Sundance 2006, somewhere between a bang and a whimper

Ah, Sundance. I flew into Park City for approximately 48 hours of films, parties, watching other people schmooze, no sleep, free booze, bad food, and vicarious thrills. Julie and I were smart about it this year and got some tickets in advance, which probably saved us about 8 hours of waiting on line in the cold. Saw five films:

* Right at Your Door (which Lion's Gate apparently bought for 3 million but which I could barely sit through)

* In the Pit / En el Hoyo (doc about the workers who are building the 2nd deck of the freeway which cuts through Mexico City, loved it and the fact that all of the fantastic music for the film was composed using nothing but sounds they recorded on site)

* Special (Michael Rappoport as a meter maid who enrolls in an anti-depressant study only to find that the drugs he takes give him superpowers; very sweet and possibly the first time I've ever thought of him as a real actor)

* Journey from the Fall (which Julie co-shot; received 3 standing ovations and left everyone in a puddle of well deserved tears; about a family split up after the fall of Saigon, when the father is sent to various prison/reeducation camps and his wife, child, and mother escape to the US; devastating)

* Wristcutters: A Love Story (dark comedy about a guy who offs himself only to find that the particular afterlife for suicides is "just like the real world, only a little bit shittier"; very enjoyable, and Patrick Fugit has grown rather adorable since Almost Famous)

I didn't see many celebrities but I did see a shooting star. And it snowed. Yum. Some pictures:


Main Street, Park City.


Park City. Lovely.


Julie chugging Pepto like a champ while waiting to get into the Kodak party. Why this particular party was such a hot ticket at Sundance is still a mystery to me. Nice catering and some nice liquor, but also a bad bar mitzvah style cover band, and no celebs to be found, save Corey Feldman. Who, by the way, is about as tall as I am. Which is not tall, let me tell you.


Me & Julie somewhere in Park City