2010 Sundance Film Festival

Around four years ago, Plexifilm, an independent DVD label and film production company, approached Animal Collective about producing a tour documentary. The band liked the idea of creating a film and immediately hired video artist Danny Perez (Black Dice, Kurt Vile, Blood on the Wall) for the job. Once the band hit the road with Perez, and after conceptualizing the project over numerous hours while driving in the van, the group concluded that they did not have anything new to contribute the “band documentary” genre. Instead, they countered Pexi with the fresh idea of making a visual album. The project was accepted and ODDSAC was on its way to being born. ODDSAC runs just under an hour at 53 minutes, a visual EP with 4-6 movements of music synched to complicated video edits. This is the type of film avante garde junkies and Animal Collective fans will want to watch over and over (sober and while on mind-altering substances) because each time, the viewer will find new dimensions unnoticed in the first screening. Some of the movements in ODDSAC are reminiscent of vintage 60s psychedelic art, using bright colors and white noise to interpret the music. The visual syncing with the soundtrack is spot-on and when seen on the big screen, this footage is hypnotic and trace inducing. Other visual movements in ODDSAC, incorporate Perez’s love for old horror movies (particularly the ending sequence) and was legitimately scary in some parts. There are also elements of humor, peppered cleverly throughout the scenes. Ultimately this film can be an intense, emotional experience for the audience, if the viewers let themselves become invested in it. ODDSAC’s combination of audio and visual layers transported me into a venerable place in my psyche that left me reeling over my experience with ODDSAC hours later. Just like previous Animal Collective efforts, I cannot wait to get my hands on this visual album so that I may enjoy it again and again. –Angela H. Brown http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/642/ODDSAC-Review.html

For those of you familiar with the Chicago-based rock and Baroque pop outfit, Califone—chances are you have been waiting since 2007 to see this film. If you aren’t an indie music junkie but like artful films with fairytale elements, you’ll love this work just as much. All My Friends are Funeral Singers was written and directed by musician, Tim Rutili. His screenplay is lyrical, poetic and is ultimately about learning to let go. Rutili wrote the film to coincide with an exclusive soundtrack that is to be played live by his band, Califone. In fact the screening I attended in SLC was the first public screening of All My Friends are Funeral Singers without the band’s live accompaniment. While I enjoyed Rutili’s narrative storyline (especially the gypsy and ghost elements) as a Califone fan I couldn’t help but wonder how my cinematic experience would have been heightened with the bands’ live musical energy, playing in conjunction with the picture show. After all, this was the original way Rutili intended the film to be viewed. However, I do understand that in a film festival environment this isn’t possible for every single screening. Watch this movie either way, but peep their record labels’ site (deadoceans.com) first, to make sure they are gigging with the film. –Angela H. Brown http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/641/All-My-Friends-Are-Funeral-Singers-Review.html

Over the past 40 years, Joan Rivers has overcome monumental obstacles and continues to lead the fight for female comedians worldwide, but, as is the reality of show business, no one stays on top forever. In this riveting one year peek into the private life of an actress/comedian/writer/mother/grandmother/friend, the audience is given the opportunity to witness Rivers’ vulnerability and constant fear of opening her schedule book and seeing nothing but a blank page. As the year progresses, the workaholic exposes her relentless desire for continued success as she tours with her self-scribed theatre production, appears on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with her daughter,Melissa, and performs her stand-up routine in various clubs around the country, both seedy and reputable. Directors Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg tastefully infiltrate the disheartening and encouraging sides of Rivers’ past and project the talented artist as an inspirational yet levelheaded subject. At 75-years-old, the crass comic can still keep up with the rising comedians of today, and then some, but it’s her personal hardships, shrewd outlook on life and devote family relationships that make her standout amongst the crowd. - Jimmy Martin http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/632/Joan-Rivers-A-Piece-of-Work-Review.html

Ewelina Guik does an extraordinary job playing the whimsical strawberry blonde, Pepperminta. Pepperminta lives with her imagination on her sleeve, longing to make the word see I as she does, in bright kaleidoscope colors. Pepperminta affects everyone she meets playing childish pranks and singing loudly to get their attention. Once she has it Pepperminta uses swatches of colored gels to hypnotize them, reminding them that “life is beautiful.” Pepperminta picks up other social outcasts along her way and they become her color disciples with a gross menstrual blood drinking ceremony. Together they wreck color-induced havoc on police officers, banqueters, catholic priests, college classrooms and numerous others. Although director Rist is an award-winning multi-media video artist and Pepperminta reflects this talent, the film was too long. The film felt like it was Rist’s first feature film and it was. Pepperminta would have been much more enjoyable as a 30 minute short . —Angela H. Brown http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/630/Pepperminta-Review.html

I first became acquainted with Iranian director Shirin Neshat through her "Women of Allah" photographic and calligraphy series in the early 1990s. Since then, Neshat has remained an active artist, directing and exhibiting over 18 video installations since 1996. Women Without Men is Neshat's first feature length film and is based on the book of the same name by female author Shahrnush Parsipur. The film narrates a complex story based around the lives of three women living in Tehran in the summer of 1953. This is the time period in Iranian history when a coup d’état (lead by the Americans funded by the British) brought down the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, resulting in the Shah taking power and the beginning of a 25-year cruel dictatorship. The issues these characters face—gender politics, social control, government turmoil—create a stark reality of how difficult life was (and still can be) for Muslim women. Women Without Men couples Neshat’s experience in visually expressing Iranian women’s issues with Parsipur’s imaginative character development to create a heart-wrenching film women everywhere must see. Soundtrack by award-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. –Angela H. Brown http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/624/Women-Without-Men-Review.html

Hilarious: According to Louis C.K. it's something that is so funny it ruins your life. It makes you laugh so hard that you loose your mind. When you finish laughing you’re homeless. You have shit, leaves and twigs in your hair. Something literally so funny that it fucked up your entire life. It’s a word that is abused and misused by stupid, white, fat Americans constantly. I have to admit, I was apprehensive of Louis C.K.: Hilarious. I’ve always held the belief that stand-up comics are best in person, when they have the ability to play off their audience. Since I knew that Louis C.K.: Hilarious was basically a glorified and elongated Comedy Central Standup Spot, I had my doubts about how hard I would laugh. Luckily, I was wrong. I didn’t stop laughing during this film … not once … neither did the rest of the audience. In short, Louis C.K. is a funny motherfucker—maybe the funniest. Throughout his routine he covers topics of divorce, parenthood, the economy and the stupidity of the things that American’s complain about, and he covers them all in completely refreshing ways. –Jeanette D. Moses http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/625/Louis-CK-Hilarious-Review.html

A refreshingly creative approach to the doc genre, Exit through the Giftshop is not so much about Bansky as it is about the French-American character, Thierry Guetta and his personal journey to capture the worldwide street art scene. Theirry’s footage is fantastic–and the film opens with heart-pounding excitement as clips from one street artist after another, show them scaling buildings, running from the law and painting in the dead of night. The viewer quickly understands just how dangerous this artform can be and what extreme physical risks these street artists take for their work. Street art heavyweights Shephard Fairey, Invader, Buff Monster, Swoon, Neck Face and others are all featured making art in the film—shedding new light on the process behind this underground lifestyle. Towards the end of Exit through the Giftshop, Bansky fans finally get to glimpse rare footage from some of his most prolific pranks, the renegade Guantanamo installation at Disneyland, Bansky hanging his own paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and every street artist’s wet dream of viewing the inside of Bansky’s actual working studio. Filled with wit, unseen footage and an unprecedented ending, Theirry’s personal journey through the street art scene is one not to be missed. —Angela H. Brown http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/627/Exit-through-the-Giftshop-Review.html

John Taylor has just robbed a bank. His foot is bleeding through his shoe and his face is all over the news. He’s been convicted of theft and assault before. He’s completely fucked. The only thing he has going for him is that he’s clever and fairly quick on his feet. When it seems like all hope is lost, Taylor manipulates his way into Warwick Wilson’s house, using a postcard found in his mailbox to pose as a friend of a friend. He even gets invited to stay for the dinner party that Wilson is preparing to host. But then the tables turn. And then they turn again. And a few more times after that before the film is over. The Perfect Host is a seamlessly crafted story that keeps you guessing with every scene. Every time you think you have it figured out you’re thrown off. This film is anything but predictable. The police thriller meets twisted comedy meets love story features excellently developed characters, dry humor and off the wall plot twists that keep you continuously guessing. The Perfect Host is one of the most exceptional and unpredictable films that I have seen in the past year. –Jeanette D. Moses http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/626/The-Perfect-Host-Review.html

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The Duplass brothers, directors of 2005’s The Puffy Chair and 2008’s Baghead, return to the Sundance Film Festival with their third feature film about lonely divorcee, John (John C. Reilly), who is advised that his ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener) is getting remarried. Just as a sense of never-ending misery seems to settle, John meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) and instantly reignites his feelings toward love and accompaniment. Everything appears to be going well, until John meets Cyrus (Jonah Hill), Molly’s overly pampered son who’s not at all enthusiastic about his mother’s new boyfriend. As their relationship becomes more involved, the spoiled son’s eccentric behaviors become increasingly disruptive forcing John to push back. The directing duo succeeds in developing a well-proportionate comedy with enough soul and sentiment to separate itself from other mundane slapstick comedies. Reilly, who hasn’t had the opportunity to flaunt his true dramatic acting capabilities since Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, is brilliant as the drowning bachelor who can’t seem to catch a break, but it’s Hill who surprisingly carries out an unexpected yet hilarious career-defining performance. - Jimmy Martin http://www.slugmag.com/festival-coverage/618/Cyrus-Review.html