Oh, those poor Mormons... they'll never know what hit them. With the new year now upon us and snow on the ground all eyes in the film world turn to Utah, the unlikeliest of unlikely homes for one of the world's major film festivals -- a festival that screens films in school gymnasiums due to a shortage of actual screening rooms and where post-film alcohol is strictly regulated to satisfy the religious expectations of the local population.
Yes, kids, it's Sundance time.
Putting aside, for a moment, the irony of naming the coldest film festival in the world 'Sundance', this one occupies a warm place in the hearts of many thanks to the lingering belief that it was largely responsible for the American indie boom of the '90s and it remains a festival that film makers around the world target for the world premiere of their films. So getting in is a big deal. And this year Canada is surprisingly well represented.
Sure, Canada is well represented on the world stage with our Francophone art films regularly turning up in Cannes and a host of Canuck titles turning up in Toronto every year. But let's be honest. Nobody cares about Francophone art films outside of the festival circuit. And it's not really that impressive to screen a Canadian film at TIFF thanks to that festival's pro-Canada mandate and abundance of screening slots guaranteed to go to Canadian content. But for a bunch of Canuck films to turn up in a festival with a deliberate and definite pro-US bias ... well, that captures the attention.
And how is Canada faring at Sundance this year? Well, let's look just at the late night program, Park City At Midnight, shall we? The most blatantly commercial program of the entire festival, Park City At Midnight this year screens eight horror and other genre films, pretty much all of which are assured of some sort of wider release after the festival wraps up. And of those eight titles, three are Canadian. Here's what we've got ...
7 Days
A Quebecois offering based on a popular cult novel, 7 Days is the debut feature from a television and commercial director who refers to himself as Podz. The story of a successful and respected surgeon whose eight year old daughter is kidnapped, raped and killed, 7 Days promises to be a brutal revenge picture and the word from those few who have already seen it is very strong.
Tucker And Dale Versus Evil
Just as bloody, but with a significantly better sense of humor, is Eli Craig's Tucker And Dale Versus Evil. Joss Whedon fave Alan Tudyk stars with Tyler Labine of CONTROL ALT DELETE and Reaper fame as the titular Tucker and Dale, a pair of good natured hillbilly pals mistaken for Deliverance-style predators by a group of hapless big city college kids. College kids must rid the world of this evil, of course, much to the confusion of the pair of good ol' boys who just want to get back to their beer. An early sales promo made its way online a while back and despite the unfinished effects this thing looks absolutely hysterical.
Splice
The return of Cube director Vincenzo Natali has been long awaited and much anticipated and most expected that Natali's gene splicing creature feature would premiere in Toronto, a move stymied by a string of US distribution problems. Guillermo Del Toro produces this one which features Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as research scientists who create a human hybrid creature. Natali's creature effects are incredible but - true to form - he just can't resist messing with the typical structure of his chosen genre, turning in a film that is as much relationship drama as it is special effects spectacle.