I came to Sundance eagerly anticipating this one after reading an article about the most bizarre world record holding athlete. Martin Strel is an overweight Slovenian alcoholic who is the greatest endurance swimmer in the world. Big River Man documents this intriguing concoction through Strel’s greatest feat yet: swimming the entire length of the Amazon river.

Director John Maringouin and his crew followed Strel throughout the entire journey beginning in Slovenia where Strel trained. It is there that we are able to get the foundation for the entire film. Eastern European hilarity ensues as the audience gets a look into the life of this unique man. We see him eat at his favorite horse burger joint, then partake in classic Slovenian multitasking by driving drunk while listening to beginner English tapes and practicing breathing using a device to expand his lungs. The tone is set. (more…)

Two older women and a young man take an annual trip to an island where they dry fish, expecting to be taken home before the water freezes.  When they fail to return at the expected time, and after the oldest woman passes away, the boy and his grandmother must find ways to cope on their own.  Before Tomorrow is the third in a trilogy of films (beginning with The Fast Runner and The Journals of Knud Rasmussen), made by contemporary Inuit natives as a way of recapturing a sense of their past.  This one is the feature debut of Madeline Piujuq Ivalu and Marie-Hélène Cousineau of the Arnait Video Collective, based on the novel For Morgendagen by Danish writer Jørn Riel.  It is a beautiful and intimate story, and the tenderness between grandmother and grandson is palpable and moving, as when she encourages him to speak bravely of his first seal hunt, asking him to elaborate on his simple tale, and invest it with a heroic quality.   (more…)

Every once in a while you come across a movie that stays with you for a very long time because of the story. Taking Chance is just such a movie: it hits home and it hits hard. Based on the real life experience of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon), the story revolves around Strobl taking the remains of Chance Phelps, a young Marine killed in Iraq, back to his family. Given that this is Ross Katz’s first directorial feature, it is all the more unique that he manages to convey with such ease a simple story about coming home that provides the audience with an unforgettable experience. (more…)

When I heard that Tom diCillo (Living in Oblivion) had a documentary on The Doors in competition at Sundance this year, I was very excited.  His 1995 film, Living in Oblivion is a bitterly funny take on the frustrations of independent filmmaking.  More importantly, The Doors was my favorite band in High School - that I believed I’d discovered myself, a few decades after their heyday - and Jim Morrison became something of a personal hero.  I had posters of him on my wall, I had all of the albums, I read No One Here Gets Out Alive and a volume of his poetry, and I even grew my hair out to look like his before he’d grown a serious paunch and facial hair.  I’ve since outgrown this fad, and Ray Manzarek’s organ just doesn’t move me anymore, but who wouldn’t want to go back and relive the exciting moments of teenaged discovery?   (more…)

Today, our second day at Sundance, I had the chance to go pick out any movie that was showing today (aand still had available tickets) and go see it. I opted to go see one of the shorts programs, because I love short movies and had no clue what i would be seeing. I really like short films, because they offer a lot of freedom to the filmmakers, because they can be much more abstract and experimental and aren’t quite as tied to plot as full length films. The shorts program that was playing was the fourth one, and I must say that it was very good. All of the films were definitely worth watching and were all very diverse in their subject matter.

The first short that played was The Attack of the Robots from Nebula-5, which was about a teenage boy who swears that robots came and warned him of an impending robot attack, which only he can stop by convincing the world that at 4:50 they must be in a designated place, so as to be spared. The humor was very offbeat and elicited many laughs from the crowd. It was shot incredibly well, all in black and white, often revealing a lot of the hilarity in this situation, as well as some sadness. Though it was a little shorter than expected, it was still very good. (more…)

From beginning to ending this film was intense, stylish, and disturbing. Jean-Stephane Sauvaire created a unique and truthful depiction of children soldiers in Africa. The film was shot in Liberia where there had been a civil from 1989 until 2003. Sauvaire went to Liberia and actually found 15 ex-children soldiers who had fought in the civil war in Liberia to act in the film as the children soldiers.

Now uneducated, impoverished and without family, these children struggle from day to day. Sauvaire gave them a chance to tell their story to the world. These children were forced into a life a death, rape, and drugs by the high ranking members of the countries rebels. The film does not forget to show the humanity of these children still cling on to even after they have had their lives corrupted by the rebel commanders. After all of the sacrifices the children made for the cause of the rebel cause they received no reward for their duty after the war was over, leaving them completely abandoned and helpless.

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My first day at Sundance is extremely incomparable to my first day doing anything else. It wasn’t as drug-induced as getting my wisdom teeth taken out, nor was it as fun as my first race in alpine skiing. It was, despite the overuse of the word, unique. I have the largest collection of tickets, one of which was to the most beautiful movie Before Tomorrow.

Detailing the story of this family, Before Tomorrow goes into the lives of Inuits in the mid 19th century, following their every move from underwater shots up to their sea kayaks to shots following the two main characters, a grandmother and her courageous grandson, in caves and the great white north. The shots were unbelievably beautiful, the music (while redundant) fit extremely well with the emotion of the film, as the singer kept asking why do we have to die (paraphrased). The story line was actually put together using inspiration which co-director Marie-Hélène Cousineau took from actual Inuit stories of a grandfather as well as a book written by John Riel. The other co-director, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, was actually the lead actress in the film.

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Geoff Gilmore Speaking at the Festival

I also attended the opening night ceremonies, and I did so with specific reason. I regretted going last year, but now that I think about it in retrospect I am glad I did. I tend to avoid the star-studded glamor personalities who show up for press and “indie-cred,” all in plentiful supply last year. I would even say it was somewhat so this time around. Luckily, I also avoided most of this by going to the second screening. Robert Redford went off to his party and there was little to no press at the second showing. Instead, I received a heartfelt speech given by the mayor of Park City, in which he not only applauded the festival, but also gave what he said was a rare political plug for the upcoming festivities on Tuesday morning, calling Barack Obama “the greatest president of my lifetime.” While he may have jumped the gun a bit on that one, they are having a jumbo-screen presentation of the inauguration right on main street. In addition to having a low key introduction, the movie was also not the usual opening movie.

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After opening last year with In Bruges, a film packed with star power and scheduled to open in theaters the following weekend, Sundance has chosen this year to open edgy and unpredictable.  It is not just that Mary and Max is an independent claymation flick from Australia, with a darkly comic theme about a lonely and misunderstood 8-year-old girl who strikes up an unlikely and disturbing correspondence and friendship with a 48-year-old overweight depressive male diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.  What was truly unexpected was the moving power of its simple message, achieved without resorting to sentimentalism or cliché.   (more…)

We have arrived at Sundance! Just during the flight into Salt Lake City I managed to have found myself within a three seat radius of various filmmakers involved in two separate short film projects being screened at Sundance! The first was a group from Canada who showing the short film Captain Coulier during the short film selection V. It looks like a hysterical spoof (or parody?) on the 1950-60’s popular Sci-Fi from film and television series. Yet another group of filmmakers hailing from our norther neighbor are bringing us a political thriller which is premiering this Saturday. The film is called Ten For Grandpa and based on the short trailer looks very interesting to say the least. I’m going to work on contacting the filmmakers so watch for more information on these films when we get our hands on them!

OK, I do have to finish this review of Drugstore Cowboy though so I’m going to do the film, and Gus Van Sant (one of my favorite working directors) a huge disservice and give a very brief impression and review of this beautifully made film. (more…)