Sundance 2009
Jeff Daniels, Lou Taylor Pucci in The Dream of Romans (top); Emma Thompson, Carey Mulligan in An Education (bottom)
Perhaps it’s just my impression, but the 25th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 15-25, 2009, in Park City, Utah, seems to be focused on more commercial fare. If so, that’s understandable considering that for the most part Sundance films have been flopping left and right at the US box office. That is, when they find distribution.
This year, there are quite a few films — many of which seem to be about romantic endeavors — featuring name talent: Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan in Shana Feste’s family drama The Greatest; Michael Cera as (a version of) himself in Nicolas Jasenovec’s Paper Heart; Jeff Daniels as a reclusive author in John Hindman’s The Dream of the Romans; Timothy Hutton and Dominic Cooper in John Krasinski’s adaptation of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men; Nathalie Baye in Josiane Balasko’s A French Gigolo; Emma Thompson in Nick Hornby’s An Education; Emmy Rossum in Adam Salky’s Dare; among others.
Burma VJ by Anders Oestergaard (top); Nollywood Babylon by Ben Addelman, Samir Mallal (bottom)
As usual, the documentaries tend to have a strong sociopolitical bent, e.g., Anders Oestergaard’s Burma VJ, about the dangers faced by Burmese journalists, and Mary Ann Bruni’s Quest of Honor, about a former teacher’s fight to eradicate honor killings in the tribal areas of Kurdistan. But there’s also lighter stuff, such as Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal’s Nollywood Babylon, about Nigeria’s prolific (albeit little-seen) film industry, and R. J. Cutler’s The September Issue, which follows Anna Wintour (Meryl Streep — sort of — in The Devil Wears Prada) and her team’s preparations for the crucial (for those who care about that sort of thing) September issue of Vogue.
Talks of Prop. 8 boycotts, which have been plaguing the Sundance Festival since the November 2 election, have slowed down somewhat. Even so, Michael Cieply reports in the New York Times that festival organizers "will make certain that no film is screened only in the Holiday Village theater in Park City, operated by Cinemark, a chain whose chief executive, Alan Stock, donated to Proposition 8’s backers in the November election. The idea is to give anyone who has qualms about Cinemark the opportunity to see a movie somewhere else."
Coincidentally or not, after a cursory look at the films’ plots, out of the 100+ films in competition the only one I could find with what might be taken as a "gay theme" is Lynn Shelton’s Humpday, a comedy about straight male bonding gone amok.
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Tags: An Education, Burma VJ, Documentaries, Emma Thompson, Film Festivals, Gay Interest, Jeff Daniels, Nollywood Babylon, Paper Heart, Sundance 2009, Sundance Film Festival
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