Day 2 of Sundance began with a bit of confusion when I arrived at 11 am for the scheduled press screening of MOON to find that it had been replaced at the last minute by a French film in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition called LOUISE-MICHEL.  Having carefully plotted out my screening schedule for the week, I found it a bit irritating that the plans had changed last minute, but then again, that seems to be the nature of the press world and I still managed to catch a screening of MOON later in the afternoon. 

LOUISE-MICHEL is one of the rare French films that is the complete antithesis of LE FABULEUX DESTIN D’AMELIE  POULAIN, as not only does it avoid romanticizing French culture in any shape or form, but seems determined to highlight its ugliest facets and characters.  In the film, Marie-Louise (played by actress Yolande Moreau, who also played the widowed neighbor in AMELIE) is a homely, illiterate factory worker who lives alone in the housing projects of Picardy (a very unattractive French town in the middle of nowhere).  When the factory shuts down unexpectedly leaving Louise-Michel and several other women jobless, Louise-Michel devises a scheme to off the corrupt boss in retribution.  Louise-Michel’s collaboration with the hopeless transsexual hit-man “Cathy” proves to be the focus of most of the story, and while there are certainly some fine cinematic moments (the opening sequence of a cremation gone wrong is particularly brilliant), the general grittiness of the film and its twisted ending just kind of left me feeling the urge to take a shower. 

 MOON proved to be a very welcome contrast to the French flick with its clean, poetic imagery and the handsome Sam Rockwell (who plays main character Sam Bell and appears in nearly every scene of the movie).  Awaiting the end of a three-year contract with Lunar Energy, astronaut Sam Bell resides alone on a mining base on the moon where his only companion is the vessel’s robotic computer system (played by Kevin Spacey).   For you Kubrick fans out there, the references to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY are obvious, and at points, maybe a bit too deliberate both in terms of story and aesthetics.  However, as the film progresses, MOON presents a harrowing view of humanity and raises interesting questions of modern ethics.  It is pretty difficult to review this one without giving away the plot so will just leave it at that and encourage you all to check it out for yourselves.

 Tonight I managed to score a ticket to the Sundance Opening Weekend Screening and Gala in Salt Lake City (about 45 minutes from Park City).  The evening featured the premiere of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, a documentary about American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and the months leading up to the magazine’s highly anticipated September issue.  Wintour’s strong, cut-throat personality has already been widely publicized in the book and movie THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, and in this documentary version, she only further enhances that reputation.  At the same time, director R.J. Cutler manages to capture a more vulnerable side of the fashion diva by filming her in the privacy of her home with her children, and Wintour’s relationship with long-time colleague Grace Coddington provides fascinating material, even for the un-fashionably conscious viewer.  Unfortunately Wintour was not in attendance for the premiere, which did include the governor of Utah and throngs of women in animal print attire (including myself:)

 After the screening,we were invited to attend a dessert reception at a neighboring venue and for the first time, I got a taste of what it feels like to attend a VIP Sundance party.  With free-flowing champagne, a hot chocolate bar and gorgeous displays of delicate cakes and mousses that would make the set designer of MARIE-ANTOINETTE jealous, we celebrated as Wintour would have wanted us to: In style.