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January 30, 2008

A Second Helping of Sundance, Please

Pam Martin

Despite the dozens of eager fans star-stalking outside Fred Segal and, gag, the MySpace Celebrity Lounge, this year’s Sundance seemed a bit low key. Some films had already been picked up – one of the festival’s centerpieces,In Bruges with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes, is headed to theaters February 8 – and some A-list machines that were expected to be snatched up right away... well, weren’t.

One screening for my favorite film of the festival, Strangers, wasn’t even full. Granted, I saw it on a Sunday night at 11:45pm but Sundance is supposed to be a 24/7 party. I guess the crowds were up on Main Street trying to glimpse Adrian Grenier headed to the screening of his latest, Adventures of Power, or over at the library seeing the Hanks-fest Great Buck Howard, starring both Tom and Colin.

OK, I’m ragging on the people who seem to live in anticipation of seeing a celebrity in the flesh, but, truth be told, I’m one of them. My stomach jumped when I saw Adrian in the airport two days later. I kept a tally in my head of the celebs I saw during the five days I spent in Park City: Patricia Clarkson! Ben Kingsley!! Quentin Tarantino!!!

Does this make me lame? Is it a product of me living in Los Angeles? Is it normal that I’ve caught myself contemplating how Michelle Williams’ grief over Heath Ledger’s death compares to the grief she portrayed after losing her son and husband in another film I saw at Sundance, Incendiary? Maybe it’s time for me to get out of this town.

But that’s a discussion for another time. I didn’t go to Sundance just to freeze my toes off in a quest to see a handful of Hollywood icons (I can do that at home without the frostbite). I went to reunite with old friends and see new, great films. And that I did.

Strangers is a story of impossible love between an Israeli man and a Palestinian woman shot in Berlin and Paris during the 2006 Lebanon War between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. There was an outline for the film, but no script – all of the dialogue, including the actors’ reactions to the war as it unfolded, was improvised. Simply brilliant.

Incendiary is carried by Williams as a young mother grieving the loss of her son and husband after a terrorist bombing at a London soccer stadium. Screenwriter and director Sharon Maguire, who previously directed the polar opposite Bridget Jones’ Diary, has a gift for portraying strong, if complicated, women. Unfortunately, I don’t think this film has much hope of being picked up considering how war-themed films did at the box office last fall. Prove me wrong, Hollywood!

The second Fanning sister, Elle, stars as the title character in the colorful Phoebe in Wonderland about a girl who retreats into a world of fantasy inspired by the Lewis Carroll tale. I was a little put off by Felicity Huffman’s too-neurotic performance as Phoebe’s mother but Patricia Clarkson was perfect as Phoebe’s drama teacher – Heidi braids and all.

Of course, I would have loved to see more films but I also had to squeeze in requisite snowy-weather activities like skiing and snow tubing. Viva la Park City!
&npbs;
 
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And be sure to check out...
2007 Sundance coverage from Pam
2006 Sundance coverage from Jamie
 
 

Posted by Rock Heals at January 30, 2008 07:00 AM