海角大神

The weather was so uncharacteristically unglacial this year at the Sundance Film Festival that I almost 鈥� almost! 鈥� pitied the winter warriors deprived of their annual bout of bone-chill. Getting around Park City, Utah, has never been less of an ordeal. You could concentrate on the movies, not ice storms. I found myself rethinking my opposition to global warming.

Of the 119 movies from 32 countries that screened at Sundance, I saw 15 in five days. If I missed more than my share of buzz-worthy fare, so did everybody else. Pity the poor festival programmers: They had to winnow the list down from more than 4,000 submissions.

In a series of firsts for the festival, there were 51 rookie filmmakers represented, and eight of the 16 films in official competition were directed by women. There was also much more talk than usual about the ways in which movies 鈥� especially the independent fare and documentaries that make up Sundance 鈥� are experienced by audiences.

As moviemaking becomes incrementally less expensive largely because of the rise of digital technology, a way will have to be found to showcase the burgeoning proliferation of films. The old big-screen theatrical model is giving way to video-on-demand via distribution services such as iTunes and pay-per-view TV channels. In the future, day-and-date VOD and theatrical releases of a given movie may become commonplace (if, indeed, a film is released theatrically at all).

Many of the Sundance filmmakers who once saw their indie cred as a steppingstone to Hollywood have embraced or resigned themselves to the fact that, because the studios are increasingly risk-averse and franchise-driven, their careers will likely be played out in the independent realm or on cable TV. As one producer here told me: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 get studio funding for the movies I want to make. More and more of us are moving to television.鈥�

If new and established filmmakers find themselves moving outside the big studio orbit, they may discover that more than a few movie stars, craving artistic challenges, will follow suit. There was no shortage of A-list actors represented at Sundance 鈥� Naomi Watts, Scarlett Johansson, and Nicole Kidman, to name a few. Thankfully, the Z-listers from previous years were in much shorter supply. I am still recovering from seeing Paris Hilton a few years back emerging from a stretch limo in her pink parka.

The documentaries

The documentaries always stand out at Sundance, and one of the best kicked off opening night, Morgan Neville鈥檚 鈥淭wenty Feet From Stardom,鈥� about the notoriously unheralded backup singers who have provided so many memorable riffs and refrains on our favorite pop, rock, and R&B recordings from the 1960s and 鈥�70s. Four of the featured women in the film, Judith Hill (the sole youngster, she sang 鈥淗eal the World鈥� at Michael Jackson鈥檚 televised memorial service), Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and T谩ta Vega, turned the post-screening Q-and-A session into an impromptu concert that rocked the rafters. (Almost all of them started out in church choirs.) A few days later I lunched with all of them, as well as another featured vocalist, Darlene Love, and their high spirits remained uncontained. They are all close friends. There鈥檚 talk of touring with the film together, of making a Christmas album. From Love, I learned the ultimate accolade these singers give each other after a particularly powerful rendition: 鈥淕irl, I鈥檓 gonna have to throw my shoe at you.鈥�

There are many reasons 鈥� luck, drive, timing 鈥� why these women are not as well known as the famous lead singers, but their pipes are every bit as good. With the rise of rap and synthesized musicmaking, the 鈥渂ig鈥� sound of these women is increasingly in less demand, to the detriment of us all.

Inspirationalism was also the order of the day for Lucy Walker鈥檚 鈥淭he Crash Reel,鈥� about Kevin Pearce, the snowboarding champ who has slowly come back from a traumatic brain injury (suffered in a 2009 fall on the Park City slopes). Walker made the movie while Pearce, who at one time wanted to return to big-time snowboarding and now advocates for brain-injury victims, was very much still on the brink. She worried that her film might have this 鈥渢errible tragic ending.鈥�

Pearce鈥檚 entire family, whose unfailing support is clearly his touchstone, was on hand at Sundance. At a party for documentary films, Pearce wanted to know what I thought of the film and then offered up his own extended review. It was mostly positive. Whew!

I had a very political day and a half when I caught in succession Frieda Mock鈥檚 鈥淎nita: Speaking Truth to Power,鈥� about Anita Hill; 鈥淭he World According to Dick Cheney,鈥� directed by R.J. Cutler and Greg Finton; Alex Gibney鈥檚 marvelous 鈥淲e Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks鈥�; and Richard Rowley鈥檚 eye-opening 鈥淒irty Wars,鈥� which follows reporter/whistle-blower Jeremy Scahill鈥檚 investigations into covert military operations conducted by the United States in more than 70 countries, including some that are supposed American allies.

Hill, now an author and a professor at Brandeis University, showed up after the screening of 鈥淎nita,鈥� which features ample testimony from the 1991 Senate Judiciary hearings in which 14 white men, headed up by then-Sen. Joe Biden, sat in mostly humiliating judgment of her charges of sexual harassment against US Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. 鈥淚 feel really good,鈥� she beamingly told the packed house. About the issue of sexual harassment that she so much brought to the fore: 鈥淲e have to commit ourselves to getting it right in the future.鈥� And about that electric blue dress she wore to the hearings? 鈥淚t became a fashion statement in Ghana.鈥�

Dick Cheney cooperated on his documentary, which is even-handed even if its subject is not. Asked to name his main fault, he ponders for a long moment before coming up blank. Referred to in the film as 鈥渢he most powerful unpresidential figure this country has ever known,鈥� Cheney is not in the warm-and-fuzzy business. 鈥淚f you want to be loved,鈥� he says, 鈥渂e a movie star.鈥�

Over dinner I asked Alex Gibney about Julian Assange鈥檚 reaction to his film, which not only expertly delineates the history of WikiLeaks, the website that rocked the world, but also delves deeply into the psychology of its founder. 鈥淗e鈥檚 already denounced it,鈥� Gibney said. 鈥淎nd he hasn鈥檛 seen it.鈥� As a consequence of sexual-harassment charges in Sweden, Assange has thus far escaped extradition by receiving asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. From there he has been furiously tweeting against Gibney and the film.

The dramatic films

On the dramatic film side, I could have lived without Jerusha Hess鈥檚 鈥淎ustenland,鈥� a feather-light dingbat comedy about a Jane Austen-themed resort in England.

Jeff Nichols鈥檚 Mississippi-set 鈥淢ud鈥� was too muddy. It鈥檚 about two teenage boys encountering a fugitive and stars Matthew McConaughey, who is mostly shirtless. (It must be in his contract.)

David Gordon Green鈥檚 鈥淧rince Avalanche鈥� is a wayward buddy comedy starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch as two highway road workers. Green was an indie icon with films like 鈥淕eorge Washington鈥� before crossing over to the dark side to make 鈥淧ineapple Express鈥� and 鈥淵our Highness.鈥� He鈥檚 trying here for an art film again (albeit a goofy one). Someone should have told Green that you can鈥檛 go home again.

On the other hand, I was happy I saw Drake Doremus鈥檚 鈥淏reathe In,鈥� his first film since his Sundance smash 鈥淟ike Crazy.鈥� Felicity Jones stars as a British foreign-exchange student who scrambles the lives of her hosts in upstate New York. It has moments of sustained insight and feeling that carry you past its sundry flaws. Andrew Dosunmu鈥檚 鈥淢other of George鈥� is a lilting drama about a Nigerian woman in Brooklyn who risks opprobrium to please her husband.

Richard Linklater鈥檚 鈥淏efore Midnight鈥� is the third film starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, whom we pick up almost two decades after their characters had a chance meeting on a train bound for Vienna in 鈥淏efore Sunrise.鈥� The series has become a bit twee for me, but Linklater is the great humanist filmmaker of his generation. I鈥檇 rather be spending time with this couple than with just about any other movie couple around.

Many of the best films I鈥檝e mentioned here have distribution or were bought during the festival, with undoubtedly more sales to follow.

That鈥檚 good news. The mantra of Sundance this year should have been: Open minds, open wallets.