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Loving couple Monica Belluci and Vincent Cassell
share a rare, tender moment in Irreversible.
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The last film publicist has left Park City, Utah, and until next year's Sundance Festival, the picturesque mountain town can return to its ski resort ways. A trip to a local art house cinema will satisfy moviegoers in search of their own slice of Sundance action. Each of these 10 Sundance films packed plenty of "buzz" during the 10-day festival. With the exception of the documentary film, Capturing the Friedmans, they also have distribution deals intact. Avid moviegoers can probably catch a Sundance 2003 entry every month in their hometowns. Think of its as a 12-month road tour put together by Bob Redford himself. Just remember to turn off your mobile phones. Bob hates it when a phone rings during the movie.
RAISING VICTOR VARGAS: Writer/director Peter Sollett combines well-timed humor, believable dialogue and lifelike characters into an engaging coming-of-age story of a Latino family living on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Victor (Victor Rasuk) is the over-confident teen-age Romeo at the heart of Sollett's story, and Rasuk brings a jolt of energy to every scene. Judy Marte is the pretty object of his horny affection. Their give-and-take courtship feels authentic at every clumsy step. There is not one moment in the film that feels false, and that's something you can't say about many teen dramas.
ALL THE REAL GIRLS: In writer/director David Gordon Green's stylish young love drama, Paul Schneider plays Paul, a 22-year-old man who has never left his rural hometown. Zooey Deschanel is Noel, a young woman who has returned from boarding school and quickly captures Paul's heart. You're never quite sure where Paul and Noel's romance is heading, and Schneider and Deschanel's natural performances deserve much of the credit for the film's lifelike sense of mystery. Green's use of extended scenes of silence, long takes of the rural North Carolina landscape and frequent cuts in the action give his romance a distinct feel that matches perfectly with his debut film, George Washington. Green's artful sense of style separates him from other American filmmakers, and independent film has become a richer place thanks to his arrival.
CREMASTER III: Avant-garde artist Matthew Barney fills the last entry in his film cycle with mystical creatures, iconic Manhattan landmarks -- like the Chrysler Building and the Guggenheim Museum -- and faraway lands like a rocky island in the Irish Sea. There are magical and mystical images in Cremaster III and the film occupies a place alongside past film epics like Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. Of course, those films set out to tell stories, while Barney's three-hour epic is content to dazzle one's eyes with incredible visions, both beautiful and shocking.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS: Playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute reunites his stage actors Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller for a film adaptation of his hit play, The Shape of Things, a brutal story about a college love affair gone awry. Rudd's all-American looks and boyish smile are put to good use as Adam, the nebbish English major who's happy to remake his appearance for the sake of his new girlfriend Evelyn (Weisz). The film's sharpest moments, especially its shocking finale, belong to Weisz. As Evelyn, the eccentric art student who captures Adam's heart only to teach him some hard-knock lessons about life and love, Weisz wraps her pretty looks around a character that's believably complex, quirky and surprisingly brutal. Evelyn is one of the most dynamic characters to emerge from LaBute's mind, and Weisz does the role justice.
PIECES OF APRIL: TV actress Katie Holmes shows a grittier side of herself in writer/director Peter Hedges' comic drama, Pieces of April. Holmes plays April, an East Village twentysomething attempting to host her family for Thanksgiving dinner, and she delivers the richest performance of her young career. In someone else's hands, Pieces of April would break down under the weight of its own clichés. But filmmaker Peter Hedges (writer of What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy) fills his comic drama with believable dialogue, dead-on humor and rich characters. There's not a false moment in the fast-paced film, and Hedges deserves credit for balancing its laughs and melodrama with impressive skill.
THE COOLER: Director Wayne Kramer's likable Las Vegas romance gives actor William H. Macy the chance to show some unexpected gruff. Macy plays Bernie Lootz, a luckless casino worker whose job is to squelch the winning streaks of lucky players. Maria Bello fails to generate much of a spark as the pretty cocktail waitress who befriends him, but Alec Baldwin more than compensates as an old-school manager who runs the casino where Lootz works. No other actor can flip out like Baldwin, and his hot-button performance in The Cooler is one of his most enjoyable.
THIRTEEN: In her coming-of-age drama about teen-age girls experimenting with sex and drugs in order to be popular, director Catherine Hardwicke propels co-stars Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed through an honest but grueling story. Hardwicke has made a movie that's often too flashy for its own good. Luckily, Holly Hunter helps keep the story grounded as a single mom trying to restrain her rebellious daughter. More importantly, Wood and Reed give credible performances, filled with many subtle details that capture teen-age awkwardness perfectly.
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS: First-time documentary director Andrew Jarecki builds an honest and engaging account of a middle-class Long Island family ripped apart by the shocking child sex crimes charged against the father and his youngest son. At first glance, Capturing the Friedmans has the markings of a tabloid story willing to rest on its shock value. Yet, early into the film, Jarecki's commitment to telling an honest story and portraying the Friedman family respectfully is clear. Jarecki is faced with a complex story and allows audiences the chance to grasp all the issues. Keep in mind: He shows no hesitation in revealing the horror at the heart of this typical middle-class family. By treating the Friedmans humanely, Jarecki reveals the monstrous nature of their crimes.
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Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed are troubled teens
in thirteen.
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IRREVERSIBLE: In filmmaker Gaspar Noé's erotic drama, real-life couple Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassell play the on-screen pair whose lives are torn apart by a violent sex crime. Revenge becomes the order of the day as Noé unravels the violent origins of a shocking murder. Noé assaults our senses by telling the story in reverse order. The soundtrack rumbles throughout the film with an unsettling, pounding volume. Grainy photography and fast-moving camerawork complete the eclectic package. Your eyes will be dazzled. More importantly, your heart will be deeply moved.
MONDAYS IN THE SUN: Veteran Spanish actor Javier Bardem gives a rich and lifelike performance as a worker whose life begins to crumble after the shipyard that employs him shuts down. Writer/director Fernando Leon de Aranoa tells a humanistic story that earns comparisons to Ken Loach's British social dramas. Mondays in the Sun tackles themes of globalization and so-called economic progress through the stories of its unemployed workers. Their bar-side banter rings with authenticity. So do their feelings of worthlessness. ©
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