The story of filmmaker and actress Adrienne Shelly's murder is coming to a close, as the murderer has copped a manslaughter plea and escaped justice with a paltry 25 year sentence. Diego Pillco told prosecutors that Shelly, who was known for her Hal Hartley movies around the early 90s and who most recently directed the Sundance hit, Waitress, walked in on him while he was rummaging through her purse for money. She threatened to call the cops and so he strangled her to death and then staged a suicide. When police broke him down, he told them that the reason he went to such an extreme and killed Shelly -- the mother of a two year-old -- was because "I was having a bad day." And for this, he gets 25 years? Considering he's barely out of his teens, expect to see him back on the streets before he's middle-aged, probably. No matter what position you take on the death penalty, you have to agree that it's some kind of world where this guy isn't slated to walk the green mile.

Some small measure of good comes out of this tragedy, with the establishment by Shelly's widower of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which is dedicated to helping young female filmmakers and actresses pursue their careers through scholarships and grants. From the site: "In carrying out our mission, we've partnered with the industry's finest academic and filmmaking institutions to assist women in this journey with film school scholarships, production grants, finishing funds, and other invaluable resources." Details on how to apply and the rules and regulations are available on the site.

I was going to headline this post with something about 'being there in spirit,' but I decided that's a lame way to start things off. Obviously, I'm being lame anyway by pointing out that I wasn't going to begin that way, while in effect beginning that way. So, why don't we just get to the news about the Independent Spirit Award nominations, shall we?

Todd Hayne's I'm Not There received four nominations, including one each for Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin, who are up for supporting actress and supporting actor, respectively, for their semi-portrayals of Bob Dylan. The film was also recognized in the Best Feature category, in which it's competing against Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Paranoid Park and A Mighty Heart, and Haynes was nominated for Best Director, going up against Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) -- meaning A Mighty Heart's Michael Winterbottom was shut out despite his film's receiving the Best Feature nomination. I'm Not There is already the winner of one Independent Spirit Award, the newly conceived, and appropriately titled Robert Altman Award, which honors the film's director, casting director and ensemble cast. Because of that win, I'm Not There has been labeled the leader of the nominated films, although Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Savages all received the same amount of actual nominations as Haynes' film.

Since I haven't seen any of the major nominees (yet), I will take this opportunity to celebrate a few films, which I have seen, that have been deservedly recognized in other categories. First, I'm excited to see that Adrienne Shelly is up for Best Screenplay for Waitress. I doubt she'll win, unless enough voters want to further highlight her posthumous success, but I'm happy to see her included. I'm delighted to see Jennifer Jason Leigh nominated for Margot at the Wedding, considering Nicole Kidman, who wasn't nominated, has been receiving most of that film's accolades. And finally, I am ecstatic to see that Vanaja, which I loved, has been given two nominations, one for Best First Feature and one for Best Cinematography. Overall, we should all be glad that this year's crop of nominees includes few huge stars, Angelina Jolie being the one major exception, in the acting categories. The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards will be presented on February 23.

*A guest review today, from Nick Schager, of Slant Magazine


Regrettably but inevitably, Waitress's tenacious optimism is partially offset by the recent, tragic murder of its writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly, an actress who made her name in Hal Hartley's early indies and, with this funny, charming slice of Southern country life, appears to have found her voice as a filmmaker. However, the bittersweetness that accompanies the film's arrival is, coincidentally, in tune with its story's miserable protagonist, a young, pretty waitress at Joe's Pie Diner named Jenna (Keri Russell). Stuck in a loveless marriage to her controlling, abusive husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto), and prevented from running away by a lack of cash, Jenna is a forlorn woman who sees dreams of a bright future dissipating before her eyes. To cope, she pours all of her grief, longing and sadness for happier times-gone-by into her unique homemade pies, which – described, at one point, as "biblically good" – are concocted with an array of inventively combined ingredients, and named after the moods that inspired them (such as her "I Hate My Husband Pie" and "Falling in Love Pie").

Tending to her louse of a spouse, wasting time gabbing in the diner bathroom with co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Shelly), and waiting on outspoken, lewd diner proprietor Old Joe (a consistently hilarious Andy Griffith) while decked out in her '50s-style blue-and-white uniform – Jenna's life is, at the outset, in a rut. Waitress is too, as its early attempts at establishing a mood are a tad shaky, vacillating unevenly between cutesiness and seriousness. That balancing act becomes much smoother, however, once Jenna – after learning that she's pregnant with Earl's baby thanks to an ill-advised drunken roll in the hay – goes to see her OBGYN and finds, to her surprise, that her lifelong doctor has suddenly semi-retired and been replaced by attractive Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion). Though she's been stashing money around the house for an eventual escape, Jenna makes clear to the married Pomatter that, while she isn't thrilled about the baby (who'll further tie her down), she nonetheless intends to keep it. Her plan to disappear into the night, however, is complicated by the almost immediate and overwhelming mutual attraction that blossoms between doc and patient.

Next week, Cinematical contributor Nick Schager will be bringing you a review of Waitress, a romantic comedy starring Keri Russell that's arriving in theaters on May 2 with a lot of unfortunate baggage. Waitress is of course the final film of indie actress and filmmaker Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered in her office apartment last November, reportedly before hearing that Sundance had accepted Waitress into its 2007 schedule. You may have seen her most recently as a player in Matt Dillon's much-liked barfly film Factotum, or you may remember her as the star of those Hal Hartley movies from way back at the dawn of indie wave, The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. If you want to read more about Shelly and her final film, you can pick up a copy of the spring issue of Filmmaker Magazine, which is featuring an article on that very subject.

The piece, which was penned by media blogfly and former Cinematical editor-in-chief Karina Longworth, is encapsulated thusly on the magazine's cover: "Premiering at Sundance following the sudden death of its writer-director, Adrienne Shelly's Waitress is a bittersweet success." I haven't read the article yet, since that would involve all kinds of complicated actions like leaving the house and catching a bus to the city, but if you're fortunate enough to live closer to a well-stocked newsstand than me, and you're looking for something interesting to read, you might want to go out and pick up a copy. Sarah Polley is the dressed-down cover girl, and the issue also contains articles on, among other things, Hostel: Part II and the Sundance films Once and Zoo.

• It's been a few months since director Adrienne Shelly died at the hands of a short-tempered construction worker. Now, while her final film gears up for a pie-licious May release, a number of awards and initiatives have been announced to continue women's filmmaking in her memory. The American Film Institute is launching a production grant what will underwrite a Master Class in Directing under her name, Columbia University is starting an annual Adrienne Shelly Award for best female directors, New York Women in Film & Television is launching an ASF Finishing Funds Grant and an annual ASF scholarship with be awarded annually at the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television (part of NYU). It's great news for future female filmmakers, but it's a shame that it couldn't come years later, after Shelly enjoyed an extremely long and successful life.
• As part of a Q&A with TOMB, Mira Nair, the Indian director responsible for works like Vanity Fair and The Namesake chatted briefly about another feature in the works -- this time, a documentary on The Beatles. Nair has an interesting spin on the epic band. It will delve into inspiration and how it strikes. In the late 60's, the group went to India, where it is said they created most of their White Album and part of Abbey Road. As Nair describes: "This moment of amazing inspiration that the Beatles had in this remote place on the banks of the Ganges -- how does it happen?" It could be a great view into the band, and at the very least, have some great tunes to accompany it.
  
• Walter's son, Charlie Matthau, is getting busier and gearing up for another film to add to Freaky Deaky, which I posted about in January. He will direct Mikey & Dolores, a jazz-infused love story about an unlucky talent manager who falls for a jazz singer who is a client of his. The lead is being played by David Proval, who also penned the script with wife Cheryl Meccariello, and there is no word yet on his love interest. However, according to Matthau, he's looking at a tasty little cast to round things off. He says that he is in talks with Eric Roberts, Steven Bauer, Vincent Pastore and Tanna Frederick, with two already signed on -- Don Rickles as a standup comic and Pete Rose as a Vegas celebrity. It will shoot this May in Vegas and L.A.
  

It happens every year: films go to Sundance, play to packed crowds, win Jury prizes and/or score big deals ... and then essentially disappear. It happened in 2005, when Ira Sachs' Forty Shades of Blue took home the Dramatic Grand Jury prize, only to open nine months later on just three screens and eventually gross barely $75,000 in its 84 day release. It happened again last year, when The Darwin Awards and Right at Your Door landed multi-million dollar deals with major distributors, only to be shelved indefinitely. I guess if you're an acquisitions exec, it's easy to get carried away up there on the mountain, but sometimes the same picture that thrilled a packed crowd at the Racquet Club looks downright unmarketable back at the office in L.A. So, with the caveat that I have neither a crystal ball nor any sort of reliable inside information, here are my picks for five Sundance '07 films that will actually see a meaningful release sometime before Sundance '08.


1) The Ten (Cinematical review)


Stu Van Airsdale thinks Manohla Dargis was talking about this film in the NY Times, when she described a distributor who sat through a "bad comedy that features a clutch of low-level film and television actors" whilst fantasizing about "all those recognizable [actor] names once they are printed on a DVD box." I'm actually convinced Ms. Dargis was referencing Gregg Araki's Smiley Face, a stoner comedy starring Anna Faris and half the cast of That 70's Show, which was apparently so awful that even die-hard Araki fans couldn't sit through it. I think if Dargis had attended a public screening of The Ten -- or if she had even caught a glimpse of the hundreds of high school and college kids lining up for the wait list as long as eight hours in advance of the picture's second-to-last show -- she would have a hard time condemning a distributor for trying to cash in on it.

The movie, which was written and directed by David Wain of Wet Hot American Summer fame, consists of ten short segments, one representing each of the ten commandments, strung together by some filler involving Paul Rudd not being able to decide if he'd rather screw Jessica Alba, Famke Janssen or (this is not a typo) Dianne Wiest. It may be less engaging than a 90-minute stint watching old clips of The State on YouTube, but it's got huge college-campus potential, where boys and girls have been known to consume comedy without bothering to consult the second film critic for the New York Times to see if she approves. With savvy marketing, and maybe a few structural tweaks, this could be the sleeper comedy hit of the summer.

There's a shadow over Waitress -- the November 2006 murder of writer-director Adrienne Shelly, which came after production and the film was submitted to Sundance, but before Shelly could be informed of the film's acceptance at the Festival. And that's a tragedy because of the loss of a human life and a talented actress and a bold talent. You'd think it'd be tricky reviewing Waitress -- no one wants to speak ill of the dead -- but the good news is that endorsing and recommending Waitress is easy as, uh, pie. Viewed in the context of no context, Waitress is a light, breezy romantic comedy with a crackerjack cast and a certain degree of faux-Southern charm that never descends to cornpone mawkisness, and also has a whip-smart comedic sensibility in every scene.

Waitress opens with slow-mo shots of food, glorious food -- pudding pouring slow as a lover's caress into a pie crust, apple slices tumbling into cinnamon-sugar with exaggerated glistening glory, scatterings of crumb crust falling like stars. Jenna (Keri Russell) is a pie master, a diva of desserts and a sultan of savories; it's her avocation, and also speaks to her inner moods: thinking about her upcoming challenges, she's planning some new creations -- "I Hate my Husband Pie; I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie." Earl (Jeremy Sisto) is Jenna's husband - a dim, controlling jerk. Jenna finds solace in pie and the support of her co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Shelly). She also finds that her new physician advising her on all matters pre-natal, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) is sweet, cute, kind and handsome -- oh, and married. Which doesn't prevent her from kissing him. Repeatedly.