Jeanne Goes to Sundance

2005-06-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

This is my last post on this website because I have moved everything over to my new webpage, Writeousness. Come visit me over there. I have a whole section dedicated to film.

Is Summer Almost Over?

2004-08-20T11:24:00.000-05:00

I was out of town so much that I didn't get to the movies as much as I'd like. But I have seen some good ones that, if you don't get to see, you should add to your Netflix list or run out to the video store this fall to rent.

Last night, I saw Garden State. It was a subtle, heart-warming, charming and romantic film about a man coming to grips with himself and his humanity.

Zach Braff not only wrote and directed Garden State, he starred as the lead character, Andrew "Large" Largeman. The film starts when Large is told that he has to come home to New Jersey from Los Angeles for his mother's funeral and he leaves behind the meds that he's been on for depression since he was 10.

As the film unfolds, we discover who Large is so slowly it doesn't hit you until the end of the film that he has transformed into more of who he really is. Zach is brilliant in his role as actor.

Zach's directing is fresh with his still-life shots throughout as well as his use of color to show us the main character's transformation.

I've only seen Natalie Portman in the Star Wars films and I was unimpressed, to put it mildly. She was stunning in Garden State and her performance told me two things: that Zach Braff is skilled and that George Lucas is not. Natalie shows us what real vulnerability and real strength look like in this film.

All-in-all, Garden State is not only worth going out of your way to go to it, it's definitely worth $8.

Other things I've seen this summer include:

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring. A quiet tale of a young boy who grows into a young man then an old man and his transformation through his life. The film's cinematography as used to tell us the tale (much more so than the dialogue) is stunning. Definitely worth $8 but you'll probably have to rent it. That is too bad because it's worth seeing on the big screen.

Napoleon Dynamite. This film is a funny, quirky tale of a geek who in the end shows his true colors. I would describe it like an artsy, intelligent "Revenge of the Nerds". Definitely worth a matinee.

Love Me If You Dare. I would recommend avoiding this one. It's about two young kids who dare each other to do precocious things. The dares get more dangerous as they get older and as they each refuse to acknowledge that they love each other. It had no redeeming value whatsoever. My rating? I want those two hours of my life back. Don't waste your time.

Update to My Summer Drought Post

2004-04-27T21:49:00.000-05:00

This list keeps getting longer and longer. More fun this summer instead of the usual McMovies:

Love Me If You Dare. Maybe it's because we're going to France and I want all things French this year. But maybe because I'm intensely curious about the story.

De-Lovely seduces me into wanting to see it just because it's an official selection of the Festival de Cannes.

The Mother looks absolutely intriguing. And it's not about a white, straight man for a change.

I fell in love with documentaries at Sundance. Lost Boys of Sudan is one I won't miss. Click on the title and check out the trailer.

...and then there are more possible McMovies that I want to see....

The Manchurian Candidate might just be a fable for our times....

It really is hard to resist Tom Hanks sometimes. He has a new one this summer that looks very McMovie-ish, but he's just so adorable and skilled. I'm going to see The Terminal.

Don't forget to check the post below for my full list of summer recommendations! See you at the Movies!

Summer Film Drought

2004-04-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

If you're like me, you stay as far away from certain films and theaters with valet parking as you can get during the dry summer months. But take heart. I have found some secret, lush oases that I can't wait to visit (for the first time or again). Won't you join me this summer? If for no other reason than to nourish your minds and hearts while you get out of the heat.

Run, don't walk to see Saved! You will not be disappointed by this light hearted comedy but you may have to see it twice because you'll miss a good 10% of the film from raucous audience laughter and applause. It's about a teenage young woman at a Christian high school who feels led by Jesus to sleep with her boyfriend to save him from being gay. She becomes pregnant and spends the school year trying to hide it from her friends who in turn try to "Save" her. Its uproariously funny and far, far better than some other crap coming out this summer. Jeanne's rating: Definitely worth $8, twice.

If you have an art theater in town, don't miss this quiet gem of a film, Elina, As If I Wasn't There. It got best of fest award at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival and rightly so I would add (and I saw 26 films during the festival so I should know). Our hero is a 10 year old girl who refuses to submit to a system that would prefer to keep her silent. A rare thing in film these days, I'd say. Jeanne's rating: Definitely worth $8, more than once.

You've heard me talk about The Corporation before so I won't bore you with my raving reviews. But I saw it a second time at the Minnapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. See it. Jeanne's rating: Definitely worth $8 and a 4 hour drive out of your way.

Another quiet but captivating film that I loved from the MSP International Film Festival was Beautiful Memories. It is about a young woman who goes to day treatment for memory problems and falls in love with a man who has lost his memory of his wife and children dying in a car accident. She's losing her memories to Alzheimer's and he's gaining his back. It's a tremendously tender and sweet story about their love, her loss and his healing. I want to see it again if it ever makes it into theaters. Jeanne's rating: Worth $8 more than once.

Lest you think that I am recommending mostly obscure films, here's my list of films that I really want to see this summer instead of the usual fast-food fare:

Napoleon Dynamite looks fun and I heard good buzz about it at Sundance.

I heard at Sundance that Garden State was funny in a "The Graduate" sort of way.

"The best cinematography of all of Sundance" was what one Sundance person said about Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall and...Spring. That's enough to intrigue me.

I heard nothing about Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself at Sundance but it looks intriguing.

Last but definitely not least

Lest you think that I'm a complete and utter film snob, here are the McFilms I can't wait to see:

i robot (this geek really can't wait)
Shrek 2 (this ugly princess really can't wait)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (this fan who misses LOTR horribly already can't wait)

See you at the movies!

Twin Cities International Film Festival

2004-03-31T15:03:00.000-06:00

Here's what I'm hoping to get to! If you're going to any of these, let me know and we can sit together and talk about it afterwards!

Saturday, April 3

1:00 Wolf Summer, Oak Street Cinema, 81 minutes

3:00 Mon Idole, Bell Auditorium, 113'

6:45 The Corporation, Riverview Theater, 145' (I saw this at Sundance and am excited to see it again...you have to see it! Go here to see my review.)

Sunday, April 4

1:00 The Python, Bell Auditorium, 88'

2:45 Eyengui, The God of Dreams, Bell Auditorium, 91'

5:00 Granny, Oak Street Theater, 97'

7:15 Invisible Light, Macalester College, 94' (I might miss this one because it starts barely more than a half an hour after Granny ends.)

Monday, April 5

5:45 Screaming Men, Macalester College, 76' (Another one missed at Sundance--because it was by and about white men. But I heard good buzz about it so I'm seeing it here!)

Tuesday, April 6

5:15 The Color of Happiness, Oak Street Cinema, 87'

7:15 Beautiful Memories, Oak Street Cinema, 110'

Wednesday, April 7

5:00 Eila, Oak Street Cinema, 94'

7:30 Dying at Grace, Riverview Theater, 148'

Thursday, April 8

7:15 Jesus, You Know, Oak Street Cinema, 87'

9:15 Some Secrets, Oak Street Cinema, 100'

Friday, April 9

9:15 Twin Sisters, Oak Street Cinema, 129'

Midnight Erotic Tales Shorts, Oak Street Cinema, 112'

Saturday, April 10

1:00 Story of the Weeping Camel, Crown Theater, 90'

5:30 Tupperware, Bell Auditorium, 99'

8:30 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Oak Street Cinema, 76' (Normally, I wouldn't go see a film like this, but there was a lot of positive buzz about this film at Sundance. I wanna see what I missed!)

Sunday, April 11

2:45 James's Journey to Jerusalem, Bell Auditorium, 87'

4:45 Heir to an Execution, Bell Auditorium, 99' (Missed this one at Sundance, but wanted to see it. Heard good things about it at Sundance.)

7:15 The Letter, Macalester, 76'

Monday, April 12

7:00 Native Voices Shorts, Macalester, 133'

9:30 Veils Uncovered showing with My Body, Macalester, 60'

Tuesday, April 13

This is an iffy day. I'd like to see all these films, but I may only see one or two.

5:00 Traveling Light, Oak Street Cinema, 90'

7:00 Strange as Angels, Macalester, 96'

9:00 Saturday: A Real Time Movie, Macalester, 65'

Wednesday, April 14

7:00 Asshak: Tales from the Sahara, Riverview, 114'

9:30 Surplus: Terrorized into Being Customers, Bell Auditorium, 64' (I really want to see this one--it sounds similar to The Corporation, which I saw at Sundance.)

Thursday, April 15

9:45 Girlhood, Bell Auditorium, 111'

Friday, April 16

7:15 Conversations with Barrie Osborne, Riverview, undetermined time/live event with Academy Award winning (for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) Producer Barrie Osborne (I may skip this one).

9:30 Crimson Gold, Bell Auditorium, 95' (This one won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes in 2003)

Saturday, April 17

11:00 Elina: As If I Wasn't There, Oak Street Cinema, 97'

7:30 Saved!, Riverview Theater, 92'

Closing Night Party at Sawatdee? Admittance to party with closing show ticket or Gold Pass only.

One Last Time

2004-02-08T19:39:00.000-06:00

Here's the brief version of what I had to say about all the movies I saw at Sundance.

CSA: Confederate States of America: Definitely worth $8. The good news is that IFC has purchased it so you might be able to see it in a theater near you soon.

Evergreen: Worth at least a matinee (though I will pay $8 to see this quiet film again). I contacted Enid Zentellis and she said that they are currently in talks with some people about distribution and that they are hopeful.

Brother to Brother: Should be required viewing for all. Worth $8. The good news is in! The director tells me that he has five bids for theatrical release so it’s probably a done deal. Look for it soon. Or, if you’re lucky enough to be at the Berlin Film Festival this week, check Brother to Brother out.

Sky Blue: Worth a matinee only if you like animation but I won’t be seeing this film again.

Redemption: Another one I can’t wait to see again. People who feel ambiguous about the death penalty should watch this one on FX on April 11th. Definitely worth your April’s cable bill & TiVo subscription.

Edge of America: Worth a matinee at least. I’ll see this one again. It’s a Showtime film and if it’s only going to be there….I’m out of luck because I don’t have cable.

D.E.B.S.: Worth throwing a queer women’s only party for and paying $8 each to go see it together. Word from the director is that Sony Screen Gems has this film and is planning on a May release date. I can’t wait! Be on the lookout you fabulous queer women out there.

Easy: A little long-ish but worth $8. I’ll see it again but at matinee prices. Haven’t heard anything about whether this one has been picked up or not.

Silent Waters: You’ll have to find a place that shows foreign films for this one but it’s worth the drive and the $8. The distributor tells me that this one isn’t yet going to be distributed in the US. The key word is yet. My fingers are crossed.

The Control Room: Definitely worth $8 and I’d pay more than that to see it again. No word from the director or producer about it’s possible release. My guess is that the media big whigs don’t want you to see this one.

The Land Has Eyes: Skip this one. I wanted my money back (but not those two hours of my life back).

The Corporation: I am still reeling from this one and need to see it again. Glad to hear from their website that it’s currently playing in Canada and “poised for US release”.

Primer: Definitely worth $8 as many times as you need to figure out the plot. I’m going again when it comes out and it will since it won Grand Jury Drama prize at Sundance. I heard from Shane, the writer and director, that it looks like Primer is coming out sometime in November!

Super Size Me: I feel very mixed about this movie. I think this film, with The Corporation and The Control Room, would make a good part of a trilogy. But by itself, it lacks depth. See it, but don’t pay full price.

If these films appear in theaters, I want to see
Eulogy (Susan said, “Funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time”), Napoleon Dynamite, Spring Summer Fall Winter…and Spring, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Goodbye Lenin, Garden State, Seducing Dr. Lewis, Heir to an Execution, Investigation into the Invisible World (yes, the link is to a French site…it’s all I could find), and The Woodsman (buzz is that New Market Films has this one so you should see it this year or next).

That’s all folks. This website is going down in a few weeks, hopefully by April 1st. Hate to take up valuable web property and server space! See you at the movies sometime!

A Satisfying Last Day

2004-01-26T16:38:00.000-06:00

I saw The Corporation, Primer and Super-Size Me today. It couldn’t have been a better last day.

The Corporation is a documentary about Corporations—their development in the early part of the 20th century, their “psychosis” and hope for the future. I understand from our MGM friend that this has been picked up by United Artists so hopefully you’ll get to see this one soon.

It was 2 ½ hours but it didn’t feel like 2 ½ hours. The story keeps getting worse and worse until towards the end you see that people can change the world and keep corporations from buying everything, including rain in Bolivia. See this if you want to know why people protest the World Trade Organization or Wal-Mart or Slave Labor. See it if you work for a corporation or own corporate stocks or if you think all that I’ve said is a bunch of hooey. It’ll be an education.

Primer won the dramatic grand jury prize, much to many people’s surprise because many didn’t like it, and many didn’t understand it. Primer was on my list of things I wanted to see but it was lower on the list because it was by and about white men. I wanted to see it because the plot seemed interesting.

Primer is about four young (20s or 30s) men who are tech industry workers (perhaps engineers) trying to start a business. Two of them end up building a time machine that goes only backwards. They come up with a scheme about how to deal with the paradox of going back in time by taking themselves out of the equation by shutting themselves into a hotel and trading stocks they had researched the first time around on that day. From there, I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened because I don’t completely understand it. I hope it gets distributed because I want to see it again.

Primer was an amazing film given that it was made for $7,000. (D.E.B.S. was made for $3.5 million and was considered “low budget.) Not only do I want to see Primer again, I would pay $8 to see it again. This film isn’t for everyone because the plot line is challenging. But I was engaged and look forward to trying to figure it out later.

There was all sorts of buzz about Super Size Me. Before I came to Sundance, tickets for Super Size Me were selling on eBay for $450. People were turning down offers of $250 for their ticket. It was the hottest ticket in Park City. Wait list lines were very long and hardly anyone got to see it who didn’t have a ticket to it.

So of course when it won the documentary directing award, I had to go see it because I didn’t need a ticket with my Awards weekend pass.

Super Size Me is about the director, Morgan Spurlock, who ate nothing that wasn’t on the McDonalds menu for 30 days. He also limited his exercise to 4000 steps each day, or just a little over a mile. Morgan is accompanied on his journey by three doctors who think the only effect of this binge will be elevated cholesterol and some weight gain. I won’t tell you how it ends, but the doctors were wrong.

Morgan Spurlock’s stated intent with the film is to figure out whose responsibility it is that America is the fattest nation in the world. Where does personal responsibility end and corporate responsibility begin? He was inspired by the two young women who sued McDonald’s for their obesity.

While his images were compelling, I found that Morgan’s analysis of this issue is shallow and one-sided. He (mostly) demonized obese people by showing almost all of them without a face and used them as humorous notes in his film. He focused on McDonald’s as the cause of his health issues at the end of 30 days and blamed his weight game on the food, rather than the combination of his food and lack of exercise. I bet if he’d exercised as much as he normally did (living in New York City he says he walked 4-5 miles/day), he wouldn’t have become so sick.

To his credit, he did show two young obese women (both in their teens) who talked about how hard it is to be obese in our culture and how much the images of super-thin people keep these women in shame. He should have talked about eating disorders, though. Another great part of this documentary was his look into school lunches and how corporations are training young people to eat proccessed foods. It was scary, actually. (When I was a kid, we didn't have lunches like this at William Penn High in New Castle. In the film, kids were taking HoHo's and chips and soda for their lunches. )

Martin exposes Mickey D’s marketing tactics and shows how terrible a fast food diet really is. But again, this analysis was shallow because after the movie, Susan and I went out to dinner at a very fine restaurant. Their entrees were not called entrees but “Big Plates”. I had half a salad but that was enough to just about fill me up. They brought dessert to the next table and it looked like a large piece of chocolate cake. It was their brownie. Martin Spurlock should have tried eating three squares a day for thirty days at any restaurant in the US and I bet that he’d have had the same or worse effects.

I emailed the International Size Acceptance Organization's Director because I was surprised to see their name in the credits. Apparently, the director interviewed them in February of 2002 but they were not in the film and were surprised to hear about the content. They have requested an advanced copy of the film to review. I'm curious about what they will think about having their name on such a film.

I’d say Super Size Me is worth renting and parts of it should be required viewing in junior and senior high schools. Certainly not worth $450 or $250 or all the hype it got at Sundance. I saw better films this week.

2004-01-24T23:44:00.000-06:00

Another slow-ish film day. I didn’t want to get up early so slept in, posted Friday’s blog, and went to see The Control Room directed by Jehain Noujaim, a woman whose mother is from the US and whose father is Egyptian.

This is another one to skip your parent’s 50th anniversary for. I’m not kidding. Worth not only the $10 I paid for the ticket, but the airfare and hotel, too.

The Control Room is a documentary about al-Jazeera, the Arab world’s most popular news outfit, during the beginning of the war on Iraq. It takes place in Quatar, Al Jazeera’s home country, as well as CentCom (“sounds like sit-com” says one journalist), which is the US military’s press central for the war.

It was compelling, start to finish, because for the first time, we get to see an Arab point of view outside of what Mr. Rumsfeld has to say. To start off, in case you believe Donald, Mr. Rumsfeld claims that Al-Jazeera is the “mouth piece of Osama bin Laden” (and that’s a direct quote). In fact, Al-Jazeera wants to encourage free speech in the Arab world and is “officially” banned in many Arab countries because Al-Jazeera criticizes the governments of many countries for not being more democratic.

The most memorable moment of the film for me came out of the ongoing intimate interviews with one particular US soldier responsible for dealing with the press at CentCom. This soldier opened himself in an unexpected way when he was being interviewed about Al-Jazeera showing the dead and captured US soldiers.

He said that when he saw dead Iraqi people on Al-Jazeera, he didn’t feel very much. However when he saw the dead US soldiers, he was so angry. He realized the hypocrisy of this and said that seeing these deaths make him angry about war but that he’s not yet convinced that war isn’t sometimes necessary.

Not your usual military rhetoric.

I was impressed with the complexity and depth of all the people in the film (except Mr. Rumsfeld of course).

I was more impressed with the Q&A afterwards because the main Al-Jazeera correspondent from the film was present with the director on stage. It was a spirited, passionate discussion afterwards, including a question from three marines in the audience who asked why there weren’t any images showing Iraqi children giving the US soldiers flowers.

I wanted to yell, “I feel like that’s all we see in the US!” But I was humbled later when I went up to the director (with 20 others) and watched the same marine go up to the Al-Jazeera correspondent and tell him that he thought that the world needs Al-Jazeera and that he hoped that the correspondent didn’t take offense. I caught that moment on my digital camera in film & audio. I had my camera turned into portrait mode and need help figuring out how to rotate it. Can nyone help with this one?

I also got the whole Q&A on digital audio but I need to clean it up. Once I tinker with it, I’ll share it here.

Our second film was The Land Has Eyes about a young woman living on Rotuma, an island that’s part of Fiji but is 300 miles south of Fiji. I expected to like it but didn’t. It disappointed on many levels. This film was 90 minutes but should have been a 40 minute short. It was poorly edited, acted, and scripted. Don’t waste any of your money or time on this one, and I won’t waste any more of your time writing about it.

Tomorrow are three award winners:

The Corporation, Audience Favorite for World Cinema Documentary

Super Size Me, Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Directing

Primer, Grand Jury Prize for Drama as well as the Alfred P. Sloan winner for portrayal of a scientist

I’ll blog about those when I get a chance either Sunday night or Monday after I get home (or at the airport if there’s internet access available). I will also have some reflections to post a couple of days after I get back. This has been an amazing experience and I’ve had some thoughts running around in my head and heart that I’d like to share with you later.

This Is What Happens...

2004-01-23T23:35:00.000-06:00

…when I get to see so many films, none of which are by or about white men.

I saw Silent Waters today, directed by a woman from Pakistan named Sabiha Sumar. As a film it was stunning. But this isn’t why I am writing today.

First, let me tell you about the film. The story, about a woman and her son, mostly takes place in 1979 when Islamic martial law was enacted in Pakistan. As the film unfolds, the woman, Ayesha, has flashbacks to 1947 when Pakistan was separated from India. Each time she has a flashback, you see more of her story but we don’t see its entirety until the end of the movie.

Ayesha is probably 50 with warm, bright, loving eyes. She cares for her son and teaches Islam to young girls in her town. We see her celebrating the wedding of a friend’s daughter and helping another friend make clothes for the other young women in town.

Then two men come into town to spread the word about Islamic law and to get young men to “fight for Pakistan”. Her son joins these men and this drives a wedge between Ayesha and her son.

I won’t spoil this film for you but suffice it to say that in 1947 and in 1979 women are the currency of hatred.

See it.

I don’t, however, want you to see this and spend time pointing fingers at Islamic “extremists” or the Sikhs who would murder their women before “handing them over” to Muslims. I prefer to see this film as a mirror.

I am still crying about this movie. Yes, I’m grieved at the story that this film tells. I grieve for the women in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and everywhere else where women aren’t at the table when decisions are made about the law of the land.

But what grieves me more is that women still are mostly exluded from that table here in the United States. You doubt me? We have a lot of politicians who have no qualms with making a law about women’s health without consulting women. Whether you are pro or anti choice, doesn’t it strike you that there are no women in the picture as Bush signs a law that affects only women?

It’s not only Bush either. Take a look at your city council, Governor’s office, your state legislatures, our Congress, the slate of presidential candidates before us.

The same can be said for people of color, and I don’t mean only African-Americans.

It’s easy for me to get discouraged and I don’t mean for you to be discouraged by reading this. I find hope in manyplaces and people.

Vote.

I am writing because I want my niece, when she’s 50, to see a movie about how we turned our world around by coming to the table. I want to her to see that women are the currency of change in 2004.

...And Back Down to Earth

2004-01-23T16:52:00.000-06:00

Spent the majority of my first film yesterday, Redemption, teary-eyed and crying. This was one powerful film and I truly hope that you get to see it. Redemption is about the man, Tookie Williams who started the gang The Crips and the work he’s doing now to turn young people away from gangs.

Redemption was directed by the African-American actor, Vondie Curtis Hall. His visual story is as compelling as the actual story-he uses color, film grainyness and time elapsed film to move you through the main character’s life.

Other things I loved about this movie included:

The strong female lead character portraying Professor Barbara Becnel as, eventually, Tookie’s advocate, partner in his work, and friend

The hope for a gang-violence free future that this film offers the youth of today around the world.

My next film was Edge of America by noted Native American filmmaker, Chris Eyre (who directed Smoke Signals a number of years ago). Basically, it’s a story about an African American man who goes to an Indian reservation to teach English composition at Three Nations High School. He eventually becomes the girls basketball coach and takes the team to the state championship.

I loved Smoke Signals and was hopeful about Edge of America. I wasn’t disappointed but this film didn’t quite rise to the level that Smoke Signals did.

As is typical for Chris Eyre, this film has several morals and it lacks the typical Hollywood ending. I love that. I also loved the acting, especially James McDaniel.

What was missing for me this time around was the depth that Smoke Signals had. In addition, there were distracting loose ends that never got addressed by the end of the movie.

See it, if for no other reason, to get a different perspective than you usually get in your movie-going experience. There are few white people in this film and the women and girls are presented realistically—as strong, brave and intelligent.

My last movie of the Thursday was D.E.B.S. I am praying to the gods of film distribution to get this out into the world. It is a completely campy, fun and wholly entertaining film about young women recruited out of high school to be this country’s first line of defense against the evil in the world.

Anytime there are movies about strong capable women, especially in crime-fighting movies, directors always tease us with hints of a lesbian sub-text but it never comes to fruition.

D.E.B.S. gives it all up. And it’s safe for your 13-year old to see it. Yes, it just got rated as PG-13. My face hurt after that film because I was grinning because it was so much fun. Susan and I even went up to the director, Angela Robinson to congratulate her on this film and thank her for making a lesbian film where it’s just a matter of fact and the lesbian isn’t crazy, a drug addict, a sex addict, a serial killer, or child abuser.

On the way back to our hotel, Susan and I chatted with a woman named Linda who works for MGM in “acquisitions”. This means that she’s here at Sundance to buy, buy, buy. She was fun to talk to because she’s been to other festivals and she’s knowledgeable about what’s out, what’s coming out, and what’s good.

Just about everyone at this festival is like this—easy to approach and talk to. I’ve talked to up and coming producers, film makers, minor actors, film students, studio reps, New York Times journalists, as well as locals. All of them are friendly and down to earth. Not to say that there isn’t some level of snootiness but who cares about that when you have so many other wonderful people to talk to.

My first movie this morning, Easy started with a delightful short called Dysenchanted. I’ve seen a few shorts and they’ve been good but not so memorable. Dysenchanted is memorable. It’s a support group that has women like Cinderella, Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz), Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and other female fairy tale characters. Oh, and one modern divorced woman with PMS and children with ADD. It’s witty as well as reflective of life for middle class women in this country. I wish there were more short film venues.

I hate doing this but I want you to clear your mind of preconceptions of the words I’m about to use. I would describe Easy as an intelligent chick flick with depth and character. I know, I hate that word and I dislike most films in the chick flick category. But Easy isn’t easy and isn’t simple and isn’t fluff.

It’s about a young woman who is, in her own words, a “jerk magnet”. She struggles to find herself until she has a crisis that doesn’t turn her life around but points it in a slightly different direction.

Easy feels long (it’s only 99 minutes) because it has a slow & quiet pace, but it is artfully directed by Jane Weinstock. I recommend renting it if you get antsy for action in films you like.

I’m off to lunch. Later today is Silent Waters. Tomorrow holds promise for three films that are somewhat undetermined. We don’t need tickets for Saturday and Sunday because we have Awards Weekend Passes. Stay tuned though!

PS Here are some photos that I've taken so far.

It’s Too Early to Surrender, Isn’t It?

2004-01-21T22:45:00.000-06:00

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 In the Clouds

2004-01-21T13:19:00.000-06:00

We're up in the clouds in more ways than one.

Yesterday's travels were easy but overwhelming once we got into Park City. Swimming through the sea of people, navigating around mountains and acclimating to the thin air up here among the clouds (7,500 feet above sea level). Everyone is friendly and helpful including this lovely woman from Liverpool who spent all day the bus stop getting people on the right buses. I had a lovely conversation on a bus with a man named Ari who wants to become a producer. He helped me get on the right bus and transferred to the right bus. Right now as I write this, I am watching a New York Times journalist interview a sales agent from an unknown sales agency company about whether Sundance has become too commercial. He thinks it's the parties are what's getting in the way of doing film business rather than the commercial interests.

But that isn't the story I'm here to write about. Fasten your seatbelts.

Last night we went into Salt Lake City and saw CSA: Confederate States of America, a Ken Burns style "mockumentary" about the US as if the south had won the civil war by director Kevin Willmott. I have a new film rating system. This one was not only worth the $10.75 I paid for the ticket, it was also worth airfare and hotel.

Mr. Willmott started the film with the George Bernard Shaw quote, "If you're going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they'll kill you."

The filmmaker was not kidding. The premise of the movie is that a documentary was made by the BBC and aired for the first time in the CSA about the formation of the country, using Ken Burns' style documentaries. The "showing" of this in the CSA included commercials for things like the Slave Trading Network and The Shackle, an electronic slave tracking system.

The filmmaker succeeded in making me laugh as well as look at our culture that still has so many slave images. In addition, he humorously and subtly ties slavery to the way corporations work in our world today. After the film there was a lively Q&A (I wish I had taken my camera) with Mr. Willmott and he said it better than I could ever. He wanted to make a film that would "break the logjam of race relations in this country". It's time. In addition, look for other films from Mr. Willmott addressing racism and history in the US.

The good news for you is that CSA has been picked up by IFC. See it when you can. Dump your anniversary plans, wait to visit your dying great aunt. See it.

This morning I woke up before the dawn and among the clouds, literally. We got to Evergreen by filmmaker Enid Zentelis. This film too had an amazing post film Q&A with the film maker and this time with the actors (I had my camera this time).

Evergreen is about a teenager living in working poor conditions with her mother and grandmother. She is new in town and finds a boyfriend with money and she's embarassed. But really, that isn't what this movie is about and Ms. Zentelis confirmed this during the Q&A. It's about a girl's relationship with her mother, it's about class differences and assumptions in our culture, and in the end it's about how hard it is to get by in the wealthiest country in the world. As the filmmaker says, "It shouldn't be this hard". Definitely worth a full price ticket and then some.

Two down, too many more to go.

Needless to say but I'm saying it anyway, I feel like I am in the clouds. I watch and listen to amazing conversations about film making, producing and selling. I didn't expect to love the post-film Q&As but I love hearing the filmmaker's take on the movie. More stories to come!

Mona Lisa Smile

2004-01-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

Saw it today. The down and dirty is that it's Worth a Matinee. I tend to dislike Julia Roberts but she was real in this movie. It had a happy and very un-hollywood ending and I like un-hollywood. Mona Lisa Smile has many up and coming actors that I love including Maggie Gyllenhaal and Kirsten Dunst. It's nice to see them in a woman-centered movie.

I disagree with the folks over at here who say that the movie's message is "Sexism is bad". I came away feeling like it's message is "Women keeping other women 'in line' with sexist roles is bad". This is a message that we don't hear enough about--internalized oppression and our own enforcement of it against each other helps to keep us oppressed.

I also disagreed with afterellen.com about the lesbian character in Mona Lisa Smile. Nice that there was one. Not so nice that she handed out birth control. I worked at Planned Parenthood and I know that the not so Right think that we're all Lesbians. This movie is just more proof.

Sigh.

Tee hee. I found another queer movie blogger. She's in my links.

At Last

2004-01-09T14:25:00.000-06:00

First, there was chaos.

Then there was Light.

And it was good.

The Selection, Revised

2004-01-06T14:13:00.000-06:00

Boy oh boy, it was not fun this morning trying to buy tickets. I've been working on this actively since 11 a.m. central time and have not yet finalized all the tickets. I have finalized my schedule but an once again in the online waiting queue trying to add two more films to Susan's list. We'll see if it's available. My final schedule is here and also in the links to the right.

USE the COMMENT feature! I want to hear from you!

The Selection, Finally

2004-01-05T15:08:00.000-06:00

After much work and even more agonizing, I have selected the films I am going to see. Click here to see the schedule. You'll see on Sunday that I have listed all the awards films. We won't know which ones we'll be going to until we see who has actually won. It will depend on what we've seen and if we want to see things a second time and whether we've eaten or slept lately. Check back while I'm at Sundance (1/20-1/26) to see what I have to say about what (and who) we've seen!

Don't be afraid--use my Comments feature to let me know what you'd see if you were going. What films appeal to you? Of the films I have picked, what ones would you never see, what films would you not miss for the world?

School of Rock Rocks

2003-12-31T12:34:00.000-06:00

We saw School of Rock a couple of nights ago at the Riverview, just four blocks away. While it was formulaic and a little slow at times, I had a lot of fun by the end of the movie. The adults did a fine job, with a great performance (reminiscent of John Belushi) by Jack Black, the kids were truly the stars of the show. And for the first time in my life, I was not the only one to stay in the theater until the end of the credits. That alone makes this movie definitely Worth a Matinee.

I Like This Guy's Reviews

2003-12-28T00:23:00.000-06:00

Generally I agree with Colin Colvert of the Star Tribune. I am even going over to Netflix to add some of the movies I missed off of his Best and Worst 03 list to my Netflix queue.

My Sundance reviews won't look like his. To see a sample of what my reviews might look like, click here.

Two Movies Today

2003-12-27T01:56:00.000-06:00

I guess I'm warming up for Sundance! Today, Liz and I went to two movies (a record for the two of us, though not for me). We saw Lost in Translation and Big Fish.

When I go to a movie, I see things differently than I think most people. I see myself, people in my life, icons and stories that inform me and inform our culture. This is true even for movies I don't like so much.

I expected to really like Big Fish because I have really liked Tim Burton as a director. In addition, there was an impressive cast including some of my favorites: Ewan McGregor, Robert Guilliuame, Jessica Lange, Steve Buscemi.

Big Fish really has only one thing going for it: this movie is a story about an absent father healing with his offspring. The film is being touted as a father-son movie, but at the end of the movie, I saw a woman in the row in front of me dabbing her eyes with a tissue. I realized that, especially for people of my generation and older, fathers were more distant and cold, often "missing" at the office until late in the evening. My father was just emotionally absent and like the son in the film, I too made up stories about my father. I still do from time to time. This movie touched me because of the healing that happened between this absent father and his son. Big Fish will be a success because this image of a "missing in action" father is an icon for people my age and older.

In spite of that, I was distracted by Tim Burton's inability to make an emotionally real story with fantastical elements to it. He should stick to fantastical stories with emtionally real elements. Big Fish was slow at times and I became impatient.

With that, I rate Big Fish as "Worth Renting". See my Movie Rating Scale if you want to know what that rating means and what my movie rating scale is overall.

As for Lost in Translation, I'll start off with a rating of somewhere between "I Want My Money Back" and "I Want Those Two Hours of My Life Back." I know I say in my movie rating scale that I almost never rate movies with the last rating but here's a close example. I think I don't rate it that low because I'm afraid of judgement! So many people liked it. Rotten Tomatoes has rated it as 95% fresh. Egads. I wonder what I am missing.

It's so clear to me that Daddy funded this little project for his daughter Sofia Coppola. Sofia's psychology is also so clear from this film. She's completely enamored with her father and solely defines herself by him. Just like the main character in this film who is defined by how men see her.

It's MASTURBATORY, and in my opinion, filmmaking at its worst. Over and over again we see the culture differences between the United States and Japan. This story gets tiring after a while. That's interesting for about fifteen minutes. Okay, so both main characters see themselves as outsiders in Japan and also in their existing relationships. Then what.

Nothing, that's what.

The one thing that is interesting to me is all the sights and sounds of Japan as seen through this filmmaker's eyes. I would want to hear from Ms. Coppola about the filming process.

On the positive side, because I try to say something good about every movie I see, is Bill Murray's performance. Who knew that he is capable of such depth? Go Bill and Go Sophia for seeing that side of him. I'd like to see Sophia's films when she's, say, 45. At 32, she leaves so many things lacking, especially in her female character.

So, maybe just "I Want My Money Back". If you have been to Japan or want to go to Japan or are just interested in what life might be like for you if you visited Japan, then rent it. You do not need to waste perfectly good full price movie money on this one.

Have you seen these films? Agree or disagree with my ratings? Use my new Comments function at the top of each post! I would love to hear from you!

It Gets Trickier and Trickier

2003-12-24T00:34:00.000-06:00

Well, well, well. Not only do I have to pour over descriptions, apparently I have to pour over press contacts and other things I thought were minutiae. Come to find out, Iron Jawed Angels is an HBO film and if it isn't optioned by one of the major distributors at Sundance, it's going to be on HBO. My fabulous brother Bob is going to Tivo it for me. I'm finding that some of my top movies are already optioned by major distributors while others remain on my top 10 list.

Saw LOTR: Return of the King. For those of you familiar with my movie rating scale: WORTH paying $8 more than once.

For those of you not in the know, here's my movie rating scale, from best to worst. I'll use it frequently on this Blog when I'm at Sundance.

Worth $8: This means that I thought that the movie was well worth waiting in line, sitting next to someone (instead of an empty seat) and paying $8 (or $10 for those of you on the coasts) to see this film. This movie has to touch me in a very deep place to get this rating. Fancy special effects and chick-flick status doesn't cut it. Movies in this category include the Lord of the Rings trilogy (but not the second movie), Boys Don't Cry, Wings of Desire, The Matrix (only the first one), American Splendor and The Apostle. As an aside, I very occasionally say that a movie is worth seeing more than once at $8. I haven't said that about a movie since Shawshank Redemption, in 1994. It's been a while.

Worth a Matinee: I liked the movie but not enough to pay $8. Definitely worth seeing, especially on the Big Screen, if you get a chance but don't go out of your way or pay too much to do so. This usually means that I was entertained by a movie but was not profoundly moved by it. Movies in this category have been things like the Star Wars series (especially the new ones, definitely need to see them on the big screen but definitely NOT worth $8), Bridget Jones's Diary, and so forth.

Worth Renting: I liked it but not enough to eat movie theater popcorn (except for, of course Riverview Theater popcorn), and wished I had shared the expense for the movie with someone. These are the more mainstream movies with big stars. I watch these movies when I want to laugh or escape from reality and have nothing better to do with my time. Movies with Hugh Grant usually fall into this category. I like them but they are mostly forgettable.

I Want My Money Back: Definitely did not like this movie. Movies that fall into this category include Forrest Gump (yes, I was one of the three people in the US who really didn't like that movie), The Piano (with Holly Hunter--it felt like a two hour long rape), and most movies that come out between Memorial Day and Labor Day with few exceptions.

I Want Those Two Hours of My Life Back: Only a small handful of movies fall into this category. There was a "lesbian" movie that I saw way back in 1992 that falls into this category. I don't remember the title, but it was an early attempt at getting at some of the GLBT community's "disposable income". I do remember one of the lines from the film, if you could call it that. It was from this haggard old bull dyke smoking a stub of a cigarette and she said to a completely femme mostly straight woman, "If ya eat pussy, ya eat pussy." I wanted those two hours of my life back.

Let's hope that most of the movies I see at Sundance are of the first two categories because I'm paying way more than $8 to see each film. Maybe when all is said and done, I'll tell you what it actually cost to see each movie!

Getting Things Straight

2003-12-21T23:29:00.000-06:00

As I read description after description, I'm getting clearer and clearer what my criteria are going to be for selecting the films I want to see. First, stories that look like something that would come out of Hollywood or that will be picked up by Hollywood because of star power are OUT. Take Dogville, for instance. It's a "foreign" film by an established Danish director named Lars von Trier. Most Americans probably haven't heard of him, yet, but because of a cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall and James Caan, this film will be seen in your local multiplex in the coming months. Look at The Dreamers also. This film even has a February general release date!

Why waste my time at Sundance seeing something I can see here?

The films that are in are ones that are directed by or about women, people of color, queer folk or other groups that Hollywood generally ignores. I am also looking for other things that would make a film not be mainstream--a film with taboo topics or storylines. Take for example D.E.B.S. Here's the description from the Sundance website:

There is a secret test hidden within the S.A.T. designed to identify students who can lie, cheat, fight, and kill. High scorers are recruited by a secret government agency and trained to become members of the nation's most elite paramilitary group: the D.E.B.S. With her exciting and stylish feature debut, D.E.B.S, director Angela Robinson gives us a bubbly, sexy, fun-filled send-up of secret-agent espionage movies, action thrillers, wild parties, and teen angst.

To the outside world, the D.E.B.S. look like picture-perfect plaid-skirted, well-schooled young women. But really they are our nation's first line of defense. Their arch enemy? Lucy in the Sky, a sexy, diamond-bejeweled bank robber so evil that no crime fighter has faced her and lived to tell the tale--until the D.E.B.S. are ordered to take her down. Amy, the poster girl D.E.B., allows Lucy to capture her, but instead of killing Amy, Lucy asks her out on a date. The D.E.B.S. mount a rescue mission, unaware that Amy is having an illicit affair with Lucy and has staged her own kidnapping so they can be together.

Action chick flicks such as Charlie's Angels are infamous for lesbian innuendo, but D.E.B.S. delivers full throttle on this tantalizing promise. It's a fun ride for all, as Robinson aims to revolutionize girl power for a new generation.

Girl power with a full throttle lesbian plot. Hmmmm. I have a feeling that this one isn't going to be picked up by the major studios anytime soon. It's in my top 10.

Take a look at the program. Use my new comments function to tell me (and everyone else who reads the blog) what films you would want to see. A word of advice...it will be easy for you to get overwhelmed. I'd recommend picking only one of the categories and going through the films in that category. Then if you feel you haven't had enough, go on to the next one...more tomorrow!

Too Many Films, So Little Time

2003-12-17T15:39:00.000-06:00

Sigh. The list goes on.

Brother to Brother, a movie about an African American gay man who meets a contemporary of Langston Hughes and realizes that his struggle in a straight white dominated culture isn't much different than Langston Hughes'; Primer about four men making new technology when they realize they are making something that will give them anything they want; One Point O, a weird-sounding movie that intrigues me about an increasingly paranoid computer programmer; Farmingville, a documentary about a town on Long Island facing its own racism around undocumented workers, September Tapes, a fictional film made out to be a documentary (think Blair Witch Project), about a journalist covering the war in Afghanastan who disappears and the person on his tracks, Home of Phobia, a film about a white male freshman in 2003 who gets cast by his frat brothers as gay....

I could go on for days. I haven't yet poured through the World Cinema and the World Cinema Documentaries, as well as the many shorts & panel discussions. More to come as I make my way through the program!

The Program is Here!

2003-12-15T18:03:00.000-06:00

And I can't believe that I'm already disappointed that I am not going to be there the whole time. One movie that I really wanted to see is Iron Jawed Angels starring Hilary Swank who starred in Boys Don't Cry, one of my favorite movies of all time. Iron Jawed Angels is about two suffragists who ended up in prison because of the work they did around 1900. Iron Jawed Angels is only showing January 16th, 17th and 18th.

The other movie that I really wanted to see was In the Company of Women, a documentary about women filmmakers and actors in a white male dominated industry. That is only showing one night, on Friday, January 16th.

The program is so long and detailed so I haven't had enough time to chart out what movies I really want to see, but some on the top of my list include: Redemption, a true story about the man who started the Crips gang; D.E.B.S., an action chick-flick with a lesbian relationship as part of the main plot; Deadline, a documentary about Illinois Governor George Ryan and his march to putting a permanent stay of executions in the state; Heir to an Execution, a documentary about the son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; Persons of Interest, a documentary about how Muslims were treated in the US after 9-11; Supersize Me, a documentary where the director, for 30 days, has to eat nothing that isn't on the McDonald's menu and explores the US's obsession with fast food;CSA: The Confederate States of America, a mockumentary in the style of Ken Burns about America if the south had won the civil war; The Control Room, a documentary about the war on Iraq from the point of view of Al Jazeera.

And I'm only about a third of the way through the program. I haven't yet figured out what I can see based on schedule and location. Then I need to talk with Susan and we need to decide what we are seeing together.

All this has to be done before January 6th so we can call first thing to order tickets when the sales lines open up.

I hope I can make it in time!

Sundance Announces Lineup!

2003-12-05T15:32:00.000-06:00

Well, it's happening! Sundance is finally announcing their lineup for the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Website only has film names and directors, without details but some news outlets are beginning to post details. I already have a long list of things I want to see and I'll be posting those in the next few days. Check back soon!

Women Directors and More On Sundance

2003-11-08T14:25:00.000-06:00

I went in search of former Sundance Blogs and found this interesting article about how women directors are often ignored, even when they are well received at film festivals like Sundance or Cannes. I just don't understand why so many people think that sexism doesn't exist and that feminism is a dirty word.

I did actually find one other Sundance Blog. This one was by Rebecca Hodges of the Salt Lake Tribune. Hers is mostly about the films she saw and a little about the culture of Sundance. The only other one I found was this one from a guy who intended to blog every day but didn't have a single one. I guess he spent too much time on his snowboard. Or maybe his flight was cancelled. Again.

2003-10-25T12:51:00.000-05:00

I am being SUCH a geek. I just figured out how to add banners to websites! I just added a link at the bottom of the page to another organization that I love supporting, The Women's Foundation of Minnesota. They are cooler than COOL.

This has nothing at all to do with Sundance, of course, but I am having too much fun with this.

Here are some pictures of my dad that I scanned in some time ago. Isn't he a handsome fella?

2003-10-23T20:53:00.000-05:00

Great news! We've got airline tickets, hotel reservations, and we even have shuttle service to and from the airport.

We will be at the festival from Tuesday, January 20, 2004 through Monday, January 26, 2004.

We really splurged on the hotel, but there wasn't much available within 30 miles and then we'd have to deal with a car rental, gas costs, parking costs and traffic. Besides, the hotel has a great indoor/outdoor heated pool as well as a dry sauna with an amazing view of the mountains. The hotel comes with a full breakfast buffet each morning, so we won't have to worry about breakfast.

This will really be the last post until after January 6th when we buy tickets to the movies we're going to see before the awards weekend! Check back in January!

2003-10-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

Today, the dream started to become reality! My friend Susan and I are going to the 2004 Sundance Film Festival! We went online and bought just about the last two Awards Weekend Passes. We will get to spend the last weekend viewing the 2004 award winners. It also gets us into the Sundance House, Filmmaker Lodge and Digital Center, as well as daytime access to the Music Cafe.

The Sundance Film Festival is January 15-25. We will be there for the last five or so days (we haven't made travel arrangements yet, but that will happen soon).

Check back after January 6th to see what films we're going to see. During the festival, I will post a blog and pictures every day!

Oh, and one more thing, I support Modest Needs. Visit their site and see what they do for so many people!