some girls wander by mistake.

title: becoming chaz
directors: fenton bailey and randy barbato
category: documentary premieres
rating: 3.5 out of 5



chaz bono is a charismatic human being, who, with his longtime partner sara(h) at his side, undertakes gender reassignment, deciding to document his transition on camera. for a child who grew up literally in front of the camera on the sonny & cher show during the 70s, it's little surprise as to why he feels comfortable with the intimate, sometimes reality-TV style of this documentary. the film focuses on the "everyday," with ample screen time for domestic quibbles, meals, pet affection, family, and friends.

directors fenton baily and randy barbato document the transition with judicious care, and still the primarily heteronormative and close-minded audience at a prestigious film festival made their discomfort audible. while i enjoyed the slice-of-life film, what stands out to me after a few months away from utah was the experience of watching the screening surrounded by people not altogether ready to witness a transman shaving, receiving testosterone shots, or eating sandwiches. apparently.

though becoming chaz was one of the first films picked up by oprah winfrey's network (OWN)--which will feature a documentary club in the spirit of her book club--it is clear that middle-america has transphobic (and, unfortunately, sizeist) leanings, even when the stories are handpicked by oprah, presented by rosie o'donnell (literally. she was in the audience), and handle the hard questions like an after-school special. but if any film has the opportunity to increase visibility of the trans community for a mainstream audience, maybe this will be the one. 

title: higher ground
director/screenwriter: vera farmiga
category: u.s. dramatic competition
rating: 3 out of 5



higher ground tells the story of one woman's awakening and growth, woven on the tapestry of spirituality and the school of hard knocks. director and screenwriter vera farmiga also stars as the lead, a woman named corinne. she "gives yet another richly nuanced performance, [tackling] complex issues with sophistication and graceful insight, crafting a moving story about the transformative powers of faith and doubt." (source.)

while it is obvious farmiga is skilled--the script, direction, and pacing were impeccable--i found my interpretation of the storyline to be impressively biased: that embracing faith is the antithesis of being an interesting human being. the film portrays faith as an inevitability, an easy solution, a consolation prize for living life. hallelujah? by the end of the film, i felt strongly that the characters' enlightenment was more of a plot fail, a dead-end, than a solace.

the audiences loved this film, though. but there is a strength to farmiga's story--either her story, or her storytelling--that felt palpable, honest, beautiful. flawed, but beautiful. many scenes felt candid and raw, autobiographical. in all the ways that good cinema can be, i found higher ground polarizing: a film that read, to me, like a manifesto for atheism far more than a testament to how awesome god is; others (like those many behind me singing along with the closing credits hymn, for serious) undoubtedly felt buoyant, connected. walking out of the theatre that night, i ruminated on this, and wondered if this open interpretation was indeed the intention of the director. maybe i'd know more if i had stayed for the Q&A.

title: the catechism cataclysm
director/screenwriter: todd rohal
category: park city at midnight
rating: 2.5 out of 5



there is a certain amount of ridiculousness i can go for (see the forthcoming review for codependent lesbian space alien seeks same). then there is the kind of ridiculousness that compromises its strength and uniqueness for the unsupported bizarre. the catechism cataclysm is that kind of film.

in this absurd dark comedy, we are introduced to father billy, a rock and roll loving priest who's calling seems to have been a wrong number. after failing to connect to the church patrons, father billy decides to take a sabbatical to learn more about himself, nature, and the will of god. because father billy apparently is incapable of maintaining interpersonal relationships, the logical choice for an accomplice is his sister's high school boyfriend. robbie--whose life is in no better shape than father billy's appears to be--begrudgingly accepts, agreeing to a canoe trip. after father billy's first beer, getting lost, two mystical japanese girls, and the arriving of nightfall, things go expectedly awry.

though the character development and solid handling by the actors propel the film towards what feels something, the story fails to be interesting or go anywhere other than the Ridiculous and the Unbelievable. in some ways, these elements pay tribute to the best of the b-movie horror genre, but that may or may not have been rohal's intention with the film. it is telling to say that many people walked out of the film before it ended; my staying through the credits was out of idle curiosity, only to be treated to an unsatisfactory ending. which is not to say that the catechism cataclysm was absolute rubbish, but it could have used a little bit of god's loving touch to make it less lame.

title: jess + moss
director/screenwriter: clay jeter
category: new frontier
rating: 3.5 out of 5


jess + moss is a mixtape of a movie: a kaleidoscope of senses invoked by profiling the lives an adolescent girl named jess, and her younger friend, moss. but where the film is a character sketch of daily adventures and playing house, it's story is deliberately elusive. where are their families? other townspeople? under what circumstances are jess and moss brought together--for sunset bike rides and fireworks and the studying of nature?

director clay jeter works wonders with his cinematography: a palpable and powerful tapestry of color, texture, light, audio. the simplicity of the film gives one a sense of revelry, a vivid nostalgia for what it is like to be young and to find mystery in every detail, every found object and tiny creature. sundance writes that jeter "delicately imposes a complex assemblage of ways of looking and listening; planes of focus, select pieces of music, and expert sound engineering call attention to cryptic, but suggestive, details as interludes..." for a newcomer to cinema and the festival, his film is sophisticated and symbolic, and an inspiring snapshot at what is to come.

title: mad bastards
director/screenwriter: brendan fletcher
category: world cinema dramatic competition
rating: 3 out of 5


sometimes, the first film of the festival holds a special little place in your heart.

the film documents life for three generations of australian men, each in pursuit of their own truth, fighting the demons that make them each "mad bastards." director/screenwriter brendan fletcher works with the aboriginal communities of northwestern australia, pulling recurring themes from stories handed down through generations to create his script. the result is an authentic and seasoned story of indigenous life, fraught with anger, struggle, prejudice, and substance abuse. the community reflected in mad bastards also stars in it, and the authenticity of their story is one of the hallmarks of fletcher's story. the landscape of the region is beautifully utilized throughout the film, complimented by the music of the legendary broom musicians the pigram brothers.

title: the troll hunter (trolljegeren)
director/screenwriter: andre ovredal
category: park city at midnight
rating: 4 out of 5



this charming and satirical norwegian tale is a mockumentary mix of equal parts blair witch project and spinal tap, following three student filmmakers to remote locations in norway, trailing behind a "real life" troll hunter. hans, a crotchety mountain man mistaken for a bear poacher, is followed by the students, who discover their childhood legends about trolls in the forests are, in fact, truth. as a secret government operative, hans is tasked with concealing the existence of trolls from the unsuspecting public of norway. (so that's where all those stone fields come from!)

director and screenwriter andre ovredal works with conventions of the traditional suspense/thriller genre, using found-footage and documentary filmmaking motives to unveil both seriousness and humor. hans is the quintessential anti-hero ("hey, it's a living."); the trolls are not sensationalized CGI villains but, rather, gargantuan henson-esque beasts, lumbering through forests and under bridges at night. and each troll story from norse mythology receives a gentle shout-out. for the people of norway, the film is fraught with political and social commentary. for the audiences at sundance and, likely, america at large, troll hunter elicits laughter and gasps, with a well-crafted action-centric storyline, and splendid visions of norway (hey, it sure beats disney's norway ride.). maybe troll is the new vampire.

title: the woods
director/screenwriter: matthew lessner
category: new frontier
rating: 3 out 5 stars



the premise is simple: what happens when the youth of today--with thumbs engaged in text messages and mouths full of processed foods--decide to leave society behind, to see what lessons they can learn from the stillness of the forest. it begins with that question, only the execution reveals the director's real motive: a playful if not exploitative and satirical look at the shortcomings of our technology-obsessed generation.

the film begins with a group of young adults hipsters (i'll just call a spade a spade.), clad in their raddest 90s dayglo accessories settling into the woods. they colonize, toting into the landscape only the "essentials": a washer and dryer, a cabinet brimming with hawaiian punch and vitamin waters and an assortment of boxed cereals, and every technology device under the sun (from an apple TV mounted onto a nearby pine tree, to a copy machine). everyone has a cell phone and a laptop. they sing karaoke and play wii. they talk about creating a logo and a credo, about their facebook fans. the leader, daniel, organizes a meeting to speak to the group about cohesion, when suddenly his powerpoint presentation malfunctions. sending a member out into what we imagine is the neighboring big city, he returns disoriented and strange, claiming there is nothing left. which is where the film should have gotten interesting, but instead, falls flat.

imaginative and colorful, director and screenwriter matthew lessner does a strong job with the character studies of an apathetic generation, offsetting their strange beings with an even stranger juxtaposed world of relics from our modern culture against a lush, wild landscape. of course it's shot in oregon (the landscape gives itself away), and the spirit of the forest children couldn't incapsulate any city more than portland (except, maybe brooklyn): complacent and distracted, creative and playful. but the woods, as is, is a rough draft, a character sketch of a world to be explored and exploited. the beauty of sundance screenings is seeing films in their original composition: for films with promise but full of flaws, it gives one the sense of hope.

2 final film reviews from sundance: my only 2 five-out-of-five films remain. (my apologies, coffeefortwo, i know you hate when these pop up on your FL.)


title: pepperminta
director: pipilotti rist
category: new frontier (foreign: german)
rating: 5 out 5 stars

picture yourself on a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. that's pretty much what director rist has in mind, in her maximalist sensory explosion of a film, pepperminta. the film spotlights a dynamic and spirited young woman named pepperminta, and follows her as she interacts with the world using her own special gifts: a racing imagination, strawberry friends, and color-palatte lenses through which the world begins to make a little more sense. along her journey she befriends several beautiful humans, each outsiders in their own way, who represent different societal fears or stigmas. their journey together, pepperminta's joyous and colorful worldview, and the resulting connection between them all, weave a vibrant tapestry. pepperminta delicately and artistically explores refrains of lost inhibitions, the innoncence of childhood, love, and the acceptance of self...in technicolor.

the cast and crew were exceptional. i was present for the Q&A with the director, pipilotti rist, and was moved to hear her inspiration in telling the story of pepperminta. readers, i feel like i can not do this film justice, my screening now several months past. i remember my senses being delighted by the cinematography, the attention to color and composition, the uniqueness of the set and direction. the characters were round and inspiring. pepperminta is that woman and that little girl that lurks in most colorful part of my mind's eye, the one i have to sometimes quiet, when she tells me licking mailboxes is OK, or that that strawberries can whisper.

i loved this film. pepperminta has equal parts amelie and sgt. peppers. it is wildly beautiful, touching, inspiring. i can't wait to watch it again. and since i've run out of things to dote about, i'll leave you with the trailer.

title: HOWL
director: jeffrey friedman and rob epstein
category: world premiere, U.S. dramatic competition
rating: 4 out 5 stars

i saw the best mind's of my generation, hard at work at what was intended to be a documentary. but jeffrey friedman and rob epstein realized that what they were envisioning could not be best told in just that format: it needed color, action, youth. with that, HOWL transformed, from a primarily educational film exploration of the 1957 obscenity trial in san francisco, to a rounded biopic with various threads intertwined.

a young allen ginsberg is played by james franco, visually replicating interviews and scenes from ginsberg's early years, mastering the curled gravel growl, the audible sound of smiles, the deliberation so essential to ginsberg's delivery. these scenes make up about one third of the film, spliced between scenes of reading from the poem "HOWL" (which is, i believe, read in its entirety throughout the film) as well as verbatim courtroom scenes re-enacted from transcripts. in some ways, it is hard to believe that 50 years ago the supreme court was fighting over whether poetry had to have merit to be considered literature (and thus, be considered not obscene); in other contexts, we are still fighting battles for freedom of expression, free speech, and censorship today.

HOWL's weakest link in the story-telling comes in the visuals displayed for parts of the poem. while franco's beat poet is filmed in smoky black and white, in coffee shops where he perfected his spoken word, there are a decent number (8-10?) of animated interludes that are something you'd expect out of...a whole-grain bread commercial. colorful, surreal-without-being-psychadelic, distorted male figures like an ayn rand covers, these interludes are completely distracting and disharmonious. during the Q&A session after the film, i asked filmmakers epstein and friedman what the motivation was for the animated sequences. they replied that they felt that it was important to show a young ginsberg as an integral part of setting the tone of the era. this animation, done overseas, was selected as a visual representation of parts of "HOWL" before they decided to cast and move towards a biopic and away from a documentary. it is my sincere hope that these sections are re-done before a theatrical release, but i won't hold my breath.

over the last decade i've realized a freeing truth: i'm not a fan of the beat poets. but i am a huge fan of biopics, and this film (animation aside) is well done and well crafted, giving both cultural and historical context, and bringing to the screen significant moments in our cultural timeline.

title: the taqwacores
director: eyad zahra
category: NEXT, drama
rating: 4 out 5 stars

oh to be young and living in new york city: rebellious, punk rock, and, oh, yeah, muslim.

the taqwacores is a special film that serves as cultural representation of something presumably few people are aware of (a punk muslim movement), exploring the conflicts and compatibilities through a rainbow of muslim characters and taqwacore bands. the film is based on a novel by the same name, originally self-published D.I.Y zine style before finding a publisher. author michael muhammad knight served as the co-writer on the film adaptation, along with director eyad zahra.

the story follows a young pakistani-american named yusef, a conservative and responsible young man looking for a room for rent. finding an "all muslim" rental unit available, yusef finds himself in for a surprise to end up living in a gutterpunk party house, home or refuge to the muslim freaks of the city. skinheads, punk rockers, queers, potheads...all are welcome.

these unique characters help demonstrate the many faces of islam in the muslim community, challenging yusef's traditional ideas, along with those of a tattoo'd straight-edger, who struggles with the punks' muslim-punk lifestyle. and it's not a complimentary or simple dichotomy. one of the strengths of the storyline is the collective pool of such unique and well-carved characters, each with varying thoughts on their religion and their bodies.

now is a good time to mention my favorite character, rabeya, a riot grrrl who wears a burqa, embellished with punk patches, and complimented by doc martens. rabeya is, in many ways, the heart of the house: dispensing advise and showing yuself that allah isn't about Just One Thing. (e.g. she has also taken it upon herself of scratching out a section of the koran that demands for a husband to beat his wife.)

now's also a good time to mention i sat next to a taqwacore punk dude at the screening, which made me very very happy.

there was so much i responded to in the taqwacores. the saturation of the film was very unique: an almost copper-toned sepia tint to everything, rendering it somehow grittier but more forgiving in tonality. there were several heavy-handed shout outs to punk film and filmmakers, which worked well within the house throughout various scenes. and of course, there was the music, which pulled from various styles (hip-hop, arabic, bollywood, punk) as well as the traditional sounds of muslim instrumentation. the word taqwacore has its origin in the arabic word for "piety" or "god-fearing," and (says wiki) "denotes fear and love of the divine."