the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Program

Right now just a list of films I've seen. I'm missing out on a ton of shorts by seeing these films ahead of time, but since otherwise I might not see the films at all, I suppose it's an acceptable tradeoff. I don't know anything about some of the shorts besides a title, but there are still a few I'd like to see somehow.

Harry and Max
Open Water
D.E.B.S.
Napoleon Dynamite
Azumi
Employee of the Month
Investigation into the Invisible World
Tiptoes
Dirty Work
I Like Killing Flies
Canadian Aboriginal Shorts (Might of the Starchaser, Prayer for a Good Day, In Shadow, If the Weather Permits)
Raspberry Reich
SAW
One Point 0
Super Size Me
Primer
Screaming Men
That Touch of Pink
Word Wars (with Scrabble)
The Dreamers
The Yes Men
Missed and craving: CSA, Motorcycle Diaries. I think both got distribution. Others to see: Easy, Tackle Box, Eulogy, The Five Obstructions, Garden State, Riding Giants, Speak, N Judah 5:30, Saved, The Woodsman, Twins.

03 available as well. Spoilers for 04 in white text below the icon.


Harry and Max - Not even homosexual incest could help this film. It tried, it really did, but as a character study it didn't go far enough.

Employee of the Month - Fun in the way Confidence was fun last year. I want Jim to watch this with me.

Open Water - This will probably be fun to watch in a dark theater full of people, but what it came down to was: everyone was stupid, everyone deserved the bad things that happened to them. Instead of relating to their decisions, you want to shout to the screen what they should be doing. Not as suspenseful as it should have been.

Azumi - Chick in go-go boots with a big sword kills everyone in her path. See this film.

Investigation into the Invisible World - The theme this year really seems to be not going far enough. Beautifully shot, nice interviews, but many questions left unasked. Good to think about US government workers while you see this.

Tiptoes - Weak weak weak. Gary Oldman was great, but under-utilized. Matthew McC was one-dimensional. His girlfriend making a complete 180 without any prompting. But of course, there are dwarves, and dwarves are cool.

Dirty Work - Great documentary. Only thing missing was salary information for the three subjects. If you get a chance to ask the director about that, please let me know. Something in this film will squick everyone. One character is difficult to understand, but you get gist of what he's saying.

I Like Killing Flies - Cute documentary. Nice. Nothing deep. See it before you go out to eat.

Canadian Aboriginal Shorts (Might of the Starchaser, Prayer for a Good Day, In Shadow, If the Weather Permits) - Half pretty good, half pretty bad. Skippable.

Raspberry Reich - Porn. Pure porn. Hysterically funny. Drags a bit towards the end, but drop dead funny, and lots of ass-fucking, cock-sucking, gun-licking good times.

SAW - Spooky in that way that Seven (Brad Pitt) was, and I recommend this film. It's not perfect, but it's a good ride, and you get to see Cary Elwes all thick with middle age.

One Point 0 - The atmosphere in this film was perfect! The characters, plot, dialogue, not so much so. Maybe the filmmakers saw Brazil and thought by having a dirty apartment building, they'd have a good film.

Super Size Me - Fun to watch, will make you squirm in your seat. However, they miss the big loophole. By not having a parallel experiment, it's easy to justify less... I only eat there once/month, so I'm okay, right? Other than that, it's fun to watch someone destroy themselves for art. Very egocentric.

Primer - Boring. Dot.com meets time travel. Whee!

Screaming Men - Not worth it. Egocentric. The bit about the national anthems is great, but that's only one bit of the film. See it for the unique factor I guess. Needs an editor. And someone to tell the director what questions to ask.

That Touch of Pink - Fun, light, fluffy. Kyle McL isn't Cary Grant to me, but he sounds pretty close to Cary. Fun old movie references. Cute boys. Cute women. Canadian!