The 2002 Sundance Film Festival
© 2002 Sundance Institute

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Seven Days In January Part Five

In part four of our Sundance 2002 Film Festival coverage, we reviewed some of the more interestingif not necessarily goodmovies at the event. Today we finally round out our report with one last look at a few more featured films...

THE LARAMIE PROJECT

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DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND

Here's a novel one: a documentary about Amish kids and their wild teen years. Seems the elders don't want the kids to stay down on the farm unless they've first tasted the corrupt world and sowed some wild oats. And sow they do. During a late teen period they're allowed to indulge in all sinful activity (smoking, drinking, drugging, screwing). When they've had their fill, they come back. Or do they? At the center of the drama is a dead ringer for Machauley Caulkin who may not survive any world. Fascinating and well told, this film was one of the best of the fest.

STORYTELLING

Todd Solandz's controversial two-part follow-up to HAPPINESS failed to win over any more supporters than it did in Cannes or Toronto. Move on Todd. You're too good to keep making films this snotty and cynical.

The 2002 Sundance Film Festival

© 2002 Sundance Institute

STOLEN SUMMER

The film that the Project Greenlight contest created (Sam Adams, HBO, Miramax, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, et al). Earnest with a capital "E," this audience pleaser concerns an 8-year-old Catholic boy who tries to convert a Jewish child. It's all very knowing and just the type of film a committee would pick. Heck, you could even show it to your mom and how many Sundance films can you say that about? Comes complete with a straight-to-video cast that includes Aidan Quinn, Bonnie Hunt, Kevin Pollak and Brian Dennehy.

DAUGHTER FROM DANANG

Excellent and engrossing documentary about a half-Vietnamese, half-American woman raised in Tennessee who journeys back to Vietnam to meet her birthmother. Heartbreaking and life affirming, but also much more; the culture clash makes for better drama than 90% of the fiction films that played in the festival.

LOVE LIZA

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THE LARAMIE PROJECT

Two rules of thumb: 1) Opening night Sundance films are usually long on stars and good intentions, and short on innovation and dramatic quality; 2) The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Which both go a long way of explaining this well-meaning drama about the Matthew Shepard killing in Laramie, Wyoming. Guilty of preaching to the converted, LARAMIE co-stars several well-meaning indie staples like Steve Buscemi, Christina Ricci, Laura Linney and Janeane Garofalo, but fails to really shed any new light on this fascinating tragedy.

SECRETARY

S & M, lawyers and the workplace is prime mining material for this bold and rude humorous film starring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal (sister of Donnie Darko). A modern love story with a dark twist.

DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND

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LOVE LIZA

Phillip Seymour Hoffman takes the lead in this sad, funny film about a man trying to cope with his wife's sudden suicide. Written by Hoffman's brother, Gordy, and directed with a sure hand by Todd Louiso, LIZA had audiences divided. Was it a gripping story of one man's scraping bottom or sheer audience torture? I found Hoffman's portrayal of the gas huffing, mood shifting Wilson to be the most complex acting performance of the entire festival. You decide when it comes out in the fall.

GERRY

Gus Van Sant follows up the impossibly pedestrian FINDING FORESTER with an all out art experiment. The question is, do you feel like being his guinea pig? Co-written by co-stars Casey Affleck and Matt Damon, this is a simple tale of two pals (both named Gerry, how very arty) who get lost, get mad and get violent. The takes are long, the dialogue short, the pace somewhere south of tedious. Amazingly, a distributor picked up the film. I can't wait to go to where it's showing just to watch the young girls flee from the theater in disgust.

TEXAS

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TEXAS

Russell Crowe personally put up the money for this music documentary about his Aussie band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. Along with band mate "Billy" Dean Cochran, Crowe started Grunts back in 1984 as a couple of Australian street buskers. TEXAS details how in 2000 the band went from Sydney to London to Austin, Texas. A gritty look at the music business, Russell, in town to promote the film, called it "his little home movie." It's better than that, but not a whole lot. Interesting note: Instead of the film having a director, it's billed this way: "Conceived, considered and construed by Barefoot, Buddha and Mr. Black." Hmm.

BRITNEY BABY: ONE MORE TIME

Hey, wouldn't it be funny if the two burn out guys from AMERICAN MOVIE met up with a drag queen version of Britney Spears? No, it wouldn't.