SunBreak at Sundance 2011: Take One

If a film festival can mean larger things, then the U.S. economy is coming back strong. At least that’s what the press releases I’ve been receiving would have you think. Compared to the past couple years, Sundance 2011 has a lot more money being thrown around, in the form of parties and celeb photo ops, as well as films selling at a brisk pace. Is that a good thing? As always, depends on the film. 

I rolled into Park City yesterday just in time for the Washington State film party, celebrating local films The Off Hours, Catechism Cataclysm, The Details, and The Oregonian. Of course local film luminaries Lynn Shelton, Ben Kasulke, Warren Etheredge, and STIFF programmers were there, as well as John Richards.

Leaving the party, I hit up my first movie of the fest: Elite Squad 2, which holds the title of Brazil’s Highest Grossing Film of All Time (Yes, Even More Than Avatar). Don’t worry if you didn’t see the first (Berlin Golden Bear-winning) Elite Squad, as the sequel has some carry-over but remains self-contained.

Both films are based on Elite da Tropa, an only slightly fictionalized exposé of the corruption around the Rio special forces military police, the drug trade, and the dirty politicians who have their hands in it all. With Bus 174 director Jose Padilha at the helm, the film is in capable hands, and Elite Squad 2 ends up being a morally-driven action drama with the added heft of reality.  

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This morning dawned bright and early with Higher Ground, the directorial debut of Vera Farmiga. The luminous actress also plays the lead, Corinne, a woman who struggles with her identity, her faith and doubt, and her family as part of a fundamentalist Christian sect.

Farmiga gives yet another fearless performance, lighting up the screen with her easy smile, and she ain’t a bad director neither. The material isn’t easy–how often do you see a reasonable, non-mocking portrayal of religion or spirituality in the movies?–but Higher Ground is a mature and graceful work, full of simple moments of beauty. 

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Photo: Lion & Wheel LLC

Also featuring a beautiful moment or two was HERE, Braden King’s Armenian road trip romance between a satellite map surveyor (think Google Earth), played by a bearded Ben Foster, and an Armenian ex-pat (Lubna Azabal). The film also stars Armenia itself, as the two meet cute and then traverse the country taking measurements and photos and dropping in on old friends and family.

It’s not entirely a cohesive work and is sometimes slow and ponderous for the sake of being slow and ponderous, but the chemistry between the leads is palpable, and King’s sense of place inspiring.