BLUE CAR
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Seven Days In January Part Three

CINESCAPE contributing editor Paul Zimmerman concludes his "diary" of events seen and heard at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

DAY FIVE

The fest is humming along now with a nice buzz. Sure, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting Don Johnson, Mariah Carey or Christina Ricci, but at least there have been no real freak-outs like the ruckus caused last year when Courtney Love hit town.

LOLA

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The number of good films I've seen grows. BLUE CAR, a gritty coming of age drama about a lost girl who falls for her high school teacher is an assured effort from first time writer-director Karen Moncrieff. Unfortunately, I also have to suffer through fare like the turgid Canadian drama LOLA, a rough time since the lead character is obnoxious and the most interesting actor gets knocked on the head and is out of the picture during the first 30 minutes.

Party Report #1: For days now stories have been building about the "Chrysler House" up in Deer Valley. An area filled with 6,000 square foot ski lodges for rent surrounded by neighbors who abhor festival types, Chrysler decided to have guests park at nearby hotels and get shuttled over. The problem was they used PT Cruisers to do the shuttling and invited around three times the amount the house could hold.

EMPIRE

© 2002 Universal Pictures

The Chrysler House became the Holy Grail of parties, as well as synonymous with Hell. Lucky for us, we got a personal invite the night before to come watch EMPIRE star John Leguizamo do his one-man stage act in the house's living room. Not so lucky for us, they over packed the place again and Leguizamo only did a 10-minute teaser version of his act. Still, the place was the picture of festival decadence and fun. One room had a wall of X-Box's for attendees to play with and a prototype sports car (on ice) was positioned just outside a bay window.

Party Report #2: The very next night things boiled over when Alanis Morissette played a solo acoustic set in the Chrysler living room. Security reported fans climbing through third story windows and general mayhem. Me? I don't really care for her caterwauling and had passed on the event. Phew!

DAY SIX

No festival would be complete without seeing an expertly made, real bummer of a movie. Years ago it was Tim Roth's THE WAR ZONE, this year it's LOVE LIZA starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a web designer trying to recover from his wife's sudden suicide. A decidedly downbeat affair, LIZA should do for "huffing" gasoline what BARFLY did for booze.

LOVE LIZA

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Later that day, I run into Hoffman who confirms a swim scene shot in Louisiana was so cold you could see his breath as he braved the take. He proves to be as nice and self-effacing as many of the characters he plays (his poor sap character in BOOGIE NIGHTS being a memorable standout), and seems quite comfortable playing a warts and all leading man.

Party Report #1: Back at the Zoom Restaurant for the IN STYLE Magazine affair. The usual suspects are in attendance including X-MEN director Bryan Singer. Shrugging, Singer says, "I have some friends who have shorts here and I just wanted to catch some films before heading up to Vancouver."

Vancouver? That would be where he's heading in a month to begin shooting the next X-MEN film. When someone acts surprised, Singer smiles and downplays the situation. "The first one made money so we're doing another. That's how they tell me it works." I ask him what he plans on blowing up this time and he laughs, "We're rebuilding all the sets in Vancouver from [when we shot in] Toronto and then blowing them up!"

The IN STYLE swag bags prove to be just as hot a ticket as all the others I've lovingly detailed. The fight is fierce and we're warned: "If you want a bag you have to get it on the way out and then LEAVE." I decide to wait and hear more about actresses sodomized and set on fire. As a result, I lose out. Poor me.

DAY SEVEN

I skip the morning screenings and head for the Salt Lake City Airport. I know I promised you seven solid days of reporting but hey, I lied.

But that doesn't mean the Sundance fun is over here at CINESCAPE! Check back tomorrow as we take a closer look at the films of the festival.