My final musings from Park City sat in draft status for almost 10 days. Oops!
While my posts may seem a bit vapid, I promise others are working on less dull round-ups of their time in Park City. We'll give you some juicy bits with more film reviews shortly. Promise!
In the meantime, I spent my final day hopping from one event to the next, talking up The Human Race and Death of a Fluffer. Stops along the way included the Sundance Co-Op (where I ran into Cindy Baer, VFF06 Morbid Curiosity, working the Canon room) followed by lunch at what has become this festival's "Old Faithful" --- The Sundance Channel HQ.
Ashley Cozine and I had some time before the FIND party so we dug out the Flip HD and mapped out a two-minute short about a woman who lost something and is on the search. The idea was to rely heavily on Ashley's love & ability to rock the physical comedy world. Mid-way through our shoot, we stumbled upon the oddest site ever...a bank of trees with nothing but shoes hanging from them. We're not talking a handful of pairs, we're talking HUNDREDS! This opportunity was too good to pass up and we shot an improvised piece currently titled I Love Stephen.
The temperature was dropping fast at this point, so we dove into 501 Main for a bowl of chili...a minute after Demi Moore, Ashton Kutchner and brood had left. And that's ALL our bartender and waitress and the entire staff talked about while we were there. Sigh.
At the FIND party, I met Eddie Schmidt, Board President, IDA, and one of the producers behind Troubadours which screened at Sundance. Troubadours follows the rising music scene at L.A.'s Troubadour Club in the 60's and 70's and will be at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in February. Check it out! Eddie was also very kind to give me his ticket to Perfect Sense later that evening.
After FIND, Ashley and I caught the tail end of the UCLA party. We were there for literally 5 minutes, before they kicked us out, but in that short time, we ran into VFF friend (and Entertainment Attorney) William Vu who generously gave Ash his ticket to Perfect Sense.
We regrouped at Robert Redford's ZOOM for dinner and drinks. There, we met up with Hila Shani, Kate Logan, Tanya B., Tobuscus and Frank Moens from the Docville Film Festival in Belgium who rounded out our social donut. And, Robert Redford joined us too. OK, maybe from 5 tables away, but he was in the room and we have the picture to prove it.
Finally, another movie! David Mackenzie's Perfect Sense. From the synopsis, I was expecting a dark love story between a scientist (Eva Green) and a chef (Ewan McGregor) evolving during her research into his loss of smell. Not even close. It's the end of the world as we know it and first one loses their sense of smell, followed by taste, then hearing, and finally vision. It's a heavy, it's intense, it's raw, it's fantastic! I loved that Eva & Ewen's characters were such pricks (or, as Eva observed, Mr. & Mrs.. Asshole) in their everyday lives and relationships, but that they managed to find the good in themselves through each other. This is definitely worth a watch (cinematography and music are beautiful) but be warned, if you're like me do not have plans for after...it's an emotionally exhausting experience and you'll want to be alone...or with loved ones. And if you're familiar with David Mackenzie's other works, you'll pick up some familiar themes...I saw a bit of Mister Foe myself. Follow Sweet on Sigma for updates.
