Sundance Film Festival 2004

Thursday, Jan. 15: The day begins in Raleigh at the home of friends Anna and Judy and baby Griffin at the very un-bright and early hour of 5 a.m., necessary to catch a cheap Southwest flight. Eleven hours later, I arrive in Salt Lake City and meet up with my sisinlaw Jen. By the time we check into our cool loft unit at Prospector Square and I grab my media credentials, we decide we don't want to bother with attending the first red-carpet premiere of the festival, a surfer movie without any big-name celebs.

We'd rather go out to eat at Robert Redford's restaurant Zoom, where I've had to spend a lot of time finagling a reservation. Back in the room, we down some wine and get some sleep in preparation for the busy days to come.

Friday, Jan. 16: My first film of the day is at 8:30 a.m. Jen opts to wait to meet me for a noon show. I take in the black-and-white experimental film "War." It's very arty and slow-paced tale about the loss of a young boy's innocence and the struggle to hold on to a family farm, but I appreciate it more when I know the story of the filmmaker: He made the film entirely himself with no crew, hand-cranking a silent film camera because he couldn't afford a motor and dubbing in sound and voices later.

It took him four years, and the reason it had four actors is because those are the only people who agreed to show up day after day for free. And now the guy, who's from Roanoke, Va., is living out a dream at Sundance and having producers hand him their business cards.

From there, I grab a shuttle bus to meet Jen for a documentary about women's contributions to independent film titled "In the Company of Women," which will air on the IFC Channel. It has some interesting interviews from the likes of Susan Sarandon and Jodie Foster in it, but critics tweak it because it's not comprehensive enough. Maggie Gyllenhaal (of "Secretary" and "Mona Lisa Smile") is in the audience.

Then we head to the 3 p.m. showing of "Garden State," our first true big-name premiere. Zach Braff of TV's "Scrubs" is the star, writer and director. It's a romance with Natalie Portman, who's not at the premiere, but co-star Jean Smart of "Designing Women" is there looking beautiful. I also spot producer Danny DeVito working the red carpet - and narrowly miss getting hit by the chewed gum Braff tosses from his mouth.

Getting a ticket for Jen is tricky. It's a very in-demand show and other ticket seekers are already offering well beyond face value to anyone who has extras, but ultimately a guy just hands me an extra ticket he didn't need, for free. That's one of the things I love about Sundance, the serendipity of things like that. The movie was a definite crowd-pleaser and distributors quickly picked it up, so it's a sure bet to hit theaters. A couple of small things about it bugged me, but overall I liked its quirkiness.

Directly afterward, at the same theater, we get in line again to see "Iron Jawed Angels," a movie that will air on HBO. It's about the history of the women's suffrage movement and stars Hilary Swank. The film is stirring and draws a standing ovation from the crowd, but I found its use of modern music jarring. It's the story of suffrage for the MTV generation. Beautiful actress Julia Ormond is in the theater.

Other celebrity spottings of the day included Denis Leary outside the theater and Hank Azaria walking down the street. We rush back to the loft to get ready for a party I've been invited to, sponsored by Court TV and the Sundance Channel. On the way: Whoops, I trip and fall on Main Street in front of a huge crowd, spraining my dignity. When we arrive: Double whoops, the party is actually tomorrow and I misread the date. We find a little country bar called Appaloosa and have a couple of beers while watching a guy, who we hope is drunk, doing a form of dancing that looks more like an epileptic seizure. An aspiring fashion designer from L.A., who calls himself R. Kenneth Brooks, strikes up a conversation and joins us for a while . He shows us photos of his designs, which aren't all that impressive, but he's very nice. Back home to catch about five hours of sleep.

Saturday, January 17: Once again we're headed to an 8:30 a.m. showing, this time for a scary SCUBA-diving movie called "Open Water." It's based on a true story about a married couple left behind in the water by a careless diving boat operator, amid sharks. I found it extremely effective and stress-inducing. Though I'm recently certified, I may never go diving again because of it. This film has also been picked up by distributors and will be out this summer.

Jen and I decide to split up - I want to see a press-only screening of a documentary about Scrabble champions called "Word Wars." Unfortunately, the film Jen sees, "Harry and Max," turns out to be a horribly written story about two brothers in an incestuous relationship. People storm out of the theater before it's over, but Jen sticks it out. Meanwhile, I really enjoy the Scrabble movie. I haven't yet seen the spelling-bee movie "Spellbound," but folks in the audience all around me are comparing it to "Word Wars." The adult Scrabblers who live from tournament to tournament are sort of pathetic, but definitely fascinating.

I stop by the press headquarters to take advantage of a video library - reporters with credentials can check out video screeners of many of the movies in the festival. I pick up a documentary called "Dirty Work" to watch back in the room with Jen. It's about people with three of the grossest jobs the filmmakers could come up with - a man who collects bull semen, a man who pumps out septic tanks and a man who prepares dead bodies for funerals. It has lots of "eewww" moments, but some humor too, and overall it's pretty well done.

The last movie of the day is "Until the Violence Stops," a documentary about the V-Day efforts of Eve Ensler, who wrote "The Vagina Monologues" and inspired a worldwide series of performances that are fund raisers for anti-violence programs. The film, which will air on Lifetime in February, is extremely emotional and covers such topics as women who were held as sex slaves in the Phillippines during WWII, domestic violence on a South Dakota Native American reservation, and female circumcision in Africa. It draws three standing ovations. There's a lengthy Q&A afterward with the director, Ensler and Jane Fonda, and I later spot Sally Field in the audience.

Afterward, I'm granted one-on-one interviews with Ensler and Fonda for a freelance piece I'm doing for TV Guide. I try to hide the fact that I'm very impressed to be meeting Fonda (I've liked her since "Nine to Five"). She looks gorgeous but starts out a bit snippy in response to my questions. She and Ensler soon warm up, though, and the conversation ends up well.

Then it's time to head to a party - I've doublechecked and I know I've got the right date for this one. It's the "Project Greenlight" party and Ben Affleck is scheduled to be there along with Chris Moore, a film producer who plays an integral role in the "Greenlight" series, which is moving from HBO to Bravo for its third season. We endure a long, cold wait outside while Affleck's security people "sweep" the nightclub. Then we're led inside where a press conference is set up. I spot Hank Azaria again, and a TV star from "Angel," Stephanie Romanov. I stop her for a brief conversation and she turns out to be really sweet and warm - she's got an upcoming movie with Robin Williams.

Finally, Affleck comes out - I spot the flashbulbs and I'm craning my neck to figure out where he is, when he walks directly in front of Jen and me to get to the front of the room. Turns out he's exactly my height. He stands with a microphone, plugging a goofy endorsement deal he's got with Hewlett Packard for the show and showing off some digital photos he took of his sports jerseys (to promote an HP camera), and then he immediately leaves the nightclub to go catch a plane. Some party! Jen and I decide to take off for the other party that I'd botched on Friday.

It turns out to be much more fun, with yummy food, free drinks and lots of chatty people. (Well, most of them were young single guys drawn to Jen and her sparkly pants like moths to a flame, but all the conversations were enjoyable). We learned we'd missed Forest Whitaker, who'd been at the party earlier. Time to call it a night - this time, four hours of sleep.

Sunday, January 18: I take Jen to the airport at 6:45 a.m. I'm bummed to not have her company anymore. Then it's back for another 8:30 a.m. movie, "Dandelion." I'm writing about it because the cinematographer is part of a successful group of filmmakers from North Carolina. It's a story about a teenage love affair and a dysfunctional family (that's the only type of family in Sundance films, apparently), and it's beautifully photographed. The script had a few flaws, but I'd recommend that anyone should go see it for the visuals alone, if it does get a theatrical release.

Afterward, I've got interviews scheduled with the director and two of the stars, Vincent Kartheiser of TV's "Angel" and the movie "Masterminds," and Mare Winningham, who I've liked since she was in "St. Elmo's Fire." All interviews go well - Kartheiser was deliberately weird, trying to mess with me at first, but eventually warmed up, and Winningham was wonderful and scored major points with me when she revealed her first big part was as Maria in a high school production of "The Sound of Music," opposite Kevin Spacey as Captain Von Trapp. Yes, I embarrassed myself and told her all about my childhood "Sound of Music" obsession.

Next stop: a documentary from France called "Investigation into the Invisible World." It was about people in Iceland who believe they can communicate with elves, trolls, ghosts, extraterrestrials, angels and other unseen beings. It seems to be a phenomenon tied to both the old Norse heritage of the country and its volcanic geology, which creates incredible landscapes that look as though surely mystical beings must live among them. It was fascinating, but I was so sleepy I drifted off during the second half. Back to the room to rest a few hours.

Then it's time to go out for one of the bigger premieres I'll see this trip, Robert Redford's new movie "The Clearing," scheduled to be in theaters this spring. Redford and co-star Willem Dafoe are there, and I spot Faye Dunaway walking past me. By the flashbulbs, I'm guessing other big celebs are in the crowd but I can't tell who they are. The movie is partly a suspense thriller about Redford being kidnapped, but it turns into something more psychological and introspective and not at all action-oriented (so don't be fooled by the misleading trailer that's been playing in theaters). Helen Mirren gives a wonderful performance as Redford's wife.

From there, I head over to another party I've been invited to. This one's in honor of documentaries and sponsored by the Discovery Channel. Two of the Scrabble champions from "Word Wars" are there, and it's a hoot to meet them after seeing their film. Also, the directors of that film are friends of my pals Anna and Judy, so I have nice chats with them.

It's at this party that I learn the Carolina Panthers have won their playoff game and made it to the Super Bowl, which causes me to begin freaking out with surprise and happiness for them. Unfortunately, nobody else there is from N.C. or can identify with my feelings. Apparently this caused me to be so distracted that I completely missed the fact that Ed Norton was at the party - a guy I talked to later said I walked directly by Norton several times, but I never realized he was there. Also, the actress who played Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island was there (nobody seems to know why), but I didn't see her either.

My final ticket of the day was to a midnight screening of "Deadline," a documentary about the Illinois governor's decision to commute all of his state's death sentences after realizing the serious flaws in the capital punishment system. It's probably my least favorite film of the ones I saw, and not just because I was sleepy. It was really unfocused - they didn't try to stay on one person and make it a narrative, but instead put a bunch of talking heads onscreen to promote a strong anti-death-penalty agenda. I think it would've been much stronger if they'd decided to follow one inmate who ended up being exonerated, or one victim's family following the case of their loved one's murderer, or the inner workings of the governor's mind as he made his decision - all of those people appeared onscreen, but none were explored in-depth. Back to bed for five hours.

Monday, Jan. 19: I'll return on Tuesday, so this is my last day of the festival. I'm determined to make the most of it, despite my mounting fatigue. The first film of the day is "One Point O" at 9:15 a.m., and it's a bleak, dystopian near-future vision of society starring Jeremy Sisto, who plays the psycho brother on "Six Feet Under" (he was in the audience). There are a lot of dystopian near-future sci-fi movies at the festival this year, perhaps a reflection of the fact that most of these films were produced post-9/11. This one had an intriguing premise and amazing visuals, but the plot had some weird holes in it. Sisto did a good job.

Then it's time for the interviews I've been looking forward to the most. I have a one-on-one with the director of "The Clearing," and roundtable interviews with Redford and Dafoe. I'm writing about this movie because much of it was filmed in the N.C. mountains near Asheville (quite recognizably). The conversations go well. Redford later comes up to me as I'm eating one of the free sandwiches left out for the media, to scope out the sandwich and grab one for himself. I invite him to sit beside me to eat, but he doesn't take me up on it. I end up sitting beside the president of the Fox Searchlight studio, and I share with him my criticism of the misleading "Clearing" trailer.

Next on the day's agenda is a press conference for Kevin Bacon's film "The Woodsman," which I'm planning to see later in the day. The publicists goof by scheduling this conference before anyone has seen the movie, since the reporters don't really know what to ask. But it's cool to see Bacon and his co-stars Kyra Sedgwick, David Alan Grier and Benjamin Bratt being pals. I catch the bus to go see "Woodsman," and this movie blows me away. Bacon plays a pedophile trying to re-integrate himself back into society after serving a prison sentence for molesting young girls. The subject matter is obviously not enjoyable, but Bacon's performance is simply amazing - it would be Oscar caliber if the Academy would consider awarding this type of material, which they probably won't. He was so real and believable in the part. As a viewer, you resist any urge to sympathize with him, but he makes you understand him, and the film raises important questions about this group of people that are really out there - can you cure them? Probably not, not completely anyway. And knowing that, what do you do with them? No easy answers. This one is still haunting me. Go see it if it gets released. I'd probably have to say it's the best film of all those I saw at the festival.

I have a couple of hours back at the room before my final film of the night, so of course I had to use the time to watch another video screener. This time it was "Seven Times Lucky," a Canadian film starring Kevin Pollak. It was a relatively light con-game caper, an enjoyable trifle worth catching if it gets released.

Last film of the festival - No. 16 in five days - was "We Don't Live Here Anymore." It has an amazing cast - Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Peter Krause - and it's about two married couples having affairs and struggling to keep their marriages together. It's really well acted, but I found myself getting disgusted with the characters' self-absorption and selfishness. Unfortunately none of the stars were in the crowd (they'd all been there earlier in the day for the first screening), but the director stayed around for a really late Q&A - the film ended around 1:15 a.m. I didn't mind, though - I wanted to pack in as much as I could, and I think I did a good job of squeezing every drop of experience out of the time I had.

I'll conclude with an immortal quote uttered by Britney Spears, which is on a T-shirt I couldn't help buying as a souvenir: "Sundance is weird. The movies are weird - you actually have to think about them when you watch them."