by Jonathan W. Hickman
Sundance turns 25! But Robert Redford seems timeless.
Now entering its 25th year, the Sundance Film Festival kicked off last night with a screening of the claymation animated feature “Mary and Max.” The film is directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Adam Elliot who took home the golden statute in the animated short film category in 2004 for “Harvie Krumpet.” “Mary and Max” is the story of a pen-pal friendship (pre-email) between Mary Dinkle, a chubby, lonely 8-year-old girl, and Max Horowitz, an obese 44-year-old Jewish man. Mary lives in Melbourne and Max in New York City, where he lives an isolated existence suffering from Asperger’s syndrome.
I must say that “Mary and Max” is the best opening night film I’ve see in several years at the festival. While it isn’t a movie for everyone, this child-infused but not kid-friendly tale covers 20 years in the lives of its protagonists focusing tightly on their separate but eerily similar worlds. Mary is voiced by Toni Collette and Max by Philip Seymour Hoffman, although neither voice is really recognizable. And Elliot’s brilliant use of voice over narration delivered well by Barry Humphries, keeps dialogue to a scant minimum making every word count.
The visuals in “Mary and Max” are something to behold starting with the depth of the film’s opening shot featuring a Melbourne, Australia, neighborhood from an alien perspective. Everything in the movie is familiar, but even shots of claymation versions of everyday ordinary household items seem to come alive. Filmmaker Elliot, who is credited for writing, directing, anddesigning “Mary and Max” uses color almost in the same way he scatters dialogue in fits and starts throughout the film. It is a largely muted canvas except when a splash of color helps accentuate a scene.
I’m told that the about to be released “Coraline” (which I will see next week with the added benefit of 3D) is a wonderful piece of cinema, and after seeing “Mary and Max” I’m more and more convinced that the future of the movies just might be animated. And Sundance, no stranger to highlighting edgy animated fare, made the right decision by giving “Mary and Max” the limelight to open the 2009 festival.
I’ve already seen Paul Saltzman’s “Prom Night in Mississippi” that will probably garner as much interest for its subject matter as it will for the presence of Morgan Freeman who is largely responsible for the film. A documentary shot in much the same way as last year’s Sundance darling, “American Teen,” “Prom Night” covers Freeman’s efforts to help integrate the Prom at a small high school in Charleston, Mississippi. The mission is very personal to Freeman who lived in the town until age 6. While the movie will be lambasted for its alleged one-sided look at the issue, I came away moved by the ultimate uniting of the children in one of high school’s most important rites of passage. I’m looking forward to speaking with filmmaker Saltzman on Monday about the difficulty in covering the story when only one-half of the players would talk with him. Those students who did not want a “mixed” or integrated prom are represented by a small town attorney who does his job but clearly did not understand the opportunity afforded him to broker a compromise. As a small town attorney myself, I appreciated the position he was in, his client’s tied his hands to be sure, but there was room for a town meeting that could have turned the event and the film into something much more important. For those of you out there that think that Obama’s Presidency has ended a great amount of racial strife, I offer up “Prom Night in Mississippi” as exhibit “A.”
HBO’s presence is continuing at Sundance this year and I’ve seen a short documentary called “I Knew It Was You” that will be of particular interest to cineastes out there. Looking at the life and brief career of actor John Cazale, Filmmaker Richard Shepard (“The Matador”) returns to Sundance with an engaging biography that reminds us of what might have been. Cazale, who passed away of cancer in 1978, appeared in just five (5) movies all of which were nominated for Oscars. Those movies were both “Godfather” films, “The Conversation,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” and “The Deer Hunter.” Sadly, Cazale did not live to see the release of “The Deer Hunter.” Shepard includes interviews with many filmmakers and actors (including Meryl Streep of which Cazale was romantically involved) who reminiscence about the greatest actor no one has really heard of. Shepard, who I’ll talk with on Monday, gets a lot out of the film’s 40 minute running time. He colorfully reminds us of what might have been and of a brief but brilliant career cut too short. Shepard’s movie really makes me want to revisit these films for the express purpose of watching Cazale more closely.
Sterlin Harjo returns to Sundance this year with “Barking Water,” a touching road pic that mixes classic independent conceits with Native American pathos. Incredibly well shot on high-definition video and sensitively acted, “Barking Water” follows the story of Irene (Casey Camp-Horinek) and Frankie (Richard Ray Whitman) as they visit friends and relatives. Frankie is dying and Irene, his one-time lover, has agreed to spring him from the hospital and take him on a trip of redemption. Harjo, whose first feature, “Four Sheets to the Wind,” played Sundance in 2007, has a steady hand here, never forcing the narrative and even having fun as the sad material progresses. “Barking Water” will charm audiences with its mature story-telling and Native American sensitivity.