slamdance in the Fest this year. Suzy and Matthew were thrilled and had to say hello. Get any pointers guys? More on Grandma later…
The party was fun and we met lots of nice folks. Lucy Liu made another appearance in Matthew’s life. So close, but so far away. Around 11:15 we took off to get to our midnight screening of THE FOOT FIST WAY, a hilarious spoof about a cuckolded martial arts instructor getting his revenge. Suzy bought a ticket from the stand-by line after about 30 people passed…we couldn’t figure out why they passed on a ticket but wanted to wait in the stand-by line, but whatever. Now on my third midnight screening, I finally crashed and despite the fun of the film my head nodded more than once. I woke up cranky and dreaded the final 2:30 am, five degree, one mile walk back to the condo.
Enzian Theater was chosen as one of only 14 art house theaters across the country to participate in the Sundance Institute’s 25th Anniversary film series, so Matthew and I were invited to a brunch Monday morning with staffers from the other 13. All nice folks, it was great to meet them and get excited about a project that we could collaborate on together. More to come on that soon…
Matthew and I then shopped a bit on Main Street before heading off to our first films of the day. FACTOTUM is a compilation of Bukowski starring Matt Dillon and Lily Taylor. Suzy is starting to call this the “self-loathing” festival due to the high number of films with self-destructive characters. Taylor is strong as always, but was surprised by the strong performance turned in by Dillon. He manages to keep his usual charisma and charm while ultimately creating a character for whom we have no sympathy. Drugstore Cowboy twenty years later?
I didn’t get to stay for the Q&A because I had a half hour to get to the next theater and the next film. RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR is a thriller about smart bombs being dropped on LA. The concept is clever, the acting by Rory Cochrane and Mary McCormack solid, but the dialogue is completely flat at times. Just because characters scream and cry the words doesn’t make them interesting. I ducked out without staying for the Q&A for this one either.
Back up on Main Street, most of our evening was spent at the Full Sail party, co-hosted by Suzy and Avid. Great food and nice folks made for a pleasant and relaxing experience. The FilmThreat boys were there enjoying a Full Sail Lager (really!) and we got to chat with Sterling VanWagenen whom Orlando misses desperately. His next project is a doc about Al-Jazeera. What a great man.
At about 11:00, Suzy, Matthew and I ducked out to get to an 11:30 screening of EVERYONE STARES, Stewart Copeland’s home movies about the early days of The Police. A childhood idol, Stewart was there with his brother Miles. Suzy and I were almost reduced to being giggly schoolgirls in his presence. The film was like watching home movies, but was still fun and insightful. Stewart’s Q&A was funny and charming and proved to me why he is a musical genius. Loved it.
The Sundance Channel party was hopping when I arrived after my screening. Everyone was in a frenzy because BOB was there! Always a great event the party was full of familiar faces and new friends. I met the gang from GA (and formerly of GA—Brian Newman now with National Video Resources). The ladies from Women Make Movies were there, as was Jeff Dowd, and the indieWIRE gang. 
At six Suzy, Matthew and I headed to Chimayo having fun with our schwag from Sundance Channel on the way. Matthew was going on about having to get to a screening and only sitting with us for a few minutes until Paul Devlin (POWER TRIP, SLAMNATION) joined us. Sure, Matthew. Once he saw the food and the menu, he wasn’t going anywhere. Paul joined us and we had a lovely, leisurely two-hour dinner of elk, buffalo, and a butterscotch flan to die for.
We shopped up and down Main as we waited for the Kodak party at the Riverhorse to begin. BTW, the bathroom at the transportation center is the best kept secret of Sundance. So clean it even smells good! At about 9:45 we got in the ever-growing line for the Kodak party. As we were waiting there I saw a small woman and a few filmmakers get in line behind us…could it be? was it? PHONE SEX GRANDMA! We are going to play the short doc that premiered at Slamdance in the Fest this year. Suzy and Matthew were thrilled and had to say hello. Get any pointers guys? More on Grandma later…
Back up on Main Street, most of our evening was spent at the Full Sail party, co-hosted by Suzy and Avid. Great food and nice folks made for a pleasant and relaxing experience. The FilmThreat boys were there enjoying a Full Sail Lager (really!) and we got to chat with Sterling VanWagenen whom Orlando misses desperately. His next project is a doc about Al-Jazeera. What a great man. 
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