So, I'm finally getting around to putting day three up, so I'll be reconstructing it from what my brain allows me to remember.
Saturday was a late night, and we had to get up early to head to our first film, BRICK, which was directed by first time writer/director Rian Johnson. This was one of the highlights of the festival for me. It's a film noir/detective story set in a high school in present day. However the kids don't talk like normal kids, they all speak in that 40s/Raymond Chandler-esque dialogue. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from Third Rock from the Sun) and Luka Haas (Witness) play two of the kids. Some of the sharpest writing and direction I've seen in a long while. Since I last heard, no one has yet picked this film up. If it doesn't get sold, it will be a real tragedy.
After the movie we wandered around Main Street where my friend Bryan and I were invited by Cingular to film a short movie on one of their new cell phones that shoot video. You can see our short film here: http://www.weatherby.info/shazam/journal/callme.mov
What can you do in 5 seconds? I'm waiting for Spielberg to ring me, so don't clog up my phone.
After poking around the different sponsor lounges (where I ran into Stephanie Allain who used to work at Columbia and Henson, and who had just sold her film HUSTLE & FLOW) to Paramount to the tune of around 10 million dollars, good fer her) we grabbed lunch, debated some of the finer points from BRICK, and then went to see our 3pm movie, KUNG FU HUSTLE. This has to be the funniest Hong Kong film I've ever seen. Stephen Chow, who directed and starred in SHAOLIN SOCCER, wrote and directed this. I think it's being distributed by Columbia Pictures Asia, so it should be in theatres sometime this year. Foreign filmmakers still seem to be able to make films that impress me more than American films. I highly recommend this film if it comes to a theater near you, or rent it sometime on DVD.
We stayed for Stephen Chow's Q&A, which was very entertaining, and then we had to jump in the car and rush to Ogden. Since Sundance is so large these days, they have to screen some movies in Ogden and Salt Lake City. We thought Ogden was much closer than it turned out to be, but we still made it to our 6:30pm showing of HAPPY ENDINGS (but only just barely). The movie was good, but not great, and stars Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhall, Tom Arnold (yes, Tom Arnold...and let me tell you, he has sex with Maggie Gyllenhall, and it was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen on film) Jesse Bradford, and others. Good storylines, but ultimately it just didn't engage me.
After that, we had to hop in the car (right as the credits started to roll) and get back into town to sell our tickets to the 11:30pm SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS because we had wristbands to the Ludacris party that Blender Magazine was hosting. Although apparently the wristband means "stand out here in the freezing weather until we say it's okay". We finally got in, and it was like standing in a club in LA. People with bad attitudes, wearing the "tendiest" fashions, shoving everyone out of the way, etc. Not really my thing, although it was cool to see Ludacris and watch him...sing? rap? yell? We stayed there until fairly late, failed to score swag, and then headed back, deaf and numb from the cold and crashed, because Bryan had to leave early the next day and I had an early movie.
Day Four coming soon, and the film that hit me the hardest coming soon.
Over and out.
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