A quick post on what's been going on over the past couple days, before I delve into cranking out some more reviews. Today was warmer here in Park City ("warmer" of course being relative to "cold enough to induce frostbite in the time it takes to walk from the hotel to the shuttle"). We had gorgeous blue skies and a little reprieve from the snow, which has been pretty constant this year.

Yesterday I kicked things off with Fields of Fuel, a documentary about biodiesel and how it can save us from dependence on oil, while being cheaper and cleaner to boot. Later in the day I saw Pretty Bird, Paul Schneider's directorial debut, and then interviewed Schneider about his film. This was an interesting dark comedy -- quite funny for the first 2/3, and then it takes a major emotional nosedive in the last third, emphasizing the "dark" over the "comedy."
Last night I saw a film I'd been highly anticipating, Sugar, the newest film by Half Nelson team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, and I'm relieved to report that I absolutely loved the film. It's a baseball film (kind of), gorgeously shot and very different from Half Nelson. Full review forthcoming on that one, and also on a Slamdance film we watched late last night called Paranormal Activity, a nice indie horror flick (I've really been getting my horror freak on more than usual this year).

Today I dragged my butt out of bed way too early to catch Momma's Man, which has been getting lots of positive buzz around the fest. I found that one difficult to watch, but quite good; it's about a guy who goes to visit his parents during a business trip and inexplicably moves back home, leaving behind his wife and infant daughter with no explanation. I was pretty annoyed with the main character for most of the film, but ended up being glad I stuck it out, mostly for one incredibly powerful moment near the end of the film.

Continuing the theme of annoying boy-men who don't want to grow up, this afternoon I caught an Italian flick called Riprendimi (Good Morning Heartache), about a couple whose marriage falls apart right as they've agreed to be filmed for a documentary. Riprendimi is a very well made, frequently funny film, and I had a really delightful chat with director Anna Negri about the difficulties of being a female director in Italy, and how most Italian films that deal with relationships are from the man's point of view, painting the women as nagging mother-substitutes keeping the poor guys from living it up and having fun. Riprendimi examines more the consequences of men-who-would-be-boys on the women and children they leave behind, but it's not too heavy. This one would be a great pick-up for distrib, and I'm hoping to see it get snatched up before the end of the fest.

Films on which I'm hearing (or continuing to hear) very strong word-of-mouth: American Teen, Anvil (Sundance really needed a good film featuring mullets and heavy metal), Henry Poole is Here, The Wackness, The Broken, Good Dick, Up the Yangtze, Phoebe in Wonderland, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Good Dick, A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, Alone in Four Walls, Stranded.

Films unfortunately getting not-so-good or uneven buzz: Birds of America, Mysteries of Pittsburgh (dammit, I really wanted that one to be good, too), The Deal, Savage Grace (which I liked, even if no one else did), and Downloading Nancy (which Erik liked, even if no one else did), and Recycle.