TFA At Sundance

Experience the Sundance Film Festival through the eyes of five students from Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.

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Ready for our own beds.

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Leaving Utah behind.

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Headed back to the Windy City.

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WAR STORY 

Jacob Newberry

War Story is aesthetically interesting to say the least.  Before the lights dimmed in the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, one of the festival programmers gave a little introduction to the film.  She explained that what she loves most about the film is that it makes you think.  And she was right.  War Story has you thinking... a lot.  From the first frame of the film to the last, my mind attempted to put each piece together.  There are many blanks to fill. That is one of the nicest aspects of the film.  Rarely does a film have the audience in a complete thinking state from beginning to end.  

  Catherine Keener's performance was gripping, and electrifying.  She shined most in the scenes in which she is alone.  Her performance is so real that the film had a documentary feel, and the entire story came across as absolute truth.

At times I would beg for the film to fill some of the blanks in for me.  There were scenes, such as one in which Keener's character Lee has a conversation with Ben Kingsley's character, where even the framing makes you think.  We see an extreme wide shot with the two out of focus, and simply listen to what they are saying.  We long to see who this person is that Lee is talking to.

Don't expect a book-end from this film.  The end may leave you thinking so much that it irritates you.  On the up side, I realize that the fact that the audience longs to know more about the events following the film, means that the filmmakers did their job in pulling us into War Story and succeeded in making us care about the characters.

3 /4

Review by J. Newberry

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Happy Christmas

I found it a little hard to believe that the script for this film was actually just a 12 page outline, but after hearing Director Joe Swanberg talk about the set etiquette, it totally explains how he was able to convey such real and complex characters. It was incredibly refreshing to see such complex female characters onscreen, which clearly stemmed from the fact that they were able to improve a serious majority of their lines. Joe outlined all of the plot points in which Anna Kendrick, your average 20-something woman, has to move in with her brother and his wife who have a two year old son. Explaining any more than that would be doing the film an injustice, because the thing that made this film so great to watch was just how genuine every character was, everyone had their own strengths, their motivation, their shortcomings, and everything else that real human beings have and they get to such an incredible level of emotion with each other that you relate to every facet of each of them. The cinematography is almost entirely handheld and the editing is borderline seamless, which are just more aspects of the filmmaking process that make it feel like you are a part of these people's lives. I really enjoyed it my first time through, but am convinced and concerned that a second watch will only either bore me to death or make me feel as though I'm recounting a fond memory of old friends, and nowhere in between. Hard to say until I experience it when this film hopefully gets picked up by a distributor so that more people can get to know these people like I did.

3.5/4

Review by Brandon Phipps

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Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah

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Life Itself

It feels weird to review a movie about a movie critic. Especially since I'm so close to the film and so much less experienced. I will try to do my best to stay objective and will probably keep it short to do him justice. Director Steve James was made famous for his ability to really "capture life itself", said by Ebert himself. James clearly did his best to do so, encouraged by Ebert, to really show all of the great times, all of the bad times, all of the terrible times, and make a film about a man rather than a film icon. It followed every moment from his birth in Urbana-Champaign to his passing in Chicago, with some exclusive footage of him in the hospital, Ebert was very cooperative in making sure the film did not hide anything. Although the film was a little long, no one with a connection to Ebert will feel that way. The style was as close as you can get to intrusive without feeling unwelcome. Roger claimed that film was a labor of love, and this film absolutely was.

3.5/4

Review by Brandon Phipps

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Premiere of Life Itself last night! This is what it's all about.

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Lazy morning at the resort.

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Young Ones

Young Ones was an extremely experimental film from a directorial standpoint. The storytelling style was very unique, combining great techniques from both new films and classics. This contributed to a really cool sense that it wasn't only hard to tell what year the film took place in, but also what year it was made. The film was a dystopian western Bildungsroman starring Michael Shannon and directed by John Paltrow. Within the first ten minutes, it established that this was not going to be one of your average movie experiences. Displaying the hardships of a world where it hasn't rained in decades and the water is all but gone, Ernest Holm does what he can to provide for his two kids by trading supplies. He does his best to help the people of the town, too, and spends a lot of time trying to raise his boy to be a good man. His daughter is madly in love with the rebellious leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, son of the town's biggest businessman. He and his son do their best throughout the film to get the men with the only working water well to run a pipeline to their farm, that they believe still has fertile soil. It was such an incredibly imaginative and yet tame universe, a little reminiscent of the one in Looper, that does not require calling any attention to itself. The cinematography and editing were masterful, keeping a fluid, enthralling pace throughout. All of the performances made you believe that these actors were born to play these characters and even in a world so wildly different from our own, you empathized to the problems and downfalls of every one of them.

4/4

Review by Brandon Phipps

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Good morning.

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Some of Park City's street life. Side note: if you want to, check out earthwings.org. They are an educational program that uses birds, such as this owl, to help people understand them and the importance of keeping their habitats healthy.

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At the Eccles Theatre for Young Ones, starring Michael Shannon and Elle Fanning.

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It's Jason Momoa! Or Drogo, for all you Game of Thrones fans.

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Nothing beats the anticipation of having a high waitlist number and waiting to see if you’ll get in.