The 25th Annual Sundance Film Festival
January 15 – 25, 2009
 

It’s January in Park City, and over 30,000 visitors have ascended to this idyllic resort town for the 25^th anniversary of the Sundance Film Festival. Hundreds of films grace the community’s multiple venues, with a majority of them selling out. Independent filmmakers, industry folk, and the multitudes of festivalgoers are basking in the beautiful weather and juggling screenings with an array of tempting parties. Arguably, Sundance is the country’s most prominent stage for emerging cinematic talent, and this year is certainly no exception.

A man who is far from being an emerging filmmaker, though, is Hollywood icon James Toback. Perhaps best known for writing the screenplay for 1991’s Bugsy, this year he offers a monumental portrait of Mike Tyson, one of boxing’s most divisive figures and a fascinating subject. In Tyson, the man recounts his many triumphs, tragedies, and even embarrassments in one of the most heartfelt of this year’s films. “Wasn’t that fun?” Tyson remarked to a fan’s post-screening inquiry about his notorious party days at New York’s China Club. Whether in person or captured candidly on film by a craftsman such as Toback, Iron Mike’s characteristic unfiltered honesty is a trip to watch.

If there’s one thing that Sundance thrives on, it’s buzz. On the buses and at the parties, the most often asked question is, “Seen anything good?” Children of Invention is a powerful drama from Tze Chun that definitely lives up to all the talk. It features skillful performances from newcomers Michael Chen and Crystal Chiu, who play 10- and 8-year-old first-generation Chinese Americans, left alone in the city when their struggling single mother is caught up in an illegal pyramid scheme. Non-formulaic, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, true “indie” films like this one are what make Sundance what it is. The technically solid first feature by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre, is set in Mexico and fashioned in the mold of City of God. Overhyped, this Sundance Labs-sponsored project loses most of its thematic weight amid the borderline sadistic violence and constant action sequences. Contrived and familiar, action films like this one tend to disguise themselves as realist dramas, though in this case unsuccessfully.

Lulu and Jimi, a film by German director Oskar Roehler, is a revisionist star-crossed-lovers tale, set in 1950’s Germany, and highlights an outcast interracial couple’s dangerous and sexy escape from their oppressive community. The music is sensational, the plot defies conventions, and at times this unique film is even downright funny. Another genre-pushing film is Lynn Shelton’s post-mumblecore comedy Humpday, in which indie regulars Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard hilariously depict old friends contemplating performing in a porn video together. Cold Souls, starring Paul Giamatti as himself, is a funny and exploratory look at what our souls might actually have to offer us, written and directed by newcomer Sophie Barthes. The Vicious Kind, produced in part by Neil LaBute (Your Friends and Neighbors), matches the filmmaker’s typical fascination with misogyny, focusing on the masculine power struggles of a dysfunctional family. It’s the second feature by Lee Toland Krieger.

Big Fan was written and directed by Robert Siegel, a former editor for The Onion and the screenwriter for Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. It stars the hilarious Patton Oswalt. Sadly, the film is not hilarious, and bumbles its way to a surprising but unsatisfying conclusion. Far funnier is The Yes Men Fix the World, a doc that chronicles the exploits of this pair of international pranksters as they attempt to illuminate the evils of the world’s corporate-controlled, globalized society.

Every year, Sundance famously showcases a variety of breakthrough documentaries. This year, the group includes Crude, an adept and intelligent depiction of the years-old class action suit by the people of Ecuador against Chevron. The accomplished filmmaking is no surprise, coming from seasoned documentarian Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster). No Impact Man spotlights media sensation Colin Beavan, mapping his quest to live a lifestyle that causes no negative environmental impact, and Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech includes episodes from the lives of several modern free speech icons, including the barrier-breaking Ward Churchill. And a concerned Morgan Freeman acts to dispel racism at his small hometown’s public high school in Prom Night in Mississippi. Amazingly, before 2008, the community had never held a racially integrated prom. 

Celebrities and big premiers do often make their way up here to the mountains. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, starring an ensemble cast of talented character actors, is based on the profound novel by the late David Foster Wallace. It was adapted for the screen and directed by The Office star John Krasinski, who in the beginning of his acting career performed in a staged reading of the novel and has been impassioned about the material ever since. Be sure not to miss this one when it hits theaters. Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire is a meteor of a film, produced and directed by Lee Daniels. Precious, a pregnant 16-year-old surviving 1980’s Harlem, becomes involved in an alternative education program and begins to take control over her difficult life. Vicious, startlingly expressionistic, emotionally gripping, and featuring an epic performance by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, this film will exhilarate audiences all over the country.

What make every good festival great are the shorts. “Acting for the Camera” is a wacky take on the intimacy of performance; “Ten for Grandpa” is every conspiracy theory imaginable, edited into one continuous, hilarious delivery; and “Captain Coulier (Space Explorer)” takes self-loathing to intergalactic levels. A standout for me includes “Next Floor,” an allegorical short from Montreal with a terrific (but I’m sure expensive) production design, in which director Denis Villeneuve warns of the dangers of an over-consumptive aristocratic society. “Jerrycan,” a grainy 16mm Australian film about the tests of boyhood, demonstrates that sometimes the trivialities of childhood are more formative than everything else.

The festival is still under way, and the winners will be announced this weekend. Categories include best dramatic and documentary film, for both American and international classifications. There are several prizes for short films. (The Spectrum and Midnight categories are out of competition screenings, and often include some of the best films of the fest.) Stay tuned for a recap, highlighting some of the very best of what will soon be appearing at an art house near you. Michael Lee
January 23, 2009