JoBlo does Sundance #5

With the festival firmly stuck in "wind-down" mode and the press screenings being less and less crowded, those who are able to stick around Sundance late have no shortage of 'hot picks' to choose from.

Also, by waiting until the festival is almost over, a movie geek can use all the advice he's received over the previous week to pick through his options and see the movies getting the most "buzz." And the cool thing about Sundance buzz is that it comes not only from the numerous critics up here, but from the "normal Joe" flick-lovers who populate every shuttle stop, screening queue, and Burger King. So using the constant cries of "movie X rocked" and "movie Y stunked" as my guide, I picked through my last day of the festival to give you this final report.

Big fan of Matt Dillon, are you? Well, I sure am. The guy's just been plugging away for the past 20 years, nearly always delivering strong performances in mostly indie-style movies. MD never seems to get the "critical embrace" I feel he deserves, but the guy knocks the ball out of the park in FACTOTUM. Based on a series of works by the late Charles Bukowski, this oddly engaging flick is a character study that's both smoothly entertaining and enjoyably off-kilter. It's about a guy called "Henry Chinaski" (basically Bukowski himself) who wanders through a series of dead-end jobs, quitting those jobs when the mood strikes him, and then heading directly for the nearest open bottle of alcohol.

This isn't a "sad-sack drinks himself to death" story a la LEAVING LAS VEGAS, but more of an unapologetic snapshot of a man who's grown weary of playing the societal game. Bouncing from bed (Lili Taylor) to bed (Marisa Tomei) with several dryly colorful adventures in between, while always stopping to drop a new manuscript in the closest mailbox, Chinaski is the most basic epitome of a writer who simply doesn't want to do anything else besides write ... and drink. Dillon is simply excellent here, bringing a cock-eyed and understated charm to a role that could easily have been maudlin, weepy, and annoyingly angst-ridden.

I enjoyed the flick as it unspooled, and I dug it even more after I had a few hours to mentally digest the thing.

One of the more buzz-happy titles at the fest this year, WRISTCUTTERS is a low-key and enjoyably bizarre love story/road movie about a miserable young dude who kills himself, only to awaken in a bleached-out purgatory that feels a whole lot like normal life ... with a few strange differences. (Smiling is literally impossible, and if you happen to drop something beneath your car's passenger seat, it gets sucked into a black hole.) Based on Etgar Ketter's short story "Kneller's Happy Campers," WRISTCUTTERS certainly is not for all tastes, but it's got a clever concept, a few really strong moments, and a fantastic ensemble that includes Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Shannyn Sossamon, Leslie Bibb, Tom Waits, and some solid cameos from the likes of Will Arnett, Tom Waits, and Jake Busey. Of the two friends I saw the movie with, one loved it and one hated it. I'm more on the 'loved it' side, and I suspect that those who find the concept appealing will walk out pleased with the final product. (And it's not nearly as glum as it sounds!)

Were it not for the fact that this freaky French thriller takes practically forever to get rolling, I'd be a lot more enthusiastic with my recommendation. But once the thing really kicks in, it's the sort of mind-twist concept that you won't be able to turn away from. It's about a young dude who, while working on a family's roof, comes across a mysterious invitation that's absolutely NOT intended for his eyes. I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say the poor kid winds up in a VERY underground "game" that involves 13 guys standing in a circle, 13 guns pointed at their heads, and 13 bullets. I half expect Fox to buy the rights to this one and ask David Fincher to remake the thing. And that's a movie I'd definitely go see.

Flicks I didn't love all that much, although I've heard plenty of people opine in the opposite direction include THE HAWK IS DYING (Paul Giamatti as a weirdo obsessed with capturing and training hawks, regardless of the fact that he keeps accidentally killing them), EVERYONE STARES: THE POLICE INSIDE OUT (a bunch of Stewart Copeland's home movies cobbled together without much creativity), and SOMEBODIES, which feels like an indie version of a HOUSE PARTY sequel that starts out with some really solid laughs before degenerating into a rather obnoxious bore ... but Roger Ebert loved the thing, so maybe I'm nuts.