the end of sundance

i have left the sundance bubble! managed to get a lift back down to salt lake city with one of my room-mates - matt - who drove all the way to park city from ohio (that's a really long way!) and he's heading back to ohio, but taking a different route… anyway, he gave 3 of us a lift, the others were going to the airport to catch their flights home, but i had a free day in salt lake so we went and ate our own body-weight in food at a great mexican place called 'red iguana' that my boss at hodder had recommended to me before i left london. matt had eaten there before so we spent a good few hours eating and chatting then we went for a wander around the city, to the church, the tabernacle, the state capital building - the sun was going down and the smog was sitting over the city with the mountains all around - a pretty amazing sight! i'd left my camera in matt's car and then when he dropped me off at my hotel - i forgot to pick it up… what an idiot!!! i'm about to go on possibly one of the most beautiful train journeys in the whole world without a camera… and don't forget - my cell phone is also broken… i really could kick myself sometimes!

so i managed to shoehorn myself out of my cosy hotel bed in the middle of the night to catch the train from salt lake city to denver at 3.30am. i got on and pretty much went to sleep again straight away, but i woke around 7.30am to a beautiful golden pink sunrise in a long strip of cloud that stretched along the sky in the same direction as the train. so glad that i managed to see that!

utah is real cowboy country - lots of red rocks in amazing formations reminded me of a hundred different western films - the only place that i've been that is similar is the grand canyon. the train stops at a little town called 'grand junction' which has just the loveliest little old-fashioned station building - complete with gorgeous victorian-style lettering - sadly falling into disrepair - i think they should renovate it and use it for films!

the train travels through colorado and it is spectacularly beautiful, the colorado river runs alongside the train to my left. we've just passed an area where the hot springs run out into the river making it steam, but then moments further on there are big chunks of ice in the river. the mountains are patched with snow and a few trees and the sky is crystal blue with no clouds. the air is clean and clear and dry without a breath of wind - it really is breathtaking. there are many places where the river is completely iced over - there are little animal/bird footprints crossing this way and that - although i don't think i would step out onto that ice! i've seen farmed cows and alpacas, wild deer and 3 eagles soaring over the mountains when we came through the gore canyon. i'd love to see a bear - but they're probably hibernating right now…

suddenly the train is right on the edge of the rocky mountains and the flat plains of central usa are spread out before us - it's an incredible sight, the sky is a rainbow of sunset colours and denver is where we are headed. it's so strange how the mountains just stop and the plains begin… beautiful, just beautiful… the train has been pretty slow - 15 hours, but i haven't minded at all. it has been so great to have nothing to do for a few hours!

which leads me back to the last 10 days of sundance… i was unable to post up on the blog because i just didn't have time i'm afraid - it was all a bit of a whirlwind and it felt very strange to leave the mountain tops and come back down into the real world again! i can't remember what i wrote in the last blog post - but i think it was a bit of a rushed explanation of the first couple of days in park city. i can't get on the internet right now as there is no wifi on amtrak (they really need to sort that out!) so, i'm writing this and will post it up when i get to denver. i arrive around 6.40pm and think i will just go straight to my hotel and go to sleep! i fly out to new york tomorrow morning - i'm excited to be going back (and with much more sensible, warm clothes this time!!!)

actually, i'm now on the plane from denver to nyc - and i couldn't get the internet to work in my hotel last night either… grrrr! will finally post up this extremely long post when i get to nyc…

so, let's talk about films for a bit… i managed to see 15 in all - most in my limited spare time and a few while i was on shift - we could only do this if there were spare seats available after all the paying customers are in - eccles is a big theatre (1,267 seats) and for most of our screenings we were full. i have updated my imdb list with all the films i saw and i've rated them out of 10 - so have a look at that if you're a film fan!

to be honest, the first couple of days i really didn't see anything that really blew me away and i did start to think that i wasn't going to see anything brilliant… however, the last couple of days really made up for it as i saw quite a few that were really very good.

i'm gonna go through them briefly:

14/01/14 - the overnighters - a documentary about a pastor in north dakota who helps guys who come looking for work in the fracking industry that has sprung up there. this was a strange one, as there was a twist towards the end which kind of made me question all the stuff that had come before - it was ok.

16/01/14 - dinosaur 13 - we slipped into this one while on shift, so we missed the beginning and the director q+a afterwards. despite that, this was a fascinating documentary about a team who find a fairly complete t-rex skeleton and set about removing it from the hill where they found it so they can study it and show it in their town. however the government gets involved over the rights of the land and it all gets very messy and one of the team ends up in jail. interesting stuff!

17/01/14 - laggies - i really liked this quirky, sweet rom-com starring keira knightley, sam rockwell and chloe moretz - i reckon this one will get a release at home. it's a different kind of role for keira and she's really good in it. the director, the three lead cast members and various crew were there to do a q+a after the screening. after that, matt (one of my room-mates) and i went down the back corridor pretending to be on duty and it just happened to coincide with sam rockwell and crew coming out of the back door. my heart was about to jump out of my chest - i'm a bit in love with him and he is super-cool! we made eye contact but i was too embarrassed to smile or anything to we hung around for a bit until they left - probably to go some cool party! i think i went home and went to bed… not very rock'n'roll!

19/01/14 - young ones - this was on my list of films to see and i loved it… it's set in a dystopian future where water is heavily controlled but petrol and alcohol are not. it's not really that futuristic - it's set out in a dry country area and is the story of a family who are trying to get some water to irrigate their land so they can grow crops. it's divided into three sections - following the father, the daughter's boyfriend and the son. it's different in both the story and the way it's shot. i'd like to see this one again really - it's got a great story...

19/01/14 calvary - this is the second film by the director of 'the guard' - it's funny but pretty dark - i liked it. it stars the wonderful and hugely under-rated brendan gleeson, who unfortunately wasn't there for the q+a but chris o'dowd, who also stars, was. it's the story of an irish priest who is threatened by one of his parishioners. after the screening i was going down to the volunteers room which is also where the talent comes out through the side door to the theatre - i used the loo down there and it just happened to be when kelly reilly (who also stars) was using it - so we chatted for a bit while we washed our hands!

21/01/14 - hellion - an american coming of age tale with a wonderfully intense performance by a young actor called josh wiggins. it also stars aaron paul from breaking bad… although he's unrecognisable from his character in that, and juliette lewis who i haven't seen in a film for a long time. really liked this one - sad but powerful.

21/01/14 - the raid 2 - we got to go this film as we'd been outside all afternoon and into the evening and we were freezing cold! i probably wouldn't have chosen this film especially since i haven't seen the first one. it was seriously violent, eye-gouging, bone-cracking, gory fun! pretty full-on with lots of crazy stunts and about a million different ways to kill or maim. gorgeous young cast who were all there at the screening - probably the sharpest dressed people i saw throughout the whole festival - no snow-boots or thermals for them! as we were walking back down the corridor to get our stuff from the volunteer room the whole cast were coming the other way - i couldn't help but smile at them all - they all looked so sweet and innocent despite having just seen them rip arms and legs off in the movie! walking behind the main group alone was the star and i just gave him a big grin, and he grinned right back at me - it made my night!

22/01/14 - love child - i probably wouldn't have picked this film either but it was showing at the lovely, old-fashioned egyptian theatre on main street and i hadn't managed to get tickets for another film i wanted to see at the MARC theatre, so i went downtown to see it. such a shame really as the subject matter was so interesting, a documentary about a young korean couple who were so addicted to online gaming they neglected their own child who ended up dying of malnutrition, but the editing of the film just didn't really work for me - it should have been tighter and less repetitive.

23/01/14 - fishing without nets - ok, i have to admit that by this time in the festival i was seriously tired and feeling pretty burnt-out. i really wanted to see this film, but when the lights went down my eyelids started to droop and i ended up having many micro-sleeps through the first half until i found some sweets in my bag which managed to keep me awake through the second half. an interesting story about a naive young somali father who becomes a pirate to raise money for his family. i don't feel able to comment further on this one as i wasn't able to give it my full attention… my fault not the film's!

24/01/14 - jamie marks is dead - another one we got to watch while on-shift. a bit spooky for my liking - i did spend some time hiding behind my coat! an odd film about an unpopular kid who is found dead but he appears to two of his school mates who form a bond with him… ok, i'm finding it really difficult to describe this one… it was a bit slow and not spooky enough to be horror and i'm not sure quite who it would appeal to - not sure whether this one will get a release at home.

24/01/14 - rudderless - ok, now we're talking! this was great! fab performances, mainly from billy crudup and adam yeltchin. i don't want to give out too much of the story as it would be a spoiler alert! needless to say, this is a story about a family crisis that has long term affects on the father and just when he starts to get his life back together, things take an unexpected turn. directed by william h macy, who received a standing ovation on the premier screening that i attended, it's funny and very sad but best of all it tells the story from a different perspective - which is always a good thing in film and doesn't happen often enough!

25/01/14 - god's pocket - the one philip seymour hoffman film i got to see out of the two he had in the festival. this is based on book about a small area of urban philadelphia in the 1970's. it's difficult to describe but is another film about a crisis within a family which has far-reaching consequences. philip seymour hoffman again shows that he is one of the best actors of his generation and it was nice to see eddie marsan in there too - always good to see a british actor holding their own with the americans!

25/01/14 - the one i love - what can i say… this one has mark duplass in it and since he is part of the reason why i was at sundance to begin with (see 'safety not guaranteed'). he just doesn't ever pick a bad movie to be in… he deserves to be way more famous than he is now - he's just brilliant! a great little story about a couple haivng problems with their relationship who go away to a beautiful deserted retreat where things get pretty weird. it's clever and funny and strange - a great combination!

25/01/14 - whiplash - wow! this one is super-intense. a fairly simple story about a young jazz drumming student at a music conservatory in new york who is picked out by a mentor/teacher who makes his life hell. fabulous jazz soundtrack and great performances by the 2 lead actors - this film won two awards in the festival and pretty much every screening we did was a sell-out and nearly everyone loved it. a must see if it comes out in uk.

26/01/14 - alive inside - this film is a joy! a documentary about elderly people with alzheimer's or other debilitating diseases who find release in the music they loved when they were younger. this film will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. it won an audience award and it bloody well deserved it. you will never regret seeing this film.

over and out for now… will be back in touch when i get to nyc...