Some thoughts

You know what I found out the other day? Paris Hiton is at Sundance.

So I am obviously feeling some of the same things about the festival as Barb (hope you read her latest post). But I disagree with her on some key points. She says it is too cold and remote here. I disagree. I think that they should move the festival to the inside of a volcano because Park City is obviously not remote enough if charlatans like Paris Hilton come here. The good thing about having a festival inside a volcano is that only hard core movie lovers would come here and not just people like Paris Hilton.

I wonder if she has seen any movies yet... "Ummm, yeah, like, I saw this movie about the little skinny african children and it was about Jesus, and, ummm... haha... it was like so cool because it was like 'hey, it's Jesus, but he's black'. Hahaha. It was soooo cool. I think Jesus should be in everyone's life, including the children of Africa and rich, wanton, knavish heiresses who party constantly and offer nothing to society except lavish amounts of vomit and gross debaucherous nights at the Hilton estate.'"

If I were a filmmaker who had a film at Sundance, I would lead a raid against Paris Hilton's home where she holds her parties, because her parties take people away from the films. I would tie her up and pry open her eyes and make her watch classic Italian films for hours and hours without any booze or drugs. She would be like, "Oh, no! Art? I can't look at art, it burns my eyes ::horf, horf::"

So sorry about the venting. But basically the message I am trying to convey is that I am not sure where Sundance is headed. So Sundance is winding down. In these last days I have seen some pretty good films. So far I have seen about 24 films. Out of those films, I liked maybe 7. 2 out of those 7 were amazing. But Nate pointed out something which was very insightful the other day. He said that it seems that the festival is making a conscious effort to bring in films from new directors this year. This is a great thing, granted. Some of these debut efforts have been really amazing. Moreover, it gives us all an idea about what kinds of things are coming out of this new generation of filmmakers. Okay, so I am trying to keep this post positive while still being able to convey my general concern about the future of the festival. I will have a re-cap of all the films I have seen and a general, closing remark about my experience at Sundance this year. Also, keep your eye out for the last ideas about criticism in the context of watching "Into Great Silence". Be well.