By Kim Voynar Voynar@moviecitynews.com

Short Takes and Reviews– Sundance 2009

Posted Saturday, January 24th, 2009 - Comments Off on Short Takes and Reviews– Sundance 2009
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Adam Kim Voynar My immediate reaction to this was to roll my eyes and inwardly groan at the set-up that this film was going to be about a magical differently-abled person who shows a “normal” person some wonderful and mysterious things about life through his different perspective, thus teaching her important life lessons she couldn’t have learned had she not met him. Which it kind of is, and kind of isn’t, but the opening set-up isn’t the only problem the film has.
211:Anna Kim Voynar 211: Anna, a documentary by Italian directors Paolo Serbandini andGiovanna Massimetti, has an interesting subject but unfortunately fails to shed much new light on the life and death of its subject, murdered Russian political journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The Vicious Kind Kim Voynar Lee Krieger’s second feature, The Vicious Kind, is a tale of forgiveness and redemption told through the character of Caleb Sinclaire (Adam Scott), an intensely unpleasant construction worker whose bitterness and misogyny masks a deeply wounded man whose outward anger acts as a shield against the world.
You Won’t Miss Me Ray Pride There are quietly sophisticated elements throughout, from the pacing of Shelly’s moods and sometimes-brutal confrontations with female friends as well as her young dates (scruffy bedheads to a man) she admires or wants, to a compositional motif of triangular elements (a ladder on a mostly-bare stage, a clock’s hands at 3:40, hands raised above heads) that imply a constant danger of an emotional folding-in.
Motherhood Kim Voynar Katherine Dieckmann’s Motherhood, a tale about a harried stay-at-home mom having a very bad day, may officially be the first “mommy blogger” movie.
Grace Kim Voynar … I decided at the last minute to catch Paul Solet’s Grace instead, having heard from my good friend and horror buff Scott Weinberg that he liked the film and thought I would find it interesting.

Interesting? Oh. My. God.
Peter and Vandy Kim Voynar Peter and Vandy, the feature writing and directorial debut by Jay DiPietro, follows the love story of one couple through the ups and downs of their relationship. It sounds simple — and it is — but the beauty of this film is in the execution.
The Winning Season Kim Voynar Feels a bit like The Bad News Bears meets A League of Their Own: a rag-tag, disorganized group of girls who have little chance to win at all, much less have a winning season, pull together to win enough games to qualify to play at sectionals.
An Education Kim Voynar An Education, Lone Scherfig’s much-anticipated film about Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a British schoolgirl in the 1960s who gets swept off her feet by an older man (Peter Saarsgard) is beautifully directed, smart and engaging — and one of the best films at Sundance thus far.
Adventureland Kim Voynar Adventureland, the newest feature by Greg Mottola (Superbad), is a fun trip back to the ’80s, when glamour-rock, mall hair and blue eyeshadow were cool.
I Love You Phillip Morris Gregg Goldstein There’s nothing that can prepare you for I Love You Phillip Morris, a con-man, gay-romantic, prison-escape, sex-farce comedy-drama (based on an unbelievable true crime story… or was it?) which defies any expectations you bring to it.
Cold Souls Ray Pride Eccentric without ever becoming unduly whimsical, Sophie Barthes’ surrealism-lite Cold Souls (which she co-film-bys with cinematographer-partner-soul mate Andrij Parekh) pirouettes near Charlie Kaufman’s dance floor.
Paper Heart Kim Voynar Artist and comedian Charlyne Yi puts a spin on the quest-for-love story in which she plays herself filming a documentary about her search for the meaning of love.
Moon Kim Voynar Jones has made a remarkably well-directed first feature; the script, written by newcomer scribe Nathan Parker off a story idea by Jones, has some minor issues, but certainly nothing insurmountable.
Big River Man Kim Voynar Another doc that falls into the realm of a fascinating subject not exceptionally well-executed, Big River Man follows world-famous endurance swimmer Martin Strel on his historic swim down the length of the Amazon river.
Humpday Kim Voynar Director Lynn Shelton has made a surprisingly insightful indie character drama about male relationships, what adulthood means, and the ways in which we compartmentalize our lives.
Rough Aunties Kim Voynar The result isn’t the most beautifully shot theatrical doc you’ll ever see, but these strong, feisty women are inspiring as they work to help the young victims who come into their care.
Lymelife Kim Voynar Derick Martini’s Lymelife, whose international rights were just picked up by Cinemavault on the eve of its Sundance debut, is one of those indie dramas at Sundance that mostly hits all the right notes.
Thriller in Manila Ray Pride Thriller From Manila is an exactingly made documentary made to fulfill a pre-determined thesis: Ali bad, Frazier good.
Mary and Max Kim Voynar For those who like their serious themes addressed in interesting, even quirky ways, Mary and Max is a departure from the same-old, same-old, and the ending sneaks up and touches the heart unexpectedly.
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon