Oh hey, more Banksy! Now that the Banksy kinda-doc/kinda-not Exit Through the Gift Shop has premiered at Sundance, more of the graffiti artist's designs have begun to pop up in Park City in addition to the heavily photographed, Joseph Gordon-Levitt-discovered first strike. Movieline found this one today off the beaten path of Main St., and while it may not have the self-referential filmmaking metaphor of his first design, at least we can say we've found an actual snow angel at Park City.
PREVIOUSLY: Banksy's First Sundance Strike!
Post-screening Sundance Q&As are frequently gushy affairs, sometimes to the point of awkwardness. (At last night's The Runaways premiere, a Kristen Stewart fan wept as she laid her true feelings on the line for the actress, as a crowd of 1,270 strangers shifted uncomfortably in their seats.) But last night's The Killer Inside Me conversation veered off-script in a big way. The first question came from a woman in her 60s, who demanded to know how the film made it into the festival at all. She then proceeded to berate Sundance for the decision, her tirade going on for about 20 glorious seconds, during which it elicited some applause and far more jeers from the crowd. She then stormed out of the Eccles Theater. Director Michael Winterbottom, meanwhile, stood nonplussed at the dais. "Any ... other questions?" the moderator asked.
What then, was all the fuss about? Well, let's begin with Jessica Alba's murder, in which she endures the most brutal head trauma since Irreversible.
[WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND]
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You might recall that Robert Redford was more than a little forthright the other day about the "fresh new blood" needed to reinvigorate the "flatlining" Sundance Film Festival. Most industry insiders interpreted Redford's comments as a thinly veiled indictment of former fest director Geoff Gilmore -- but do you know what was even more indicative of the cold war between Sundance and its deposed boss? How about spotting Gilmore waiting in line with the rest of the unwashed, ticket-holding masses before this past weekend's hotly anticipated Buried premiere? Play along with Movieline this morning and see if you can find the one-time Park City kingpin in the crowd above. Answer after the jump.
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Movieline's Dept. of Distribution Consultancy will soon collect its first commission, with Lionsgate upholding this site's urgent recommendation to pick up the stunning Ryan Reynolds thriller Buried. The 'Gate reportedly outbid Fox Searchlight in negotiations that ran through Sunday morning, dropping between $3 million and $4 million on director Rodrigo Cortés's taut tale of an American contractor attempting to facilitate his rescue while buried alive somewhere in the Iraq desert. That's more than I would have guessed it'd sell for, but it's probably going to make a fortune, so hey. And good to see healthy market buys return to Sundance; expect The Company Men and happythankyoumoreplease to go next in the hours and days ahead. [Deadline]
Sundance has a rich and storied history of talented young actresses doing some very naughty things in the name of their indie-cred art. Sometimes the results are successful (Secretary), sometimes, they are not (Untitled Dakota Fanning Rape Project). Now we have Kristen Stewart to add to that list, who in Welcome to the Rileys plays Mallory (among other pseudonyms) -- a stripper who hooks, or a hooker who strips in a seedy New Orleans gentlemen's establishment.
Claustrophobes beware! Buried premiered late Friday night at Sundance, with its entire cast on hand to discuss the harrowing tale of an abducted American struggling to escape his burial in the Iraq desert. And by "entire cast," I mean Ryan Reynolds, who spends the film's entire 94 minutes in a pine box with little aid but a cell phone, a lighter and his oxygen-deprived wits. In a video after the jump, Reynolds explained the process of developing (and surviving) his twisted one-man show with director Rodrigo Cortés.
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The high-octane recession parable The Company Men entered the Sundance zeitgeist Friday night, screening again this morning to a monumentally stuffed, 1,270-person strong Eccles Theater. The question going in seemed to be, "Do we really need another Up in the Air right now?" The answer, of course, would be "No." But The Company Men isn't just another Up in the Air. It's better.
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24 hours after catching Restrepo at Sundance -- a war documentary that offers an unprecedented glimpse at a full year's deployment in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan -- and I still can't shake its startling, enthralling, and frequently devastating images. If anything, they've only embedded themselves deeper. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to speak at length with the two filmmakers, veteran war correspondents both, responsible for bringing Restrepo to the screen: Sebastian Junger, best-selling author of The Perfect Storm, and award-winning photojournalist, Tim Hetherington. Our conversation follows.
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The usually industrious guerrilla marketers at Sundance appear to have been slowed by the nonstop snow, and yesterday, they lost the wild-posting throne to an actress/chanteuse who doesn't even have a film here. Who won yesterday's poster war?
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After the disappointment that greeted such early darlings as Howl and Hesher around Park City, word finally started getting around late Friday about what people like. You know we're into the documentary Restrepo, and I've heard promising news about Boy and The Freebie -- just another few I'm going to have to add to the growing list of Sundance must-sees. But I've got one to toss on to the others: A nuanced, nasty little Australian crime import you'll be hearing (and hopefully seeing) about called Animal Kingdom.
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The world premiere of Hesher hit Sundance on Friday, and I do mean "hit": Joseph Gordon-Levitt's stringy-haired, chain-smoking, tatted-up anarchist title punk went trashing and crashing every situation pertaining to the film's young protagonist T.J. (Devin Brochu). From invading the boy's school to moving into his house to working out his crushes, no scenario was left unturned. And then flipped. And possibly lit on fire. But was it any good? The answer to that question and others as another Movieline FAQ (which naturally includes some spoilers) continues after the jump.
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Don't ask me where I ever found a picture taken of a screen inside a festival venue (ahem), but there was Natalie Portman sending her best wishes to the crowd at Friday afternoon's premiere of her film Hesher It turns out the actress/producer was working in New York and couldn't break away; it was perhaps the first time a star addressed a Sundance screening in absentia.
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You're curious about Restrepo, the new documentary from Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington in which you the viewer are given unprecedented frontline access to the war in Afghanistan. It premiered at Sundance last night. Naturally, you have questions. We have answers. [Warning: Spoilers ensue.]
Does it live up to the buzz?
Yes. You may think you have seen war docs before, but you've never quite seen anything like this. This film should be required viewing for anyone with a personal stake in the war in Afghanistan, which is everyone. You will laugh, cry, and sweat bullets, in real time, alongside the young men of the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade.
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