Sundance 2013: Australians vie for screen shine

FILM LEGEND Robert Redford had warned that this year's Sundance Film Festival would be different, and he wasn't kidding. In a year where star power has been thinner on the ground, and fewer deals appealing to studios, this year's event has focused on the one constant audiences now expect in an ever-fragmented world: change.

Leading the seismic shift: a record number of female filmmakers who, for the first time, now match their male counterparts one on one, organisers say. That, together with a broad, sweeping look at sexuality, has ensured this year's Sundance is controversial and, for audiences, more relevant than ever.

Festival director John Cooper likens the event to sitting on a powder keg of talent that's waiting to explode and points to Australasia as a key territory that kicks the process off.

''We always look to Australia and New Zealand,'' he says.''There's always great ideas coming through, clearly and succinctly. Filmmakers there are always ready to go. They're super organised. They're hungry. This year has been no different.''

Cooper points to talent such as Jane Campion, whose upcoming UKTV series TOP OF THE LAKE screened back to back all day, in a festival first. ''We've got more female filmmakers than ever this year," Cooper adds.''I'm not exactly sure why, but there's been a noticeable shift."

Anne Fontaine's first English-language film -– the controversial Australian feature TWO MOTHERS – has screened to wildly expectant crowds. "I only can be happy about that," she said, prior to premiere.

The film, which releases in Australia later this year, hasn't been without detractors, though. Industry bible The Hollywood Reporter branded it as an ''absurd forbidden-love scenario'', while its world premiere on Friday had a bizarrely light-hearted feel and ''generated some nervous giggles and a fair amount of unintentional laughter'', the Los Angeles Times said.

The film focuses on the relationship between two lifelong friends (played by Naomi Watts and Robin Wright), who fall in love with one another's sons (played by Xavier Samuel and James Frecheville). It is based on a novella by Doris Lessing.

Tales of forbidden have loomed large at this year's event. Guy Pearce plays a married music teacher distracted by a foreign exchange student, in Drake Doremus' riveting drama BREATHE IN. Mia Wasikowska stars opposite Nicole Kidman in Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook's stylishly offbeat horror STOKER, in which she plots to elope with her deranged uncle (Matthew Goode).

Among those also registering at this year's festival: Toni Collette (in Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's THE WAY WAY BACK), Radha Mitchell (in Michael Polish's BIG SUR) and Frances O'Connor (in Frances Gregorini's EMMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES).

Alex Gibney's documentary about Julian Assange, WE STEAL SECRETS: THE STORY OF WIKILEAKS, is also due to have its world premiere at Sundance.

Twitter @EdGibbs

ED GIBBS

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Australia).

Sundance 2013: JOBS – first look review

BARELY A YEAR has passed since Steve Jobs died, aged 56, yet here we have the first of two biopics, completed in the nick of time, to close this year's Sundance film festival.

Director Joshua Michael Stern, working with first-time feature screenwriter Matt Whiteley, has his work cut out for him, given that it's an Aaron Sorkin-scripted flick that's to follow. No doubt wary of the fact, Stern opts to focus on arguably the most pivotal period in Jobs's life, from the time he dropped out of college and created Apple computers in his parents' garage, to the moment where the iPhone is poised to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

Casting a figure of such immense social and cultural import was never going to be easy. Kudos, then, to Ashton Kutcher who, while hardly topping film-makers's wish lists, delivers a surprisingly effective turn as the man, down to his awkwardly hunched posture. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to Jobs, Kutcher even emulates his voice, to some degree. The problem with Stern's film isn't his leading man, then, as many would have expected, but rather everything around him.

For a man whose singular vision alienated many – a point illustrated by Kutcher's straight-talking, temper-riddled reading of Jobs – those closest to him are barely given time to voice their concerns, let along develop as characters. Jobs's Apple co-founder, self-taught software whizz Steve "Woz" Wozniak (Josh Gad), already a vocal critic of the film, is presented as a mere backdrop. We learn little about Woz: where he came from, how he met Jobs, or what happened after he quit Apple, dissatisfied with the direction in which the company was heading.

Equally, the supporting players, including ex-Intel engineer Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney) and one-time Apple CEO John Sculley (Matthew Modine), are there to be sounding boards for Jobs's tirades, nothing more.

Jobs's personal life is also frustratingly limited to a handful of bite-size sequences, without exploring, for instance, his shifting perspective on parenthood. We see his early, cruel dismissal of pregnant girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan (Ahna O'Reilly) and their unborn daughter, Lisa, only to be later presented with Jobs the settled father and gardener, while in exile from Apple, following his ousting by the board in 1985.

Still, the essence of Jobs the creator, the insanely driven cultural game-changer, is intact, in line with his public and professional persona. A gushing score (from John Debney) accompanies various rounds of corporate applause that greet his successes (punctuated with a knowing, told-you-so smile from Kutcher). Stern's direction is solid, occasionally dynamic, while rarely straying from the Apple brief.

Narratively speaking, there's a generally informative and engaging professional arc, from Jobs's early days at Hewlett-Packard, via Atari and Apple, then Next, then back to Apple again (although substantial chunks, including his pioneering of Pixar, are glaring in their omissions). The early years, from Reed College and barefoot LSD trips to India, preface this, shot with a golden hue to stir nostalgia.

The results, then, are mixed. This is far from the bomb some would have envisaged, but neither is it the character illumination one would wish for. Jobs appears so consumed by his work here that little else mattered in his life. That may be true, but we're left none the wiser as to what made the man tick, beyond what we already know. Apple will no doubt feel satisfied, even relieved. Those wanting a sharper, more incisive view will have to wait for Sorkin.

Critical Rating: 2/5.

Twitter @EdGibbs

ED GIBBS

First published by The Guardian (UK).

Sundance 2013: THE SPECTACULAR NOW – first look review

IT SPEAKS VOLUMES of this intelligently nuanced and thoroughly warm-hearted feature that the issue of alcohol abuse can be addressed in such a subtle and non-aggressive manner. Director James Ponsoldt, who explored the grim, everyday realities of the disease in last year's SMASHED, has deftly woven the topic into his latest narrative to such an extent, one almost forgets it's there.

Adapted from Tim Tharp's novel by the (500) DAYS OF SUMMER team of Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber, THE SPECTACULAR NOW is an absorbing coming-of-age tale, in which a cocky, troubled teen named Sutter (Miles Teller) is forced to confront both his fears and his future.

Life, it seems, is good for the high school senior. He has a buxom girlfriend (Brie Larson) and exists day to day within a loose, devil-may-care environment. He enjoys sex and hanging at friends' parties, and earns money working part time at a gentlemen's fitters. The boss and the customers like him. But his trusty hip flask is never far from view.

Matters begin to shift when he finds himself ditched for a high achiever, wherein he encounters Aimee (Shailene Woodley): a sweet but socially awkward geek who's lost her father and has yet to have a boyfriend. Sutter takes an unexpected shine to her, while quietly pining for his ex. Soon enough, Aimee is suggesting he seek out his wayward father (Kyle Chandler), whose whereabouts have long been kept from him by his protective mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). When the reunion does finally happen, it's painfully obvious why she's kept mum, although Sutter's well-to-do older sister (SMASHED's Mary Elizabeth Winstead, in her third Sundance showing this year) thinks otherwise.

Ponsoldt elicits remarkably strong performances from his two young leads, who display a depth of feeling that's breathtaking in its simplicity and honest. There's an inherent chemistry here that's both disarming and refreshing (their love scene is astonishingly tender). Teller is better known for the anarchic lo-fi party romp PROJECT X (and FAME), but here he's exhibiting something quite profound. Similarly, Woodley, in only her second feature role after Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS, delivers a naivety so gentle, it could at any moment be shattered. Which at one point, it almost is.

Young adulthood is rarely portrayed with such conviction, in a manner that connects with both its core teen audience and a wider adult demographic. Stephen Chbosky's recent teen affair, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, springs to mind, as a film that longed for energy such as this. It's what continues to keep a festival like Sundance feeling urgent and necessary. Ponsoldt and his team can feel immensely satisfied at what they have achieved with this thoroughly rewarding experience, which deservedly won the US dramatic special jury award for acting at the festival's closing night awards ceremony.

Critical Rating: 4/5.

Twitter @EdGibbs

ED GIBBS

First published by The Guardian (UK).

Sundance 2013: ACOD – first look review

THE CHIEF protagonist of ACOD, a contraction of Adult Children of Divorce, is Carter, a boyish restaurant owner played by Adam Scott. Joining him for Stu Zicherman's first outing as a director are Richard Jenkins, as Carter's hot-blooded father Hugh, and veteran Catherine O'Hara, who plays his spurned mother Melissa. To Carter's eternal chagrin, both his parents remarried – since when he's worked hard to keep them apart.

All that changes when Carter's younger brother, Trey (Clark Duke, from the US version of THE OFFICE), plots a shotgun wedding to his girlfriend, Keiko (Valerie Tian). In a fluster, Carter – who won't propose to girlfriend Lauren (Sundance regular Mary Elizabeth Winstead) – visits his childhood shrink, Dr Judith (Jane Lynch). Who, as it turns out, authored a self-help book examining the young boy's trauma (using the pseudonym of Rick). Dr Judith wants to reassess and republish. Carter wants out. Or, as he puts it, begins to go "a bit out of control".

Only he doesn't. Which partly explains what is lacking in this amusing but formulaic man-in-crisis comedy. Compared to the wayward characters around him (who devour the lion's share of gags with glee), Carter is awkwardly and noticeably bland. In a part that would have better suited his friend Paul Rudd, Scott battles with an underdeveloped role. Having an unprintable pet name for his stepmother, Sondra (Amy Poehler), is a nice touch, but it's not enough.

Feeding on such meagre morsels, Scott is all but left to look on as his co-stars run riot. Jenkins and O'Hara whip up a storm as the feisty divorcees whose passion reignites with gusto. Trey is there to satisfy any fanboys who may be watching. Lynch canters through with razor-sharp timing intact. Only Jessica Alba, a tattooed distraction for Carter named Michelle, is wasted.

ACOD is also muddled in its intent. If the credits are to be believed, there's a point to be made about divorce (one in two marriages in America end that way, we're told). Yet the film – a tight but oddly laboured 87 minutes – plays it for laughs, nothing more. While the gags often work, the issue is glossed over and made redundant.

The film's positioning at the tail of this year's festival was never a good omen. But with a tighter, sharper script – and with a fleshed-out protagonist – it could have at least registered.

Critical Rating: 2/5.

Twitter @EdGibbs

ED GIBBS

First published by The Guardian (UK).