Hey folks, Harry here... sounds like a dang good Sundance this year. Besides the obvious SCIENCE OF SLEEP - the film I'm anxious to see is THE FOOT FIST WAY - in fact I'm scheduled to watch it this weekend. Woo Hoo! So I will be checking it out. Jeff Vader... thanks a ton, give it a look through - good stuff here!

Here are some Sundance Reviews. If you use them call me "Jeff Vader."





"The Science of Sleep" Written and Directed by Michel Gondry, Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg

I went into this film with great expectations and was not disappointed one iota. The story concerns a young man named Stephan played by Gael Garica Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries) who returns to Paris after the death of his father, and takes up residence in his childhood bedroom. It sounds like the premise of a million boring movies, but Gondry takes it down the most uncoventional path imaginable. Stephan has trouble differentiating between dream and reality, and his real troubles begin after he simeultenously takes a boring office job and has a run-in with his attractive new neighbor Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg). The storyline is very loose as it weaves through Stephan's dreams and his burgeoning relationship with Stephanie, who rebuffs his romantic advances but welcomes his friendship. We follow Stephan through his dreams and as in dreams there are random moments from his day, fears, desires, hopes, etc. Gondry takes special care to plant images and motifs throughout so that we become intimately familiar with Stephan's subconcious. There is no "science" plot. It's a quirky love story. The visual imagery is mindblowing, as anyone familar with Gondry's video work will recognize. There is a lot of stop-motion animation, rear projection, etc. It's almost certain to become a stoner classic, but probably lacks enough of a solid Hollywood structure to find major distribution.





"The Foot Fist Way" Directed by Jody Hill

If any Sundance movie deserves discovery and cult status it is "The Foot Fist Way" (the literal translation of Tae Kwon Do) The protagonist is Mr. Simmons, an overconfidant redneck martial arts instructor in North Carolina. Mr. Simmons is the "David Brent" of his tiny Tae Kwon Do kingdom, but with a more loyal following and a hot wife. However after his wife admits to giving a handjob to her new boss, Mr. Simmons has a major breakdown and travels to find his hero: action movie star and world champion Chuck "The Truck" Wallace ( a very thinly disguised Chuck Norris type). The film does a great job of capturing the absurdity of Southern rednecks espousing Eastern philosophy and martial arts while also listening to heavy metal and driving pick-ups. Co-Screenwriter Danny McBride is hilariously over-the-top as Mr. Simmons and manages to have some cool fight scenes as well. The story and directing were a bit amaturish but it made up for it with kids, cursing, and tae kwon do.





"The Hawk is Dying" Directed by Julian Goldberger, Starring: Paul Giamatti, Michelle Williams, Michael Pitt

Paul Giamatti has an incredible performance in this slow-paced, deliberate film. He plays a Florida auto upholsterer named George Gattling, who spends most of his time trying to capture and train wild hawks. The film takes care to build an atmosphere of understated depression surrounding George, who had never sucessfully trained the stubborn hawks because they are too noble to accept food and would rather starve themselves to death. When he captures a rare red-tailed hawk and a family tragedy strikes, George is put in the position to discover what kind of man he truly is. Giamatti has some incredibly raw scenes and spends the second half of the movie trying to keep a hawk on his shoulder. It's a unique but ultimately flawed film with a great lead performance.





"A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" Directed by Dito Montiel, Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Shia La Boeuf

This in my opinion was the sleeper hit of the festival. It captures the street kid energy of Astoria, Queens in the late 70's and early 80's in the coming-of-age story of Dito and his friends trying to survive a rough New York neighborhood. Shia La Boeuf plays teenaged Dito whose day-to-day is made up of drinking and hanging out on rooftops with his friends, but he aslo posseses a sensitivity and awareness that his rough-edged friends like Antonio seems to lack. One-by-one tragedy strikes his close friends in the form of suicide, gang violence, and revenge. Dito dreams of escaping to California, but is hemmed in by the neighborhood and by his loving father (Chazz Palmintari) who would consider it a betrayal beyond death. The past is interwoven with present-day Dito (Robert Downey Jr.) who comes back to the neighborhood after a fifteen year absence in order to make peace with what occured and with his father. There are a few loose scenes and some "Spike Lee speak to the camera" rip off moments, but overall the director captures the sizzle of a New York summer sidewalk.





"Half-Nelson" Director: Ryan Fleck, Starring: Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling stars as Dan Dunne, a Brooklyn Jr. High School teacher with a troubling secret. He smokes crack. This was my least favorite film of the festival. It is the feature version of the director's sundance award winning short "Gowanus, Brooklyn" and has that "short film feel" stretched out over two hours. The conflict, or what passes for it, begins when one of Dan's students finds him smoking crack in the girl's locker room after a basketball game. The student (Shareeka Epps) keeps Dan's secret and they develop a unique relationship. Dan tries to keep Shareeka on the straight and narrow path despite the obvious hypocrisy of his actions. It's not a film that keeps one riveted to their seat. It was a boring and uninteresting look at drug addiction that ultimately said nothing new on the topic.