Hey folks, Harry here with Johnny Ahab! The All-American Whaler! He keeps that lantern in your house filled with the natural whole goodness of Whale Blubber Oil (Stock symbol WBO) and now he keeps your mind up to date with the latest from SUNDANCE! Especially interesting is his take on SEXY BEAST and DIARY OF A CITY PRIEST which both sound quite good... Can't wait to see them for my own. Well, onto Johnny!
Yo, Harry -- Johnny Ahab here. It's my first trip to the annual Utah film mecca, and man, what a gas!! Got a call in the Fall from a Pal In The Biz who knows I've been dying to go for years -- offered me a free condo share and a line on a Package A (tickets for the first 5 days of the fest) -- and I jumped at the offer. I'm so glad I've got an old pro as a guide to navigate this film festival virgin from venue to venue, but once you master the shuttle buses and which theater's where, it's a piece of cake. The unrelenting pace though takes some working up to. Seeing about 3-4 movies a day, plus panels, parties and the general madness on Main Street. Quite a trip. Anyway, onto some movie reports.
MY FIRST MISTER
"MY FIRST MISTER" -- opening night in Salt Lake City, directed by Christine Lahti, and starring Leelee Sobieski and Albert Brooks. A Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie. Nice moments, good performances, but manipulative (especially in the latter half) and too schmaltzy-weepy for my tastes.
DONNIE DARKO
"DONNIE DARKO" -- I know this will be a geek favorite, but I wasn't wild about it. Shot very nicely, good performances, but baffling script. Just didn't connect with it. I've read the other, more positive reviews on the site, and it will definitely divide people. Everyone should see for themselves and decide. It definitely wasn't boring, and the filmmaker is a director to watch -- but I left the mammoth Eccles theater feeling very unsatisfied.
STARTUP.COM
"STARTUP.COM" -- best documentary I've seen in years!! It traces the rise and fall of an internet company. Its founders are two best friends from high school who ride the bubble high, and then when things go sour, so does their friendship. One guy forces the other guy out of the company, and it gets nasty with lawyers and lawsuits, and it's heartbreaking to watch them try to resolve their business problems and salvage their relationship. It's amazing the amount of personal access the filmmakers got, and this film is an incredible document of the whole internet boom/bust -- a real snapshot of a time and place in modern American history. Talk about being at the right place in the right time. It's apparently got distribution from Artisan, so DON'T MISS THIS!!!! It's an extraordinary piece of filmmaking.
DIARY OF A CITY PRIEST
"DIARY OF A CITY PRIEST" -- this movie won't be for everyone, but it blew me away. David Morse gives a heart-wrenching performance based on a real-life priest in urban Philly who questions whether he's really making a difference. This film is so understated and naturalistic and quietly affecting that it really takes patience and openness to let it hit home. In the indie filmmaking world, where so many filmmakers are striving for the hip, flashy and trendy, it was incredibly refreshing to see a very personal story about a very unhip subject: faith. And as an angry ex-Catholic, I found myself mesmerized and very open to this movie. Very heartfelt and deliberate. An amazing little gem of a film.
SERIES 7: THE CONTENDER
"SERIES 7" -- saw this after "CITY PRIEST", and talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! It's basically "Survivor" with guns. Shot on video and linked together as 5 to 6 back to back episodes of the show, it's a satire on the next step in reality TV. Some of the violence gets a little hard to take as contestants butcher, poison and shoot each other, but there's some outrageously funny stuff here, as well as terrific commentary about the state of American entertainment. This won't be for everyone with its graphic, over-the-top violence, but the audience I saw it with roared at it. Good luck seeing this in middle America though.
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK
"THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK" -- a restored print of the documentary which won an Oscar in the late 80s -- easy to see why, it's very moving. Didn't really know much about this subject matter, but it's fascinating. (For those of you who don't know about Harvey Milk, he was the first openly gay elected political figure in the 70s in San Francisco, who was assassinated with Mayor George Moscone by a disaffected fellow councilman, Dan White, who because of his All-American looks got off with something called "the Twinkie Defense" (his lawyers argued he'd eaten too much junk food and it affected his already existing depression) which sparked riots in San Francisco.) Really moving, informational and it stuck with me for days. Not sure if it's out on video, but it's worth looking for. A truly great doc.\
THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS
"THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS" -- my Pal In The Biz was very excited about this one, and it sounded cool. A female "IN THE COMPANY OF MEN" with Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles as two businesswomen in a sterile corporate hotel who play games with a smarmy headhunter. Well directed, great performances, good cinematography -- but a script that just doesn't hold together. It started out strong but then fizzled, with an ending that made us both go "What???" It has one twist too many, and I just didn't buy it. Too bad, this one had potential, but the writer-director (Patrick Stettner) is definitely someone to watch out for. And Stockard Channing sinks her teeth into a multi-dimensional performance. She's always been one of my favorite actresses, and it was worth seeing to watch her range. If only the script woulda worked....
DOUBLE WHAMMY
"DOUBLE WHAMMY" -- speaking of films with buzz and scripts that don't work. Another disappointment from Tom DiCillo. This too starts out strong -- first half hour is fun and promising with Denis Leary as a cop who fucks up an easy drop at a fast-food massacre (his back goes out and a little kid picks up his gun and nails the psychopath for him), but this one also rides off the rails. Elizabeth Hurley once again serves as lovely eye candy but is not used effectively (her story seems like a cookiecutter romance bolted on), and the whole plot hinges on a teenage girl who wants to murder her strict father who loves her. Just couldn't buy it. And there's a silly subplot about two hipsters trying to write the perfect screenplay that's funny at first but grows tedious as the movie plods on. We were both pumped up to see this too, but alas, walked out of the Egyptian Theater sighing.
SEXY BEAST
"SEXY BEAST" -- you heard it here first, folks: THIS MOVIE ROCKS!!!!! I think this is my favorite film of the festival. (And the second film of the fest to feature a tall, malevolent bunny as in "DONNIE DARKO"! Weird coincidence.) It's got distribution by Fox Searchlight, so it should be coming to a theater near you -- make a mental note, everyone, and rush out to see this when it comes town. It's a Brit heist film a la Guy Ritchie, but much more toned-down and understated. And Ben Kingsley gives the performance to beat in 2001 so far as a menacing, unrelenting, buff, tough, scary-ass gangster. Yes, you heard me -- Ben Kingsley. Sure, you know him as "Gandhi" and Liam Nesson's collaborator in "SCHINDLER'S LIST". Put all those performances and mental pre-conceptions aside. He will scare the piss out of you in this! His body is taut and sinewy, his stare reptilian, and his energy like a coiled snake who strikes when you least expect it. One of the craftier, scarier villians I've seen in ages. Terrific performances also by a cast of older Brits whose work I don't know, but they're all incredibly accomplished. And while the plot doesn't sound particularly new -- Ben Kingsley's gangster forces Ian McShane's retired bankrobber into one last job -- the script, dialogue and execution are all stunningly original. The dialogue is all understated menace and mordant comedy a la British playwright Harold Pinter -- wickedly funny and scary at the same time. I don't want to give any story details away as part of the fun of watching this film was knowing nothing about it or where it was going. And the very last frame of the film has perhaps the COOLEST ENDING OF THE YEAR!! The audience roared, and after the credits, we both jumped out of our seats feeling totally jazzed, and buzzing to each other "THAT WAS SO COOL!!!" Everybody, repeat after me: "SEXY BEAST" -- "SEXY BEAST" -- "SEXY BEAST". Okay, you've got it. Run to the theater when it premieres.
BROTHER
"BROTHER" -- unfortunately, we saw this a few hours after "SEXY BEAST". I liked this movie a lot, especially the stoic main character of the Yakuza who comes to the States after being exiled from the mobs in Japan. He hooks up with his brother and Omar Epps, and takes them from being low-level hoods to running a major gang in L.A. Lots of nice understated work about trust and friendship amid scenes of grisly carnage and blazing guns. I'd never seen a Kitano movie before, and quite liked it, although the story kinda sags two-thirds in. An enjoyable, well-made crime thriller with lots of style -- just not as cool as "SEXY BEAST".
CHOPPER
"CHOPPER" -- Another film bound to polarize people, and probably headed for an NC-17 -- but I liked this quite a bit. Very brutal and uncompromising filmmaking with some segments that are truly hard to watch. But an amazing performance by Eric Bana as "Chopper" Read, a well-known Australian criminal. I really liked this movie as it shows this brutal killer as a tormented, guilt-ridden human being, who just can't seem to help himself from violence. And Bana manages to make this vicious yet conflicted man very funny, likeable and even sympathetic in parts, despite his propensity for rough stuff. The movie gets a little stylistically busy in places, and the bleached-out colors are hard to look at after a while, but THANK GOD for an Australian film that's actually watchable! Every year there's one that's a winner, and "CHOPPER" is it. My guess, it'll play a few urban areas (NY, L.A.) and that's it. It's hard to sit through, but ultimately a very good film.
Also attended a composer-directors panel with Gus Van Sant, Danny Elfman (!), Tom DiCillo and his longtime composer Jim Farmer. Have never seen or heard Elfman interviewed, and he was hilarious yet incredibly articulate. Showed clips from "TO DIE FOR" and "GOODWILL HUNTING", with him and Van Sant demonstrating how good scoring complements the emotional resonance of the visual scene. A great little seminar.
I take off tomorrow, but what an amazing spectrum of films crammed into 5 days! If y'all can ever afford to do this, it's a blast. Orgiastic cinematic overload. Can't wait to go next year, but if I can't, I'll always have the memories of this one.
Johnny Ahab, over and out.
