Hey folks, Harry here with the latest on Sundance, this time from Coach Cheeks, now ya gots to watch him he's a cheeky bastard... please I beg your forgiveness that wasn't even clever, but I recognize that and acknowledging the problem is half the problem, but someday I hope to have the whole problem, because then I can figure out the riddle of a disturbed hapless existence. Here's a look at three SUNDANCE flicks, one that we haven't heard from yet.... ON_LINE, and Coach dug it like a latrine!
Hey Harry,
Saw 6 films at Sundance. Three were satisfying.
STORYTELLING
I don't think
"Storytelling" even comes close to measuring up with Solondz's past work, but
it's still interesting to watch nonetheless. I LOVED "Happiness" but now he
seems to be trying so hard. I probably liked the first half of
"Storytelling" better than the second because he really seemed to be
commenting on people's criticisms of him as a film maker. The big find in
this movie is Aleksa Palladino as the smart teacher's pet student who
criticizes people's work and then says "but that's just my opinion, i
probably shouldn't have brought it up." She only has like two lines but they
are the best in the film and she had the Eccles audience in stitches when she
delivered them.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF MONEY
I read the terrible review of "Love in the Time of Money" on Tuesday and then
I went to the film and I LOVED it. Not everyone I knew did, but it really
worked for me. It's a fun series of two person scenes. Director-writer
Peter Mattei starts with two characters in NYC and then one of those
characters meets up with another one and then that new character meets up
with another one and so on until we're back where we started, with the last
new character meeting up with the character we started with. Every scene
dealt with, well, quite literally, love and money. I thought there were
great performances all around, especially from Carol Kane, Adrian Grenier,
and Steve Buscemi. And the script was full of funny lines like Buscemi's
artist when he says he knows his painting is crap, "it's like a virus i want
to send into the art world so it will crash" (or something like that.)
ON_LINE
Finally, my favorite movie was "On_Line." It's ultimately about turning off our computers and getting out. Six characters, all but one of them New Yorkers, are connected by webcam chats on the internet. Jed Weintrob has made a fresh looking film that uses multiple images and split screens to create a Windows-like feel to tell a very sweet love story set in the lonely isolated world of internet sex and suicide websites. The film is always exciting to look at and the story is well-paced. All 6 lead actors - Harold Perrineau, Josh Hamilton, Isabel Gillies, Vanessa Ferlito, John Fleck and Eric Millegan- give incredibly winning performancesin what was, quite simply, the most entertaining film I saw at the film festival. It's funny, it's sexy, it's a little dirty, it's touching, it's riveting, and it's ultimately rewarding. I also want to praise the short film that played before it. I can't tell you a thing about it (cuz I don't want to give anything away), but you MUST find a way to see Geoffrey Haley's "The Parlour." It was executive produced by Alan Ball and the audience went nuts when I saw it. All I can tell you is that it is brilliant. Find it and watch it.
Peace out,
Coach Cheeks
