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An early look at Sundance
Stephen Jannise, the film program director for the Austin Film Festival, is attending the Sundance Film Festival and will be filing updates on the events for Austin360. Here’s the first of his reports:
Every year, those who love independent filmmaking congregate at Sundance. I can safely say that I’ve never seen so many celebrities, film industry professionals, and excited moviegoers gathered together in such a small area. For 10 days, Park City transforms into a movie mecca, and, so far, the films have been well worth the journey.
On Thursday, the city was abuzz with opening night festivities. From Taylor Swift to Master of Ceremonies Robert Redford, you couldn’t walk five feet without running into another famous face. But the focus remained on the films. One of the opening night selections, “The Queen of Versailles,” follows multi-billionaire real estate mogul David Siegel and his family as their fortunes are lost to the 2008 economic disaster. This astonishing story fit perfectly with Redford’s opening address, which focused on the economy and diminished financial support for filmmaking and the arts in general. However, you wouldn’t be able to tell that we’re suffering an economic crisis with all the deal-making going on throughout the week. “The Queen of Versailles” made such an impression that Magnolia Pictures bought the film the next morning, kicking off a buying frenzy that will continue through the end of the festival.
Friday also brought the first full day of films. The director of “Buried,” Rodrigo Cortes, returned to Sundance this year with “Red Lights,” starring Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver as psychologists who work to debunk psychics and their belief in the paranormal. Their greatest adversary is Robert De Niro’s world-renowned telekinetic healer, a character that gives De Niro an increasingly rare opportunity to impress. At the end of this nerve-wracking thriller, the veteran actor delivers a monologue that is devoid of the usual De Niro posturing that has plagued so many of his recent performances, and those few moments alone are worth the price of admission.
Saturday saw the U.S. premiere of Andrea Arnold’s “Wuthering Heights.” Anyone who has seen Arnold’s “Red Road” or “Fish Tank” will recognize her unique style in this invigorating take on the classic novel. By shooting the film in a square 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the usual widescreen approach, Arnold eschews the usual David Lean approach to literary adaptation, choosing to focus our attention on the beautifully expressive faces of her non-professional actors rather than the blustery vistas of the English landscape. This film joins Cary Fukunaga’s recent “Jane Eyre” as encouraging examples of what can be done with too often told tales.
Bruce Willis was in town for the premiere of “Lay the Favorite,” the new film from director Stephen Frears. The shining light of the film, as she so often is, was Rebecca Hall, the consistently impressive actress who here leaves behind her usual classiness to play a naive stripper from Florida. When she goes to Vegas with dreams of being a cocktail waitress, she runs into Willis’ professional gambler, who helps her realize a hidden talent for numbers. The film benefits from a light-hearted tone that fits the Vegas setting perfectly, and writer D.V. DeVincentis creates a refreshingly mature relationship between Willis’s character and his wife, played with great confidence and nobility by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
My favorite feature of the fest so far is “Safety Not Guaranteed,” which generated rapturous applause at Sunday’s world premiere before the credits even started rolling. The film is perfectly cast, starring Aubrey Plaza as Darius, a depressed magazine intern in need of a bit of excitement. She finds more excitement than she bargained for in Mark Duplass’s Kenneth Calloway, who has placed an ad in the local paper claiming that he needs a partner to travel back in time with him. Darius joins two of her fellow magazine writers (played with great humor and poignancy by Jake M. Johnson and Karan Soni) in investigating Kenneth’s life, resulting in an unexpectedly moving examination of loss, regret and our nostalgic desire to return to happier times.
Last but certainly not least, Austinite Kat Candler’s short film “Hellion” premiered Saturday night, leaving a boisterous audience in laughter and tears. In just a few short moments, Candler paints an exhilarating portrait of childhood, with its rapturous highs and heartbreaking lows in equal measure. I’ve had the distinct honor of spending time with the cast and crew of “Hellion” here in Park City, and I couldn’t be happier for these wonderful people and their wonderful film. Be proud, Austin. Be proud.
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