Sundance Institute at BAM

Thanks to other film fans I know, I was introduced to a little festival at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) from May 31st until June 10th. The Festival features selected films from the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and I hope they all end up being released at some point in the near future. Films from past festivals include "Little Miss Sunshine," so you never really know what is going to happen to any of them. Out of the nine dramatic features, eight documentaries, and 27 shorts, I have hand picked seven narrative films and one documentary, and will provide a brief review about all of them, much similar to my Tribeca Film Festival series in late April.
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Snow Angels ****
Written and Directed by David Gordon Green, based on the novel by Stewart O'Nan
106 Minutes
Rated R for language, some violent content, brief sexuality and drug use.

It's probably a good sign for distribution when there is already a rating set. "Snow Angels" is a minor masterpiece and a certain for one of the year's best, as long as it gets released on time. David Gordon Green tells a interweaving character story, connected all through this small town in Pennsylvania. There is Arthur Parkinson (Michael Angarano), a teenage trombone player whose father(Griffin Dunne) has just left him and his mother alone. He works in a Chinese restaurant with his old babysitter Annie (Kate Beckinsale) and her friend Barbara (Amy Sedaris). Annie has a young daughter Tara, and her husband Glenn (Sam Rockwell, once again showing how talented he is) wishes to be part of their life again. The main focus of the film is the relationship between Annie and Glenn, which is a minor horror story unto its own. Sam Rockwell makes a fearsome Glenn as he is both scary and constantly likable at the same time. You always feel sorry for this pathetic and pitiful man, a former drinker who works at a carpet factory. And Kate Beckinsale's Annie is no organized mother either, as she does not exactly treat Glenn with much respect or care anyway. It must have been hard to cast this film as all of the characters are probably extremely unlikable on paper, but with friendly faces and personalities like Griffin Dunne and Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell it is impossible to hate them. This is an important aspect to consider as this is a hard film to watch and a hard film to choose someone to root for.

And as with all aspects of life, there is comedy as well, which is mainly the story with Arthur and his new found friend and possible love interest Olivia. There is a slight mystery story, considering the sound of gunshots that end the films first scene before propelling us to weeks before. But I found myself walking away from "Snow Angels" extremely impressed. I was impressed with the acting which was perfect and compelling. Beckinsale gives a remarkable performance, and its always a treat to see Sam Rockwell, who barely seems to get any work. I get a treat this year considering he'll be in July's "Joshua." I was impressed with the screenplay which told such a massive story on a grand scale without going overboard with characters like most of these kinds of films usually do. I was impressed with the lack of music, and whenever there was music it was more or less haunting and not a burden. It emphasised a scene of importance, but did not try to get to the heart-the performances do all of that. I was impressed with the final scene, most of all. It seems like a tough scene to have written-it is right after what seems to be the final images, but then this last bit is tacked on. Right when it began I groaned a bit, thinking that they should have ended it before. But this added bit, and you'll see what I mean if you ever happen across this gem, really does add to the frightening aspect, and although this portion of the story is over for a certain set of characters, it has only just begun to another set. "Snow Angels" has distribution from Warner Independent Pictures, and is slated for a 2008 release, but hopefully they will come to their senses and limited release it at the end of this year to get some Oscar attention. It really does deserve it.
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Four Sheets to the Wind **1/2
Written and Directed by Sterlin Harjo
84 Minutes
Not Yet Rated-Language, Brief Sexual Content

I must say-although the audience clapped loudly and for a long time at the end of "Four Sheets to the Wind," I was a little underwhelmed by the whole show. Although they may have just been clapping so as not to be rude to the director who was going to be doing a short discussion after the film, but in any case this is a slightly above average little coming of age tale about a man who is forced to come to terms with his fathers death. Just from that sentence alone is enough to know that we have seen this film before, and no amount of love budget could do anything about that. And I have a feeling that everything at this festival will pale in comparison to the masterpiece "Snow Angels." "Four Sheets to the Wind" is about Native America Cufe Smallhill. After his father kills himself and asks to be put into the lake, Cufe does what he is told but is in silent grief. He watches as his mother begins to date again, and he decides to go to the city to visit his sister, Mira. While in the city he meets Francie who shows interest in him, and through this relationship and his encounter with his sister he is prepared to find a better life for himself than the one at home.

My main problem with "Four Sheets to the Wind" was that it did not offer anything new to this coming of age type drama, and not only that but it did not effectively tell its story. The acting has nothing to do with its failure, and Cody Lightening does a fantastic job as Cufe, a likable and quiet boy. It is the screenplay that is to blame, and Sterlin Harjo has just made another little indie story that has the potential to be on a few screens for a week or two but then pull out slowly. He even goes for that "quirky character" with Francie, who does this thing where she puts out picture frames without pictures in them until she finds the right one. This joins Kate Winslet's potato sculpture list from "Eternal Sunshine," only three years later I tire of the quirky girl that everyone is supposed to like thing. This isn't exactly a bad film-it isn't anything at all really. It is a diverting way to spend under an hour and a half-not minimal but not an effective and bloated story. Simple, low key, yet unoriginal. And while I do not normally have a problem with unoriginality, I have a problem with it when its a story not well told, which "Four Sheets to the Wind" is guilty of one hundred percent.
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Great World of Sound **

Directed by Craig Zobel
Written by Craig Zobel and George Smith
106 Minutes
Not Rated-Language, Sexual References

"Great World of Sound" is an ambitious little film, and certainly one that has a unique style and an interesting method of film making-which I'll get to later. But as a two hour film it lacks in anything interesting at all, meandering for the first eighty five minutes before finally diving to a point in the last twenty. Telling the story of a Martin (Pat Healy) who ends up getting a job as a record producer. Partnered with black and loud Clarence, the two quickly become the top music salemen at the company Great World of Sound (GWS), until Martin begins to get suspicious of the methods. Before they sign clients the client must pay them a certain fee and the money goes to a GWS, which is also the intials of the owner-which is way off from the truth. And Martin's ethnics kick in when he actually comes across people who are talented.

"Great World of Sound" has many many scenes of the two men giving potential clients rehersals, and it is here where the film looses me. The director told us after the film at a brief Q and A that actual ads were placed in the paper looking for people to reherse for a music producer, when really they were being filmed and then asked if they wanted to be in the movie. Much of what Pat Healy and actor Kene Holliday say during these rehersals and the takes after were actually off the top of their heads to go along with the little deception. But these scenes are so repetive, and over and over again I am forced to watch these talentless musicians play where the jokes begin to stop being funny. Had "Great World of Sound" been a quick eighty minute piece I would not have minded, but this film goes on for almost two hours. Pat Healy and Kene Holliday do work extremely well together, and which Healy is good it is Holliday that always managed to make me laugh. He steals every scene he's in just with his body language-trying to be big and mighty when he really does not have much power at all. There is no real point or moral until well into the third act, where Martin begins to feel guilty about the whole scam. But for the most part this doesn't know what it wants to really be, and meshes documentary, stardard indie comedy, drama, and finally a little stab at music satire, but it ends up failing at about half of those. "Great World of Sound," according to the director, is coming out on September 28th at the Angelika Film Center, distributed by Magnolia. Personally, this is a great candiiate for Magnolia's thing with releasing the film Friday in theatres, Friday on HDNET, and Tuesday on DVD, unlike little gems like "Fay Grim" which actually bring consistant entertainment to the screen. This is an interesting little work, but not enough to justify it being as long and often dull as it is.
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On the Road with Judas ***
Written and Directed by J.J. Lask
100 Minutes
Not Rated-Language

Even though "On the Road with Judas" is a bit of a mess, I enjoyed every minute of this unorganized, strange, zany, quirky little film, and I am rooting for it all the way to find an audience. Structured extremely unconventionally, "On the Road" is the story of a book, and the movie that comes from the book, as well as real life outside of the book, and a talk show about the book and the film all inside the head of the writer who is writing the book. Sounds confusing? It is until you get the hang of it all. The hilarious Kevin Corrigan who actually introduced my screening and had my face red with laughter stars as J.J. Lask, the writer and director of this film. He is writing a novel called "On the Road with Judas" which is being made into a movie. In his head he devises a talk show type scenario where a host interviews these characters, telling the story of the relationship between Judas (in the film played by Eddie Kaye Thomas and in real life played by Aaron Ruell from "Napolean Dynamite") and Serra (in the film played by Amanda Loncar and in real life played by Eleanor Hutchins). There is no real story as pointed out by one of the characters, but somehow J.J. Lask entertains us with this story of this man that does not really have much of a life or job. Besides the fact that he is addicted to stealing things, especially Mac computers. You know so little about these characters and there is no real story to follow, but you feel the pain of Judas, in one scene especially towards the end which I won't spoil.

The first fifteen minutes or so will have you lost until you begin to get the hang of the whole thing. You piece together who everybody is and what is real and what isn't real. I would like to see it again just to have an understanding from the first minute, but who knows when I will have the chance to see this again. The unconventional style is unlike one that I have ever seen before, jumping back and forth from all these different versions of the same thing. There is even a bit of witty commentary, ending the film portion of the film on a different, and happier, note from the book. I thought this was an interesting perspective on how Hollywood and big screen versions often change the flow and point of novels. This is not a film that will be liked mostly, and I can see people criticizing it because it seems pointless and is unnecessarily confusing. But "On the Road with Judas" has a bit of charm, is consistently amusing, and constantly has you thinking. It is far from a masterpiece, but it clearly was ambitious and once I got into the flow of it I enjoyed every minute.

Rocket Science ***

Written and Directed by Jeffrey Blitz

101 Minutes

Rated R for some sexual content and language.

To start off, "Rocket Science" does not justify an R rating. There was perhaps one single full usage of the dreaded "F" word, and the supposed "sexual content" was very minimal. But the MPAA has once again screwed over a rather delightful and clever treat. There is a lot to enjoy here-a lot of laughs, and even a little bit of heart, even if the heart portion is somewhat thrown in just to tie up some loose ends. "Rocket Science" is the debut of Jeffrey Blitz, who made the famed documentary "Spellbound," which I have never seen. Now he's on his first feature, once again returning to the world of youngster competition. This time using debate clubs as his backdrop. His main character is Hal Hefner, a young boy with a stuttering problem. His father just left home, and his brother treats him badly whenever things do not go his way. His poor mother is a bit of a mess, and has begun dating an older Asian lawyer, who seemed to have moved in with his son. And then Hal is approached by the beautiful Ginny Ryerson to be on the debate team. Ginny's former partner, Ben Wekselbaum, was perhaps the best debater after herself. However, Ben went somewhat insane during the finals one year, and just stopped speaking, dropped out of high school, and got a job working at a dry cleaner. Now Hal wants to try and drop the stutter and be a better public speaker, and gain the courage to win Ginny's heart.

At times "Rocket Science" does try a little too hard to be a careful and quirky comedy. But then at times it earns it, with a stellar group of supporting characters. They pop up for a scene or two, do not really advance the story, but provide a grand backdrop for the action, as well as popping in some of the best jokes. But this is really just the same old type of coming of age story that we've seen many times, only the story is told very well which makes me forgive it a bit for some of the worn out techniques they use-such as the heart to heart father/son chat during the last scene-the second appearance of the father who disappears after the second scene. And the wonderful narration work by Dan Cashman just seemed borrowed for "The Royal Tenenbaums," and it doesn't help that at the start Cashman sounded a little bit like Alec Baldwin. I almost did a little double take. But all in all, "Rocket Science" is a very enjoyable little film, and will certainly find its audience without a problem when it is released this August.

Delirious **1/2

Directed by Tom DiCillo

107 Minutes

Not Rated-Language

I will admit, coming up with a final rating for "Delirious" was very difficult. On one hand, I really did enjoy this buddy comedy/Hollywood satire, but on the other hand there is this strange portion in the middle-about twenty five minutes worth of material-where I just shook my head in bewilderment, and wondered if I was watching a different movie. And this took away, considering it was based on crucial plot information-I just did not like the direction the film was going in. Steve Buscemi gives in a wonderful performance as Les, a Hollywood paparazzi looking for that one photo that will skyrocket him to the top-the "shot heard round the world." One day he crosses paths with Toby, a young homeless man, who asks to be his assistant of sorts. Les gives him board in his apartment, and the two of them go out in the days to scope for shots. Eventually Toby crosses paths with Karma-the biggest music star around-and gets on Les' bad side when he seems to choose that lifestyle over the one that he's created with Les.

The first hour of "Delirious" is pretty great. Steve Buscemi is at his best, and his buddy work with actor Michael Pitt was very realistic and natural, as if the two of them have been working together for years. But about an hour and ten minutes in-during a scene that I was really getting into-the script takes a 180 degree turn and ends up becoming a satire on Hollywood. There is even a reality TV joke whose likes of which I have seen before. There is interesting running commentary on the role the paparazzi has in the celebrity, but during the middle of this film I longed for the intimate conversations of the first half, and the hilarious moments DiCillo penned for Les and Toby to have with one another. When they get split up, this takes a turn for the worse. Redeeming itself with a moment of unexpected poignancy in the end, DiCillo made up for his somewhat disagreeable middle portion, but not enough for me to fully recommend this. But it's hard to not fall for this films charm. Beautifully shot and with dialogue written perfectly, "Delirious" is very enjoyable, but I can't shake this section of the film that disagreed with me off. I am proud to learn that this will be getting a release in August-and it has already been put on the Angelika's release schedule for the summer. It is an extremely well acted and well-written comedy that just misses the mark. So I don't recommend it and recommend it at the same time. All I can say for sure is to stay after the credits for a final scene that will certainly have you leave with a smile on your face.