Sundance Journal

Five Sundance gems: Even Taylor Swift wants to see the Ethel Kennedy documentary

Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon star in Arbitrage
Photo by Myles Aronowitz
Ethel and Robert Kennedy in Ethel
Photo by Paul Schutzer/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Big Boys Gone Bananas
Photo by Anna Sivertsson

PARK CITY, Utah — One of the pleasures of the Sundance Film Festival is discovering hidden gems you would never find anywhere else. As someone (not named Forrest Gump) put it, “Films at Sundance are like a box of chocolates…you just never know what you are going to get until you bite into them.”

That being said, here are the movies I will be seeing over the next week in hopes of getting my chocolate fix.

Ethel

I love a good documentary. In prior years biographies on Ronald Reagan and Joan Rivers were big hits critically and financially at Sundance. And let’s face it, most of us find the Kennedy family highly intriguing. What a witness to history Ethel Kennedy has been. Ethel, made by her daughter, award-winning documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, is sure to attract some big stars as well as a huge contingent of the Kennedy family including Ethel Kennedy herself, now 83.

Country music star Taylor Swift will make her first trip to the Sundance Film Festival and will attend the premiere Friday afternoon. She commented in the February issue of Vogue that meeting Ethel Kennedy was one of the few times she has been starstruck.

Arbitrage

This film from director Nicholas Jarecki is about a crooked hedge fund manager who tries to sell his trading empire on the eve of this 60th birthday before the extent of his fraud is discovered. Starring a high wattage cast of Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, the movie is one of the most sought after tickets in town.

Last year, another financial thriller,Margin Call,starring Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons and Simon Baker, was one of top five grossing movies of Sundance. I am hoping that the Wall Street vibe works its magic again.

Big Boys Gone Bananas

I love a good story of filmmakers vs. corporate America if it is combines humor with a message. Michael Moore doesn’t do it for me, but fans of this genre may remember 2010’s The Yes Men which followed a couple of anti-corporate activist-pranksters as they impersonated World Trade Organization spokesmen.

I’m hoping that this film which details what happened to two Swedish filmakers in the aftermath of making a documentary about corporate giant Dole Food Company — they were sued, bullied and subjected to PR spin — strikes that tone. ScreenDaily.com says the movie "should be compulsory viewing for any wannabe documentary filmmaker embarking on their investigative opus without a fear in the world."

Smashed

This film about a young couple (Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul) battling alcohol addiction is produced by the same filmmakers behind last year’s Like Crazy. Their new movie carries high hopes because it promises to strike a tone that’s light and even dryly comedic. The Hollywood Reporter predicts that it could be a breakout role for 27-year-old Winstead, who portrays a woman struggling to redefine her marriage beyond alcohol. (Her prior credits include The Thing, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Final Destination 3.)

I like movies that deal with what I call crisis of character and self. Although the premise has been done many times — think Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia in When a Man Loves a Woman — I’m hoping the “Sundance” sensibility will bring a fresh look at this age-old problem.

About Face

Each year Sundance has what I call a “behind the scenes” documentary that attracts attention because we are all curious about what life is like for the institutions and people we read about. In 2010, it was The September Issuewith a in-depth look at Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour. Last year it wasPage One: Inside the New York Times. These types of documentaries are highly popular at the festival and typically are often acquired by TV or even are released for the big screen.

This year all eyes are on About Face, portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ intimate view of the supermodels whose images have defined our sense of beauty for the past 50 years. Expect to see interviews with iconic models Paulina Porizkova, Beverly Johnson, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Jerry Hall, Christy Turlington Burns, Christie Brinkley and Isabella Rossellini, where they discuss the enormous pressure society puts on women to be beautiful and youthful.

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Movie Review

Comedic horror movie Y2K takes nostalgic trip with mayhem twist

Photo courtesy of A24

Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, and Julian Dennison in Y2K.

Movies that rely on nostalgia can be successful if they’re timed right. Generally, 25-30 years seems about the right amount of time to try to take advantage of people’s fond feelings for a certain era, which is why movies/TV shows about the ‘80s have been prevalent for much of the 21st century, and ‘90s-set films started to pop up in the last 10 years.

Y2K, a horror comedy that plays on the fears of technological mayhem many people thought would happen at the turn of the century, is right on the cusp of that rule, taking place 24 years after its timeline. It centers on two teenage boys, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison), who are opposite in demeanor but have an unshakeable bond. Eli likes a popular girl, Laura (Rachel Zegler), and Danny convinces him to crash a New Year’s Eve party where she’ll be.

As the clock strikes midnight and the year moves from 1999 to 2000, everything that uses an electrical current goes haywire, with many of them combining forces to attack the humans around them. Eli and Danny find themselves on the run with Laura, as well as two stoners, Ash (Lachlan Watson) and CJ (Daniel Zolghadri), with each of them trying to use their unique skillset to help defeat a growing robot army.

Directed by Kyle Mooney and written by Mooney and Evan Winter, the film lands some solid jokes about the era in its opening 20 minutes or so, whether it’s the extreme slowness of dial-up internet, the goofy user names from AOL Messenger, or the various high school cliques of the time. However, many of them seem to echo ones told in 1999’s American Pie, a weird kind of art-imitating-art moment instead of commenting on real life.

The jolt of the machines attacking partygoers seems to promise a fun — if bloody — romp, but Mooney and Winter don’t seem to know where to take the story. They establish the computer bona fides of Eli and Laura early on, but when it comes time for them to put their talents in action, it feels like two actors going through the motions instead of real people who know what they’re doing. Almost none of the characters are believable or entertaining, and the few that rise above are dispatched way too early.

And because the filmmakers don’t make you care about the main group, nothing they face is that interesting, either. The villainous robots are made up of a bunch of disparate parts, which would seem to offer the opportunity for funny sight gags. Mooney and his team fumble most of their chances, though, leaving that side of the story stuck in limbo where it’s not absurd enough to be hilarious or scary enough to really count as horror.

Martell, Dennison, and Zegler are each rising stars who have their individual charms, but only Dennison is able to make much of an impact. Zegler, who starred in West Side Story and will soon be Snow White, is especially misused. They try to shoehorn in a cameo by Limp Biskit lead singer Fred Durst, but his appearance makes little sense and adds almost nothing to the story.

Filmmakers who want to mine nostalgia, especially in a comedy, need to really commit to the bit instead of throwing in a few references and needle drops. Mooney, who’s making his directorial debut, demonstrates little feel for timing, and so most of the film is like a car spinning its wheels, going nowhere.

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Y2K opens in theaters on December 6.

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Sundance Journal

Five Sundance gems: Even Taylor Swift wants to see the Ethel Kennedy documentary

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Movie Review

Comedic horror movie Y2K takes nostalgic trip with mayhem twist

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Get Houston intel delivered daily.