The Stars are Out at Sundance

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Features

Published on Tuesday, 03 March 2015 23:18

Written by Marian Masone

I Smile Back

Sundance has gained a well-deserved reputation for showcasing American independent film. Once upon a time, this meant extremely low budget films (almost no-budget) with cast and crew at the very beginning of their careers. But “indie” has become a term so cool, and independent film the road to bigger budget movies for their directors, that big stars can be found in many of the US Dramatic Competition section, as well as the Spotlight and Premiere sections.

For some, linking up with an interested star has become an imperative to try to get financing. Sometimes this can backfire, with big names in roles they’re really not right for. But independent productions can give stars an opportunity to try out roles for which they might otherwise not be cast.  In fact, many bold face names look for such projects; the work can be very interesting, and with the right mix of director and actor, the performances can be revelatory.

This year, Jason Segel was just such a revelation. Normally known for comedy (especially the television series “How I Met Your Mother”), he gives an affecting performance as the late novelist David Foster Wallace in James Ponsoldt’s The End of the Tour. Playing against Jesse Eisenberg as Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky, Segel is the epitome of a man at once removed from social beings and craving some kind of human contact.

While not going in an entirely new direction, Irish actor Saoirse Ronan plays an Irish character for the first time in Brooklyn, John Crowley’s film of Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Colm Tóibin’s novel. As a mid-last century immigrant to New York, Ronan is compelling as Eilis, who grows from girl to woman as she stakes her life in the old world and the new.

Comedienne Sarah Silverman takes a rare trip to the dark side in I Smile Back, Adam Salky’s entry in the U.S. dramatic competition. She plays a suburban wife and mother who can’t keep away from drugs and drink. The film is a perfect vehicle for Silverman to explore a dramatic character, a huge change from her comedy work.

Kristen Wiig has straddled the indie/Hollywood and comedy/drama lines for a while. Last year she showed her indie dramatic chops off in Craig Johnson’s Skeleton Twins, an entry in the 2014 dramatic competition.  This year Wiig showed up in two Sundance titles. She was a hedonistic mother in Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and a neo Brooklyn boho mother-to-wannabe in Nasty Baby, alongside the film’s writer/director/star Sebastián Silva.

Nasty Baby is a comedy-drama, as are most of these films, which can have the most meat on the cinematic bone, since they do reflect how most of our lives actually transpire. Nasty Baby didn’t appear in any of the mainstream sections, but in Sundance’s edgier Next section. After seeing the film, it’s easy to understand why.

For years Chiwetel Ejiofor has appeared as part of the ensemble in films by iconic filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, Spike Lee, and has continued to work with them in supporting roles since his star turn in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, which garnered him an Academy Award™ nomination.

But he has always worked with independent filmmakers throughout his career (Kasi Lemmons, Stephen Frears, Joss Whedon) and this year he showed up in Park City as one of a trio of post-apocalypse survivors in Craig Zobel’s U.S. dramatic competition entry Z for Zachariah. Nothing new for Ejiofor, who can play any kind of character at any time, it seems.

Paul Weitz’ feature Grandma was the closing night film at Sundance. It features Lily Tomlin – who can still make movies with the best of them – as a caustic grandmother off to help her granddaughter raise the money for an abortion. Tomlin has always been able to play the serio-comic role and Grandma is no exception. Hers is a subtle, yet brash performance as an estranged mother who is able to make a connection across generations.

Other stars – large and not so much – festoon the Sundance landscape. And while for years filmmakers saw stars as a way to get attention for their films, nowadays it’s the stars who see big acting opportunities in the indie Sundance scene.

• < Prev
• Next >