Indieville : Sundance 2009

Lil Wayne in real life.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:43:00 GMT

This morning, Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a weapon in the second degree, which could mean up to a year in jail. So "The Carter," the documentary portrait from director Adam Bhala Lough that Wayne tried to prevent from premiering at Sundance, is probably not the first thing on his mind. In the face of jail time, the concerns that led the rapper to seek an injunction preventing distribution of the film he and his management claimed "would cause irreparable damage...(read more)

Tokyo versus "The Cove."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:35:00 GMT

"The Cove," the Louie Psihoyos-directed outrage doc about dolphin drive hunting, capture and killing in Taiji, Japan, isn't turning out to be the relative box-office hit it seemed on track to become after winning an audience award at Sundance and gathering glowing reviews. Having only pulled in a total of $422,812 so far in limited national release, the film was used as the lynchpin of an LA Times article last week about the struggles of environmental docs to attract crowds. Now the...(read more)

Tha Lawsuit III.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:20:52 GMT

"The Carter," Adam Bhala Lough's unexpectedly artful documentary about Lil Wayne that premiered at Sundance earlier this year, is now the source of a lawsuit from the wee multi-platinum rapper, who's suing the film's production company for "Breach of Contract, Fraud by Intentional Misrepresentation, Constructive Fraud and Invasion of Privacy," among others, according to AllHipHop.com: Wayne and his company signed an agreement which stipulated that Weezy would make...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "The Carter."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:13:56 GMT

"The Carter" doesn't try to make the case that Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., is, as he himself has claimed, the "best rapper alive." "Best" and "alive" aren't always long-lasting qualities in the world of hip-hop anyway. Instead of making the case for Wayne the artist, Adam Bhala Lough's documentary focuses on capturing the incredibly, frighteningly of-the-moment ocean of celebrity through which he wades, a diminutive 25-year-old from...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "The September Issue."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:13:56 GMT

There's a moment in "The September Issue" in which it seems, perhaps, that Miss Anna Wintour regrets. She's just explained that her siblings work in global labor organization, in arranging low-income housing and as the political editor of the Guardian. "My brothers and sister are very amused by what I do," she says, biting her lip, and for a second you believe that "Nuclear" Wintour, the famously glacial, controlling and all-powerful editor-in-chief of American...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "Cold Souls."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:57:40 GMT

The shadow of Charlie Kaufman looms unignorably large over Sophie Barthes' first feature "Cold Souls," which stars Paul Giamatti as a well-known and very serious actor named Paul Giamatti, who's finding that his role in a upcoming stage production of "Uncle Vanya" is weighing on him. An article in the New Yorker steers him to a service being pitched to wealthy New Yorkers looking to lighten their metaphysical load by having their souls removed and stored, and soon Giamatti...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "The Killing Room."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:28:04 GMT

Like "Saw," but sort of topical, Jonathan Liebesman's midnight movie "The Killing Room" is about a room in which people are killed -- killed by the government! Or perhaps just one of those government-associated top secret groups that are always capable of levels of devious competence far beyond the capabilities yet demonstrated by any actual existing bureaucracy, I'm a little iffy on it all. Four people who think they're signing up for medical testing find themselves...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "The Cove."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:33:45 GMT

"The Cove" is a documentary about Taiji, Japan's capital for dolphin hunting, and how effective it is is directly proportional to how horrified you feel at the idea of dolphins being killed for meat. I've come to the conclusion that for me, the answer is: not very. I didn't relish the concluding footage of the world's most lovable cetacean flopping through its death throes in bloody water, but in the end I felt the same way I've felt when confronted with a look inside...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "World's Greatest Dad."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:29:52 GMT

Bobcat Goldthwait's not what you would call a natural filmmaker -- while "World's Greatest Dad" isn't half as clumsy looking as his 2006 Sundance bestiality-themed rom-com "Stay," it's still rough as all hell and reliant on handfuls of endless music montages. But as a screenwriter, he's among the best in what's its own subcategory these days: the sentimental center/outrageous set-up flick, the movie genre equivalent of the hooker with the heart of gold...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "Toe to Toe."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:03:22 GMT

So much going on in D.C. prep school drama "Toe to Toe"! Troubled, promiscuous rich white girl befriends martyrdom-happy control-freak poor black girl, they fight over a boy who won't take either seriously in the end because "non-Muslim girls are just for practice," there's lacrosse, Princeton, go-go, class dynamics, a needy *** videographer, and some wild family troubles, including one of indie film's most unintentionally camp neglectful mothers, whose all-consuming...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "Moon."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:13:48 GMT

"Moon" has the serious/silly premise you'd expect from a '70s sci-fi movie, the type that's meant to make you gasp "Oh, the terrible inhumanity of it all. And yet... that could be us someday!" while not holding up to real examination. (In this case: how could it possibly not be more economical to just bring in workers from China?) But "Moon" also has Sam Rockwell, who gives such a funny, sad, tender performance that the film works as a drama about a man who...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "You Wont Miss Me."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:30:50 GMT

"You Wont Miss Me" is all about Shelly Brown, a girl with the kind of problems plenty of 20-somethings dream of moving to New York for the express purpose of having: substance abuse, reckless hookups in her bedraggled Williamsburg apartment with shaggy boys who mistreat her, sudden fights with friends and strangers, an unseen actress mother who doesn't pay her enough attention, and no job beyond auditioning for roles herself. But the film, the second from Ry Russo-Young, isn't your...(read more)

Sundance 2009: "Mary and Max."

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:01:59 GMT

The opening night slot at Sundance is customarily considered one of doom, and in that tradition "Mary and Max" is a disappointment, though just a mild one. The film, animator Adam Elliot's first feature, has many of the elements and motifs of his splendid, award-winning shorts -- a distinctive portraiture-inspired look, heavy voiceover, characters with mental or physical disabilities, misspellings, insulting newspaper headlines, accident-prone pets -- while demonstrating why, as it...(read more)

Ready, set, go.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:01:34 GMT

Clockwise from lower right: Painkillers, actual cold meds (knock on wood!), faith-based preventative cold meds, now aged Flip, shiny new digital voice recorder, Sundance 2009 program, trusty notebook, press pass, bourbon (strictly for Saint Bernard-type mountain rescue scenarios), stimulant beverage #1, stimulant beverage #2, Blackberry, tissue, useless glove-like things. Bounced from this year's Sundance survival kit -- Zicam, which for me only induces disturbing nose bleeds. A colleague swears...(read more)

15 observations on the Sundance line-up.

IFC.com - Indie Eye — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:12:34 GMT

The U.S. and world competition line-ups are here; the premieres and sidebars are here. Documentary Competition: 1. Sundance often leans toward the documentary-as-journalism/vehicle for activism, and, from the descriptions, there's again plenty of that this year: Joe Berlinger (going solo!) has "Crude" is "the inside story of the 'Amazon Chernobyl' case in the rainforest of Ecuador"; "Dirt! The Movie" is about "how humans are rapidly destroying the last...(read more)