Sundance 2009 Buzz
Peter Travers in Rolling Stones:
"It begins again. Here I am in Park Cty [sic], Utah, where Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary by trying to bust through the gloom of a nation’s economic crisis and the growing pissy impatience among audiences for any movies that don’t have cute dogs or horror scenes in 3D. What does that mean for indie films of mind and heart? That’s yet to be determined."
Travers follows his introduction with the five movies he’s most eager to watch: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Tyson, Paper Heart, I Love You Phillip Morris (above, with Jim Carrey), and Big Fan.
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Jeff Vice in Deseret News:
"But for the second straight night, the usually star-studded Sundance held a premiere event without any big-name celebrities. This time it was the festival’s Salt Lake City Gala, the centerpiece of which was the fashion documentary The September Issue.
"The film boasts appearances by several top models, including Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha and actress Sienna Miller, as well as designers Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and others. None of them were in attendance at the premiere, though, which left director R.J. Cutler to fend for himself in a dark sweater, jeans and boots ensemble."
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At indieWIRE — as usual, probably the most comprehensive source of Sundance news — there’s a bit on the drama Rudo and Cursi, written and directed by Carlos Cuarón (brother of Alfonso Cuarón of Y tu mamá también):
"The directorial debut of Carlos Cuaron’s Rudo Y Cursi packed in a huge crowd Friday night for its U.S. premiere. The film reunites on screen Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in a story about sibling rivalry. Both Beto (Luna) and Tato (Bernal) are discovered playing soccer (football) in a poor rural town by a flashy talent scout. The brothers are swept up into Mexico City and quickly (maybe on screen a bit too quickly) achieve success and all the trappings of a glitzy life in the fast lane, and tension rises as both play on rival teams."
…
"’When I wrote the film, I told [Gael and Diego] I was writing it for them,’" said Cuaron following the screening at the giant Eccles Theater in Park City. ‘Rudo’ is the Spanish word for ‘rude’ and Cuaron described ‘Cursi’ as meaning someone who is a romantic and has feminine qualities.
"’Gael immediately said he had to be "Rudo" and Diego said he had to be "Cursi," and I told them I didn’t want the film to be "Y Tu Mama Tambien’ 2."’"
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Tags: Anna Wintour, Carlos Cuarón, Diego Luna, Film Festivals, Gael Garcia Bernal, I Love You Phillip Morris, Jim Carrey, Rudo and Cursi, Sundance 2009, Sundance Film Festival, The September Issue
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