Receiving a standing ovation at Sundance is a pretty big deal. In fact, receiving a standing ovation at Eccles Theater (which seats about a 1,000 plus) is about as epic as it gets for a filmmaker. The goofy, brilliant, and lovable Mike Cahill wowed the audience with his first feature film Another Earth.

Another Earth offers a unique blend of drama and science fiction. On the night that a twin planet earth is discovered, John Burroughs (William Mapother), loses his family when the recently M.I.T. accepted Rhoda (Brit Marling), slams into his car. Four years later, after John wakes from his coma, and Rhoda is released from prison, their story begins to unravel.

(more…)

The listing for Cold Souls fascinated me when I first flipped through Sundance Film Guide. It described a science fiction film in which souls can be extracted from the body and purchased and sold on a black market. Knowing only this, I had to assume the film would take a metaphysical approach and examine the duality between the body and the soul.

The film starts of with a quote from Descartes in which he describes that the pineal gland in the brain is the physical location of the soul. I assumed this quote would be used to ease us into this exploration of dualism; unfortunately it seemed only to function as a plot device by letting people know the idea behind the soul residing in a physical part of the brain was not new. It also let us know where we need to stretch our creative imagination in order to enjoy this science fiction comedy. (more…)