Sundance DVDs

Greasy Spoon, Bloody Murder.

Writer/Director Billy Morrissette has made a really fantastic film here - an updating of Macbeth, changing the setting to a fast food joint in Scotland, Pennsylvania (see what they did there?) in the 1970's.

Rather than a tragedy, the film plays as a black comedy with tragic undertones, mostly played for laughs with an excellent cast. Maura Tierney is truly terrific as Pat McBeth, getting the character just the right shades of wisecracking, manipulative and sympathetic. James LeGros is solid as ever as 'Mac' McBeth, and Christopher Walken is very funny without resorting to his usual creepy shtick. There's also a nice cameo from Amy Smart.

There are some really great touches here - I particularly liked how the "washing of the blood" from Lady Macbeth's hands is updated, and how the ghostly visions Mac has are filmed. Great stuff, and I *love* the soundtrack.

Three things, to me, elevate this movie to five-star excellence. The first is the brilliance and relateability of Lauren Ambrose's exceptional performance. She can project five emotions just through a facial expression. The second, is the simplicity of the story, and its realism. And the third is perhaps more personal; one scene features the Leona Naess song "Comatised" - one of my faves of all time!

A very enjoyable send up/homage to Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? type films, this is a funny tale of double-crossings, secrets and murder, starring and written by Charles Busch (who also starred in and wrote Psycho Beach Party, with which this film shares a similar tone).

There's a really fantastically done LSD trip scene in here, complete with kaleidoscopic colors, black and white flashbacks and gender-bending lip-synching, which really attests to the skill and economy in the making of the film.

All of the actors (thankfully) ham it up and seem to be having a great time, and while it's not quite as funny or successful as Psycho Beach Party, it's still another great "Sundance" flick.

It starts off a little unsure of itself but gradually grows in confidence. This has a similar story but is superior to, and pre-dates, "Proof". There's a neat twist towards the end which actually enhances the story (rather than make you go, "hang on?", like lots of other movies do). A stellar performance from Lauren Ambrose, and Fran Kranz is also good. A very good way to spend 84 mins of your time. If you get the DVD, whatever you do, don't watch the trailer first, as it practically gives away every revelation.

One of the most bizarre films I have ever seen. Not that it's surreal per se, just... very odd. It's touching, well acted, nicely scored, but it's also all over the place and if there was a point to be made - and it felt like there shold be - I didn't get it. Unless it's that suicide is bad.

Amy's O is an American indie comedy starring Julie Davis as Amy, author of a self-help novel titled "Why Love Doesn't Work", which has made her very successful and very rich.

Surprise, surprise, she meets a man and starts falling in love, thereby making her re-think her negative outlook on love. Along the way, Amy looks at her own sex and love life, often in obsessive detail, examining her own neurosis and other peoples hang-ups.

It's a very mediocre film - Julie Davis is fine enough, though a little grating after a while, but the supporting cast, including the love interest, are all pretty blah. The story is also completely unoriginal and the conclusion is horribly yucky and Hollywood-ish. To be honest, you'll get (a lot) more laughs, drama and insight out of any Sex & The City episode. I was pretty disappointed.

Sleepy Time Gal is one of those brilliant films that could only be part of American indie cinema. Frances, a mother, former writer and DJ, and lover of architecture and history, discovers she has terminal cancer, and so aims to tie up the loose ends of her life and spend time with her son.

Meanwhile, in a different city, Rebecca, unhappy with her job as a lawyer and split from her boyfriend, decides to seek out some questions to her own life, including finding her birth mother, and start afresh. The two characters stories link together in various ways as, separately, each remembers and learns more about their lives.

Firstly, I should get some criticism out the way. This is a very lyrical film, striving for and often achieving a kind of cinematic poetry. Unfortunately, this yearning extends to the dialogue, and some of the characters have the most ridiculously over-articulate conversations, even if they're just talking about everyday things. At one point Rebecca says to someone she's recently met "I admire your pragmatism". Ok, maybe some people do speak like this, but in the context of the film it feels a little daft. The other problem is the first 20 minutes or so. Very little information is offered as to what the hell is going on, and I found myself a little 'sleepy' myself. However, this does actually (eventually) play to the films strengths, as we discover more things about the characters and previous scenes make more sense. Don't get me wrong though, this isn't a film full of major surprises or twists; it's more a film about honesty and emotion.

So now the plusses. First of all, the acting is great - Jacqueline Bisset deservedly got lots of praise and is equalled (thankfully, otherwise the film could have fallen apart) in ability and scope by Martha Plimpton's performance. Nick Stahl is also nicely understated. The way memories are shown is very inventive, by use of black-and-white film sped up and blurred images, still photographs and paintings and camcorder footage. Finally, the photography is, at times, stunning, with beautiful location shooting in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida.

It's a bit of a depressing film in parts, but it's also refreshingly unsentimental, instead quietly poignant, and has an ending that mixes sadness and optimism in a way I wasn't expecting.

Dean, an attractive, 18-year old man living in working-class Thatcher-era Britain, longs to go to college and 'make something' of himself. Trapped in a household with an abusive step-father and a mother who is either unaware or in denial about the situation, events lead to him becoming looked after by a wealthy art-gallery owner - a Lady Gryffoyn no less - and eventually to him assuming the identity of her 18-year old son, Alexander Gryffoyn. He soon gains entrance to the circles of the privileged and becomes well liked when he moves to Paris, eventually becoming entangled in the attentions of a rich bachelor, David, and Benjamin, an American with secrets of his own.

Comparisons with The Talented Mr. Ripley are inevitable and favorable, although aka is much less of a conventional thriller and there's a greater emphasis on sexuality and much richer insight into the protagonist's motivations and psychology. An acquired taste thanks to an extremely low budget (which translates to a gaudy visual style and home-video quality footage), this nevertheless captures its late 70s setting perfectly and is aided by some fantastic performances. Matthew Leitch, Peter Youngblood Hills and Lindsey Coulson as Dean, Benjamin and Dean's mother respectively all give committed and truthful performances. Elsewhere some of the acting borders on caricature, and the music becomes overly invasive on more than one occasion. The section where a scene is split into three frames is also difficult to follow and is a technique that doesn't work (there's an alternate version of the film available on UK DVD which is apparently shown in this three frame format for the duration and is by all accounts unwatchable).

A complex, almost voyeuristic film, based on a true story, aka is definitely worth a watch.