Recent Stories with tag sundance

You knew when Kabletown bought NBC that it wouldn't be long before Cablevision went on a shopping spree of its own. The blog paidContent claims--in an exclusive--that a deal is being inked between Cablevision's Rainbow Media and Gothamist, LLC, worth $5 million to $6 million. (As a former editor of Seattlest, I need to run home and check my mailbox for substantial backpay.)

Not to be outdone, Business Insider reports that the two have been trying to hash out an agreement for months, but that nothing is official. So far, no one's commenting on the record. paidContent adds that the price includes "a performance-based earnout," and that Rainbow Media's strategy is to use Gothamist's indie city sites to support its "indie-local franchise for Sundance and IFC."

Since Gothamist doesn't pay its rank-and-file contributors, offering site editors only a small monthly stipend, I'm curious to see what corporate ownership will do to the thrill of writing for an "indie" site for free. Most importantly, how will this affect our viewing of the sluttish American Apparel "lace" models on Seattlest? Only time will tell.

On Thursday, my last half-day at Sundance, I was able to catch two more films before heading back to Seattle.  First up was Zeina Durra's The Imperialists are Still Alive!, the most glamorous film about terrorism ever made. Asya is a successful visual artist living in a loft on the Upper East Side. She goes to underground venues, Bungalow 8, and art parties, but is also concerned for her safety and civil rights as an Arab woman in post-9/11 America.

In the midst of all the great clothes and stretch limos, she must also deal with the rumored rendition of an ex-lover, missing from his flight to Houston, and Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, where her brother lives. The film is great by way of atmospherics (Manhattan, both high and low--immigrants, dives, jazz bars, Chinatown, diners--all are nicely displayed), but the story is kinda ramshackle, and as with most films, some editing is warranted.

My final film at Sundance this year was Lovers of Hate, which was a nice and nasty surprise from Austin director Bryan Poyser.  Chris Doubek is great as bitter loser Rudy, who can't keep a job and just got dumped by his wife Diana (Heather Kafka).  When Rudy's younger brother Paul (Alex Karpovsky, from Beeswax), a writer of Harry Potter-like books, comes to town, Rudy is insanely jealous--of Paul's successful career, of the thought that there might be something going on between him and Diana--and so he follows him to his writing enclave, a huge house in Park City. 

Paul doesn't walk right in and introduce himself; instead he hides in the spacious house--and when Diana shows up, it's even more important for him to stay hidden, while also trying to sabotage anything that may exist between his estranged brother and his ex-wife.  And so the cat-and-mouse game between the brothers begins.  This is squirm-inducing black comedy that keeps on your toes.  It's disturbing, claustrophobic, and the characters are quite unlikeable, but that's exactly what I enjoyed about Lovers of Hate.  It's wicked stuff, friends. ...

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(Audrey is at Sundance, courting exhaustion and eye strain. See Take One, Take Two, and Take Three.)

First up Wednesday morning was 3 Backyards--more like 3 Boredyards. In this film by Eric Mendelsohn, absolutely nothing happens. And the nothing happens verrrrrrry slowly.

On a typical day in suburban New York, neighbors are going about their day-to-day lives. A couple fights before the husband leaves on a business trip, a little girl wears her mother’s bracelet to school and drops it along the way, a lost dog tries to make its way back home, and a very excitable housewife is beside herself at the thought of driving the movie star next door to the ferry. Despite the presence of Edie Falco, Elias Koteas, and Embeth Davidtz, you don't find yourself caring about these characters--and by the end of the film, nothing has changed for any of them.

After watching well-off white people dealing with their inconsequential "problems" for ninety minutes, I decided to see a film with *whisper* black people. I know, I was scared too. Night Catches Us takes place in 1976 Philadelphia. Carter is running for President, and Marcus, a former Black Panther--played by The Hurt Locker's Anthony Mackie, looking more than ever like a young Will Smith--returns home for his father's funeral. There he encounters myriad people from his past, including his now-Muslim brother, his problem cousin, some more ex-Panthers, and the widow (Kerry Washington) and child of his best friend, a Panther who was killed in a police shout-out, for which Marcus has been blamed....

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(Audrey is at Sundance, courting exhaustion and eye strain. See Take One, and Take Two.)

The Extra Man is the latest by husband-and-wife writer-director team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (with Jonathan Ames, adapting his own novel). As the dynamic duo is responsible for American Splendor, I will go with them on any cinematic journey.

In this film, they give Kevin Kline the juicy role of Henry Harrison--the kind of performance that the Academy ignores every year--a senior citizen pseudo-aristocrat, who knows how to get things for free, whether it’s sneaking into the opera or talking wealthy friends into putting him up in Palm Beach. Enter his new roommate Louis Ives, played by Paul Dano, an English lit teacher turned magazine ad salesman, who both fancies himself a gentleman straight out of Gatsby and struggles with some cross-dressing tendencies. Dano, with his flat face and awkward demeanor, is the perfect fit as a psychologically-conflicted aspiring dilettante who often imagines a narrator telling the story of his life. Does this sound like a comedy? Because it is, and a pretty funny one at that. Even with Katie Holmes? Yes, even with Katie Holmes. 

 

Obselidia is a simply precious debut by Diane Bell. Leaving the screening, I heard some complaints that it was too pretentious (depends on what your definition of "pretentious" is) and that the film's colors were off (flat-out wrong, the digital camerawork is lovely), but this film did it for me completely. Like others, I was completely charmed. Obselidia is twee in the way that Me and You and Everyone We Know is twee, so if you don't have a sweet tooth, stop right there. But if you think you can handle it, meet George, a librarian who is working on his encyclopedia of obsolete things (see the title)—by typewriter, no less.  He includes "love" as an entry in his reference book, but when he meets Sophie, a silent film projectionist, he starts to change his mind....

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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....

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The 30th annual Sundance Film Festival is in full swing in Park City as of last night, so I've been deluged with emails all week about upcoming films, press lines, happy hours, and luncheons with Barbara Boxer and Wilmer Valderrama.  (I wish the latter wasn't true.)  I'm heading out to the fest on Sunday, so check in here all next week for my Sundance recaps.

As part of this year's festival, Sundance has teamed up with YouTube to allow the dissemination of movies via YouTube's new film rental service.  During the fest itself (now through the 31st), you may rent three films (at $3.99 apiece) appearing as part of this year's Sundance--in the fest's new Next series, spotlighting low-budget films--as well as two favorites from last year.  The highlights include local filmmaker Linas Phillips' road trip comedy of errors Bass Ackwards and Louie Psihoyos' dolphin fishing doc The Cove, which I would call 2009's best documentary, as well as 2009's best horror film. 

Full press release after the jump....

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The Seattle edition of MTV's $5 Cover, directed by Lynn Shelton and filmed around town this summer, is about ready to hit the web. Audrey and Josh chat about it for your enjoyment.

$5 Cover Seattle, the organizational chart

Audrey: Do you have anything to say about the $5 Cover trailer?
Josh: Not yet. I've had that Vimeo tab sitting open, sadly neglected, forever. It seems that just like my intentions to crash one of the filmings this summer, my interest did not overcome my laziness and attention deficit. For instance, I am not entirely clear on whether this is an on-television series or an internet-only series (like Josh Schwartz's mildly watchable buzz band showcase Rockville, CA).
Audrey: It's a web series, I believe. I don't even know that much about it!

Josh: Unlike my time machine, which is out for repairs and prevents me from seeing one of these episodes being filmed at a character-filled local rock venue, my internet machine still works, so I can remedy my ignorance. Hang on and I'll take a look at the trailer.
Audrey: ...
Josh: While I'm dialing that up, a procedural question: This trailer has been up for months, why is everyone suddenly talking about it?
Audrey: The vid has been on Vimeo for a bit, but the Mayor's Office of Film and Music recently wrote about it, which is why it's been everywhere lately.
Josh: Now that I've watched it, a few observations:...

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