Highlights from the Sundance film festival
“‘Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris”:
This is an overlooked movie about an overlooked singer. “‘Tis Autumn,” generates nostalgia while doggedly examining the life of an ignored jazz talent. We follow director Raymond De Felitta on his Michael Moore-like crusade for answers concerning Paris’ lack of popularity. Yet, unlike Moore’s films, “Autumn” is supported by affection and hope. The result is a well-crafted, yearning, yet dissonant film, whose aim is to rejuvenate a career-in-waiting.
What Jackie Paris is (semi-) famous for is Jazz singing, playing guitar and tap dancing. In the 1940s he performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton and toured with Charlie Parker. Downbeat magazine ranked Paris among the top ten male vocalists of 1955 (under Frank Sinatra, but above Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles).
“Little Miss Sunshine”:
“Little Miss Sunshine” is the crowd-pleasing, fiscal winner this year and Fox Searchlight bought it for a reported $10 million – so watch for it in theaters. This madcap comedy portrays a dysfunctional family taking a trip on a VW bus to enter pudgy, 7-year-old Olive in a beauty pageant. Her father, a frustrated motivational speaker (Greg Kinnear) and her uncle, a depressed scholar (Steve Carell of “The Office”) are just a few of the family members that seem to make this film sparkle.
“Quinceanera”:
A critical favorite and winner of the dramatic competition is “Quinceanera,” whose heroine, Magdalena, a 14-year-old Mexican-American living in Los Angeles discovers she’s pregnant while planning her 15th birthday party. The thing is, she’s a virgin. Exiled from her family, she finds solace with Carlos, her also-exiled gay cousin.
“Wordplay”:
“Wordplay” is a documentary of the life and work of Will Shortz, the 12-year editor of the famous New York Times crossword puzzle. This movie is supposedly very entertaining. Celebrity crossword solvers are interviewed and the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament – founded by Shortz – is covered.
Other Notables:
Three other docs to watch for: (1) “Iraq in Fragments,” chronicles three different stories of inside post-invasion Iraq. Disregarding this as just another Middle-East doc might be a mistake. This one’s void of editorializing and full of verité. (2) “God Grew Tired of Us,” the documentary competition winner, follows three young Sudanese men as they transition from a civil war to life in America. Salt Lake Tribune critic Sean P. Means says “this sounds like a downer … but the experiences these three men have in the United States – and their indomitable spirit – fill the film with a feeling of hope.” (3) “An Unreasonable Man” is a biography of Ralph Nader, showing how this intelligent consumer rights activist has, among other things, initiated legislation providing seat belt mandates and food safety regulations.
Chris Blakesley is a film critic for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to him at cblakes@cc.usu.edu.