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January 26, 2009

Sundance 2009

I went to the Sundance Film Festival for the second year whereI saw eight films over two days. If I had a longer stay I would cut down to three films a day. One of the films was a series of shorts. Of the other seven, my son, a junior at NYU studying music composition and film scoring, and I agreed that six at least lived up to our expectations.

We agreed with the consensus that Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire, was the best of the fest. The film won both the jury award and audience award for U.S, Dramatic films. It is a tough but uplifting story of an overweight, illiterate 16 year old African-American girl growing up in Harlem. Rumor has it that Lionsgate (LGF) is in the pole position to buy the film which would make sense given its success with the black audiences and upscale white audiences with the Tyler Perry movies and 2005 Best Picture winner Crash.

The other film we really enjoyed was Peter and Vandy, a romantic comedy chronicling the relationship of a young couple. The story jumped around chronologically which worked well as you got to know the characters intimately and appreciate both the ups and downs of their relationship. I thought the acting and script were excellent and the depictions of the little things that make up a relationship were very realistic. I hope the right studio buys the film and markets it well as it deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

We also enjoyed, Dare, a teen drama/comedy, Moon, a science fiction story about cloning, and two foreign films, Bronson and Carmo. Moon was sold to Sony and features Sam Rockwell in the lead and Kevin Spacey in a supporting role voicing a robot. Bronson is an adaptation of the violent tale of Britain's most notorious prisoner and has an incredible acting performance in the lead role by Thomas Hardy.

The only film we felt missed the mark was Toe to Toe, a teen drama about race relations in a Washington DC prep school.

If you love movies, I'd strongly encourage you to take a trip to the Festival. The films are generally quite good and the sense of community among those in attendance creates a very positive vibe.

Posted by Steve Birenberg at January 26, 2009 02:06 PM in Box Office