Back to Normal

Sundance Day 2 was much more like what we’ve come to expect in recent years: packed buses, mostly full press screenings, capacity public screenings with overflow desperate for tickets to see a world premiere and catch a glimpse of a star or two. The weather remains gorgeous, apparently warmer than many places back East, with clear sunny days in the high 30s and low 40s dropping to low 20s at night. I’ll take that over the single digits of last year any day.

It was a day of both consistency and surprises. Every film I checked out was definitely worthy, and I couldn’t have had a more diverse lineup. It was nice to see some familiar names in the credits of RUDO Y CURSI, the Gael Garcia Bernal/Diego Luna Mexican brother comedy, as apparently some of the casting was done in Miami since former Enzian staff member and Florida Film Festival vets Mark Mullen and Kimberly Mullen were listed. I had no idea they worked on this recent Sony Classics acquisition.

Oh, and the vomit quotient is back. Whether it tends to be a cyclical thing or just a coincidence with the films I’ve selected, once again barf scenes are cropping up in substantial numbers. From fried chicken binging (PUSH) to blood-barfing on the inside of an astronaut helmet (MOON, always effective with that see-through, windshield effect) to alcohol and God-knows-what during an endurance swim in the Amazon (BIG RIVER MAN), directors love to break out the upchuck for emotional impact time and time again.

-Matthew