Fest Track On Sirk TV: CHEFDANCE [Sundance Film Festival 2020]

Fest Track On Sirk TV: SUNDANCE MIX 2020 (Quick Look) [Park City, Utah]

Fest Track On Sirk TV: END OF THE LINE [Sundance 2018]

Fest Track On Sirk TV: SUNDANCE MIX 2018 (Quick Look) [Park City, UT)

IR Film Review: SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2018 [Park City]

The texture of Sundance lies in its diversity. While not as independent as before with the likes of Amazon, IFC and Netflix permeating the ranks, the voices still ring true although maintaining the mystery takes a little more intention.

The Death Of Stalin The basis of the end of Stalin here finds its tone in the aspect of a comic book which gives the characters a heightened sense of style. Of course the aspect that the film is in English with English speaking actors is the first adjustment. Once that suspension is accepted, the farcical nature of the power struggles take on an almost sardonic tone. Steve Buscemi chews the scenery unlike recent memory with bald cap in full view. The language, which is again not period specific, turns the manipulation into a sarcastic ballad. Jeffrey Tambor uses his comedic relay to good foil as the Deputy Secretary. Michael Palin plays a subtly sharp member of the cabinet. Olga Kurylenko is underused as a piano player whose note causes a sense of unfolding in the ranks. However it is Simon Russell Beale as Berria, the largest manipulator of the bunch that gives the film a sense of groundedness and drama while furthering the comedy. Weirdly it is his misplaced or lack of compassion that makes his comeuppance work with a sense of the tragic and gives the film’s resolution its soul.

Wildlife Carey Mulligan has always been luminous but considering her penchant for period movies always can seen sometimes muted in her performances as a form of underplaying. Here it is brimming at the surface giving her performance a sense of both vivaciousness and dread. Her highs and downfall are beautifully tragic and poignant. The film, set in 1950s Montana but shot in Oklahoma, is directed by actor Paul Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine”, “There Will Be Blood”) and co-written by Dano and Zoe Kazan. That mixture truly makes both sides pop. Jake Gyllenhaal (also a producer), more rarely seen, gives the film completely to Mulligan, even though his trademark intensive nature comes to bear in some scenes. However this is Mulligan’s movie and one of her best to date (even considering “Mudbound”). Central to the story is the POV of Gyllenhaal & Mulligan’s son Joe (played by the exceptional Ed Oxenbould) as he watches the disintegration of an American family. The greatest aspect is that all the character’s actions seem organic if flawed…the feelings simple but complex.

Piercing As part of the Midnight selection, the twist or necessity of the concept is usually key. The concept of a serial killer in his mind, methodical and precise, predicates the idea of what is going on within this character’s head but there is something a bit more seductive going on here. Christopher Abbott plays killer Reed with the restrictive element of an obsessive compulsive ruled by voices. The reality is that you can’t tell if what is actually going on is real or in his head. Is the story a projection of what he wants to happen or simply an extension of that. As Jackie, Mia Wasikowska shows an innate darkness combined with a playfulness that keys to one of her first grown up roles. Like Elle Fanning in “Neon Demon”, the proof is in the layers and shows that an evolution is happening. The basis is a novel written by Ryu Murakami has certain fetishistic trappings for sure but the ideal is that these two adults may in fact want to do what they are doing and enjoy what is happening to them. Director Nicolas Pesce it seems sees this film in certain ways it like a Grindhouse movie though the edges are very slick and even the construct of the city is mired in artificiality. However the scene that sells it employs the 70s ballad “Bluer Than Blue” which more than speaks to the characters’ abject state of being.

Studio 54 While there have been movies made on the aspect of Studio 54. hearing it from one of the creators in Ian Schrager who along with Steve Rubell masterminded this “lightning in a bottle” club that still entrances NY to this day gives it much more credence. The music and certain club photos are unmistakeable but it is the rise and fall from power and the motivations, many of them are asked about head on of Shrager as well as of one of the silent partners that make this an interesting watch for fans of NY lore. The power structure and even the thinking, including the drug use and skimming, which is never fully admitted to on camera, hangs there in the ether. It was a time of excess where the idea of what 54 was seemingly got away from its creators. But in certain moments, despite anything behind the scenes, good or bad, there was a sense of euphoria. The small vintage interviews really define it…one being Rubell’s glee in hanging with two of the drag queens downstairs as well as an “Off The Wall” era Michael Jackson speaking candidly about being able to lose himself on the dance floor at 54. There was a genuine happiness and ease with Jackson in that moment which, considering his life, is a wonder to behold.

The Happy Prince Rupert Everett seemingly disappeared in many way from the screen after his late 90s surge including his films with Madonna and Julia Roberts. The immediate perception is that he sequestered away in Europe starring in theater but the effervescence in all he did is something missing from today’s character work…a balance of the comedic and the real. With “The Happy Prince” about the latter years of Oscar Wilde who was shamed because of his homosexual affairs and cast out of certain constructs of society because of his dalliance with a male royal, Everett, writing and directing as well, examines a man with a gentleness of heart who tried to deny the status quo. Everett’s Wilde is not a cautionary tale but merely a tale about someone with great talent wanting to live the life the way he wanted to without apologies. Again, the texture could be interpreted in that this is the way Wilde saw his life versus those he loved. Everett presents Wilde, warts and all, from singing on top of tables to his final moments telling stories painting ideas that only Wilde could. “The Happy Prince” is not a masterpiece but knows its subject through and through and tells his story with a generous amount of heart balanced with a layer of pain.

By Tim Wassberg