Wednesday, January 21, 2004
It’s Too Early to Surrender, Isn’t It?
The bad news is that I have already surrendered. Well, not totally. Just for tonight.
Up at 6:30, at least an hour before the sun is up at all (and another hour before it’s up above the mountains) after only a few hours of light sleep. While I felt good when I got up, I’m toast tonight. So we start, of course, at the end of the day.
Right now I’m writing from our hotel room. It’s 10:24 p.m. and I’m sitting on the bed, three pillows behind my back, the laptop on my lap and watching What Not to Wear on TLC. I’m headed to bed after I write this blog entry.
I got to my last venue, Farmingville at the Holiday Theater. I didn’t even pretend to stand in line and sat right down in the ticket holders line. It didn’t take me long to decide to sell my ticket to someone on the wait list line. I feel so relieved to be here by myself and just having time to write.
Now back to the beginning. Or almost the beginning. You already heard about the first two films we saw.
I can’t say enough about our second movie of the day, Brother to Brother. I am crossing my fingers and praying to the distribution gods that this very fine film gets distributed widely and you get to see it.
To bring you up to speed, Brother to Brother is about an African-American gay man dealing with racism and homophobia. This film, written and directed by the very talented Rodney Evans, is beautifully directed and so gently tells a hard story to tell about a talented artist living today who figures out that nothing has changed since Langston Hughes. The sensitive way that the main character is played is refreshing. The actor gives a character, who in our culture is almost on the lowest rung of the power ladder an undeniable humanity.
The Q&A on this film was disappointing.
Brother to Brother is once again worth every penny of a full price film (and my airfare and hotel). Another one to skip your favorite niece’s Bat Mitzvah for.
Lest you begin to doubt my ratings (I know you’re thinking that I’m enamored with everything Sundance), I didn’t so much like my third film for the day, Sky Blue. This animated sci-fi feature, written and directed by Korean filmmaker Moon-Sang Kim (a woman in case you’re curious and not familiar with Korean names), takes place in 2142. This film is about a culture that’s dependent on pollution to survive and the oppression of people living on the fringes of their city.
Great story and I hope it gets wide release but I would only rate it at Worth a Matinee. The only reason that it’s not only Worth a Rental is because it’s probably worth seeing on the big screen.
Mostly I was disappointed with the primary female character. I expected a more complicated, strong woman. The animation was a combination of live film with miniatures, cell animation and 3-D computer generated locales. The director of the festival proclaimed it to be ground breaking but I experienced it as distracting. In addition, the filmmaker seemed to take a lot of imagery from Star Wars and The Matrix and I was distracted by that too.
With this, I’m off to bed for hopefully a better night’s sleep. Email me and let me know what you think!
Up at 6:30, at least an hour before the sun is up at all (and another hour before it’s up above the mountains) after only a few hours of light sleep. While I felt good when I got up, I’m toast tonight. So we start, of course, at the end of the day.
Right now I’m writing from our hotel room. It’s 10:24 p.m. and I’m sitting on the bed, three pillows behind my back, the laptop on my lap and watching What Not to Wear on TLC. I’m headed to bed after I write this blog entry.
I got to my last venue, Farmingville at the Holiday Theater. I didn’t even pretend to stand in line and sat right down in the ticket holders line. It didn’t take me long to decide to sell my ticket to someone on the wait list line. I feel so relieved to be here by myself and just having time to write.
Now back to the beginning. Or almost the beginning. You already heard about the first two films we saw.
I can’t say enough about our second movie of the day, Brother to Brother. I am crossing my fingers and praying to the distribution gods that this very fine film gets distributed widely and you get to see it.
To bring you up to speed, Brother to Brother is about an African-American gay man dealing with racism and homophobia. This film, written and directed by the very talented Rodney Evans, is beautifully directed and so gently tells a hard story to tell about a talented artist living today who figures out that nothing has changed since Langston Hughes. The sensitive way that the main character is played is refreshing. The actor gives a character, who in our culture is almost on the lowest rung of the power ladder an undeniable humanity.
The Q&A on this film was disappointing.
Brother to Brother is once again worth every penny of a full price film (and my airfare and hotel). Another one to skip your favorite niece’s Bat Mitzvah for.
Lest you begin to doubt my ratings (I know you’re thinking that I’m enamored with everything Sundance), I didn’t so much like my third film for the day, Sky Blue. This animated sci-fi feature, written and directed by Korean filmmaker Moon-Sang Kim (a woman in case you’re curious and not familiar with Korean names), takes place in 2142. This film is about a culture that’s dependent on pollution to survive and the oppression of people living on the fringes of their city.
Great story and I hope it gets wide release but I would only rate it at Worth a Matinee. The only reason that it’s not only Worth a Rental is because it’s probably worth seeing on the big screen.
Mostly I was disappointed with the primary female character. I expected a more complicated, strong woman. The animation was a combination of live film with miniatures, cell animation and 3-D computer generated locales. The director of the festival proclaimed it to be ground breaking but I experienced it as distracting. In addition, the filmmaker seemed to take a lot of imagery from Star Wars and The Matrix and I was distracted by that too.
With this, I’m off to bed for hopefully a better night’s sleep. Email me and let me know what you think!
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