Sundance 2009: Mary & Max

[Film Fest] It didn't use to be like this. The Sundance Film Festival opening night selection used to reliably range from forgettable to bad (with a few outliers, of course). But times change. A year after In Bruges opened the festival, Sundance premiered another gem in Mary & Max.

The film marks the feature debut of stop-motion animation director Adam Elliot, who made the 2003 Oscar-winning short Harvie Krumpet. Mary & Max studies an unlikely friendship between two people who have never met. Mary, a lonely school girl in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, randomly picks a name out of a U.S. phone book, and starts a correspondence with an anxious 44-year-old man from New York City. Max isn't skilled socially, and certainly isn't an expert on talking to kids. Discussing his past jobs, he mentions that he used to work at a condom factory, then throws in the fact that he has never used a condom. Meanwhile, Mary innocently brings up topics that challenge her beleaguered pen pal's mental stability. And yet the two have an unmistakable bond.

The characters emerge from the excellent voice acting by Toni Collette and Bethany Whitmore as Mary (as an adult and child, respectively) and Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose voice is unrecognizable as Max. While computer animation has brought us many great films and wondrous visuals, there is still something to be said for the hands-on charm of stop-motion. The tangible sets, the fingerprints, the creative portrayal of non-solids like water, bubbles and fire—they all contribute to the film's whimsical magic. Elliot proves himself a virtuoso in artful shots and expressive character animation, and brings to life the dry, morbid wit of his screenplay with the prowess of a seasoned filmmaker. (Jeremy Mathews)

Trent Harris: Back & Delightful

[Film] Local filmmaker Trent Harris' new movie, Delightful Water Universe, is set for a big Red Carpet Opening on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Jeanne Wagner Theater--of course, if you're an X96 Radio From Hell listener, you already know this. Bill Allred has been talking about his role in the film--not as Bigfoot, BTW--for months now; he's noted on his X96.com blog that "I think the trailer is great. I can tell I'm actually in a real movie."

See for yourself--here's the Delightful Water Universe trailer:



(Bill Frost)

But Where Was Bret?

[Celebrity Sightings] Or non-sightings: Last week, a film crew took over Sam Weller's Books downstairs from the City Weekly offices, shooting interiors for a 2009 feature called Gentlemen Broncos, by Napoleon Dynamite's Jared Hess.

No big deal; we didn't think too much of it. Until today, when someone in the office revealed that, on a java run to the Coffee Garden within Weller's, she was told that Flight of the Conchords co-star Jemaine Clement (the tall one with the glasses) was among those being filmed downstairs!

Deep-voiced and somewhat robotic, Clement is a geek-chic sex symbol 'round these parts--had the female (and some male) contingent of the City Weekly office known he was so near, there would have been a riot. Seriously. Crisis averted. (Bill Frost)

Free LGBT Documentary Tonight

[Film] The nice acronym friendly folks with LGBT Utah and ACLU Utah are putting on a free screening of a documentary called "Freedom to Parent: Lesbian and Gay Families." Kind of a dud title, if you ask me, but looks nonetheless to be a film ready to grapple with some controversial notions in these parts. The movie is tonight, is free and is on the 4th floor conference room of the downtown library March 4 at 7 p.m.

There'll be a discussion afterwards with Kenneth Choe, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project and local advocate Will Carlson, of the Equality Utah group.

Certainly a good opportunity for all interested in the issue to become better educated. Lord knows a little education and dialogue never hurt the civil discourse 'round here. (Eric S. Peterson)

St. George Film Society

[Film] The Southern Utah boomtown that is St. George just got a little more cosmopolitan. The Salt Lake Film Society, which operates the Broadway Centre and Tower Theatres in Salt Lake City, will take over operations of the four-screen Red Cliff Theatres (previously operated by Westates) as of this Friday, Feb. 8. A slate of Oscar nominees -- There Will Be Blood, The Savages, No Country for Old Men and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- will mark the changeover. (Scott Renshaw)

Partly Local: Dance Theatre Coalition's "Proving Ground"

[Multimedia] I'm always happy to hear about and support productions in the vein of the Proving Ground that provide an appropriate space for amateurs to stage and develop their work, or perhaps professionals trying their hand at something new. It’s also nice to see an arts community as fecund as Salt Lake's fostering emerging and innovative talent by spreading funding, space, support and energy around to those that might be in need. That, in short, is the No. 1 reason I make an extra effort to attend such productions.

Proving Ground’s producers, Dance Theatre Coalition, decided to forgo traditional ticketing in favor of online reservation and a suggested donation of $15. Obviously this technique is aimed at getting more butts in seats. Still, it’s a risky venture in the sense that people might actually pay for what they feel they got—and Utah audiences are notoriously fickle (read: cheap).

I was under the impression that as a locally-grown production—funded for the most part by local monies and attended by local audiences—Proving Ground would consist of local emerging artists and talent. And there were some. Joey Guesthouse—a used-appliance salesman who attends school part time at Salt Lake Community College when not otherwise busy—and his VHS Quintet opened the show by twisting and tweaking various knobs, sampling and mixing sounds culled from the five VCR’s he’s ingeniously wired to a multi-tracker, delay pedal, delay unit, battle mixer and drum machine. A brilliant kaleidoscopic dance for the camera was choreographed and edited by Erin Kaser. And there was Lindsay Ellis-Ermidis’ Remote Beyond Control dance piece, half-heartedly constructed around the growing banality of America, fueled by a blind devotion to all things media. There was even a one-act scene directed by Alexandra Harbold that culminated with a passionate delivery of Ptolemy’s self-written eulogy.

The problem lay with the fact that this multi-disciplinary evening—which included dance, film, theater, music and mixed variations on all those mediums—included several artists that not only had little or nothing to do with Utah, but also didn’t deliver anything particularly unique. Sure, Dana Michel’s solo performances were filled with interesting and provocative movement that consisted mostly of hyperbolic, pedestrian themes made grotesque. But such movement always works better when juxtaposed with something beautiful and serene.

Still, the best example of the evening falling flat came with the closer: “Stairway to St. Paul’s” by the Dutch-born Jeroen Offerman. This short film, created in 2002, shows Offerman himself singing Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” backwards. He taught himself how to sing the entire song backwards, filmed himself doing so on a street somewhere, reversed the film, added Zepplin’s score and, voilá! What I thought was a local artistic Proving Ground turned into YouTube’s greatest hits.

And really that may be the theme for the evening. Proving Ground is supposed to be a space to develop new ideas, and a sphere for emerging artists. But the result was a stewing pot of ideas, many of which needed to simmer a little longer. (Jacob Stringer)

Keep on Runnin'

[Pop Cult] In my capacity as occasional contributor to the pop culture site Nerve.com, I get to weigh in on the catchy Top 10 concept of the week. People, they love them some lists.

This week, Nerve's ScreenGrab blog piggybacks on this week's theatrical premiere The Bourne Ultimatum by suggesting the "Top 10 Running Scenes" -- cinema's finest moments of people in motion. Where does Chariots of Fire belong in the pantheon? How about Rocky (one of yours truly's contributions)? Run on over and offer your own comments. (Scott Renshaw)

Mark Your Calendars!

[FILM] Tower Theatre will be screening Wet Hot American Summer as part of its ongoing Midnight Movie series July 6-7. Employees will be grilling up hot dogs of the meat and non-meat varieties, so bring an empty stomach, tube socks, short shorts and a sense of humor. Here's a taste for those who are unfamiliar with the concept of wet, hot hilarity. (Jamie Gadette)