Filed under: Beanstockd
If you know nothing else about us, Beanstockd never misses a good party, let alone one with a clever green context. Thus, despite the festival being out-Sundanced this year by the Presidential Inauguration, Beanstockd was still holding it down with the other 11 people at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
This year’s festival lineup featured seven environmentally-themed movies, not to mention recycling bins, conservation flyers, and public transportation –ie. buses used to efficiently haul attendees from one theater to the next…then strand them in Middle of Nowhere, Utah, on the way home. (No we’re not bitter.) Eco-documentary "Earth Days" was also given the coveted spot as Sundance 2009’s closing night film.
Beanstockd was in the audience for "Earth Days’" big night, as director Robert Stone took us through what the festival describes as "the history of our environmental undoing through the lens of nine Americans whose work and actions launched the modern environmental movement." The film began with a montage of US Presidents from JFK to George Dubya (whose appearance, as precedent would predict, was met with jeers from the audience) all expressing the urgency of environmental reform during their administrations. Interviews with the chosen nine followed, which included biologist Paul Ehrlich and JFK’s Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall, among others.
While the film was kind of boresville and watched like a PBS documentary, props to the festival organizers for making eco-issues such a priority this year.
Other notable films included the Sundance 2009 opening film, Mary and Max—a quirky and somewhat dark claymation picture featuring the voices of Eric Bana and Phillip Semour Hoffman—and 5 Minutes of Heaven, a psychological drama set in Ireland featuring Liam Neeson and an incredible performance by James Nesbitt.
By far, the best film Beanstockd saw at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival was the much buzzed-about 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Dechanel. In a sold-out Eccles theater, we watched this surprisingly punchy reinterpretation of the typical romantic comedy. As the trailer describes: "Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t." And though we do indulge in the occasional chick-flick, among other vices, the guys loved this one too. We laughed, we cried, we laughed more, we left higher than Bacon Bits after a similarly buzzed-about birthday party. The Q&A with Joseph Gordon-Levitt after the screening was fun too. We assume this will come out sometime over the summer (subtle, right?) and trust us, 500 Days is definitely worth forking up the extra 12 bucks.
Kandz
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