Year of the Doc
The paradox of an indie-film fest needing the corporate machine to survive deftly illustrates the crux of Sundance’s bipolar personality
Park City, Utah.
January 18th -28th, 2007
Internationally notorious as both a celebrity-infested swag-a-thon and a showcase for independent filmmakers, the 2007 installment of the Sundance Film Festival (formerly the US Arts and Film Fest) offered a myriad of entertainment, with the film screenings sometimes playing an ancillary role to all the invitation-only parties, music showcases, corporate giveaways, and private concerts (including Common, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, and Jamie Foxx).
Nestled cozily in the mountain community of Park City, Utah, Sundance is a ten-day long escape and an invitation to a wintry parallel universe where perception triumphs over reality. The irony of Sundance’s support of independently produced film is the equally prevalent official corporate sponsorship and the accompanying sponsor tents and lounges (i.e. the Stella Artois Patio and AOL Cyber Lounge) littering Park City’s Main Street during the festival. These sponsors generate sustainable funds for the Festival and the Sundance Institute - which finances filmmakers’ labs and feature films - and are considered a necessary evil; the paradox of an indie-film fest needing the corporate machine to survive deftly illustrates the crux of Sundance’s bipolar personality.
This year Sundance distributed “Focus on Film” buttons to festival patrons and staff ostensibly to remind people they were indeed at a film festival and not a big industry party. The result: ticket wait-list lines were as long, if not longer, than in years past, with overall attendance increased.
As an event, Sundance is undeniably distinct, attracting film buffs, industry people, celebrities, filmmakers, and global vacationers looking for a good time. Media coverage of the event is omnipresent (with journalists from as far as Japan and Eastern Europe) and one can hardly open a newspaper, entertainment magazine or turn on the television during Sundance without seeing some mention of the festival, its films, and all the attending stars.
The festival’s competitive programming is broken down into Dramatic, World Dramatic, Documentary, and World Documentary categories. Each category includes 16 films that are eligible for “Grand Jury” and “Audience Award” prizes. The films in competition typically do not have distribution deals before Sundance and the thus attract investors and acquisition departments from around the world - but mostly Los Angeles.
In the spirit of the “Focus on Film” buttons, let’s do just that…
Sundance Buzz
Over 120 films screened at the 2007 Sundance festival, including animation and short programs. It’s impossible to see even half of the screenings, therefore impossible to quantify “best” versus “worst.” You can, like many reporters do, find common threads. Last year there were multiple music documentaries, hence the “Sundance Rocks” articles; this year it’s “Children In Peril”: Assume the award winners were at least on par with the other films in their category, and discuss films you viewed.
By and large, this year’s domestic dramas were flawed and generally unimpressive. According to festival director Geoffrey Gilmore, “60 or 70% of the festival is still first-time and second-time feature makers,” and that’s an important factor when judging a film - though it’s not an excuse. This year the documentaries were more cohesive and their stories were more lucid than the dramatic entries; more engaging and with a higher emphasis on narrative.
The hype surrounding Dakota Fanning’s role in “Hounddog” where there is a “controversial” rape scene, does little to buoy the film’s flimsy plot. The film is professionally shot and well-acted, but the rape scene derails the subject matter towards the mythological and superstitious, and eventually recedes into contrivance. The buzz about the rape scene - which is surprisingly un-graphic - may be the handy-work of opportunistic publicists, but it seems to be working and will most likely result in some form of a release for the film.
The Grand Jury Prize winner for best dramatic film, “Padre Nuestra,” is an absurdly implausible tale about Pedro, a Mexican teenager, who wanders into an immigrant smuggling operation in Puebla, Mexico, and ends up stashed with dozens of other Mexicans in a semi-trailer headed non-stop to Brooklyn. During the trip, Pedro is befriended by a Mexican boy who is traveling to Brooklyn to find the father he has never met. Pedro steals the boy’s clothing (and a letter from the boy’s mother addressed to the father) and attempts to trick the father into believing he is his son so the father will give him money and a place to stay. The lack of orientation - and what’s more, action - muddle the storytelling and leave you with a sense of convolution and apathy.
“Grace is Gone,” a John Cusack vehicle about the father of two daughters whose wife gets killed in the current Iraq war, won the 2007 Dramatic Audience Award. This straight-forward portrait of coping and grief has enough marketability to be released to a mass-audience (the film was purchased by the Weinstein Bros.), and now that is has the Sundance stamp of approval it will assuredly gain momentum. Artistically, “Grace is Gone” is a relatively high-budget melodrama that only occasionally transcends women’s television pathos.
“Joshua,” (starring Sam Rockwell), which won the Dramatic Cinematography Award, is an “Omen” like story of a creepy little boy who knows just how creepy he is. It was purchased and will be given a theatrical release.
Other Premieres...
“Year of the Dog”
Thrown to the dogs.
“Year of the Dog” (pictured above), written and Directed by Mike White (“The Good Girl”) should be euthanized before it can put mass audiences to sleep. This comedy, starring Molly Shannon (Peggy), John C. Reilly, and Peter Saarsgaard, is about animals and people’s treatment of them. When Peggy’s dog, Pencil, dies, she ends up meeting a few new peoples: one is a hunter/sportsman; the other works at an animal clinic and trains dogs. She somehow becomes a vegan and admonishes others to do the same. Her heavy-handed sermons get old fast and you feel as if you, the audience, are getting chastised and judged for your lifestyle. Lucky for everyone, Peggy becomes unstable and thus reproachable herself.
“The Ten”
Winona rides again
“The Ten”, an assemblage of ten blasphemous Commandment-inspired vignettes, was co-written and directed by former MTV “The State” actor David Wain. The film is loaded with famous actors, but they only serve to augment the hilarious situations and brilliantly scripted skits. It’s difficult to try to explain almost anything that happens without ruining the subversive fun, so we’ll simply list the film’s actors: Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Live Schreiber, Jessica Alba, Ken Marino, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, etc. Thou shall go see “The Ten” - this is not a “goof.”
The Wonderful World of Docs
The 2007 Opening Night film, “Chicago 10,” a documentary film by documentarian Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays in the Picture,” “On the Ropes”) heralded the documentary dominance of Sundance 2007.
“Chicago 10” explores the protest of the 1968 Democratic convention and subsequent trials of seven alleged protest “leaders” (including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin). Morgen researched doggedly: reading the 23,000 page trial transcript along with countless hours sifting through archival television, radio, and periodicals. He skillfully blends video footage with a contemporary soundtrack (Rage Against the Machine, Eminem, Beastie Boys); but his most “revolutionary” idea was recreating the trial and audio interviews using animation and famous actors as the voices (Hank Azaria plays Hoffman; Mark Ruffalo is Jerry Rubin; Liev Schreiber is infamous activist/lawyer William Kunstler). Morgen’s methodical research and his exacting editing make for an electrifying story of repression, totalitarianism, and freedom of speech.
The cast of “Chicago 10.”
Manda Bala
“Manda Bala,” this year’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner, exposes the cycle of corruption and violence in Sao Paulo, Brazil (population: 20 million). The film’s anamorphic widescreen presentation only heightens the incredible IMAX-like aerial shots. Unlike typical IMAX films, “Manda Bala” is not afraid to get its hands dirty. And how. The film incorporates lush city landscape shots with interviews of initially disparate people: a businessman, a plastic surgeon, an anti-kidnapping unit policeman, the attorney general, a frog farmer and a kidnap survivor. But you quickly understand the cultural tapestry being weaved is not a contrivance, but a very thoughtful and singular story about poverty, political corruption, terror, scandal, and the contagious culture of fear. Filmmaker Jason Kohn risked life and limb to film in South America, especially in securing an interview with an actual Brazilian kidnapper, and the pay off is almost as rewarding as a bounty itself.
Manda Bala’s frog-eat-frog world.
Chasing Ghosts
If Sundance gave out an award for “Nerdiest Documentary” Chasing Ghosts would win by an electronic avalanche. In 1982, video arcade games like Berzeerk, Missile Command, and Pac-Man burst onto the American adolescent scene. Some people enjoyed theses games, and fledgling home game-systems like Atari, recreationally. Some people were more fanatical. “Chasing Ghosts” has no interest in the casual gamer: the film revolves around a photo (above) taken for an article on video game champions in Life Magazine in 1982—one participant refers to the photo as “the equivalent to The Beatles Sgt. Pepper cover.” The photo, taken in Ottumwa, Iowa, proclaimed the “Video Game Capital of the World,” serves as a launching pad for individual introductions to the gamers. When each gamer is introduced, you are told his name, his video game specialty, and, if he has one, a moniker: Billy Mitchell, Pac Man - Video Game Player of the Century; Roy Schidt, Missile Command - Mr. Awesome; Todd Rogers - Toddzilla, Mr. Activision; Steve Sanders, Donkey Kong; Ben Gold, Q-Bert and Millipede. Though they are not athletes in the traditional sense, “Chasing Ghosts” illustrates their competitive spirit, their endurance, veracity, and analytical cunning in “outsmarting a machine” where “either the game gives out or you give out.” The film shows the boys’ adventures, from appearances on television’s “That’s Incredible” to awards and sponsorships, to groupies. Seriously.
The film cuts back and forth from 1982 to the present, and, though the filmmakers occasionally poke fun at these men, they also show their humanity. These men are all “grown” now, but their lifestyles are anything but typical. One is a pimp, one collects erotic art, one lives at home with his parents, one is archiving video game records and articles for a book and hopefully a Smithsonian exhibit; these fierce video game competitors possessed an unrivaled intensity and competitive drive in their heyday, but when they realized they couldn’t make a living playing games and the game was over, some adjusted to adulthood better than others. “Chasing Ghosts” is a human look at their lives.
Revenge of the nerds: the cast of Chasing Ghosts
Other amazing documentary films premiering at Sundance:
“Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten”: a biography of The Clash’s front-man, spanning his entire life: from adolescence to The Clash’s meteoric rise to popularity to their demise and the fallout. Chronicler and director Julien Tempe pays loving tribute to Strummer’s life and makes a stellar film.
“Crossing the Line”: The story of an American soldier, stationed at the DMZ during the Korean War, who defects to North Korea, where he lives for 44 years. Shot on location, this unbelievable tale will leave you in awe.
Sundance Award Winners
Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
"Manda Bala" ("Send a Bullet")
Directed by Jason Kohn
Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Padre Nuestro"
Directed by Christopher Zalla
World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary
"Enemies of Happiness" ("Vores Lykkes Fjender")
Directed by Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem
World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Sweet Mud" ("Adama Meshugaat")
Directed by Dror Shaul
Audience Award: Documentary
"Hear and Now"
Directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky
Audience Award: Dramatic
"Grace is Gone"
Directed by James C. Strouse
World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary
"In the Shadow of the Moon"
Directed by David Sington
World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic
"Once"
Directed by John Carney
Directing Award: Documentary
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine for "War/Dance"
Directing Award: Dramatic
Jeffrey Blitz for "Rocket Science"
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary
Heloisa Passos for "Manda Bala" ("Send a Bullet")
Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic
Benoit Debie for "Joshua"
Documentary Editing Award
Hibah Sherif Frisina, Charlton McMillian, Michael Schweitzer for "Nanking"
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
James C. Strouse for "Grace is Gone"
Films Purchased as of January 29, 2007 (Prices Estimated):
"Son of Rambow": $7 million
"The Same Moon" ("La Misma Luna"): $5 million
“Waitress": $4 million to $5 million
"Grace is Gone": $4 million
“Dedication": $4 million
"Clubland": $4 million
''Joshua'': $4 million
"How She Move": $3 million
"King of California": $3 million
"In the Shadow of the Moon": $2.5 million
"The Signal": $2 million
"My Kid Could Paint That": $1 million
"Teeth": $1 million
