Geekscape’s Sundance Coverage #1

DEAD SNOW
Review from Sundance 2009
By Georg Kallert

Dead Snow Sundance Film Festival

Country: Norway / Subtitles
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Screenwriters: Tommy Wirkola, Stig Frode Henriksen
Producers: Terje Strømstad, Tomas Evjen
Cast: Vegard Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Lasse Valdal

Nazi Zombies – lots of them that can run very fast in the snow.  From the opening shots, “Dead Snow” is a wild ride through beautiful snowy landscapes and incredible gore, we are talking intestines & chainsaws.  The movie should really be called ‘red snow.’ 

A snowy cabin in the mountains of Norway with a separate outhouse and tool shed is the ideal canvas for this massive home-invasion story. A spooky hiker and WWII tale start the rollercoaster.  The likable cast gives a good performance as eight medical students who get plenty of hands-on anatomy lessons while on a ski vacation. In the Q&A the director mentioned 450 liters of fake blood were used during filming.  Due to the cold weather on set, some shots even needed digital blood enhancement, as the fake blood had frozen.

This fun mix of scares, laughs, and blood with homages to the films of John Carpenter and Sam Raimi is good entertainment. 

Best Weapon: Snowmobile
Best Kill Spot: Outhouse
Best Attack: Running charge with chainsaw  

THE CLONE RETURNS HOME
Review from Sundance 2009
By Anna A.

The Clone Returns Sundance Film Festival

Country: Japan / Subtitles
Director: Kanji Nakajima
Screenwriter: Kanji Nakajima
Producers: Kiyoshi Inoue, Rie Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Tago
Cast: Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Eri Ishida, Hiromi Nagasaku

The Clone Returns Home – is a story of an astronaut who agrees to be a part of a cloning program.  Unlike most Sci-Fi fare, the movie is mostly set on earth, rather than in outer space.  Giving away any more of the plot would take away from the beautiful unraveling of the film’s main themes of ethical responsibility and spirituality.  The storytelling and cinematographic artistry of the film, make it akin to a poem.  It is usually unfair to categorize a culture, but in this case it helps explain the film to say The Clone Returns Home is very Japanese.  The dialogue is minimalist and to the point, the film is introspective, both on the part of the characters, and in its ultimate goal of forcing the audience to become introspective.  The lines between the metaphors and reality are blurred, and blurred on purpose.  During the Q&A, the director, Kanji Nakajima, specifically avoided answering direct questions on the exact meaning of a particular scene or prop, and rightfully so.  A large part of the beauty of the film was the discovery of an individual meaning for each member of the audience.  Nakajima, pays homage to Tarkovsky (original Solaris), though through different meaning and subject matter. 

The Clone Returns Home takes into account certain beliefs common in several religions as well as Japanese culture in general.  At times it is so slow moving that it crawls to halt, yet it is in those times that you hear yourself think the loudest about your views on the matter.  Often the visuals are so powerful that you don’t even realize that there is no audio, just silence, for entire scenes.  Eri Ishida, the astronaut’s mother, gives a lovely performance in her short but meaningful part.  Those who enjoy a slow progression and introspective characters along with a futuristic and ultimately existential subject matter will adore this film.  Those seeking fast-paced action and exact purpose in the ultimate meaning of the film, will literally fall asleep.

SPREAD
Review from Sundance 2009
By Anna A.

Spread Sundance Film Festival

Director: David Mackenzie
Screenwriter: Jason Dean Hall
Producers: Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, Peter Morgan
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Anne Heche, Margarita Levieva, Rachel Blanchard, Sebastian Stan, Sonia Rockwell

In Spread, Ashton Kutcher plays Nikki, a “kept man”, who lives off older women, whom he easily seduces, since he has his game down to a science.  As a result, he has no apartment, car, or bank account for that matter.  The film develops from these initial circumstances and to say more, would be giving away the few enjoyable plot twists.  Spread, which showcases Nikki’s numerous love affairs with women, is essentially Ashton Kutcher’s love affair with himself.  Kutcher tries hard to showcase his acting talent, which was certainly better showcased in films like Butterfly Effect… during the Q&A Ashton alluded to being attracted to the part because he saw a challenge – the truth is we’ve seen this character in Ashton’s repertoire before: entitlement, arrogance, egotism, interlaced with small doses of humor.  At the very end Ashton’s character does show a small dose of being humble, but inaptly missing is the turn in the character development.  Anne Heche, who plays one of Nikki’s older sugar mamas, has a standout performance.  Notably, the preponderance of T&A in the first 50 minutes, has caused some to compare a few of the sex scenes to soft-porn on ‘Skin-a-Max’…  And it is likely that Heche could have been achieved the same performance with less full frontals of her awesome body.  For some, it is that first 50 minutes, that will make the film worthwhile, and believe me, T&A in the case of Spread is taken seriously: you even see Ashton’s derrière.  The last character worth mentioning is Los Angeles itself.  According to the film 30,000 good looking and ambitious youths arrive in the city every month looking for a fast, pretty, easy life.  In essence, the story being told could not have occurred anywhere else, because the city itself is almost like a drug that pushes people to covet a glamorous lifestyle. The film plays homage to Shampoo and American Gigolo, but may not have such iconic status in 20 years.  In the end, the movie is just OK, and those who liked it and those who didn’t care for it, completely agree on the film’s shortcomings.

RUDO Y CURSI
Review from Sundance 2009
By Anna A.
Rudo Cuaron Sundance Film Festival

Director: Carlos Cuarón
Screenwriter: Carlos Cuarón
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, Guillermo del Toro, Frida Torresblanco, Tita Lomabardo
Cast: Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Guillermo Fracella

Rudo y Crusi – was created by the Dream Team of Mexican cinema and it shows.  It is one of the best films we have seen at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.  It tells a story of two brothers, Rudo (Diego Luna) and Cursi (Gabriel Garcia Bernal), from a lower middle class family who by a fluke chance are given an opportunity to improve their lives and the lives of their families through soccer.  From then on there is competition, jealousy, and of course the hope for success and an even better life.  But unlike other soccer movies, it is not really a story of the game of soccer, but rather a story of the constant presence of our passions and our demons throughout all stages of our lives.  Soccer parallels life and life parallels soccer.  In fact, the story is not even told through the action on the soccer field, but rather by showing the reactions to the plays by the people in the bleachers.  It is a film that tries and succeeds at showcasing the fact that we find ourselves most often in failure and loose ourselves in success.  What makes this largely tragic story so interesting to watch, is the ease with which it is told, the wonderful acting, and the constant presence of laughter, which makes it feel like a comedy.  Having Mexico City as the backdrop for much of the story is fitting to the main themes of the film.  In the Q&A, Carlos Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro explained that the elements of the brother’s fictional climb to success are the real-life opportunities and obstacles the country of Mexico faces as a whole. 

The acting by both Gabriel Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna is phenomenal and their long-time friendship off camera contributes a great deal to their relationship as brothers on screen. Guillermo Fracella’s voice as the narrator and his performance as the brothers’ agent is amazing – Ari Gold watch out.  Notably, the film has a strong beginning, middle and end, and doesn’t become banal even through the last kick.