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The festival, smashing as an Anvil
PARK CITY, UTAH — I’m the loser sitting in a corner right now during the swarming PBS bash this Friday night, second day of Sundance. Diet Coke, finger grub and my petulant lap top. Here we are in the official “Entertainment Weekly Cafe,” where alcohol runs free, liberally and, soon, into my belly.
PBS party. Lots of PBS-y documentary types
Earlier today, as the sun dared to wink from the clouds, I finally ran into David and Nathan Zellner, the Austin filmmaking brother team, who are enjoying their fourth year in a row at the festival — they’ve had three shorts here — but this is their first time arriving with a full feature film. That film is the dark, deeply strange and creepy-funny “Goliath,” shot in Austin. (We will talk to them at length later for a feature story.)
The Zellners, David and Nathan (with a post card of their movie)
And then I found a self-described exhausted Margaret Brown, who says she just got her film in the can, completed and ready, 48 hours ago. Her doc, “The Order of Myths,” premieres Saturday in the Documentary Competition, a very big deal.
Margaret Brown, feeling fried, but ready to rock Saturday with her film, the post card of which she hoists
We saw another excellent movie today, Sacha Gervasi’s doc “Anvil! The True Story of Anvil,” about flash-in-the-pan Canadian ’80s heavy metal band Anvil that recently staged a feeble comeback, which is chronicled here with huge heart, passion, empathy and humor. It’s a story of strenuous resurrection in the face of time, age and lousy odds.
The sold-out crowd bestowed a standing-O to the Spinal Taptastic film, Gervasi and the still-shaggy subjects, including drummer Robb Reiner and singer-guitarist Lips, who gamely attended (along with interview talking heads Scott Ian of Anthrax and Slayer frontman Tom Araya.
Slayer’s Tom Araya with his wife at the “Anvil!” screening
The effusive, downright giddy crowd response had director Gervasi (who wrote Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal”) and Anvil’s bald guitarist wiping away tears as they thanked everyone and answered questions, which they’re doing here (that’s Lips at the mike and director Gervasi far right in parka):
See a vintage ’80s clip of Anvil in concert that’s in the documentary HERE, and do the band a favor and visit its site HERE.
Random ambience from Sundance — the land of slush, pink fingers and red-tipped runny noses — on Friday:
Coveted Sundance tickets
Main Street, glistening
Shuttle-bus blues
Ice-cold tautology
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