The week is already starting to catch up with me. It’s
probably a bit too early to admit this, but it behooves a writer to be honest.
The streets of Park City were the more crowded on Saturday than
they have been all week. It’s understandable, given the arrival of first full
day of weekend screenings and the coming of audience members enjoying their day
off. It does make for a challenging time getting around, not only with foot
traffic but also with the free shuttles.
That’s one of the single best things about Sundance. Not
only is it easy to find out where you need to go, but there’s very little need
to rent a car of any kind, provided you can just get to Park City in the first place. In fact, you’re actually
discouraged from renting a car by the Festival itself. My friend, however, had
to transport some stuff up here, and wasn’t so lucky. When he told me that he
was driving up to Main Street to make a delivery, “good luck” were the only words
I could think of to offer him. Fortunately, he found a great parking place.
After driving around for 30 minutes.
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Ok, onto today’s screenings at Slamdance:
Where I Am: another strong Slamdance documentary. The film
tells the story of Robert Drake, an American writer, who was brutally attacked
while living abroad in Ireland. The real tragedy is that the only reason he was
attacked was because he is gay. While the film runs a little longer than it
needs to and begins to repeat itself toward the end, it’s an emotional piece
that does a good job of exploring the complex feelings that Robert and those
around him have about the attack. I was struck by the idea of a man who has to
depend on other people for just about everything being able to so readily
forgive his attackers, even though they’d gotten off extremely easy and “justice”
wasn’t done. He’s a remarkable man, and it was a pleasure to see him at the
screening with his long-time assistant, Butch.
The Bitter Buddha: one of the funniest things I’ve seen this
year. The Bitter Buddha takes a look at the career of comedian Eddie
Pepitone. He’s one of those long-suffering guys that other comedians swear by,
but just hasn’t had the big break that he deserves. A big part of what makes
him so likable is he’s incredibly open about his anger and insecurity. There’s
a more than ample supply of both. There’s a ton of interviews with other
comics, most notably Patton Oswalt. The film goes to video-on-demand in
February, and you’d do well to catch it. Here’s a link to Eddie’s Twitter
page.
The Institute: this is one of the single best things I’ve
seen at the Festival so far this year. The Institute documents an “alternate
reality game” that lasted for 3 years and had, at one time or another, over
10,000 participants in and around San Francisco. Jeff Hull, the game’s
mastermind, created a convoluted narrative about rival organizations fighting
over who was going to control the future of human happiness. Director Spencer
McCall was initially hired by Mr. Hull to shoot footage that would become part
of the gameplay, and after ending up with over 1000 hours of footage, decided
to move forward with the film. It’s fascinating stuff, particularly as you
begin to wonder if what you’re watching is even a documentary at all. At
certain junctures, it seems impossible that some of these people could be
serious about what they’re saying with a straight face. What makes the film
really shine is that it’s able to create within the mind of the viewer the same
effect that I’d imagine it had on the participants. On some level, you’re not
only wondering how people could take this stuff seriously, you’re also wanting
for this to be true on some level because it’s been so skillfully put together.
The Brotherhood of the Traveling Rants: Meh. This is the “official
documentary” of Canadian comedian Gavin McInnes’ tour in promotion of his book.
I’m not going to deny that he’s funny, but only sporadically. There’s also just
far too much material that’s clearly been staged for the camera. His best
friend comes along for the ride, and there are certain bits where they’re
clearly riffing off of each other, and that’s fun to watch, but then later
there are just far too many attempts at emotional authenticity that are being
attempted by guys who aren’t the greatest actors. Additionally, the film’s
introduction makes it seem like Gavin’s setting out to make a film about
whether or not comedy is a learned behavior or instinctive ability, but this is
quickly abandoned to document the tour. I wish that the film had either stuck
with the framing device, or just allowed the camera to roll when the guys were
out doing their thing. The latter would have been a lot more fun. There’s
enough history between these two to make this thing a lot more fun than it ends
up being.
No parties for me at the end of the night. I got out of my
last film at 11:30 PM so my party connections were already kinda shut down.
I’ve got 3 screenings on the docket for today, but am hoping
to catch a bit of the 49er game. My buddy’s a HUGE fan and has been making new
friends all over town with his authentic (and pretty stylish) Niner gear. I
want to watch him watch the game more than anything. Also, he’s got a GREAT
Dave Grohl story that I’m going to try and get on camera so I can share it with
you tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s the big one for me. I’m going to rushline a
screening of Before Midnight at 8:30 AM, which means that I’ll have to be
there around 7 AM. Which means I’ll have to get up at . . . ug. On top of all that, I fly out tomorrow
night and have to move house tomorrow morning. Should be fun. Those films mean
a lot to me, and I’m really hoping for another stellar entry in the series.
OK, off to a busy day.
More later,
-Adam
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