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Blogs / A Walk In The Park / February 2010 / Sundancin': It's All About Film

Sundancin': It's All About Film

Ah, thank you, universe, for making it a cloudy day. That makes me feel MUCH less guilty about sitting around in movie theaters all day long today. Today is my glorious day of self-indulgence. With children tucked safely at school, I embark on a back-to-back film extravaganza - nestled in my theater seat, all by myself, doing nothing but being a sponge for cinematic invention. Some people who attend Sundance do this every day all day for a week or more, with parties and lunches added in to boot. Living here in town and having responsibilities (children, job, husband, dog, yes, probably in that order) doesn't allow complete immersion in the grainy world of film. That can be frustrating. But today is my glorious day to see film after film after film and order the family takeout for dinner (one of the best deals in town: Ghidotti's $25 takeout pasta, salad and focaccia for four).

My film day starts with "Three Backyards." Didn't like it. The grating sound effects alone were migraine-worthy. The characters weren't emotionally engaging. So maybe it made me even more ready to giggle through the next film, "High School." Hilarious, in a sophomoric sort of way, I'll admit. But we were all sophomores once, right? Kind of a mix between a "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (one of my favorite films of all time) and "Reefer Madness," this one pits the classic self-righteous and not-too-smart high school principal against the school stoner, the school valedictorian and the local drug dealer (played so wonderfully by Adrien Brody that it took me until the end of the film to realize who it was)!) Basically, school stoner gets school valedictorian stoned for the first time in his life. The very next day, pompous principal declares a war on drugs and demands highly publicized drug testing for every student at the school. Since flunking the test would mean that valedictorian would lose his title and his scholarship to MIT, Stoner and valedictorian work together to steal drug dealer's special hallucinatories, make hundreds of pot brownies and exchange them for the PTA brownies at the annual school bake sale, getting the entire student body and all of the teachers and school board higher than a kite on drug testing day so that EVERYONE flunks the drug test. Laughed a LOT. Definitely entertaining.

   

I've found over the years that documentaries are often the best part of Sundance, and "Lucky" didn't disappoint. It's about lottery winners and features about a dozen Americans who have won the lottery and how it has changed their lives, for better and for worse. It also educates viewers about the history of lottery in the U.S. and is interesting, engaging and thought-provoking the entire way through. "Get Low" starred Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek. Need I say more? It was fantastic, and has already been purchased by Sony, so I'm sure we'll all be seeing it outside of Sundance. Duvall plays a not-liked hermit who decides to plan his own funeral and ends up on a journey of confession and forgiveness along the way. Bill Murray's character is hilarious. The movie is funny, it's touching, it's emotional, it's memorable. Don't miss it. Winter's Bone was deeply gritty and parts of it were challenging to witness, but there was also a strange beauty to the smoky cinematography in the Ozark Mountains. This one tells the tale of a strong-minded teenage girl with a mentally ill mother, a missing meth-making father who's skipped bail and two younger siblings to care for. In order to save the family, she must find her father and it sets her on a quest that confronts the weird, archaic, impoverished and not-gentle members of her clan. Man, are you rooting for this girl every step of the way. This is a must-see for those who can endure an intense film. The screenwriters Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for their film rendition of Daniel Woodrell's novel (Daniel was at the screening - very cool.) and the film ended up winning the Grand Jury prize for dramatic competition. "Nowhere Boy" tells the story of John Lennon's childhood and his strange upbringing with his mother Julia and his Aunt Mimi. These two women shaped his life and his imagination in two very different ways, both good and bad. I learned a lot about Lennon's past that I'd never known. Like who he wrote the beautiful and sad song "Julia" about! The shots of life in 1950s Liverpool were tantalizing and watching the birth of the Beatles emerge from their rough-and-tumble life there is delightfully exciting. A very good movie. My 16-year old son came with me and his only complaint was that the title didn't make sense to him - until I explained that the name of a famous Beatles song is "Nowhere Man." Guess I'd better step up the child's musical education! Last, I took my 13-year old son and 16-year old French foreign exchange student to see "Abel," directed by his cuteness Diego Luna (of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Frida" fame). Gorgeous, gorgeous, beautiful, well done, we forgot the film was in Spanish after a while and that we were reading subtitles, so immersed we were in the story and the visual imagery in Mexico. Loved the music. Loved the actors. It was sad, but not horrible sad, and moving and very funny. Basically, a Mexican family suffers when the father abandons them for two years. One of the young sons ends up in a psychiatric hospital. He finally comes home, and takes on the role of the father in the family, which is hilarious and sweet, and the family actually starts thriving. Then Daddy shows up again. That's when the drama begins. A must-see beautiful film. Diego Luna nearly wept at the standing ovation he got for his first film as a director, and the entire cast and crew stood on stage for a Q&A - part of the magic of Sundance, getting to see the actors in real life after watching a film. The night ended when a young Spanish speaking boy got to ask 10-year-old actor Christopher Ruiz Esparza a question in his native tongue - he looked very relieved and happy to answer back without a translator! My movie marathon ends, yet I am the richer for it, with a stream of images and story lines in my head and heart that I will ponder for weeks to come.