Sundance Complaints

Reading Todd McCarthy's Sundance diatribe, it's clear that Variety's lead critic is experiencing one of those Who Moved the Cheese? moments. He's been covering Sundance a certain way for a long time and doesn't want to adapt to the new reality. Which is: don't stay in Deer Valley, far away from all the screening rooms. Don't drive. If you do drive (which I do) and your favorite parking spots are blocked, find new ones and walk. (It's like a challenge: they put up impediments, you figure out a way around them.) I got a kick out of seeing the titans of indie cinema, Mark Gill, Tom Bernard, Bob Berney et al, schlepping through the slush to get to the Racquet Club. Also, there's a diner at the Racquet Club, where dramatic competition regulars hang out between screenings. That said, I always feel sorry for people who sit through all the new competition films. I have the luxury of taking my shots in other sections and relying on word-of-mouth on stuff seen at other fests. But Geoff Gilmore did what he said he was going to do—he programmed more real indie films. That's Sundance's mandate--not to compete with other international fests. The premiere films are always the best. They've been produced and directed by seasoned filmmakers. The new talent has to come in with no budgets and no experience. What do you expect? Sundance gets the best of what's out there. When I've served on other festival juries, it's painful what we have to sit through. On the other hand, like David Ansen, I too found navigating Sundance this year to be more wearying and unpleasant than ever before. There has to be a better way.

Comments

[anthony kaufman]

Anne,

I beg to differ with you on one comment: that the Premiere section films are better. A couple of the Premiere films are often among the best at the fest, but there are so many dogs in the selection every year that you have to know what to pick, just like the Dramatic Competition films. Veterans always don't make better movies; to wit, "The Darwin Awards," "A Little Trip to Heaven," "Game 6," "Chumscrubber," "The Girl from Monday," "Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School."

[Anne Thompson]

Premiere does have its share of dogs, mainly because Sundance falls into the same trap that Cannes does: championing favored in-house auteurs like Finn Taylor. It's like they want to ratify their own good taste.

[Meta]

I agree with McCarthy and Ansen - Sundance was a navigational nightmare from Friday to Sunday. After that it mellowed out a bit. But what's the solution? A new mega-complex for the dramatic competition films (if it gets me out of the hellish Racquet Club venue, I'm all for it)? Banning the "swag houses"? Building more roads? Park City hosted the Olympics, for goodness sakes, they did a pretty good job of handling the crowds then. Sundance needs to work even more closely with the City to create real solutions, not somehow thinking by programming more "true indies", less people will show up. Anytime you have the patron saint of aggressive promotion (Paris Hilton) in town, the crowds will follow. 3 years ago I almost got crushed to death outside Harry O's by rabid JLo fans, so this is nothing new. Sundance should truly face the fact that the Festival has created a film, party, and brand destination, and that it will continue to be a logjam until they create a solution.