Among the last few films I caught as the festival came to a close were two of this year's award winning docs (the two big dramatic competition awards, the audience award and the grand jury prize, went to the excellent "Push").
The grand jury prize winner in the documentary competition, "We Live in Public," tells the story of Internet pioneer Josh Harris, who was way ahead of the curve on the social networking/publicizing your personal life aspects of the web. He started an Internet TV network, Pseudo.com, before streaming video was anywhere near watchable. But the film focuses primarily on two of his other projects: an art project called Quiet City, where uninhibited volunteers lived in an underground bunker and had literally every move they made filmed (including showering, sex and going to the bathroom), and a smaller version called Weliveinpublic.com, in which Harris and his girlfriend had web-cams in their apartment documenting everything they did.
Directed by Ondi Timoner ("DIG!"), who participated in Quiet City, "Public" is an entirely absorbing, impeccably crafted doc. The questions it raises are immediate and important, as more and more of us take small steps toward living our lives online for the world to see.
The audience award winner in the world documentary competition, "Afghan Star," follows four contestants through the first season of Afghanistan's version of "American Idol." Only a few years after performing and even listening to music was legalized (it had been banned for years when the country was under Taliban control), the show inspires a combination of fan hysteria and religious controversy. Only partly a competition doc, "Star" is a fascinating window into a foreign culture, both infuriating and illuminating.
Another music-oriented doc, "Passing Strange," gives viewers a look at the final performance of the acclaimed Broadway musical by singer-songwriter Stew. Directed by Spike Lee, it's a straight-forward performance piece that works because the show—a minimalist production featuring performers in multiple roles (with multiple accents) and filled with raucous unconventional soulful rock songs—worked too. The film allows access no ticket would have, with scenes enhanced by close-ups and shots from the rear of the stage, and even a peek backstage at intermission. But this is still a theatrical, rather than cinematic, work, and one that will make more sense on the small screen than the big. Not that a screen anywhere could hope to contain the energy and artistic celebration on display in the closing number.
Beyond the docs, I caught up with "Arlen Faber," the kind of comedy Hollywood doesn't make very often but also the sort of polished directorial debut that will serve as a good calling card for filmmaker John Hindman if he wants a major studio job. A movie for adults, but not in a dirty way, "Faber" wrestles with questions of faith and romance in a glossy mainstream fashion and features charming work by Jeff Daniels as a renowned spiritualist who lives in seclusion and Lauren Graham as the woman who breaks him free. It's not a major work but it's credible entertainment for audiences bored by Hollywood's narrow view of what a comedy should be. It will be interesting to see what Hindman does when he inevitably gets a studio project.
A more traditional indie is "The Vicious Kind," a dysfunctional family drama driven by four strong characters from debut filmmaker Lee Toland Krieger. Executive produced by Neil LaBute, the film initially comes off like LaBute Lite, complete with button-pushing dialogue and intentionally shocking behavior. But it's also clear there's an undercurrent of sympathy and remorse not often found in LaBute's work. Adam Scott (the other brother in "Step Brothers") is riveting as a badly behaved man who comes between his college-aged brother (Alex Frost) and his brother's new girlfriend (Brittany Snow). J.K. Simmons also stars as the boys' father and the performances are definitely worth catching.
Take a look at a complete roundup of the best movies of the 2009 Sundance film festival.
