GET YOUR SUNDANCE ON!

Nate and I love movies. The more indie-esque they are the better. I met Nate in January 2005 just a few days before the Sundance Film Festival got off the ground. Nate took me to several shows that year including The Matador, Layer Cake, and Reefer Madness {at the end of this movie I knew I loved him - crazy!}. In 2006 we were lucky enough to see Little Miss Sunshine and The Night Listener.
This year we threw our name in the pot to buy tickets and actually received a fairly good day and time, January 10 {they make the selections lottery-style and we've always been assigned the last day when all the tickets are sold out...not this year. Yippee}.
























This year I'm thinking about several films {read synopsis here} including;

• Adrift in Manhattan {I love any movie about three stories converging}
• An American Crime {true stories always make for better horror}
• Angel-A {I'd see this just because it's filmed in Paris}
• Away from Her {I'm sure old Julie Christie is just as pretty as the young one}
  
• Black Snake Moan {this one stars Justin Timberlake}
  
• Chapter 27 {Jared Leto playing the guy who assassinated John Lenon}
  
• Clubland {guaranteed Aussie accents}
  
• The Good Night {a man happier with his dream life then real life - so familiar!}
  
• Longford {how can good and evil exist together...or come to terms with each other?}
  
• The Nines {claims to "make you ask questions"}
  
• Resurrecting the Champ {all about boxing}
  
• Trade {touches on child sex slaves}
  
• Year of the Dog {Molly Shannon rules}
  
• Broken English {Parker Posey - Yay}
• Grace is Gone {woman dies in Iraq and leaves a husband and two daughters}
  
• Hounddog {Dakota Fanning and "haunting performance" piqued my interest}
  
• Joshua {might scare me from having children}
• On the Road with Judas {written by a writer, played by an actor}
• Snow Angels {maybe}
• The Savages {i heart Philip Seymour Hoffman}

The way it typically plays out is that I make a big list of films I'd like to see {see list above}. Then Nate and I sit down and decide what days we'd like to see movies and at what theaters. I narrow the list according to the new parameters. On January 10 during our appointed 30 minute window, I buy whatever tickets are still available {only $15 each}.
On game day Nate and I get excited and feel quite artsy and snobbish attending our selected films. We use it as a good opportunity to sample a new restaurant and be the "first to see" films that only sometimes make it to theaters in the same calendar year.
The Sundance Film Festival is one of the perks of living in Salt Lake {or Bluffdale...beggars can't be choosers}. Things to avoid wearing at Film Festival {or you'll look like a foolish try-hard}: black north face puffy coat, any kind of ugg boot, high heels {c'mon, you're in Utah where it's snowy and cold}, and ANYTHING made of fur.
By the way, I'm NOT a star junkie. I'm there to see the films, not to watch in awe as Bill Murray walks across the street. The girls I know that spend hours "getting ready" for the festival - planning to go to parties and meet a producer or an indie actor and have a fling - are the definition of lame.