Festival coverage sponsored by IndiePix.
The page has almost turned from Sundance 2008, what with the announcement of line-ups for SXSW and True/False coming this week, but the films of Sundance will remain, particularly two films that struck me as the best that I saw, Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS and James Marsh's MAN ON WIRE.
Many in Park City were looking forward to Margaret Brown's second feature after her well-regarded music doc BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT, but Brown exceeded expectations with her remarkably assured THE ORDER OF MYTHS. Beautifully shot by Lee Daniel and Michael Simmonds and expertly edited by Brown, Michael Taylor and Geoffrey Richman, the film examines the time-honored tradition of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama, where celebrations remain segregated between white and black residents.
With a deft, observant touch, Brown does what several recent acclaimed nonfiction films have done (STREET FIGHT and CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE? among them) by approaching issues of race from a side angle. But Brown surpasses her predecessors with a level of craft that stuns. And it's clear from screenings here that THE ORDER OF MYTHS has the potential to spur conversations about race relationships that are simmering beneath the surface.
At a Q&A following the film's second public screening, a spirited debate broke out when one of the film's white subjects -- Brittain Youngblood -- described growing up in Mobile with two families, her immediate family and the black caretakers who helped raise her. Filmmaker Michelange Quay, whose EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY, is screening in Sundance's New Frontier Section, spoke up and argued that Youngblood's black family were, in fact, subordinates. As Youngblood got emotional, Joseph Roberson, the king of the African-American Mardi Gras, rose to her defense.
Speaking after the screening, Brown agreed that the film gave audience members a forum to discuss issues of race. "One of the purposes of the film is to open it up to talk, not to provide an answer, because I wouldn't know what that is," Brown said. "The open nature of the film allows you to bring your own experiences, your own feelings and thoughts to it."
Brown's film had particular resonance for me. When I was attending college at the University of Missouri, there was a big debate over the fact that there was an official Missouri Homecoming and there was also a "black homecoming". The events, even though there was some effort to integrate them, were almost entirely segregated. The issues were no where near as simple as they initially seemed. African-American students didn't want to give up their traditions, nor did they want necessarily for their events to be a side dish to the main entree of "white homecoming". For many people - white and black - this didn't seem incredibly controversial until it was decided by a few that such an imbalance was troubling. It's this kind of world that Brown turns her nonjudgmental and observant camera on, and the results are illuminating.
Surprisingly, Brown's film did not pick up any prizes at Sundance (it was assumed by most to be in the running for the Grand Jury Prize with TROUBLE THE WATER, which won, and a certain contender for the editing prize, which went to ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED). In the World Cinema Documentary Competition, however, the main talk as the festival hit mid-week was about James Marsh's triumphant MAN ON WIRE, which went on to sweep both the Grand Jury and Audience prizes.
A hybrid doc of the highest order, MAN ON WIRE reflects on the 1974 attempt by high wire artist Philippe Petit to covertly and illegally rig a 450 lb wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and then traverse the 250 from the top of one tower to the other (at 1,350 feet above the ground). Utilizing modern day interviews with the participants, highly-stylized re-enactments, well-placed archival footage and a rich trove of film of Petit and his team preparing for the "coup", Marsh constructs a suspenseful thriller that acknowledges the audience's awareness of the fate of the Twin Towers without ever mentioning it or exploiting it. That in itself is its own high wire act and Marsh executes it flawlessly.
The use of re-enactments in the film is extensive - the quantity calls to mind the great TOUCHING THE VOID - but Marsh gives them a stylistic verve that seems to homage French filmmakers as varied as Georges Méliès and Jean Pierre Jeunet, both of whom are appropriate given the adventurous, yet playful nature of the protagonist. The opening sequence, which describes the arrival of the teams at the Twin Towers (after which they must get inside with all of their equipment) plays like a classic cinematic heist set-up, both thrilling and ominous, particularly when the participants are sneaking into buildings that are now better known as targets. To its great credit, the film allows the viewer to set aside the destruction of the buildings that lie at the heart of the story, and in doing so, gives them back their grandeur and their mystery.
Returning to and completing his documentary series NEW YORK in 2003, Ric Burns told the story of the towers and in doing so, introduced many to Petit's famous walk, a 45-minute act of grace and art. It was stunning and haunting within the context of that film, particularly with our feelings about the collective loss so raw and fresh. The distance of 4 1/2 more years allows Marsh to tell a story that truly captures the ragtag nature of Petit's team (including the American musician who admits that he was most likely stoned when he arrived for duty, since he got high every day for 35 years) and the wonderment of its achievement.
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