Due to all the millions of dollars poured out last year on films that totally tanked, buyers were tentative and cagey for the first couple days. (“Grace Is Gone” – and other likeminded Iraq films – were the big buzz last year. Bought for $4 million ‘Grace,’ then earned a pathetic $50,000.)
“A lot of people got burned last year,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics told the New York Times. “You never lose money on a movie you don’t buy.”
Eventually people started opening their wallets, but only until the last minute – film companies were cautious with a wait and see attitude. The biggest winner financially was Steve Coogan’s “Hamlet 2” which was bought for a whopping $10 million dollars by Focus Features (just shy of the Sundance record for most expensive movie ever bought – “Little Miss Sunshine” for $10.5 million).
Fox Searchlight – the company that turned little “Juno” into Oscar nominated financial powerhouse – scooped up “Choke,” Clark Gregg’s adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel, for a reported $5 million and are apparently so enthusiastic about it they’ve already set an August 1, 2008 release date (Like, “Juno,” Fox Searchlight must love films with a strong music tie-in. “Choke”s soundtrack features Radiohead, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and the Fiery Furnaces among others).
One film that earned unanimous critical consensus, but failed to chart come awards time was “Sugar,” Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s follow-up to 2006’s “Half Nelson,” chronicling a Dominican baseball rookie who gets upgraded and uprooted to a minor league team in Iowa. Similarly lauded, but also awarded, was “Ballast,” a moody drama about three African-Americans in Mississippi trying to cope after a relative commits suicide (Time Out New York has a good feature on the two films they call the “highlights “of Sundance. The Village Voice seemed to love “Sugar” as well). “Henry Poole,” Mark Pellington’s comedy-drama about loss and having holy visions was bought by Overture for $3.5 million and the intriguing Polanski doc, “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” was bought by the Weinstein company for low 2 figures.
Other than that, things seemed to be fairly fun, but uneventful. U2 played their 3D movie and people seemed relatively awed, not much was said about “Be Kind Rewind,” other than it was a fanciful film that while charming, wasn’t exactly Michel Gondry’s best work (nor his worst). The Anvil documentary, Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” earned great word of mouth and reviews, the band jammed with Guns N’ Roses’ Slash onstage, but so far no one has purchased the film for distribution.
“The Wackness,” a teenage drug dealer trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist that stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary Kate Olsen and Method Man also scored good word of mouth winning the Dramatic Audience Award. The film was apparently bought by Sony Pictures Classics which pissed off Slashfilm because they liked the film so much and made a good case why SPC fucks up every release they ever dare put out. It’s also known as the film where Mary Kate Olsen makes out with Ben Kingsley. Gross. Apparently it has a decent hip-hop soundtrack too.
The immigrant drama “Frozen River,” by Michael Moore collaborators Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, won the top dramatic award and was sold to Sony Pictures Classics for $1 million. Post Heath Ledger’s death, Michelle Williams’ “Incendiary” apparently floored many people, while Michael Haneke’s disturbing meta remake of “Funny Games,” had people forwarding their therapy bill to the filmmakers address. There was also lots of buzz for the documentary, “American Teen” which was bought by Paramount Vantage.
Now we’re not saying cause there wasn’t rampant money thrown around the films weren’t good. Lord knows dollar and quality are in two different stratospheres, but from all the various and many accounts we read, there was not an excited electricity in the air like there is most years.
Mostly it sesemed, as TONY put it, Sundance-goers experienced a “strong sensation of déjà vu [more] than the thrill of discovery. ” With lots of “quirky tales,” “angst-ridden hit men, overly earnest documentaries on ecological disasters and more that-was-the-summer-that-changed-my-life parables than you could count.”
Awards Given Out At Sundance (apparently they give out award to everyone)
American Cinema:
Grand Jury Dramatic: Frozen River
Dramatic Audience Award: The Wackness
Dramatic Screenwriting Award: Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera, David Riker
Dramatic Directing Award: Lance Hammer, Ballast
Dramatic Special Jury Prize for “the Spirit of Independent Cinema”: Chusy Haney-Jardine for Anywhere, USA
Dramatic Special Jury Prize for “Work by an Ensemble Cast”: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly MacDonald and Brad Henke for Choke
Dramatic Cinematography Award: Ballast, Lol Crawley
Documentary Grand Jury Prize: Trouble the Water
Documentary Audience Award: Fields of Fuel
Documentary Directing Award: Nanette Burnstein, American Teen
Documentary Special Jury Prize: The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Documentary Cinematography Award: Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Documentary Editing Award: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Joe Bini
World Cinema:
Documentary Jury Prize: Man on Wire
Documentary Audience Award: Man on Wire
Documentary Cinematography Award: Mahmoud al Massad, Recycle
Documentary Editing Award: Irena Dol, The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
Documentary Directing Award: Nino Kirtadze for Durakovo: Village of Fools
Dramatic Jury Prize: The King of Ping Pong
Dramatic Cinematography Award: Askilld Vik Edvardsen, King of Ping Pong
Dramatic Screenwriting: Samuel Benchetrit, I Always Wanted to be a Gangster
Dramatic Directing: Anna Melikyan, Mermaid
Dramatic Audience Award: Captain abu Raed
Short Films:
International Jury Prize: Soft
Jury Prize: My Olympic Summer and Sikumi