Reflections on Sundance 2009

Sundance 2009. What a great experience. All I can say is that I can't wait for Sundance 2010! I saw great films and Kevin Spacey (!!!) and met some wonderful people that I hope to keep in touch with or at least see at next year's fest. Now, on to the reviews...

Keep your eye out for a film called Shrink. Excellent, excellent. Kevin Spacey stars as a psychiatrist who has become jaded about his profession due to a personal tragedy in his life. Spacey is back in his cynical and quite hilarious American Beauty-form, smoking cigarettes (the unfiltered kind) and drinking his way through most of the film as he comes to terms with his wife's suicide. Spacey plays Henry Carter, a well-known psychiatrist to Hollywood's A-list whose clientel includes actors, such as Robin Williams, and an incredibly neurotic and paranoid agent who, next to Spacey, provides some of the most entertaining dialogue in the film.

Speaking of dialogue, it doesn't get much better than this, honestly. Shrink is one of the best films I have seen in a long time and the writing is what truly makes this a must-see (although combined with the guidance of director Jonas Pate and the extremely talented cast makes Shrink one of the best films of Sundance--and maybe of 2009). Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) is noteworthy as a young girl named Jemma who becomes a patient of Spacey's in order to deal with her mother's recent suicide. With the help of eachother, as well as the intriguing and amusing cast of unique characters winding in and out of their lives, Henry and Jemma are finally able to come to terms with the loss, guilt and confusion that invades one's life as a result of a loved-one's suicide. (P.S. Spacey was there for the Q and A following the film when I saw it on Thursday--was I excited?? That's an understatement!)

Also worthy of note: two films that I saw Thursday night, Amreeka and Prom Night in Mississippi. Amreeka is a fictional film about a mother and son who immigrate to the U.S. from Palestine soon after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the declaration of war in Iraq. It is a drama sprinkled with comic relief that truly opens one's eyes to the prejudice that many were subjected to following the attacks due to the color of their skin. A well-written debut film by director and screenwriter Cherien Dabis whose experiences as a Palestinian child adjusting to life in the United States led to the production of this film.

The second film, Prom Night in Mississippi, was a documentary about the first integrated prom in the small, low-income Mississippi town of Charleston. Morgan Freeman approached the high school in 1997 and offered to fund the prom on the condition that it be integrated...but was turned down. Ten years later, he made the offer as a result of the encouragement of director Paul Saltzman and it was accepted. In 2008, Charleston High School had its first integrated prom and this documentary chronicles the organization and planning of the event. Revealing on-camera interviews uncover the essentially inherited racism in this town that some inhabitants refuse to let go of--however, the optimism and open-mindedness of those that are willing to look past skin and see the person is uplifting and a joy to watch.

Sundance was a worthwhile and fun experience and I highly recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to attend in subsequent years do so; wonderful films, nice people and a clean, quaint city--how can you go wrong?

Sundance!

This is day 2 of my first experience as a volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and...it was a really great day. Yesterday I traveled on two planes, hit a bit of a snag at my hotel and then pretty much showered and went straight to my 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. volunteer shift. So, as you can imagine, I was a bit too exhausted to enjoy myself! Today, however, I got some much-needed beauty sleep and then decided to take a risk and try to see a film that has been much-hyped at the festival. It is entitled The September Issue and it revolves around the development of the most important issue of Vogue in the year--apparently, according to the film, September is like January in the fashion world, meaning everything starts fresh and new, just like New Year's Day. Anyway, I digress, but if you have seen The Devil Wears Prada, the film features the real woman whom Meryl Streep plays in Prada. And Streep's portrayal, although a bit more extreme, is not all that far off.

The real Anna Wintour is a bit more personable than the fictional account would have you believe but when it comes to her magazine and fashion, what she says goes. The scene in Prada that shows Streep reviewing a clothing line and everyone watching her reaction is completely accurate. The film also centers around the relationship between Anna and Vogue's Creative Director, Grace. It is wonderful to watch because it is obvious that although they bicker and clash over different aspects of the September issue, there is a kinship and a respect between them that only comes from working closely with someone for a very long time. Their interaction is very amusing and relatable because I would assume that we all have people in our lives whom we love but who can nonetheless manage to frustrate us to no end.

I won't give away any more details of The September Issue--and believe me I haven't told you anything that would ruin it, I swear--but I highly recommend this film. I am by no means a "fashionista" so this comes very honestly from a person who likes to see interesting and engaging films and this is definitely one to see.

Also recommended from Sundance: The Yes Men Fix the World. I only saw about twenty minutes of it but it was an exceptional twenty minutes and I can't wait to see the entire film. These two men basically impersonate people in order to try and encourage change in the US. For example, due to their dissatisfaction with government effort to help heal New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, one of the men impersonated a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) representative and made announcements about reopening homes that had been closed by the government and that Exxon oil was going to donate money to fund developments. To their surprise, the announcement went over very well...until people figured out that he was not from HUD! Overall, a very provocative and interesting film that I highly recommend as well. Check out their website: http://www.theyesmen.org/.

Tomorrow I plan to try and fit in three more films so wish me luck! One on the list is a documentary co-written by Chris Rock called Good Hair. It focuses on African American hairstyles and how it affects African American culture and social status. I'll be sure to post my perspectives on what I see tomorrow as soon as I can.

"The Reader" and the Influx of the Other

After viewing the wonderful and moving film The Reader on Friday, I took mental note of a trend among current film: World War II Germany from a different perspective. Films such as Schindler's List and Night and Fog, of course told the story of World War II from the position of those who were most hurt by the war: the Jewish. Their stories should be forever told; however, a somewhat new, at least to my eyes but I intend to rectify that soon, theme within films about Germany and Germans in World War II has emerged: the Other. The Other, in this regard, being those who are often villainized and grouped into an almost trademarked category: the German during World War II. In American film and history, Germans are typically viewed as following Adolf Hitler with an almost blind obedience, unconcerned with what he was doing to their Jewish neighbors and friends. Of course, there were those who tried to hide some families and help, such as the famous Schindler of Spielberg's film among other brave souls, however the majority of Germans are essentially believed to have supported their fuhrer despite the atrocities carried out by his Nazi soldiers.
What I have noticed in recent months, however, is a shift in this kind of mindset in American film; Valkyrie and The Reader in particular portray the Holocaust and Hitler's reign as fuhrer in a different way and reveal the Other side of the story not often told. The Reader tells of a (initially unlikely and somewhat off-putting) affair between a high school student and a much older woman in the late 1950s. After a summer of love and reading, the woman abruptly leaves the town, and the boy, behind. He moves on with life and goes to law school where he and the woman cross paths again as she is tried for being an SS guard at Auschwitz. Suddenly, the viewer is forced to reckon with the fact that this woman, whom they have grown to like and care about, carried out horrible actions against her fellow man, woman and child.
I will not ruin the film for you by giving away anymore spoilers, but the film causes one to reconsider, even for a moment, the tendency to simply group all SS soldiers, Nazis and Germans into one unfeeling mass. This is the easy way, of course, but it is not necessarily the right way or the just way. Could these films be a reflection of the guilt that Americans should and do feel about the war in Iraq? Perhaps they are a defense against those who might try to group us as blind followers as well...

The Day after Xmas...

It is always an excellent day when I enjoy two trips to the theater! The day after Christmas, I did just that--I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button during the day and then Valkyrie at night. I enjoyed both films, despite Tom Cruise's "Tom-Cruise-ness" (he plays every role virtually the same way but I do not by any means hate that about him. It's a bit reassuring in some ways, something you can confidently rely on). Button, a film about a man who ages backwards, of course causes one to consider aging and death as being a natural part of life...and in addition may cause consideration of the drawbacks of doing what many stars try to do with botox and plastic surgery--reverse aging. Cate Blanchett is wonderful, as per usual, as the ballet dancing love-interest (and looks absolutely stunning due to make-up and lighting as she plays her character in her early 20s). Brad Pitt also manages to maintain--unlike Cruise in his film about a German soldier in which no one even remotely attempts a German accent--a decent New Orleans accent, at least to me. One of my favorite parts of the film which stayed with me long after I left, was a point at which Button relays the sequence of events that led up to a particular incident in the story, examining the reality of the intertwining and crossing of people's lives. Thinking about how events or choices that each of us makes can affect others is interesting and this idea came to mind today when the fact that I ran late this morning caused me to be at an unfamiliar bank in the early evening and witness a robbery. Had I just gotten up earlier, I would not have had the need to be at the bank later on.
Valkyrie portrays the story of a group of German politicians and soldiers who were not in support of Hitler and plot his assassination in order to institute a new government into power. What I find particularly interesting about this film is that it tells another side of the story; most films portraying Germans in World War II essentially present all Germans as in support of Hitler and/or as Nazi soldiers. (Another exception that comes to mind is Black Book which also reveals the resistance to Hitler's policies on the part of a Nazi soldier). The evils that Hitler did could not possibly have been supported by all Germans and I was glad to watch a film that recognizes and portrays this truth.

Quantum of Solace

Though I would by no means call myself a fan of Bond films, I nonetheless have a softspot for Daniel Craig as the new, rugged (and for most of both this film and Casino Royale, considerably beat-up) James Bond. Sure, Pierce Brosnan had the debonair looks that seemed to fit the character but Craig can pull off the action sequences like no other--and then clean-up exceptionally well. Quantum of Solace is fast-paced, slick and fun--and therefore recommended by Cineblog as a good-time action flick.

There are a couple of instances with impressive and eye-catching camera work by director Marc Forster. One shot in particular takes place during an altercation between Bond and an adversary--as they are falling together down through a window, if I remember correctly, the camera initially watches them fall away and then catches up in a really interesting way. Probably took a long time to get it just right. Quantum also makes use of some fun one-liners (Bond: "He was a dead-end," M: "Oh, no, he killed him, too!") that make for a good mix of action and comic-relief.

A couple things missing, however, are the fancy cars that formerly populated the Pierce Brosnan Bond films (outside of the very first sequence, cars are mostly Fords or Bond girl Camille (Olga Kurylenko)'s VW bug, which will surely disappoint some viewers. And no fancy gadgets from Q or R (both of whom are missing from the film as well) although the computer system at MI6 is fancy and reminiscent of a certain Tom Cruise vehicle called Minority Report...

Overall, a good time and worth the money to see it explode and crash on the big screen. So what are you waiting for?!

Oh, and one last note: Guess who, to my surprise, played bad-guy Dominic Greene? None other than the man playing the pivotal main role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Interesting choice to follow-up with...

Tonight I watched a film that has been highly recommended to me...and as with most of us I think, when something comes highly recommended it almost always falls short. I felt the film was thought-provoking and had some very interesting camera work but unfortunately, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly just did not hit the note that other films (The Painted Veil as an example off of the tip of my nose) have done. It seems strange to say this but I truly felt like it should have! It is a sad yet inspirational story about a man who overcomes the most extreme form of disability to write a best-selling book--a most tedious task as each letter had to be said through the blink of an eye--but I was still disappointed. Maybe I wanted to know more about his actual life so as to understand who he was before. Although I suppose when you get down to it that was not the point now, was it?

The film shows us glimpses of his life before his accident: his trip with a lover to a city named Lourdes, him giving his father a shave and their interaction (it is apparent that he cares a lot for his father and that their relationship is a close one). For most of the film, however, these flashbacks and the dialogue of his visitors do not give us the impression that Jean-Do was a necessarily good man before his accident: he cheated on the mother of his children with a flighty, beautiful (and fair-weather) young woman; he never called a friend whom was a prisoner for four years in Beirut, etc. But upon further thought, it becomes apparent that Jean-Do is not a bad man--he is just human. We all make mistakes , say and do things we regret, but we are just doing the best that we can.

The former prisoner comes to visit Jean-Do and reminds him to hold on to his humanity...Which is, I suppose, a good mantra for us all. Hold on to your humanity, world.

I would love to start off my blog discussing a wonderful, independent film that completely astounded and amazed me--Unfortunately, the last one that I saw (Snow Angels) supremely disappointed me. So instead, I'm going to tell you how much I enjoyed Get Smart. Although not an academy award winner, this film definitely made me chuckle and there are a couple of one-liners that are pretty clever. (One of my favorites is when the Chief compliments Max on his essay about existentialism and Max says that he left it blank--and the Chief thought that was genius!) What I really wanted tonight was to have a laugh and Get Smart accomplished that with flying colors. Of course, some of the funny parts were seen in the preview but there is enough leftover to do the job. And I even laughed at the stuff I had seen before. All in all, a bit of fluff that I found pretty enjoyable. On a scale of four stars, I give it a 2 1/2 for cute fun.

Now to get a bit more serious--there is a must-see film that I had the opportunity to watch at the Chicago International Film Festival: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. If you have the opportunity to see this film, do so. It examines the Holocaust through the curious eyes of an eight year old and truly puts the evil that adults do to one another in perspective. His innocent inquiries into the logic behind what is being done to his friend and others in the concentration camp effectively emphasizes the inhumanity of the atrocities that were committed during World War II.