Sundance 2.0: Another Fun-filled Day

Our second day at Sundance started bright and early with our viewing of Another Happy Day at Library Theater.  This movie was about the main character, Lynn, and her (played by Ellen Barkin) family dysfunction/interactions during her son’s wedding.  This movie also starred Demi Moore and Kate Bosworth.  N. and I liked this movie a lot because it showed that no matter how perfect a family appears on the outside, we’re all a little f*cked up to a certain extent. 

Library Theater...which was actually in a library/school!

The Q&A afterward featured the emotional screenwriter/director Sam Levinson and Ellen Barkin who not only starred in the movie, but produced it as well.  For being only 25, Sam Levinson is a true genius in his craft.  The Sundance judges took notice of his talent as well because Another Happy Day won the award for the best U.S. Dramatic category. 

Ellen Barkin and Sam Levinson

Next up was Circumstance which was a movie about two Iranian teenage girls exploring their sexuality while growing up under the eye of the morality police.  I liked this movie as well, but there was a tall person (or at least one with a long torso!) in front of me which made viewing the movie and reading the subtitles a little difficult.  This movie won the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category. 

Since we had a few hours until our next movie, N. and I decided to explore Park City.  We strolled through the shops, restaurants, and bars and even saw the iconic Egyptian Theater (where many of the smaller films, such as The Blair Witch Project, premiered). 

Beautiful Park City



Piles of snow abound...can you see the ski lifts behind us?



The Egyptian Theater...brought to you by Southwest Airlines, lol...

We decided to go back to our hotel room to chill for a bit, but we probably shouldn’t have because the shuttle service was running a little weird and we almost missed our next movie, Perfect Sense.  We literally were running into the theater as the movie already started (and again the running left me gasping for air! Gahh! Darn you altitude!).  Despite our rushed entrance, Perfect Sense was a great movie.  Ewan McGregor was great in it.  It was a nice romantic story mixed in with worldwide epidemics (you have to watch it to know what I mean).

After the movie, we got ready for the Awards Night Party.  It was nice to people watch, but we didn’t want to stay too long because we wanted to catch one more movie before the end of the night.

Par-tay!

Quintessential crowd pic

The cool glowing stage that changed color throughout the night

N. and I with the lead actresses from Circumstance! We had
just seen their movie and I told them, "Congrats on your award!"

Lastly, we watched Meek’s Cutoff starring Michelle Williams.  This movie was about pioneers travelling the Oregon Trail.  I don’t know if it was the fact that the movie was a midnight showing or that the movie was pretty slow, but this was the first time we saw people get up and leave the theater during a Sundance showing.  The movie by far wasn’t my favorite, but it got N. and I talking about themes and director's vision.  That was our second day in a nutshell, making our trip to Sundance nearly over!

Sundance 1.0: We're Here!

Our first official day at Sundance started about two in the afternoon.  We were bummed that that we had missed our first two scheduled screenings, but we vowed to make the best of it.  We went to the box office to pick up my credentials and our passes and I picked up so other freebies such as a hefty Sundance catalog, a magazine and a water bottle.  Needless to say my bag was pretty heavy, which left me catching my breath (or so I thought).  Then, it dawned on me that it was probably the altitude that was giving me my shortness of breath…ah ha!  And to think I was about to doubt my training!

At festival headquarters (aka: the Marriott)

The first movie we watched was Benavides Born which is about a girl powerlifter trying to get out of her Texas border town by any means necessary.  I thought it was pretty good and as our first Sundance film I learned that it was appropriate to clap at the end of the film during the credits (any other time I think it’s corny, lol) and after the credits there are usually Q&A sessions with the director, screenwriter, actors, etc. 

Since we had a time gap between our two scheduled films we decided we would attempt to get some tickets through the waitlist and the movie we chose was called Flypaper starring Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, just to name a few.  It as directed by Rob Minkoff who also directed The Lion King and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the guys who wrote The Hangover.  How cool is that?

As the Sundance website suggests, getting tickets on the waitlist is a Festival tradition, a rite of passage of sorts.  Basically what you do is two hours before the scheduled screening you pick up a waitlist number.  They you come back about thirty minutes before the movie starts to see if you can get in.  Imagine that—getting numbers simply for the chance of getting into a movie!  But it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, we didn’t have to stay out in the cold for too long (they have heated waiting areas) and we got to know the people waiting around in line around which included film students, housewives, and people from L.A.

The Waitlist!

N. demonstrating things to do while waiting in line!

Anyway, when we got back to the waitlist line to see if we would get in one of the volunteers came out and said that they would be admitting numbers 1-20 in the waitlist.  Being numbers 21 and 22, N. and I were crushed! Fortunately, the guy in front of N. said that two people ahead of him didn’t show up so we were actually in! Yay! We hurried in and caught the introductory remarks by the director, writers, and McDreamy himself!

Patrick Dempsey (not sure if you could tell, but it's him!)

Unfortunately for us, the exhaustion from our travel and lack of sleep got the best of us as we nodded off a couple times during the movie. L I was able to get the gist of it, but I’d like to give the film another shot when I’m not as sleepy/tired.

Inside Eccles Theater (one of our most frequented movie theaters during Sundance)

We finished our day with the Swedish movie Happy, Happy about a lonely housewife who is envious of the “glamorous” neighbors who move in next door, but discovers that her neighbors’ life isn’t all that it is cracked up to be either.  N. and I thoroughly enjoyed it and it ended up winning the award for its category.  After such an exhausting day, we hit the sack…literally!  As soon as we got back to the hotel N. plopped on her bed and passed out. I couldn’t blame her we needed a ton of rest for another long day!