It's back, the first film festival of the year, and if it's January, it must be Sundance. The stars are yet again out in force, the deal makers and wanna be's gather en masse, and anybody who writes for just about anything seems to have that all-important press pass.
Ah yes, 12 Sundances later, things here in chilly Park City are more frenetic than ever. But if one gets past the sheer madness and climatic extremes, one realizes that it's still, after all, a film festival. Publicists are a perennial pain at times, the traffic a nightmare and the ice on the ground treacherous, but if my first day in the dark is anything to go by then, dear readers, this Sundance boasts some veritable cinematic treasures. Maybe, one of today's films may be this year's Little Miss Sunshine or Half Nelson.
The Savages Being the first day, it was time to settle into the movies, and it was an impressive trio of films that unspooled, beginning with the exquisitely droll and moving The Savages. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play the title roles, as siblings with their own set of mid-life crises that come to light as they care for the crusty, dying father who abandoned them.
Both a treatise on life and death, as well as a wry comment on the way we try and evolve as human beings, Linney and Hoffman, who rarely display a deft comic touch, do so here in spades, giving wonderful performances, in a rich, witty and very intelligent work. Picked up for domestic release by Fox Searchlight, The Savages is fresh, funny and insightful, that should prove popular to an older demographic.
Delirious It seems that Sundance favorite Tom DiCillo has been absent for far too long. His latest work, Delirious, is his best, a joyously raucous, sexy, deliciously biting fable that explores celebrity, paparazzi and friendship, in an acerbic, somewhat subversive way. In what may well be a career-defining performance, Steve Buscemi is brilliantly acerbic as Les, a desperate paparazzi photographer who teams up with an affable homeless guy, Toby, who becomes his unlikely assistant. But Toby's love for a famous singer may lead to the salvation of one and the misery and self-realization of the other.
Delirious lives up to its title, and this crowd-pleasing gem is both hilarious and quietly sentimental, delivering a collage of wonderfully drawn characters played effortlessly by a cast that includes a hauntingly beautiful Alison Lohman, a ferociously biting and sexy Gina Gershon, and a charming Michael Pitt who breezes through his Toby. DeCillo's writing is punchy and elegant, and his direction energetic and fluid. Beautifully put together with a very evocative soundtrack that accentuates character and mood, Delirious is superbly entertaining and completely satisfying. Commercial success and release for this film is inevitable.
Rocket Science It would be fair to say, the press rarely applauds at press screenings, but applaud they did at the unveiling of a true masterpiece: Rocket Science. With its cast of largely unknowns, this stunning tale of teenage angst is original. An original teen movie? Impossible, but true. A film about finding one's voice, literally and figuratively, through the eyes of an awkward, stuttering teenager whose infatuation for a brilliant debater leads him to discover his own voice, is a mesmerizing, unpredictable, unHollywood masterwork.
Eloquently written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, this is a disarmingly honest, poignant and wry look at first love, debating and the need for our hero to order pizza. All of which is a metaphor for the challenges we stumble upon which seem all important at the crossroads of our young lives. Fully expecting the film to cop out at its climax, Blitz makes an unexpected detour into reality, avoiding Hollywood's desire for neat conclusions, offering us instead a portrait of youth rarely seen on screen.
Yet it's highly commercial and may prove to be the Indie film of choice this year, for those seeking their films devoid of cliché and remarkably intelligent. Lead actor Reece Thompson is a major find, and he is ably supported by Anna Kendrick as the debating girl of his dreams. Rocket Science is extraordinary, and a fitting final film for this first, promising day in Park City.
