Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Opie’s been a hard-working man at Sundance this year, and today’s no exception. Check it out:
Greetings, everyone! I'm back with more reviews from Sundance 2005, taking a break from the routine of milling from place to place, high on pure cinema, adrenaline, and very thin air. (I swear, I ran a block at a full clip to catch a bus yesterday, and I couldn't breathe right for an hour). Back for a look at three films, one of which was not a part of the festival, but noteworthy for the type of event that it became, and two that were previously discussed here on the site this week. Enjoy!
GAME 6
Playwright Nicky Rogan (Game 6) is a pessimist. That he is pretty much surrounded by other pessimists can't help very much, but here's the thing: above all else, Rogan is a Red Sox fan. And in 1986, that's enough to ensure a lifetime of half-empty glasses. As Rogan, (in an enthusiastic, manic performance by Michael Keaton) puts it, it's not just that the Sox lose. Hell, lots of teams just lose. But the Sox always seem to choke so spectacularly, to blow victory in such an unexpected and imaginative way, to give hope and then snatch it away, that he hates them as much as he loves them. His play seems to be headed towards disaster because his lead actor has a "mite in his brain" preventing him from nailing a key line, his father's health is declining, his daughter's getting distant, and his marriage is in shambles.
Stephen Schwimmer (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a stage critic who is rising to prominence. He is eccentric, brilliant, paranoid, and, apparently, so diffiuclt to please that he has playwrights trembling over the possibility of being his subject, going mad at being lambasted by his acid pen, and making death threats. On the day that the film takes place, Schwimmer will be attending the opening of Rogan's new play. And, just in case, he will be disguised. And armed.
But Rogan doesn't seem to care about Schwimmer's review as much as everyone else in his life tells him that he should. Why? Because it just so happens to be October 25, 1986. A day which every die-hard Sox fan remembers dying inside. Game 6 of the World Series. The day when it looked like the Curse of the Bambino was going to end.
This is not a story about sports, nor a story about theater. The two main events that Rogan dreads, and the parallels drawn (there is a lot of symbolism in this picture) on that particular day, tell a very poignant story... about optimism. Rogan expects the Sox to lose. He has been conditioned to think so. And everyone Rogan speaks to assumes that Schwimmer will write a negative review, and that Rogan's career will be ended by it, because they have all seen it happen to other playwrights. Besides, there is that mite in the lead actor's brain. He's gonna choke, just like the Sox surely will.
In this story, everything is connected. That Rogan and Schwimmer would cross paths on this particular day, that Rogan would just so happen to be riding in the taxicab of the most optimistic lady one could ever hope to find in such a place as New York City, it all speaks to some sort of grand orchestra of coincidence, leading up to Buckner's between-the-legs debacle. The more I think of this film, the deeper the well gets for me.
The characters in Game 6 have such elevated speech, such delicately crafted dialogue, that it's almost hyper-realistic - Until you realize that three of them, the three most wordy characters, are writers by trade. Hearing these characters have conversations is a gift, and it is no surprise that the screenwriter is a lauded novelist.
Robert Downey, Jr. and Michael Keaton are so good here, and in such subtle ways, that it's almost redundant to mention. But there is one thing I was looking forward to in this film, and I was rewarded about halfway through: Seeing Michael Keaton play a Sox fan, on that fateful night, watching television in a bar, as the Sox prepared to claim victory... and then choked. The sight of Nicky Rogan, die-hard fan, suffering so blatantly, the way that sequence is written, shot, and edited... is cinematic bliss.
Everything else in the film is just icing on the cake. There just happens to be a lot of it.
PRETTY PERSUASION
"I have seen this movie before," I thought. As I sat in the Eccles theater Monday afternoon, understandably exhausted by the typical mid-week-of-Sundance sleep deprivation, watching Pretty Persuasion unfold in front of me, I was struck with a sense of major deja vu. HEATHERS. SAVED. WILD THINGS. MEAN GIRLS. CRUEL INTENTIONS. "Hmmm... I really have seen this all before, I thought to myself." Many times over the years, in many forms, with varying degrees of seriousness.
"Why then," I thought, "am I not as bored as I should be?"
Pretty Persuasion revolves around Kimberly (Evan Rachel Wood, who was only 16 at the time of shooting), a pretty, rich, conniving, popular student at a stuffy private school. When she loses that part of Anne Frank in the school play, she enlists the help of two other girls in accusing the school's drama teacher of sexual harassment. Sparking off a media frenzy led by a fame-hungry reporter (Jane Krakowski) who also happens to be a lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that), Kimberly's machinations grow more and more insidious, and the depth of her plan gets far more complicated.
The tone of the film gets very dark near the end, but for the most part, plays as a pretty hilarious black comedy. While the plot, and the characters that inhabit it, are not original in the slightest, it works on its own because it is so brutally hilarious. Imagine HEATHERS as done by Alexander Payne, and you may get the basic idea.
I can't really say more about the film, as the jokes, and the various twists of the plot, are too delicious to be spoiled, but I will say that a vast array of talent is on display here, from Ron Livingston's subtle performance as Kimberly's (faintly lecherous) drama teacher patsy, to James Woods' riotous, scenery chewing as Kimberly's outspoken father. And newcomer Adi Schnall is effective even with very few lines of dialogue, as the Arab daughter of wealthy immigrants whom Kimberly manipulates like an expert.
This one was in the Dramatic Competition, so it's searching for a distributor. Hopefully, it'll get picked up, as it's really a winner. And before you skip it, believing you've seen this film before, many times, well... You have. But not like this.
WALKING WITH FREEDOM
On Monday night, though not a part of the Sundance Film Festival, nor an official selection of the NoDance, Slamdance, TromaDance or any of the dozen or so fringe festivals that pop up every year in Park City, Michael Daniel premiered his documentary, Walking With Freedom, at the Upper Deck sports bar and grill.
It was quite an event, with free beer, free hot wings, giveaways, a live performance by one of the artists on the soundtrack, and even a rock wall (which was eventually torn down and hauled away by the killjoys at the Fire Department, in the name of public safety). With all of the celebrity sightings, crowds, hooplah, and big-budget parties going on just across the street at Harry O's, or at the Chrysler House, or the Miramax mansion, etc, etc... I'd have to say that this intimate soiree, with the jovial, good-natured filmmakers greeting everyone with handshakes and smiles, the excited, word-of-mouth crowd of nature-lovers, and the legitimate applause and awe at certain sections of the documentary... Well, I'd have to say it was more in the spirit of independent film-making, more in the spirit of the FESTIVAL itself, that I just had to mention it here. It really brought a tear to my eye.
So, what is Walking With Freedom? Part travelogue, part history lesson, part adventure story, the film chronicles Michael Daniel's 2,200+ mile-journey across the Appalachian Trail, walking from Georgia to Maine. Along the way, his camera finds a strange sub-culture of hikers (each with their own "trail names," like internet users and CB operators have their own handles), encounters with varying forms of wildlife, unpredictable weather, and some of the more beautiful nature photography I've seen in recent years.
Michael Daniel is still looking for distribution, and I believe he's still doing a bit of tinkering on his work, but if you want to check out what he was up to, CLICK HERE!!
One more report to go, when I'll be commenting on psychological thriller "Between," starring Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace), and the drama "The Dying Gaul" (The Passion of the Sarsgaard). Until then...
-Opie
It’s so strange hearing about THE DYING GAUL. That one-act play was in a theater festival where I had a one-act playing eleven years ago, and now it’s finally become a feature film. Sounds like it was worth the wait, too. I’m excited to finally see it on a bigscreen later this year. Thanks, Opie. Keep up the great work.
"Moriarty" out.
