It's been a while/ How you've come back in style/ singin' "Hey, na na na na na na"

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Juno Motion Picture Soundtrack





For me, being at Sundance was like being on a really good first date.

The company was incredible. Everyone there only wanted to talk about movies and were there for one of two reasons: to promote/buy a film, or they were there for the pure love of movies. The setting was magical (albeit, negative one degrees!), the food lovely, and I returned home with a feeling of euphoria and satisfaction.

In my short time there I was able to see eight films: The Yellow Handkerchief (amazing film starring William Hurt, Maria Bello and Kirsten Stewart about an unlikely group who take a road trip together), Frozen River (a story about a financially unstable woman who meets a young Native American woman and they help smuggle foreigners across the border for money), The Wave (a modern, German take on a true story that actually took place in Palo Alto, CA, about a high school teacher who's school simulation project about Fascism gets way out of hand), Good Dick (easily my favorite- about a young guy (Jason Ritter) who works in a porn shop and becomes obsessed with and starts a relationship with an incredibly troubled girl who comes into the store every single day to rent porn. Take note that this film was written, directed, produced by and starred in by a 26 year old girl-Marianna Palka), American Son (a story about a young U.S Marine (Nick Cannon) who is home on leave for 90 hours before he is shipped off to Iraq for the first time), The Last Word (my 2nd favorite film I saw- about a man (Wes Bently) who writes suicide notes for other people for a living and meets the sister (Wynona Ryder) of one of his clients at the funeral and they begin an odd relationship while he is in the process of becoming close friends with his newest client (Ray Romano)), Sleep Dealer (written and directed by Alex Rivera; a futuristic, political science-fiction film about a young Mexican guy who struggles to make ends meet for his family), and Perro Come Perro (a Colombian mobster film about the reality of the Colombian mafia and it's dog-eat-dog mentality).

Whew.

I would write more about each one but I don't want to spoil them in case the Studios come to their senses, buy the films and release them in theatres. The films that I saw that are most likely to be bought (these predictions coming from the buzz I heard around town and from Variety magazine) are The Yellow Handkerchief, American Son and The Last Word.

I also had a lot of celebrity sightings, but not as many as I was planning on because my Dad and I made it our priority to see as many films as possible, so I was pretty much sitting in theatres the whole time. I did see Paris Hilton (hah), Audrina Pettridge (another hah), Bill Pullman, Quentin Tarantino (he sat 3 rows behind me in Sleep Dealers), Kirsten Dunst, Stanley Tucci and a few others.

We had to get up at 4am every morning to get in line to get day-of tickets which worked out fine, but I am now totally exhausted. Most sane people don't do Sundance that way but this was planned so last-minute that we had too.

It was so crazy how L.A was essentially re-located to Park City. Everything had to do with who you knew, your celebrity status, or how much money you had. Those who could afford the 2500 dollar all-access pass were treated like Britney Spears by the volunteers, and those who didn't have those passes but who were important enough were allowed to cut the line. It was all quite a show and I got a kick out of it.

I wish I could chat more but I'm just so beat it is crazy. (It was not so smart for me to go out to a party RIGHT after I got home last night.)

This week is a busy one in terms of school work, so therefore I will be blogging often as a form of procrastination.

p.s- Happy MLK Jr. Day!


The famous Egyptian Theatre on Main Street.

Park City, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Marianna Palka, Jason Ritter, and the rest of the cast doing Q&A for Good Dick.

Director (Geoffrey Haley) and Wes Bently doing Q&A for The Last Word.

Bill Pullman (While You Were Sleeping, Independence Day) being interviewed on Main Street to promote his new film at Sundance.


The main cast members (Nick Cannon and Matt O'Leary) and director Neil Abramson discuss American Son.