Ever since Glenn Close put a bug in GO
Girl’s ear about an upcoming collaboration between the Sundance
Institute and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, she has been positively
mixing martinis in anticipation. The organizations’ joint press
conference earlier this year, which confirmed the impending birth
of this indie love child, further ratcheted up the excitement
with its vague overview delivered by no less than Institute President
Robert Redford himself.
At the mere mention of Sundance, GO Girl’s
head usually fills with lavish photo spreads of indie film stars
wearing Ugg boots and fur-trimmed hats through the snowy streets
of Park City, Utah. But the filmmakers and other industry folk
were able to leave their woolens at home on May 11 – the opening
night of the "Sundance Institute at BAM" series – when
Bob returned to lend the warmth of his shining star to our very
own Fort Greene.
"Most of the filmmakers who come through
[the Sundance Institute Filmmakers] lab are from here,"
said Redford, celebrating the already-existing bond between Park
City and Brooklyn.
In true rebel style, the "Sundance
Institute at BAM" organizers kicked off their series of
movies, panel discussions and concerts with a film from the 2006
fest that was not universally loved by the critics: "Little
Miss Sunshine." [GO Girl nearly dropped her sushi when she
read the following from Dennis Lim in The Village Voice: "The
series opens with its most obvious display of clout: ’Little
Miss Sunshine,’ the biggest sale in Sundance history and a curdled
apotheosis of the festival’s favorite genre, the dysfunctional-family
road trip."]
Starting this new venture with a movie
that appeared to rankle a few critics seemed a risky, radical
move, but any pre-screening anxiety GO Girl may have had about
suffering through "Little Miss Sunshine" was immediately
smoothed away by the Grey Goose lemon drop martinis that were
distributed to the guests as they entered the BAM Rose Cinemas.
Happily those sugar-rimmed ’tini glasses
heralded a night of sweet surprises for GO Girl and the sprinkling
of naysayers.
First of all, the film is hysterical.
Laughing until she cried at the antics
of stars Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear
and talented ’tween Abigail Breslin, GO Girl’s enthusiasm was
only surpassed by her seat-neighbor Danny Simmons, who confessed
that he really needed these laughs.
"Sunshine" chronicles the story
of a normal – er, dysfunctional – family, replete with a drug-addicted
grandpa (Arkin) and suicidal uncle (Carell). The clan goes on
a desperate road trip in a dilapidated Volkswagon bus in order
to get their young daughter (Breslin) to a beauty pageant on
time. (GO Girl wondered how screenwriter Michael Arndt got a
hold of her childhood journals.)
Before and after the screening, Little
Miss Breslin mixed and mingled with partygoers, including Patricia
Clarkson.
The star of "Good Night and Good Luck"
told GO Girl that she thought "Sunshine" was "fabulous,
incredibly funny and poignant. It moved between the light and
dark so effortlessly."
Clarkson said she turned out for the opening
night to show her support for the Sundance Institute.
"I was named ’the Queen of Sundance,’
" said the flaxen-haired beauty, recalling that one year
she had four films in the festival.
Screenwriter Arndt now lives in San Francisco,
but told GO Girl that he’s hanging on to the East Williamsburg
apartment where he wrote his black comedy.
Arndt said that he had written the film
with the intention of directing it, too.
"It’s a lesson in the virtues of cowardice," he said,
happy with the job that filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie
Faris did with his script. "They made it much better."
Faris, a resident of LA, told GO Girl that
she was initially "scared and nervous about the New York
crowd," but was happy to report she was gratified by the
audience’s reaction to the film she and Dayton labored over for
five years. (For those who weren’t invited to the screening,
Faris said "Sunshine" will be released by Fox Searchlight
on July 26.)
Although this is their first feature film,
Dayton and Faris are not new to the field. They’ve been filming
music videos and commercials for decades.
"We love working with eccentric artists,"
said Faris. "[The actors] were great to work with – very
talented people." Now that their labor of love has a distributor,
Faris and Dayton are concentrating on their next project: shooting
the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ music video for "Tell Me Baby,"
from the recently released double album, "Stadium Arcadium."
Also spotted networking their way through
the soiree – which spanned two floors of BAM – were designer
Kenneth Cole, writer-director Byron Hurt (whose "Beyond
Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop
Culture" screens at BAM on May 21 at 6:30 pm), actress Cara
Seymour ("The Notorious Bettie Page," "American
Psycho"), "The Forgiven" writer-director Paul
Fitzgerald (whose flick screens May 20 at 6:30 pm) and home improvement
guru Bob Vila (who served on the Sundance at BAM host committee).
The opening night eventually wound down,
but the Sundance party is far from over. The series continues
through Sunday, with a grand finale on May 21. GO Girl added
a 9 pm screening of "Sherrybaby" – Brooklynite Laurie
Collyer’s flick starring Maggie Gyllenhaal – to her PDA, along
with a 2 pm panel discussion between directors Allison Anders
("Gas Food Lodging"), Hal Hartley ("The Unbelievable
Truth"), David O. Russell ("I Heart Huckabees"),
John Waters ("Hairspray"), and film critic Janet Maslin.
Still giggling over "Little Miss Sunshine,"
GO Girl and the other invitees happily scooped up their gift
bags.
Although they didn’t contain glossies autographed
by the "Way We Were" hunk, they did have vodka and
Sundance Channel T-shirts that pleaded: "Change Your Coast."
But GO Girl likes her coast just fine:
whether she’s enjoying "shots" on the beach in Coney
Island or inside The River Cafe.
And that’s a wrap! Hiccup!
For a complete schedule of "Sundance
Institute at BAM" events, click
here.
