Seattlest at Sundance: Take 1

Our first film-going experience at Sundance got off to an inauspicious start. There we were, fresh off our flight, catching a film in Salt Lake before heading to the festival proper in Park City. We stood around in the wait list line for the requisite two-plus hours to guarantee we got a seat (once the actual ticket holders got theirs, of course). At long last, we entered the theater and took our seats. The lights went down, the credits rolled, this was it! And then---the film's sound went out. And it stayed out. For a half hour. During that time, the film kept running, sans dialogue, while the Sundance staff struggled to figure out what was wrong and the audience grew unruly. Trust us, you do not want to be in a crowd of pissed off Mormons. There were shouts of "this is bullshit!", "turn on the lights!", "turn off the lights!", and the ever-popular "start the movie over!" When we were close to ditching out (as many had), the sound came back, the film was rewound, the audience cheered, and our Sundance experience could begin. This time for reals.

As to the films themselves, on our first (half) day, we got in two---

1) The Night Listener: In past films, Robin Williams has played a radio DJ, gone gay, and engaged in the creepy. Now he does all of the above in this surprisingly satisfying psychological thriller, starring a toned-down Williams as an NPR-style radio host who gets a little too caught up in the lives of some of his fans, a mother and her ailing son (Toni Collette and Rory Culkin). In an increasingly tired genre (see: The Skeleton Key, amongst others), this is a thriller that doesn't cop-out with a lame psyche! twist. Instead, it addresses those options head-on, which didn't make us feel as if we'd been had. This film ain't re-inventing the wheel, but it is sufficiently freaky.

2) Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out: This year's Sundance features several high-profile music documentaries, featuring the likes of Leonard Cohen, the Beastie Boys, and Neil Young. We're probably not going to see any of those films, but we did make it to the midnight showing of this doc on The Police culled from drummer Stewart Copeland's Super 8 footage. Following the band from when they were nobodies to one of the biggest groups in the world, the film allows you to see Sting and Company at a record signing with only a dozen people in attendance, the first time the band was swarmed by a manic crowd, the early stages of "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da," and eventually, their huge headlining shows---Copeland captured it all. While this film had plenty of rock 'n' roll, it was utterly lacking in sex and drugs (as well as band infighting), all of which we know played a part in their collective history, Though this film was certainly real, it could've stood to have been a wee bit real-er. We just wanted to see The Police, warts and all.