2 posts tagged “festival”

Every year a bunch of friends from Las Vegas come up for Sundance. This year they were wise and rented a hotel room in Prospector Square right around the corner from Eccles Theatre, which is where all the movies we saw were at. This year wasn't as lucky as last. We got into 4 of the 7 movies we tried to see. We saw Humpday, Spread, Rudo y Cursi, and I Love You Philip Morris. Those are IMDB links if you want summaries/photos of the movies.

Humpday - During a getaway at a sex-positive commune, best pals Andrew (Joshua Leonard) and Ben (Mark Duplass) find their friendship tested in strange new ways when a dare leads them to contemplate filming a live sex scene for an amateur porn festival. As the shoot date looms, our heroes must contend with two major logistical difficulties: Ben's wife, Anna (Alycia Delmore); and their heterosexuality. The tension between friends is palpable and it's filmed in a way that translates the tension to the theatre. I love the contrast between the two people as they are essentially exposed to be leading fraud lifestyles. It's a fun movie that will, unfortunately, never make it to mainstream theatres for it's content.

Spread follows the life of Jason (Ashton Kutcher) who has made a career out of targeting older women and using them for anything and everything … in exchange for a little sex. But the player gets played when he meets Heather (Margarita Levieva), a pretty waitress who knows every trick. Before Heather came along, Jason had a foolproof arrangement with Samantha (Anne Heche), a successful attorney who was happy being "friends with benefits." But now he might actually be in love. Spread made me want to punch Ashton Kutcher in the dick even more than I already want to. Ashton Kutcher pulls off the role that his entire life essentially is - being the pretty boy of the group. His character mooches on everyone until they give up on him. This movie took a great stance in not following the traditional Hollywood story line and shows his character some real growth.

Rudo y Cursi is probably my least favorite of the 4 we saw. Stuck working on a banana ranch, two super competitive soccer-playing brothers dream of getting off the farm and finding stardom: Beto (Diego Luna) as a pro goalie and Toto (Gael García Bernal) as a singer -- but it might break them. When a professional soccer team ignores Beto's goalie skills in favor of Toto's fancy footwork, Beto signs on to a rival team, and the battle between brothers is on. It was a relatively unpolished film, in my opinion that left me wondering why I cared about these two idiots. It was funny, but sort of bland.

I Love You Philip Morris - When upstanding Texas cop Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) realizes he's gay, he changes his entire life and pulls a series of bold con jobs that lands him jail -- where he meets his one true love, cellmate Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). When Morris is transferred to another prison, lovesick Russell mounts a series of jailbreaks just to be with his beloved soul mate. This movie was hilarious. Jim Carrey plays the life of an oddball who has some serious con skills. This one was probably my favorite simply because it worked so well and kept me guessing till the end.

As a result of attending these, I took some videos of the actor conversations following the film. My favorite has to be this story from Ewan McGregor following the screening of I Love You Philip Morris:

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Some states have 'leafers.' Others have annual chili cookoffs.. We have the Sundance Film Festival. Yes it's that wonderful time of year when our poor little city is overrun by tourists flocking to come see the films. Don't get me wrong - I love the attention that it shines on our city and the benefits that having such events brings. It's more of the fact that for 2 weeks around the festival all of my prices go up at restaurants, the roads get congested, and Paris Hilton is in Utah that irritates me. Oh well.

I'll still be smashed in a small 'artsy' theater to watch what is most likely going to be a feminist coming of age movie where they smash pickle jars. I'm not making that up - that was one of the films I got to see last year. After that, an overpriced latte and another feature film about two gay politicians running against each other or a nice film about suicidal angst. As most people in the film industry know, there are only so many plots that can be explored.

If you're coming to Salt Lake, I welcome you with open hands. And if you think the Sundance Film Festival happens in Park City (or god forbid at Sundance Ski Resort where it started 25 years ago) you're only kind of right. While the festival offices are in Park City, there are all of 2 theaters in Park City that hold more than 25 people. Instead it spills over into Salt Lake where we have the venue capacity that such an event demands. So come one come all.

Sundance Film Festival, 2007
January 18th - 28th
http://festival.sundance.org/2007/