A professor of mine once made a startling statement. He believes that the current generation is the last that will experience movies in actual theaters. He has some good reasoning for this claim: the fact that instant home entertainment is becoming more and more available, the fact that technology is leading to better and better home theaters for the average individual, and–most significantly–that social interaction is now achieved without physical contact.

Seeing a film in the theater is a very social thing, regardless of how frowned upon it is to speak once the lights dim. Being part of an audience totally engrossed in a film is powerful. There is energy. There is presence. There is a sense of community involvement, as hundred of us gather to spend two hours of our lives in a dark room together, experiencing a story, told by people we do not know, but somehow seems to speak to each of us individually.

What marks a film festival as a truly unique cinematic experience is the audience. Each morning when get off the S-Bahn in Potsdam Hof, I exit the station via the Arkan Galaria–directly across from the Cinemaxx and Berlinale Palast. Every morning the same scene meets my eyes: hundreds of people camping out in a line spanning the length of the mall. Some in sleeping bags, others in fold out chairs; but each with a copy of the program open upon their lap, pen in hand, circling the screenings they hope to get tickets to. This is not a line for the midnight showing of some highly anticipated blockbuster hit. This is not even a line for a festival premiere, as most–particularly for the big name films–have long been sold out. This is a line for the 5:15pm showing of an Indonesian drama by a director no one has heard of. This is the line 10:00am screening of a documentary concerning an issue many never knew was an issue. People are here just for the chance to participate. This is dedication to the art, and brings a whole new energy into the theater. This is cinema.

Don Jon’s Addiction

I had the opportunity to attend both the press screening and the festival premiere of Don Jon’s Addiction. Because of the energy of the general public–enhanced by the fact that the director, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in the theater–I had a much better time in the premiere screening. This being said, there is a reason I chose to view this film twice. Gordon-Levitt’s feature directorial debut with this film was nothing shy of brilliant.

The character of Jon Martello comes from what would be the typical caste of a Jersey Shore Guido. He is a lady killer, obsessed with appearance, and ends each night out with his boys by taking home an 8 or better. He doesn’t hide the fact that he is in it for the short haul with these ladies (which makes it a surprise to his friends and family when he decides to take a break from his “streak” to focus on just one girl). “The most beautiful girl in the world,” according to Jon. When Jon is not fulfilling his life with his girls, family, boys, body, and car, he spends his time focused on his other true passion: pornography. Jon loves pornography better than actual sex, because he is able to “lose himself” in it. To him, it is perfect satisfaction without work or expectations. When his girlfriend discovers his hobby, she leaves, and Jon is forced to cope with the fact that his need for porn is a result of an inability to truly connect within a relationship.

There are several cinematic elements Gordon-Levitt uses to present his original story in a satisfying and memorable way. Moments of repetition in both sound and image–used to identify patterns and habits in Jon’s life–juxtaposes starkly against the meticulous shot diversity that makes up the most of the movie. In the first half of the film, the same shot is never repeated, and the camera is always in motion via pushes, pulls, quick pans, and steady glides within dialog, evoking a feeling of calm. Everything is new, and everything is smooth–like the beginning of a new relationship. The music is intentionally overly romantic in a fairy tale manner. As the story progresses and conflict is introduced, the style of shooting transitions to shaky, handheld shots that hold much longer within each scene, and the moments of earlier repetition (such as Jon’s experiences in church and at the gym) begin to vary more and more as the character begins to transform.

In all, the film tells a great, original story that is both humorous and critical. Don Jon’s Addiction makes a statement about allowing media to set unrealistic expectations in out lives, and the dangers of allowing these expectations to dominate our experience. The film managed to pull a great deal of laughter from both audiences I experienced, and in a press conference following the film, Gordon-Levitt said he believes the best way to tackle difficult issues is through humor, citing films like Dr. Strangelove as his inspiration. As stated, a brilliant debut from a very talented individual, and I think we can expect great things to come as Joseph Gordon-Levitt begins to branch out in work.

RATING: 9.8

Paradise: Hope (Capsule review)

The other highly anticipated screening I attended was Ulrich Seidl’s third installment of his Paradise trilogy, Paradise: Hope. I have only seen one other film in the Paradise trilogy, which was Paradise: Love, but this did not impact my reception or understanding of the film, as Paradise: Hope is perfectly capable of standing alone because it runs parallel to the other two films.

Full Paradise: Hope review

COMING UP: The theme of sex and pornography is proving to be a overarching theme in many of the films in the festival, having begun with Don Jon. On Saturday the film, Lovelace, a story about the making of the 1970’s porno Deepthroat, will screen and continue to examine this topic. The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, as well as a shorts program and a British film called The Look of Love will also be on the Saturday agenda.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival is currently kicking into full-gear over in Park City, Utah and so far there’s been plenty to talk about. We here at Way Too Indie have been following as much information about the films screening so far, and if you’re having a hard time following the festival here’s some of the more major news coming out of Sundance.

Acquisitions

The ultimate goal of every film at Sundance is to get a nice big distribution deal, and so far there have been two examples setting new records for the fest. Don Jon’s Addiction, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, has scored a huge deal with Relativity Media for $4 million dollars with a $25 million commitment to P&A. The offer is a bold one, especially since the film comes with an R rating and JGL hasn’t proven himself to be a winner at the box office, but Relativity must be confident in the material. The film, a romantic comedy about a sex addict, will most likely get a wide release in the summer.

The other big deal at the festival, and one of the highest ever for Sundance, came from Fox Searchlight. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s The Way, Way Back got a whopping $10 million pickup from the studio, but the fact that Searchlight wanted it so bad isn’t too much of a surprise. Faxon and Rash won Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars last year for The Descendants. That film was a box office success for the studio, and The Way, Way Back‘s coming-of-age tale looks to be a crowd pleaser. The film will get a summer release which might be a sign that Searchlight will use a release strategy that’s similar to Beasts of the Southern Wild which also got picked up at Sundance.

Some other interesting acquisitions include:

-The Weinstein Company snagging rights for Fruitvale. The film is a hit with critics (more on that below) so an Oscar push might be in the cards later this year.

-Sony Pictures bought rights for Austenland, a romcom inspired by Jane Austen’s novels. Reviews have been mixed, but Sony Pictures (and more specifically Sony Pictures Classics) have a good track record so it might be better than its gimmicky premise suggests.

-IFC has distribution for Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love. Not too shocking that IFC got a deal since they distributed The Trip (Winterbottom and star Steve Coogan’s last collaboration), so expect a platform release on VOD and in theatres sometime soon.

–The Spectacular Now has been gaining buzz for its two main stars, and A24 has already planned to release it in theaters this summer. A24 is a newer distributor but they’ll be in charge of releasing Spring Breakers this year so they must be doing something right.

Buzz

Escape From Tomorrow – It’s a film that flew under everyone’s radar before the festival started, but now that it screened it’s easy to understand why. The film starts with a man finding out he’s been fired on the last day of his family vacation at Disney World, and then proceeds to portray his mind unraveling over the course of the day. The big news item with this movie is that they actually did shoot it at Disney World and Disneyland without Disney’s permission, making critics baffled at how the filmmakers were able to successfully shoot the film without getting into trouble. No one has any clue about what Disney will do, but based on their previous handling of cases it’s likely that this movie will never see the light of day again. Critics have enjoyed the film too, with Indiewire calling it a phantasmagorical nightmare that’s reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. It’s unlikely that any distributor will even get a whiff of this movie, but hopefully there will be a chance to see it one day.

Escape From Tomorrow

Fruitvale – The Weinstein Company’s sale of Fruitvale more or less confirmed that something must be going right for this film. Inspired by the tragic shooting of Oscar Grant during New Year’s Day in 2009, Fruitvale opens with cell phone footage of the incident that took Grant’s life (multiple videos taken at the time showed a cop shooting Grant for no apparent reason; the cop claimed he mistook his taser for his gun and got off with a light sentence sparking a series of protests) before rewinding 12 hours to show the last day of Grant’s life. Oscar winners Octavia Spencer and Forest Whitaker star, but most of the praise has been directed towards Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of Grant. Jordan is familiar to most people as one of the teens in Chronicle, and The Hollywood Reporter said it will serve as a springboard for Jordan’s career.

Fruitvale

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – Starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as a couple on the run from the law, David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints has had plenty of terms thrown around including ‘ethereal’, ‘searing’ and getting comparisons to Terrence Malick’s films (specifically Badlands). Lowery’s western will most likely get some sort of distribution deal down the line, but so far it looks like a picturesque and thought-provoking western that’ll be perfect for the arthouse.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

With 2012 behind us and the Oscars only weeks away, the year in film for 2013 is just about to get underway. Park City, Utah is home to the Sundance Film Festival, a showcase for new independent films in America and (to a lesser degree) the rest of the world. Despite running at the start of the year, Sundance has premiered plenty of films that have eventually gone on to successful runs at the box office and award shows. If you want an example, look no further than last year when Beasts of the Southern Wild premiered to raves and ended up with four Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

So now with Sundance already getting underway, will there be another film ready to ride a wave of success all the way to awards season at the end of the year? Since Way Too Indie won’t be attending the festival this year we won’t be able to see any of the films playing yet, but we’ve gone through the festival line-up and picked the movies we’re most excited to watch. If you want to check things out yourself, the Sundance 2013 line-up can be seen here.

Way Too Indie’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Films Playing Sundance Film Festival 2013

Before Midnight (dir: Richard Linklater, Premieres)
Back in 1995 Richard Linklater released Before Sunrise, a simple but enjoyable film about an American (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman (Julie Delpy) spending the day together in Vienna. Nine years later Linklater, Hawke and Delpy reunited for Before Sunset which found the two characters reuniting in France. Sunset turned out to be one of Linklater’s best movies, and ever since then people have been wondering if a third film would ever get made. Now, nine years after Before Sunset, the three have reunited again for Before Midnight. It remains to be seen whether or not Midnight will live up to the quality of Sunrise and Sunset, but either way it’ll be nice to catch up with Jesse and Celine again. [C.J.]

Before Midnight

Touchy Feely (dir: Lynn Shelton, U.S. Dramatic)
Lynn Shelton is no stranger when it comes to Sundance, Touchy Feely will be her third film in a row that will play at the festival. Her previous film, Your Sister’s Sister, was one of my favorite films of 2012, so I was naturally excited to hear that she would be presenting a new film this year. Back again for a lead role is Rosemarie DeWitt who plays a free-spirited massage therapist but develops a mysterious aversion to bodily contact, which makes her job intolerable to do. Shelton explains that the film is “Literally and figuratively about attempting to live in your own skin.” If it is anything like her previous films, we should expect a film with less script thus more natural feeling dialog, which helps maker her films so genuine. [Dustin]

Touchy Feely

Concussion (dir: Stacie Passon, U.S. Dramatic)
When the line-up was announced I ran through the lists as quick as I could, looking for familiar names and faces, I picked up on the storylines I thought I’d like instantly, and ignored one or two I knew I wouldn’t. Looking through the list again, with personal taste and bias set aside, I noticed quite a few more that had originally got tossed aside. I saw the film still that promoted Concussion on the festival’s programme for U.S. Dramatic and was drawn in to read more. The woman looked exhausted yet beautiful; I read the small description below and was eager to find the About the Director video. Written and directed by Stacie Passon, one of the many female directors amid the Sundance 2013 line-up, the film depicts the life of a married lesbian couple, and primarily focuses on one woman’s struggle of feeling alone, jealous and ultimately sexually abandoned by the person she thought loved her the most – an interesting and diverse storyline. [Amy]

Concussion

Upstream Color (dir: Shane Carruth, U.S. Dramatic)
It has been nearly 10 years since Shane Carruth took Park City by storm with his debut film Primer. Since then his name has barely been mentioned, except for a “special thanks” credit in Looper, until just recently when Sundance made its lineup announcement. Sticking the genre he knows best, Upstream Color looks as if it is another science fiction mind-trip from Carruth. Amy Seimetz plays a woman who has been drugged and brainwashed by a small-time thief. She ends up falling in love with someone who may also be under the same influence. The film has generated a lot of buzz around the internet, making people wonder if he could once again win the Grand Jury Prize. [Dustin]

Upstream Color

I Used To Be Darker (dir: Matt Porterfield, NEXT)
Back in 2010 Matt Porterfield released Putty Hill, a radical and surprisingly powerful film that slowly built up a following of critics who passionately supported it. Shot on an incredibly low budget over 12 days, Putty Hill stood out for its gorgeous cinematography, excellent use of unprofessional actors (including pop singer Sky Ferreira) and unorthodox format that made it feel like a hybrid between documentary and fiction. Two years later Porterfield has returned, this time to a bigger venue, and will hopefully make a bigger name for himself. The story in I Used To Be Darker involves an Irish runaway staying with her American aunt and uncle whose marriage is falling apart. Going by the trailer it looks like Porterfield might have another winner in store. [C.J.]

I Used To Be Darker

Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes (dir: Francesca Gregorini, U.S. Dramatic)
There’s an unintentional theme occurring with my choice of films, being that they’re all directed by women, this one however, is a film that gains greater depth given that the auteur is female. Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes represents the personal story Francesca Gregorini has portrayed through a young female character whose mother died at child birth, therefore leaving her daughter with a missing piece to her life. The director admits that this film is autobiographical as being unable to bare children she relates to the main character’s difficulties and hardship. Francesca Gregorini lays out her feelings and emotions towards loss and despair for the world to witness through this promising, very moving film. [Amy]

Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes

Mud (dir: Jeff Nichols, Spotlight)
Mud opened to a warm reception when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it was in competition for the esteemed Palme d’Or award. Though Jeff Nichols’ previous thriller Take Shelter was certainly worth a watch, Mud looks like it could be an even more intense thriller than his previous work. The first trailer for the first recently surfaced on the web, just ahead of its U.S. premiere, and it certainly looks promising. Matthew McConaughey appears to have found his niche in playing the “bad guy” role recently, first with Killer Joe and now with this. [Dustin]

Mud

We Are What We Are (dir: Jim Mickle, Midnight)
Anyone who considers themselves a fan of horror films should keep their eye on Jim Mickle. Years ago his debut feature Mulberry Street, about a virus in New York City that turned people into rat-like creatures, was overlooked by people when it got released in After Dark’s “8 Films to Die For” series. Years later Mickle finally started to make a name for himself with Stake Land, an ambitious film about a vampire apocalypse. Now Mickle has returned with We Are What We Are, a dark story about a family trying to keep its horrifying traditions alive. A remake of the 2010 Mexican film with the same title, Mickle has proven himself to be a unique and talented director in the horror genre and we can only hope that his latest movie will continue that trend. [C.J.]

We Are What We Are

In a World (dir: Lake Bell, U.S. Dramatic)
Trying to keep updated with all Sundance news and updates I immediately began following almost all the directors of the official selection on Twitter in search of more information. Lake Bell was one of the later profiles I came across, and now she feels a very familiar personality and a director whose work I am really eager to see. After reading some of her seriously happy, excitable and endearing tweets towards In a World and watching the interview she gave about the film I picked up instantly on her wonderful charm and have high hopes for In a World to surprise Sundance. [Amy]

In a World

Stoker (dir: Park Chan-Wook, Premieres)
Park Chan-Wook is known best for his Vengeance Trilogy, which includes his outstanding film that previously earned him a trip to Sundance, Oldboy. This year he will be bringing his first attempt at an English-language based film, about a woman who is dealing with the recent passing of her father when a mysterious yet charming family member shows up that she has never met before. Soon she starts to suspect this family member may have some ulterior motives. Stoker is said to be a cross between a psychological thriller and a horror film, so with a veteran like Park Chan-Wook at the helm, consider this writer highly intrigued. [Dustin]

Stoker

Other films we are looking forward to

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s writing and directorial debut Don Jon’s Addiction; George Tillman Jr.’s passion project The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete; teenage drama Very Good Girls; Midnight line-up films including S-VHS (the sequel to V/H/S), Hell Baby, Magic Magic and In Fear; Calvin Reeder’s sure to be divisive The Rambler; Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling`s follow-up to Sound of My Voice called The East; and Blue Caprice, a drama based on the Beltway sniper attacks. The Sundance film festival officially started today in Park City, Utah and will continue through January 27th.