Sundance 2004: And Now I'm Back / From Outer Space...
February 01, 2004

Snow touches the �scape with sugar and sweetness, a blanket of confection colored down settling in softly along the sidewalks. In the silence of the night, I�m left alone with my thoughts, watching them dance rapturously along the silken strands pouring from the deep ivory of the sky. The world is quiet, the street silent, and the stretch about and around a still, old friend, remembering me once again.

Okay, so my journal � the personal, hand written one and not this photonic resemblance � is a little purple in the prose, but such excesses are allowed in the comforts of one�s own spiral bound diary. This year�s Sundance Film Festival was also about excess -- excess attitude, excess money and excess�well excess. Trying to figure out what test driving the latest VW SUV has to do with making independent movies is an exercise best left to quantum physicists, trained as they are in teasing out meaning in absurdity. This year we had tons of patrons in to see the films as well as copious lookey-loos shuffling, bustling and drinking in the insanity that is the largest film fest in North America.

And in the middle of it all was little old me.

This year was my seventh at the festival. I�ve been managing a movie theater each of those years (except for the year when I assistant managed all of the theatres. -- Shudder.) Doing so allows me to be apart of all that craziness � as well as saving me from having to actually wait in it.

Rather I get to supervise, directing others who must brave the icy wastes to secure flaps or do the burdensome corralling of stray tables.

The odd thing about my going to Sundance is that I actually don�t get to see a lot of movies. Strange when I think about it. I usually have about 30 or 40 that I�ve checked off in the programme as being of interest, but I only manage to get to about 10 or 15 of them -- and usually then it�s only the ones that play at my theater. Now, I�m working six to nine hours a day while there that does make it a teensy bit tough to get in line for movies that you don�t already have tickets to. Since my theater plays a good deal of the dramatic movies in competition, I don�t mind too much. I get to see much of the top flight films, missing out mostly on the documentaries and World Showcase pics. Ah well. Given most patrons spend several thousand dollars to attend the festival, and I spend barely $300, it�s a fair trade.

Of those movies that I did manage to see, some of the most memorable were:

The Return : One of the best. A very compelling and poignant movie about two boys and their relationship with their father, newly returned to their lives. Every frame over-flows with emotion and the ambiguity behind the tale opens up many, many discussions.

Primer What Sci-Fi on the cheap should be � smart, interesting and creative. A familiar take on the old time travel canard spun around and presented in a much more character driven, realistic point of view. Further Kudos as the director won several top awards for the film.

Book of Love More on the ambiguity front, as love upsets the apple cart of predictability in the lives of Jersey couple. Great performances all around as the trio of actors make

Riding Giants One of the few documentaries I did catch. Awesome visuals and engaging interviews trace the history of surfing from Hawaii to California, culminating in the latest and most incredible goal these daredevils chase -- Super Waves.

Harry & Max A delightful and endearing tale of the close, incestuous relationship between two brothers, both rock stars. It�s keen insight into the trials of Hillbilly Love was sharp, focused and spiritually uplifting.

Not.

Actually, Harry & Max was one of the worst films I�ve seen at this festival or any other. The director squandered the opportunity to actually make a movie , settling instead to fill an hour and a half of screen time with a controversial subject, looking for actors, characterization, dialogue and an actual story.

Stick the cute leads on the cover and it will have a long life on DVD.

I think after so many years of doing this, Sundance has become less about seeing movies and more about hanging out with people I only get to see once a year. The other theater managers and staff � a shifting, bubbling mass comprised of everything from politicians to students � are like the crazy gang of kids you only see each year at summer at camp. They�re cool people, a lot like you, with stories and lives you are eager to catch up on as well as new, collective experiences you can�t wait to make. Like my friends Matt and Maria who spent the last year not only getting married but making a short film -- one that was so good it didn�t make it into Sundance but instead blasted into the winners circle at the equally prestigious Slamdance film festival across the street.

Victor, an actor/stage director friend (and consummate playboy) filled me in on all of the stage-plays he�s been directing -- as well as the cute 26 year old dancer he�s been seeing for most of the year. Mike who basically lives across town from me but whom I haven�t seen in over a year, landed a gig as a photographer for a popular wire service. He spent the festival snapping pics, for pay, of all the celebs shuffling through town.

Even better, I got to make new friends. Like Aaron, who was working concessions at my venue, was one of the smarter young men I�ve ever met. He was dealing with all the tough, existential questions of being 19 � who the heck am I? Where am I going? Who will I be? Reminded me of how monumental life is at any age.

Or Oliver, a quiet, though wickedly funny and intelligent denizen of that other America, wound up being �discovered� over breakfast bagels at the Queer Brunch, gets pushed out of his comfort zone (by his cheerleading fellow theater managers) and wound up featured in the last place he ever thought. Modesty prevents me from discussing a certain episode he and I and several others shared shortly before we left. Suffice it to say it involves a hot tub, a pine tree and a very, very cold snow bank. The scars, both psychological and physical still endure.

It�s these cool people that keep me going back year after year. It most definitely isn�t being the joy of being yelled at by some muckitymuck, who is demanding to get into a sold-out movie, fifteen minutes late, with three friends, two assistants and a small dog named Toto, all sans tickets. I did make contacts at production companies, got to pitch some article ideas to a magazine and found totally unexpected support for completing my short film. I came out ahead on the professional front too. But it�s the personal end that means the most, the fun the friendships, and the enjoyment of hanging with folks that share similar interests and goals that I do.

It�s already on my calendar for next year.

Posted by Jody at February 1, 2004 04:26 PM

Comments

Post a comment