Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I've officially seen my last movie of Sundance, making a total somewhere around 32 or 33 films in 7 days. I have less than 10 to review to get caught up. I think I'm going to focus on the last movie I saw and then start backtracking over the next couple of days, as I continue on to the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Below you'll find a look at Jake Paltrow's first film, a romantic dramedy starring Martin Freeman (THE OFFICE, HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY), Gwyneth Paltrow (some family member he threw in to the cast), Penelope Cruz and Simon Pegg.
THE GOOD NIGHT
Okay, this was a crazy screening. You'll need a bit of set-up for this one, so bear with me a moment.
If you don't know how Sundance works, there are no badges that get you in to every movie. For the public screenings (ie all the premieres and regular screenings) all one needs to do is buy a ticket, which is getting tougher to do the more popular Sundance gets. I had a press badge which got me into every movie screened for the press. They had 3 theaters dedicated for the press, each one screening about 6 movies a day. My badge did not get me into public screenings, unless there were empty seats.
So, in order to make my schedule work and see everything I wanted to see, I had to request tickets to some public screenings and premieres from the publicists and filmmakers. I got all but 2 or 3 (including denials for NIGHT BUFFALO and CHAPTER 27, so I wasn't able to see those).
I contacted the publicists listed for GOOD NIGHT because I was leaving Park City before the press screening and I was forwarded on to Jake Paltrow himself, who was handling most of the publicity, I was told. He set aside a pair of tickets for Rav and I and when I got them they were official little filmmaker passes, with a holographic sticker with the letters SFF.
I tell you all this because that ticket, or more specifically that holographic sticker, allowed me to sit in the reserved section of the giant Eccles Theater. That was very fortunate for me as I was about 500 people back in the line and that ticket saved me from having a miserable seat.
Here's where the screening gets wacky.
I had just enough time to hit the toilet, so I do my business and head back into the theater and realize I'm standing behind Reah Perlman and Danny DeVito, which is more than a little surreal to someone who grew up with movies like THROW MAMA FROM THE TRAIN and TWINS. Even more surreal is DeVito ended up sitting right next to Rav during the screening. I noticed people taking pictures of someone sitting behind me, but I figured it was probably Gwyneth Paltrow or Blythe Danner and I didn't want to be one of those googly-eyed assholes, so I kept facing front.
At the Q&A someone asked Jake Paltrow who his influences are and he said something like "Anybody you can think of, I'm sure influenced me." Danny DeVito took the mic and said, "Especially Steven Spielberg and stared in my general direction to a bunch of laughter. I turn around and sure enough, two rows behind me is Steven Spielberg sitting with Kate Capshaw and Blythe Danner. Also, after the screening someone brushed pass me that I could have sworn was Eva Green.
So, it was my last Sundance movie and the only movie that lived up to the crazy dream of what a big Sundance premiere screening was supposed to be like.
Now let's talk a little about Paltrow's movie.
His casting is fantastic. I love that he cast Martin Freeman in the lead role, something I haven't seen any American filmmaker do yet. Even better, he cast Simon Pegg as his best friend/ex-bandmate. Pegg is his usual ball of energy, getting a laugh with every line delivery, but he plays a kind of sleazier character than we're used to seeing from him. In fact, this guy's kind of a douchebag. He sleeps around on his wife, he's got an ego bigger than the moon and is artistically void, leaving any integrity behind in order to climb to the top. Leave it to Pegg to keep someone like that sympathetic.
Freeman is in a serious relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow. It has turned into a relationship of convenience. They go through the motions, say "I love you" but without emotion. He used to be in a band with Pegg and is now doing music for commercials at the company in which Pegg is climbing the business ladder, leaving Freeman far behind.
One night, Freeman dreams of a beautiful woman named Anna (Penelope Cruz). She speaks to him with her mind... of course, this being a dream it's very fitting to have subtitles appear without Cruz opening her mouth, and Freeman verbally responding. The next night Freeman dreams of her again (this time she speaks, but the audio's backwards... we still have subtitles) and finds what he is missing in his relationship with Paltrow.
Freeman starts obsessing over his dream girl and shuns his girlfriend, pushing her away in his desperation to soundproof the bedroom so the New York street noise won't interrupt his dream state.
He meets a dream expert, played by DeVito, in his quest to gain better control of his dreams, so that he may spend even more time with Cruz. DeVito is in his lovable semi-con artist mode here. You can tell he doesn't even really know what he's talking about, but his heart is in the right place... well, most of it. There is a little void where greed and jealousy fester, but you know what I'm talking about.
The film does feel like the kind of amalgam of Woody Allen ideas. There's a touch of MANHATTAN in there as well as PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO when Freeman discovers his dream beauty exists in reality. The big question is did she come from his dreams or did he see her at some point and his subconscious filed her away.
Paltrow's casting eye is great and the film looks great, the script is there. I think some might not like the deliberate pacing, but, just like in Woody Allen's films, the character work keeps it from dragging. There's also a jump scare type moment somewhere in the film that got every single ass in the 1300 seat auditorium out of their seats for a split second.
The ending ending (which I won't spoil, don't worry) is a little telegraphed, but very appropriate and fitting. I couldn't imagine the film ending any other way.
As of right now I don't think the film has a distributor, but it premiered less than 24 hours ago. I'm sure we'll see it picked up.
When the Q&A started and Jake invited DeVito and his sister on stage, Gwyneth was visibly emotional, moved to happy tears for her brother's success.
He seemed like a real down to earth guy and on the whole, Paltrow's first effort is a success. I very much look forward to seeing what he does in the future.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
