It seemed that all anyone was talking about opening weekend at Park City was Like Crazy. Of course, Red State hadn’t been screened yet, and Kevin Smith hadn’t already acted a damn fool. But that’s besides the point. Everyone is really excited about Like Crazy. Including me.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff was one the films I anticipated most at this year’s Sundance. Believe it or not, I didn’t even know who made up the majority of the principle cast, which I now know includes Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson, Bruce Greenwood and Will Patton. What made me anticipate this movie so excitedly was the repairing of Reichardt and Michelle Williams. After the devastating portrait of a women and her dog with no home, Wendy and Lucy in 2008, I would watch anything the pair do together. What I love about Ms. Reichardt’s films is her ability to capture complex situations and emotions in simplistic, minimalistic way. In Old Joy, barely a word is spoken but through her filmmaking, everything is understood. This is what I was hoping for in Meek’s Cutoff, and I got it.
The exploration of cult dynamics and their psychological effects on its members is not really anything new for film. It’s been examined, and re-examined a million times. Even so, there’s something fresh and exciting about T. Sean Durkin’s film, Martha Marcy May Marlene. It’s a seemly ridiculous title that no one can seem to get right. But it immediately becomes evident how apt it is for a film about a cult-like community where women slowly distort and lose their identities.
The titular character is played by Elizabeth Olsen, older sister to the famous twins. It’s admirable this is her first feature film, that she chose not to ride on the coattails of her sisters that, I’m sure, could have easily gotten her roles. For the sake of clarity, I’ll simply call her Martha, although the names she uses changes throughout the film depending on where she’s at.
Bellflower is a genuinely upsetting film in all the very best ways. It was filmed on a shoestring budget, and yet for the most part, you would never be able to tell. It’s a terrifyingly beautiful, in an apocalyptic sort of way. This is the exact type of experimental filmmaking that Sundance has been charged with discovering and nurturing.
To explain what Bellflower about is a bit of a conundrum. First, the best thing you can do is go into this movie totally blind, which is a rare treat film festivals, particularly Sundance, provides. Secondly, wrapping your mind around it is a bit difficult. It follows best friends, Woodrow (played by Evan Glodell who also wrote and directed), and Aiden (Tyler Dawson). The two spend their free time building a flamethrower, and daydreaming about an apocalypse that would leave them and their invented devices of destruction free to reign. A girl, Milly, comes into the picture as Woodrow’s girlfriend, and she really, really messes things up. But not in that bro-mance way, Aiden doesn’t get jealous, nothing that predictable or familiar will be found in Bellflower. The story just begins spiraling down into a strange, brain-damaged madness full of angst-y male testosterone.
In Devil, a virgin-ally innocent woman, gets a flat tire on her way back to the city. She had gone to visit an orphanage, it was her birthday. While waiting for a tow truck a serial rapist and murder named Kyung-Chul (Choi Min-sik, whom you may remember from Oldboy) brutally attacks her, and cuts her into pieces. The fiancée of this victim, Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee) just happens to be a secret agent of some kind, but he’s clearly a psychopath himself. He tracks down Kyung-Chul, and brutally tortures him, puts a tracking device in him, and lets him go. Kim Soo-hyeon follows Kyung-Chul, and like some sort of twisted superhero, he intercedes every time Kyung-Chul is about to re-offend. Each time, Kim’s torture gets more, and more brutal. At some point, Kyung-Chul finally discovers the identity of his attacker, and the two start a cat and mouse game attacking each other where it hurts, the whole time avoiding the police, who would end their disgusting game.
Lost Kisses (I baci mai dati) is a charming little Italian film with an interesting mix of pro and anti-religious ideas. It comes from writer/director Roberta Torre. At times due to the flowing cinematography and the focus on a deprived area outside of Sicily, it reminds of a Federico Fellini film. It follows a thirteen year old girl, Manuela, who is getting lost in the shuffle. Her home life is tense, her mother and father are edgy, the father’s unemployment mostly responsible. Manuela’s older sister steals from her mother’s purse, and is a bit loose with her morals.
In the piazza Manuela’s apartment overlooks, a statue of the Madonna is erected, something the highly religious community is grateful for, and in awe of. Careless boys accidentally knock the head off the Madonna in the middle of the night, and they hide pieces in a storage shed nearby. Manuela claims the Madonna came to her in a dream, and told her where she could find the missing pieces of the statue. It’s unclear whether Manuela is a saint, or just a bored girl making up stories. It doesn’t matter to her desperate family and neighbors, who come to her seeking miracles. Manuela’s mother finds there’s big money in miracle workers, and she starts milking for all she can
Madeleine Olnek is an indie filmmaker based in New York. She has directed a number of award winning short films and now she is making her feature film debut with Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same. Previous films of hers, including Hold Up and Countertransference were chosen as official selections of the Sundance film festival in past years. At this year's Sundance Film Festival, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, will make its debut on January 24th. In honour of the film, we thought we would take some time to talk to Madeleine and ask her about the movie.
It was only a matter of time before Philip Seymour Hoffman decided to direct. He’s gained enough credibility in the business to warrant giving him a chance. But it is slightly shocking that he chose to make his debut with a romantic comedy. Did anyone else see that coming? His film, Jack Goes Boating is an adaptation of a play by the same name. Hoffman actually played Jack in the off-Broadway production. He brought along two of his stage co-stars as well, and got Amy Ryan to play his leading lady. Not too shabby for his first cast.
It seems Edward Norton has a penchant for playing locked up criminals. He's made a career of it, from his first role, which also got in an Oscar nod, in Primal Fear, to American History X. Well, he's back at it again, in Stone, a film by John Curran. Norton and Curran have worked together before in The Painted Veil, and the chemistry is evident, even if it's futile.
I've been avoiding making this list for a while now. I still haven't seen all the major contenders of 2010. Some major films I've missed include, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Fighter, Blue Valentine, Biutiful, and The Secret in Their Eyes. But I'm not sure when I'll be catching up with these. So, I'm throwing caution to the wind, and am listing my favorites of the year, those that I couldn't, and still haven't, stopped thinking about after the final credits started rolling. Here they a
