SFF Day 10

Wait, I must be off on my days because there are only 10 days to the festival and I'm posting about Saturday???? Anyway, I hung out with Caiden for a bit before dropping him off in Orem with my mom. I have to work Saturday and Sunday at Sundance, so he is going to stay with her.

I worked my shift (again, un-eventful), then headed back down to SLC to meet Alene to watch two movies at her theater.

The first movie we saw was called "The Good Night". It had a ton of great actors in Martin Freeman from the BBC version of "The office" as well as some other recently great British films. It also had Gwyneth Paltrow (the movie was written and directed by her brother), Danny Devito, Penelope Cruz, Simon Pegg (who played "Shaun" from Shaun of the Dead).

It was about a person's failed relationship and how he finds love in his dreams and his attempt to better control his dreams. When I first heard the description, I thought that I had already seen this movie (Michele Gondry's "The Science of Sleep"), but I was wrong. This was a great movie and the characters I related to in some ways. It seemed very real. All a guy really wants is support and to have his ego fed. All a girl wants is to feel important to the guy and to do something exciting. OK, that may not be entirely true, but that was what was wrong in their relationship. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the movie was done. I think Tim would be a bit upset because I think the situation of the movie (kid of famous sister/parents does his first big movie and get's all kinds of great actors to be in it, which isn't fair aka: Sofia Coppola, hehe).

After that, Alene and I walked down to the Tea Room with Jake Paltrow in tow, but after we crossed the street, he went somewhere else (we lost him). I had never been to the tea room, but it was quite nice. Of course, they served lot's of tea, but I had a soup and salad, which hit the spot. The salad had a bit too much vinigarette on it, but I was cool with it. The place felt like you were sitting in an old living room or something. There was a live acoustic band playing music in there (not singing, just some soft stuff; it was relaxing).

We then went back to the theater to watch the film "Black Snake Moan", which was directed by Craig Brewer, who did Hustle and Flow a couple of years ago. It starred Samuel Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. It was an interesting movie very funny at times, weird, serious, and emotional.

It's about a girl named Rae (Christina Ricci) who's boyfriend (Timberlake) leaves for the army and she has this uncontrolable urge to have sex all the time with anyone (it stems from her youth and being molested by her step dad). She drinks a lot and sleeps around a lot with guys while her boyfriend is gone. She ends up beaten up and un-conscious on the side of the road after partying hard one night.

Along comes Lazurus (Jackson), who is a depressed old former blues singer. His wife just left him and he has some inner deamons that he has to deal with. He finds her boyd while taking his trash out (it's way out in the country, somewhere in the south). He immediately feels he has to help cure her of her deamons. He takes her to his house to help her heal, but part of his remedy is a 40 lbs chain that he ties around her waist and to his radiator heater so she can't leave. In the mean time, she helps him become a better person too. He starts singing to her and playing his guitar. He starts reading from his bible again and working on himself.

I think the movie was very redeaming to both Jackson and Ricci's character too. Both have deamons they had to deal with (as does Timberlake, as we find out later that he has anxiety issues and is honorably discharged from the army). I think Ricci and Jackson gave an amazing performance in this film. I was a bit surprised about how Ricci (who was half naked most of the time and pretty much topless for some long scenes in the movie). I thought I had read somewhere that she would never go nude in front of the camera. Oh well. I'm sure most people don't mind :-).

Anyway, it was a great film.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The film had been bought out by a major distributor and they sent two "jar-head" looking dudes to make an annoucement before the film. One dude firmly stood up, told everyone to not turn their phone volume down, but to turn them off entirely. He also firmly said that if anyone is caught recording the film or taking any pictures, he will personally throw them out. I guess they walk around the theater with night vision goggles. He was met with a ton of booing and jeering. It was pretty funny. I didn't agree with the guy's approach. I think he could have simply stated that recording the film was not acceptable and that anyone caught would be removed. I know that is basically what he DID say, but it was his tone that pissed everyone off. I think anyone would understand that if they were recording it, that they would be thrown out. Oh well, it was funny.

One more day to work the festival, then I'm done. It's been pretty cool so far (I guess). I mean, the best part of my job is getting people excited about how to do the sundance thing. Most come to me saying "tickets are already sold, huh" as if they know they can't get in. When I give them a film guide and show them how to do the wait-list thing, they get excited and start making plans to see a movie. Other than that, I've had a lot of time to read at my booth, so that's always a good thing :-).