SunBreak at Sundance: Take Two

After seeing Enter the Void, I needed something a little lighter. Enter Cyrus.

The Duplass brothers are no longer truly indie, as this film was made with the support of Fox Searchlight and executive producers Ridley and Tony Scott. Regardless, their film retains its indie charm, even if now they work with a non-mumbly script and actual movie stars.

In this case, John C. Reilly plays John, a sad-sack divorced guy who meets a woman (Marisa Tomei) who is, by any measure, out of his league. She would be the perfect woman if not for one thing--her codependent relationship with Cyrus, her nearly 22-year-old son (Jonah Hill, who seriously needs to start the de-fattening).

Catherine Keener plays John's ex, with whom he has a refreshingly friendly relationship. (Louis C.K. is barely in the film, as her new fiancé.) In fact, the relationship that John has with his ex indicates the emotional maturity of this film--relatively speaking of course, considering that John is soon at war with Cyrus for his mother's affections.

Next up was Lucky, a documentary about lottery winners (and those who hope to win) by Jeffrey Blitz, the director of Spellbound. As with Spellbound, he focuses on a quirky group of individuals: the Delaware woman who spends $70-100 a day hoping to strike it big; Buddy, from Erie, Pennsylvania, who spent his lottery winnings on limos and thousands of pairs of pants; the Illinois man who was practically homeless before winning $5M; the Vietnamese meatpacker in Nebraska who struck it big in a group pool with his coworkers and is now the living embodiment of the American dream. 

Of course, some winners' fates are better than others--money does change everything, and these winners see everything from charity solicitations to death threats. Blitz sprinkles lottery history factoids throughout the doc, and while it's interesting enough, it's no Spellbound. (What is?)

Another documentary rounded out my day: Gasland, director Josh Fox's look at the energy industry practice of "fracking" (aka hydraulic fracturing), by which natural gas can be extracted from its stores in shale fields far beneath the ground. 

This practice has been done out West for decades, but it's spreading east, and Fox got involved when he was offered $100,000 by an energy company to lease the land rights for his childhood home in Pennsylvania's Delaware River Basin. So Fox takes out on a road trip to see Wyoming, Colorado, Texas--the places where fracking has been taking place for years (and without any environmental regulation since 2005). 

What he finds is disturbing to say the least: contaminated wells, tap water that can be lit on fire (no joke), widespread illnesses in residents, water that when tested has carcinogens and neurotoxins (and chemicals you've never heard of) up the wazoo, and energy companies that won't take any responsibility for these adverse effects. Fox is a likable narrator for this journey, with a borderline monotone that is well-served for both recitation of facts and deadpan humor. I'd be surprised if this film doesn't receive distribution (and Variety said as much too).