The state of independent film may be shaky right now, but still, all eyes are on today's announcement of the competition films at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. With good reason, too -- the fest is still the place to go for exciting new premieres that could transform a moviegoer at the very least and, at the most, shape an entire cinematic year. Will one of these films follow in the paths of former Sundance sensations like Precious or Little Miss Sunshine? In January, we'll have our first inklings.
There are still plenty of movies yet to be announced in the coming days (including those in the Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Park City at Midnight Sections), but for now, here's our competition lineup:
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[Editor's note: This review was originally published Sept. 11, 2009, as part of our TIFF coverage.]
Less than 24 hours after watching George Clooney sit across from an Iraqi goat and telepathically snuff it out of existence, I was watching him do essentially the same thing to a stream of ill-fated members of the American workforce in Up in the Air, Jason Reitman's astutely observed and surprisingly uplifting meditation on one man's pathological tendency towards isolationism. That that man, Ryan Bingham, would choose the career path he did -- working for a third-party concern leased out to corporations who'd rather avoid the face-to-face messiness of large-scale layoffs -- only serves to enable his particular form of sociopathy. Ryan crisscrosses my land and your land like a mighty, modern-day Paul Bunyon, proudly wielding his axe and swinging his downsizing blows so efficiently, he's often out the door before his targets even realize that they've been reduced to stumps.
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Last week brought a studious browse through this year's American Film Market catalog, revealing some of the must-see Luke Perry offerings and Val Kilmer double features populating the annual sales confab. While a few more accomplished titles have stirred domestic buyer interest, the search continues for international distributors seeking just the right Z-movie to take home as a souvenir from Santa Monica. Today, another on-site observer reports with at least one more spectacular candidate from the wreckage.
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Finally, a bit of good news concerning a critic leaving his job: L.A. Weekly film editor Scott Foundas was announced today as the new Associate Director of Programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the body that each year hosts the New York Film Festival. Foundas has been on the NYFF selection committee since 2007 and has worked at L.A. Weekly since 2003; after new LAFF artistic director David Ansen, he is the second critic in a week to land a programming job with a major American film institution. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Many congrats. [FSLC]
The Sundance Film Festival sent word this morning that its 2010 edition would feature one night of nationally coordinated festival premieres. This means you Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Nashville, Madison, Ann Arbor, and Brookline, Mass.: A cluster of festival selectees will fan out for simultaneous screenings and Q&A's on Thursday, Jan. 28. The films have yet to be determined -- with the exception of the Naomi Klein documentary The Shock Doctrine, which will screen at that hour in Park City. For the rest of you, keep your eyes peeled on the fest Web site for more details as events warrant.
It took a momentary fluke for Kyle Patrick Alvarez to discover the idea that would set him on his first filmmaking journey, and three years to arrive at AFI Fest tonight with the finished product. Perhaps fittingly, then, his debut Easier With Practice (which already won Best Feature prizes from juries at both CineVegas and the Edinburgh Film Festival) reflects an uncanny blend of fortune, intuition and assuredness that defies the customary rookie jitters. Not that his phone-sex-and-identity-crisis drama didn't give him pause to begin with, as he told Movieline.
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At the Savannah Film Festival Monday, larger-than-life Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley was on hand -- wearing an enormous Ralph Rucci-designed kimono whose color Talley described as "aubergine" -- to join a discussion of Valentino: The Last Emperor with the acclaimed doc's director, Matt Tyrnauer. Talley is quite a friend of Savannah College of Art and Design, which hosts the festival and more or less is the biggest business in this charming but sleepy town. "You can get a bachelor's of art degree in luxury management!" Talley raved about SCAD. "You can go work at Vuitton, Cartier, a chocolatier, a spa, a restaurant. It means you can handle luxury concerns."
A more pressing concern to Movieline, however, was a cryptic assertion in the New York Times Magazine that Talley declined a small role in this week's Precious after seeing a clip of star Gabourey Sidibe. Care to elaborate, Mr. Talley?
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Some of us at Movieline tried something a little different this year for Halloween: We found our inner Mariah, our outer Galifianakis, or we just traveled down as ourselves to the Savannah Film Festival. As hipsters from the nearby Savannah College of Art and Design swarmed the streets with go-cups and costumes of their own, the 12th annual event opened with a screening of The Messenger featuring stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster in attendance. Oren Moverman's drama (opening Nov. 20) chronicles the homefront grief of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the relationship of two Army casualty-notification officers -- heart-hardened Tony Stone (Harrelson) and sensitive Iraq veteran Will Montogomery (Foster) -- as they stoically alert people that their sons, daughters, husbands and wives have died overseas.
It was sobering, intense stuff for the holiday, lightened up a bit afterward by a Harrelson/Foster Q&A-session, complete with a hand-mic sword fight. I had a chance to talk with Harrelson about The Messenger's politics (or lack thereof), Zombieland's vegan Twinkies, and why Foster reminds him of a young Marlon Brando.
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The international press conference for Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox came and went yesterday, with little incident and nary a husky Italian reporter stripping down to a jockstrap and declaring his bearish love for its star George Clooney, the foxy man of his dreams. Six hours later, a who's who of London haut monde would file through Leicester Square for the (awesome) film's world premiere, which also served as the gala opening to the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival. Sadly, no Beckhams, Ritchies, or even former Anderson muse Gwyneth Paltrow were on hand, the last of whom could have been relied upon to deliver some variation of, "Movie premieres in London are just so much more -- how can I put this -- storied. Grand. Don't get me wrong -- I like U.S. premieres too, but red carpets are just so much younger there. The carpet we're on right now? Elizabeth I strolled across it on her way into Christopher Marlowe's Jew of Malta. True story!"
Our coverage -- including nerdy tourist photos! -- after the jump.
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Tom Ford's acclaimed (if overrated) directorial debut A Single Man will have its U.S. West Coast premiere next month in Los Angeles at the closing night of AFI Fest. (The U.S. premiere is Monday at the Chicago International Film Festival.) Adapted from Christopher Isherwod's novel about a gay professor grappling with the death of his lover circa 1962, the film features Oscar-caliber performances from Colin Firth and Julianne Moore; Harvey Weinstein acquired it for an awards run that goes straight through AFI. Unless he decides to shelve it for 2010, which is altogether possible. Save the date in pencil for now. [indieWIRE]
Several hundred journalists packed the Grand Ballroom of The Dorchester today for a press panel for Fantastic Mr. Fox, which kicks off the 53rd BFI London Film Festival later this evening. Here are nine things we took away from our shared time with George Clooney, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Wes Anderson, Jarvis Cocker, and others:
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Pedro Almodóvar made his regular New York Film Festival pit stop Wednesday, bringing his new film-industry love quadrangle Broken Embraces to town ahead of its closing-night presentation this weekend. His star and longtime muse Penélope Cruz joined him for a press conference following yesterday's screening, but at this festival -- perhaps the most abjectly cinephilic in the world -- Almodóvar proved himself once again as the one person who can outshine the planet's biggest international sexpot.
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The lawsuit-inspiring, diva-boasting darling Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire makes landfall in New York this weekend, when its appearance as the New York Film Festival's centerpiece selection marks its first American exposure since dominating Sundance last January. Director Lee Daniels greeted the festival press Thursday at Lincoln Center, where his transfixing blend of fantasy, terror, incest, abuse and urban aspiration screened to acclaim, gasps and plenty of tears. After the ordeal of watching it, one could only imagine the ordeal of making it, right? Wrong, according to Daniels -- it was a blast! His explanation (and a few mild spoilers) after the jump.
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The 47th New York Film Festival opens Friday, but the main attraction may have already come and gone this afternoon when Lars von Trier -- the self-described "greatest film director in the world" whose instant classic Antichrist screens here Oct. 2 -- graced Lincoln Center with his presence for a press conference. Actually, it was via Skype (von Trier doesn't travel outside Europe), but let's be honest: Virtual Lars is better than no Lars at all. Even the filmmaker was excited by von Trier standards: "I've tried to struggle myself out of this depression," he said in introduction. "It hasn't really worked. But I'm very happy to see all the people there in New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!" Brown-noser. Read on for more thoughts on Antichrist, horror films, David Lynch, his "misogyny researcher," and other mumbly, lo-fi wit and wisdom.
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As it had last January at Sundance, director Lee Daniels' Precious muscled its way through a crowd of competition en route to the Toronto International Film Festival's prestigious Audience Award. You might recall how things turned out for last film to claim that prize at TIFF -- Slumdog Millionaire -- and a new piece in Time Magazine considers how Oprah Winfrey's imprimatur out of both fests (plus Cannes) might impact this year's awards race.
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