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Reviews
Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
Enjoyable if contrived
Struck by financial hardship, an ambitious mother and her unmotivated sister become entrepreneurs in the field of biohazard removal and crime scene clean-up. The movie is good but not amazing, though many members of the audience seemed to like it. With a cute kid in tow and Alan Arkin as the ladies' crotchety old dad the film aims to be Little Miss Sunshine Cleaning, but it just doesn't have the clever script, the darker edges, or the entertainment value of Little Miss Sunshine. It felt a little contrived as if to please the festival indie audiences - which to some extent it did - but friends I was with mostly reacted badly to the almost deliberate, calculated quirkiness. Emily Blunt was noticeably enjoyable, and the the technical side of the film, while lacklustre and certainly nothing special, was competent and helped the film along.
Frozen River (2008)
Deserves a release!
A well made, if not exactly ground-breaking, entry in the Sundance festival that justly was picked up for distribution although who knows if it will actually make it to the cinemas. The plot concerns a woman trapped by poverty and engaged in people-smuggling in rural upstate New York. I was particularly impressed by actress Melissa Leo in what must be her first central role, which showed a convincing subtlety and range. As a first feature from director Courtney Hunt I thought it showed promise and insight - especially into the reasons people do the bad things they do to survive poverty, and in its neutral but enquiring portrayal of the characters involved in something like human smuggling. Some beautiful photography and memorable performances.
The Great Buck Howard (2008)
Pretty boring and unnecessary
Sean McGinly's debut feature The Great Buck Howard is a curious, small-scale relationship comedy/drama about an over-the-hill entertainer and his young, direction-less-in-life assistant. Colin Hanks stars as the assistant, Troy, who signs up for the gig after impulsively bolting law school and the career track his dad, played by Hanks's real-life dad Tom, is pushing him towards. Malkovich goes the opposite way, energetically turning his "Buck Howard" into a show-biz cartoon, a caricature of an impossible-to-please has-been who travels with his show through the flyover states while the larger entertainment culture passes him by. One of the film's problems is its failure to come up with engaging ways to turn the relationship between Howard and Troy into anything resembling a real story. We expect him to get drawn into both Howard's life and the methodology of his effects, but he is never much more than a bemused observer of this show-biz "fossil" he's randomly hooked up with. I found it very disappointing that this movie was even showing at the Sundance film festival, it was so below the standards of the low budget indies and if you're going to use big stars you have to make it all the more genius a screenplay otherwise people are going to be cynical and bored... like I was.
The Escapist (2008)
Existential puzzle-box movie - not just an escape
I caught this at Sundance. Not the premiere but one of the other showings. Then I went back to a second viewing! (The only film there I'd felt that way about.) The audiences reaction said it all. People came with very little hype or knowledge about what was billed as a prison escape movie. So this was one of the few films at the festival which really exceeded expectations. I knew something was up when it started with the escape itself! Cutting back and forth between the escape and the plan was a device that I worried at first would annoy me, a tip of a hat to Memento but without good reason for being there. I was wrong - in fact the reason we get this structure is one of the cleverest reasons I've ever seen and its only fully clear what it all signified in the last few seconds of the film. But I won't spoil it.. its just worth saying that this film and its clever structure and twist makes it more of a Jacobs Ladder or Memento than a Shawshank Redemption. You need to see it twice to pick up all the clues and understand completely - a bit like Donnie Darko or Mulholland Dr - enjoyable even if you don't get it completely but there are other layers to figure out in future viewings. The film had an interesting look to it like a 70s movie and excellent cinematography although I wished that they'd either not used CG in places or done it a bit better. The acting from Brian Cox (carrying the film) and Stephen Mackintosh (minor role) really impressed, first time I've seen Cox carry a movie since Manhunter. The sound was very interestingly done which is rare and together with the unique, detailed look of the film gave me the impression of a director (Rupert Wyatt) who got to realise his unique vision.... which is what these Sundance movies should be about. The music was quite diverse, and best when not getting too sentimental, but it helped with the pace if not the mood. Leonard Cohen's song also perfectly led us in and out of the story. But the technical side of the film-making from all parties was clearly top notch and Joe Walker's editing, creating a double story while keeping both interesting was also stand-out good. I also loved the retro titles- these films its referencing from the 70s are some of my favourite but this managed to update, subvert and improve them. Hats off.
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)
Trying to be an indie cool movie - and failing
Based on the novel by Michael Chabon, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is about the young son of a notorious gangster who spends his last teenage summer roaming around with two friends. The year is 1983, and young Art Bechstein (Jon Foster) is at a crossroads. Completely opposed to his father's lifestyle, Art plans to become a stockbroker. Visually contrived with painful attempts to create beautiful hip indie cinematography, the whole film feels like the director - whose previous effort Dodgeball was funny if outright commercial - is desperately seeking indie credibility by cobbling together aspects of other indie films but sprinkling it with stars like Mena Suvari, Sienna Miller and Nick Nolte. Like so many of the star-laden premieres at Sundance this year it felt like this was a secrety studio-sponsored vanity project to help the director earn some indie credibility points - it failed in that respect and as a film in its own right.
What Just Happened (2008)
Self indulgent and unnecessary
What just happened indeed - Barry Levinson's Hollywood satire, based on producer Art Linson's book, is a limp and indulgent exercise in self-serving cynicism. The movie stars Robert De Niro as a Hollywood producer who can't get his temperamental director (Michael Wincott) to change the ending of his Sean Penn flick to please a demanding studio head. De Niro's character also has to convince Bruce Willis to shave off his beard before starring in a new film. What it was doing at a festival like Sundance was anyone's guess, but it drew hostility from the crowds as its star-studded cast and high-flying director were at odds with the talent on show elsewhere by unknowns and small stars, but the film itself had so little to offer. We could only guess there was some sponsorship or donation given by the makers to help the festival, and that's how it ended up getting its premiere there. An outright self-indulgent bore.