Had a busy last couple days here at Sundance. I caught four films on Friday: Alan Ball's Towelhead, American Teen (my fave doc of the fest), Good Dick and Sunshine Cleaning. Yesterday I saw Mia Trachinger's Reversion, an interesting science fiction-inspired flick about mutants who don't operate within linear time, and today I wrapped up my Sundance screenings with two award winners, Trouble the Water and Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. Last night the Yarrow Bar was hopping, so even though I was feeling like I was coming down with the nasty virus that's swept through the Sundance folks like crazy, I moseyed down to the bar to check out the scene for a while. It was like a Who's Who of Sundance there last night: Quentin Tarantino was on hand once again, resplendent in black tux pants and a gray shirt and being incredibly nice to all the fans who kept asking for photos with him.
Also hanging out: Elvis Mitchell and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (The Black List), Robb Moss (Secrecy), Lauren Greenfield (Kids + Money), Stranded directed Gonzalo Arijon, Amanda Micheli (Oscar-nommed for her short film, La Corona), screenwriter Howard Rodman (August and Savage Grace) and probably more folks I didn't get a chance to talk to.
Also today, I overhead quite possibly the stupidest conversation I've heard in the 11 days I've been in Park City. As I was walking out of the amazing film Trouble the Water, about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I was behind an obviously well-off, older white couple, who's conversation went thusly:
HER: What I just don't understand is, why didn't all those people just leave? They knew a hurricane was coming.
HIM: Well, and they live in a low-lying area prone to hurricanes, what do they expect?
HER: And why is her music (referring to the rap songs in the film by New Orleans resident Kim Roberts, the film's subject) so angry, and use all those curse words? I don't understand it.
Honestly, I had to wonder if we'd just seen the same film.












