I’m sorry but this tweet hit me yesterday morning and I couldn’t stop laughing. Not even at my lowest misanthropic nadir would I dismiss/condemn each and every person (janitorial staff included) at an airport. I could write 1000 words about this tweet without blinking an eye. I could write 5000 words. It’s one of those “nihilist essence” utterances.

Last night I saw Joseph Gordon Levitt‘s Don Jon’s Addiction (a decent character-arc piece, the spiritual growth of a Guido, nice ending) at a 6 pm Eccles screening, and then I ran around a bit and returned for a 9:45 pm Eccles screening of Anne Fontaine‘s Two Mothers — a farce, a calamity, one of the worst Sundance films I’ve ever seen or ever will see.

And now it’s 9:10 am with my first screening of the day, James Ponsoldt‘s The Spectacular Now, at the Holiday Village at 10 am. Followed by a 12 noon showing of Lynn Shelton‘s Touchy Feely at the Eccles, and after that a 3 pm screening of Jacob Kornbluth‘s Inequality For All at the Prospector Square. Followed by Michael Winterbottom‘s The Look of Love at 6 pm at the Eccles. Four films per day is my limit. Which allows me barely enough time to bang out little doo-dad riffs, much less reviews.

I’ve been up since 6 am and re-packing because we’re switching condos today. You have to be out at 11 am but the new place won;t be ready until 4 pm….terrific.

“The subject of a teacher-student affair may be tabloid fodder,” the Sundance press notes say about A Teacher, “but writer/director Hannah Fidell resists sensationalism or the temptation to pathologize her protagonist.” I just saw Fidell’s film this afternoon, and boy, was I hoping for a little tabloid sensationalism! Or a touch of pathology. Or a smattering of half-interesting dialogue between the teacher (Lindsay Burdge) and the student (Will Brittain) that might add a little flavor or whatever.

Alas, no.

We all know what lazy minimalism is. Especially when concerned with self-destructive, anti-social types. The director-screenwriter will (a) use only the faintest brushtrokes and (b) supply no hard info about who her characters are or what they’re running from or what they need…nothing. You have to sit there and just watch them do things that are stupid and wildly self-destructive and incomprehensible and then…you know, piece it together as best you can. Bad Lieutenant did this. Many indie films have done this. And it’s enervating and faintly boring.

Except A Teacher isn’t completely boring because Fidell is a fairly disciplined director. She knows how to drill in tight and strip away the extraneous and make it seem as if you’re watching something that might, you know, go somewhere. And Burdge and Brittain are, I admit, fairly intriguing in their radically underwritten roles. They know how to behave.

You know going in that the affair is going to blow up sooner or later. We’ve all read about real-life dalliances of this sort. The teacher is eventually found out, arrested and so on. So the question: what is it about Burdge’s Diana, a teacher at a high school in a semi-affluent Texas town, that will add to the basic drill? What will we learn about her that will turn our assumptions around or at least gussy them up? What will happen that will make this familiar tale seem stranger or darker or funnier than we might expect?

Answer: nothing. Fidell just shows us interesting natural atmosphere and good acting chops and behavior in and of itself, and then baby, you’re on your own.

The first thing we learn about Diana is that she’s fucking Eric (Brittain), a smooth, good-looking, rich-kid senior. They meet whenever and however, and all they do is fuck. They don’t talk, they don’t share, they don’t watch movies, they don’t cook meals, they don’t take walks…it’s all about the salami. And then we learn that she can’t stand her mother and refuses to talk with her, and that she has a strained relationship with her blase brother…blankness, blankness.

About three-fifths of the way through she freaks when she and Eric are fucking at his father’s ranch and a foreman shows up. Out of the blue she feels concerned about the affair being discovered and losing her job. And then she starts feeling repulsed by herself and vents this by rejecting Eric, and then she wants him again and he doesn’t want her and it all goes to hell.

Diana, in short, is a car wreck waiting to happen. Unstable, wired, crazy, not very bright, emotionally blocked, fucked up….and I’m watching a story about her because why again? Because I’m at the Sundance Film Festival and I had an open slot between 3 pm and 5 pm?

I’m catching a 3 pm p & i screening of Hannah Fidell‘s A Teacher at the Holiday Village, and if that doesn’t work out I’ll slip into the 3:30 pm screening of Jeff Nichols Mud at 3:30 pm in the same plex. Next comes the 6:30 pm Eccles screening of Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s Don Jon’s Addiction, followed by a 9:30 pm screening of Ann Fontaine‘s Two Mothers in the same venue.

A pic of All About Eve costar Marlyn Monroe before attending the 1951 Oscars, which honored films released in 1950. Hosted by Fred Astaire, the show happened at the RKO Pantages theatre on March 29, 1951. Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s All About Eve was nominated for 14 Oscars and won six. Billy Wilder‘s Sunset Boulevard was nominated for 11 Oscars but won only three — Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White) and Best Musical Score (Franz Waxman).

Nick Ryan‘s The Summit is an absorbing but highly complex doc about the death of 11 climbers on the notorious K2 in August 2008. Located on the border of Pakistan and China and the world’s second-highest peak (just below Mt. Everest), K2 is a killer — 25% of all the climbers who have ascended it have died. If nothing else, The Summit makes you feel very good that you’re in a warm movie theatre and not freezing or falling to your death amid ice, snow and avalanches at 26,000 feet.

A week after the tragedy Freddie Wilkinson ran a fairly thorough Huffington Post account of what happened. He wrote another piece in December 2008 that looked at the tragedy in greater detail. It’s a story with a lot of angles, a lot “if only this hadn’t happened” factors.

In a way that’s kind of the problem with The Summit — too much detail, too many POVs, too many climbers, too many “on the other hand” considerations. And too many widows or relatives of same suggesting this and that.

I admire Ryan for not jumping to easy or facile conclusions, of course, but on the other hand you’re looking for a clear through-line and not too many flashbacks or asides and a clean, graspable sense of who messed up and whose deaths were avoidable and whose weren’t. Read Wilkinson’s articles if you want a concise account.

The story of the 2008 tragedy demands specificity and exactitude, and Ryan’s film (which is partly re-enacted) certainly provides that. But in the name of thoroughness and looking at all the angles, it declines to judge or point fingers. Ryan decides to not say in clear, talking-to-a-dumb-guy fashion if this or that climber was guilty of carelessness or negligence. He just says, “This happened, and a lot of factors came into play. Either way I’m not going to give you, the viewer, the satisfaction of being able to say ‘this guy screwed up’ or ‘this guy should have known better.’ You can figure that out yourself on your way home, if you want. Or you can do some in-depth reading about it.”

I understand the spiritual payoff in successfully climbing a mountain as brutal and vicious as K2, but if you make a go of it and things don’t go your way, too bad. You bought it, pal. You knew the risks. So it’s hard to shed tears or feel much for those whose deaths are explained in The Summit. They were good fellows and skilled climbers but they weren’t geniuses and sometimes God takes you out. They took a bet that they’d be among the 75% who would make it and they lost. Tough tits.

Imagine a doc about 10 guys with poor eyesight who decide to try and cross an unlighted six-lane freeway at 10 pm while drunk and wearing black. I would fail to see the tragedy if two or three of them get hit by cars. I would in fact fail to be even somewhat moved. Hey, guys? I’m really sorry about your getting hit by passing autos but I guess you knew the odds of getting hit were pretty high, right? You chose to wear black, you chose a section of the freeway that had no lighting, you chose to get drunk…what do you want from me?

I don’t want to give The Summit a blanket put-down. It’s very carefully made. Loads of hard work went into it. It didn’t piss me off or irritate…well, okay I guess it did irritate me to some extent. But it’s a first-rate attempt at digging into detail and being fair-minded and determined to follow leads. And it’s quite the eye-filling epic. Cheers and salutations to Ryan, screenwriter Mark Monroe, cinematographers Robbie Ryan and Stephen O’Reilly, and exec producers John Battsek, Pat Falvey, Darrell Kavanagh and John McDonnell.

Morgan Neville‘s Twenty Feet From Stardom, which I saw last night at a 10 pm Yarrow press screening, is a snappy, joyful, deeply emotional doc about the career agonies and ecstasies of soul-angel backup singers Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer and Judith Hill (among others). The journo-buyer audience, usually reserved, applauded when it ended. It appears we have the first breakout of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on our hands.

These ladies have belted out every backup “ooh, yayuh-yaaaay!” and “ooh-wah” and “babaaay!” you’ve ever heard. They’re all as rippin’ and soulful as any Aretha Franklin or Mariah Carey or whomever, but none has ever built a strong solo career. This is the melancholy that runs through Twenty Feet From Stardom, but Neville has crafted a killer tribute and brought back the spotlight.

Twenty Feet takes you back to every Motown and Phil Spector tune that ever mattered, to this and that Joe Cocker song, to David Bowie‘s “Young Americans” (“Aahhhhllll night!”) and especially to Clayton’s legendary solo on the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”…knockout stuff! The talking heads include Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler and Mick Jagger.

Yesterday afternoon at the Park City Marriot publicist Nancy Willen suggested that I might want to catch this, and I went “aahhh, I don’t know…backup singers? Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea.” An unfailingly polite and dutiful professional, Willen decided not to push it and moved on to some other films she’s repping…cool. But if you’ve got a winner, you should make it clear and push a little harder. Just because I said “aahh, I don’t think this is going to be much”…what do I know? It was just an instinct. Willen should have grabbed me by the lapels and said, “Look, Jeff, I like you but your instincts are wrong this time. Trust me. You really want to see this one.”

Luckily I ran into IFC Films’ Ryan Werner at the MARC and he talked me into it, and wow….loved it! A live-wire “yeahhh!”, an audience film, a winner.

Wells to Willen: Are Merry Clayton and Darlene Love and the others in town? Can I get a sitdown and/or a photo op? Is there a soundtrack CD?

I was thinking about the death of “Dear Abby” (a.k.a., Pauline Phillips) during the opening press conference for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival (which featured founder Robert Redford, festival director John Cooper, and exec director Keri Putnam). And it hit me that I should probably take up the mantle and write the world’s gnarliest, snippiest, most contrarian, most peculiar and possibly the most illuminating personal advice column as a sideline. It could open up all kinds of doors.

(l. to r) 2013 Sundance Film Festival press conference moderator Sean Means, Robert Redford, Keri Putnam, John Cooper.

I’m really effing sick of guys like Glenn Kenny calling my admiration of Jennifer Lawrence‘s work in Silver Linings Playbook a “crotch vote.” I’ve never felt libidinal stirrings for Lawrence, and I don’t think I ever will. My feelings about her Tiffany have always been about her impulsive emotionality, her no-bullshit brass, her sand, her salt…the way she busts right into the Solitano abode and demands that Bradley Cooper‘s Pat explain his not keeping his word. It’s never been anything else.

The only thing that’s happened since tapping out my most recent Sundance ’13 forecast piece is that I’ve decided to suck it in and definitely see Alexandre Moors‘ Blue Caprice, which I’d been reluctant to do in the wake of the Newtown massacre.

Otherwise there’s Park Chan-Wook‘s Stoker….”probably more of a genre movie than anything else.” And the “pretty good” word on Ann Fontaine‘s Two Mothers, about moms (Naomi Watts, Robin Wright) having affairs with each other’s sons. And Richard Linklater‘s Before Midnight. And the vaguely guarded word on David Gordon Green‘s Prince Avalanche, based on a 2011 film by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson called Either Way and allegedly “a tiny film…three characters…fairly slow and experimental.”

And the apparent cause for caution with Joshua Michael Stern‘s jOBS, which has been given the festival’s closing-night slot. And the fac t that “everyone seems to like” Joseph Gordon Levitt‘s Don Jon’s Addiction, which is “very good but all about pornography…and yet stylish and sweet rather than creepy.” And Michael Winterbottom‘s The Look of Love, which “is all about Steve Coogan‘s performance” as British adult magazine publisher and entrepreneur Paul Raymond.

My first Sundance assessment said there are 57 films I’d like to see at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. 12 Premieres, 19 documentaries under three programs, 13 or 14 in Dramatic Competition, 8 World Cinema entries, 4 Next pics and 2 or 3 stragglers . I always see at least three per day and sometimes four. But over nine or ten days I rarely see more than 28 or 30. I have to write for five or six hours, and eat and sleep. Plus the occasional social pit stop, party or interview.

I’m starting, in any event, with films I’ve lazily labelled as COMFORT and POSSIBLE GOODIES, and then I’ll deal with the rest. There’s a mad sexual relationship theme going on this year but I won’t let that distract or impair…hah! (All synopses & credits are Sundance-supplied.)

COMFORT (4):

Stoker / U.S.A. (Director: Park Chan-Wook, Screenwriter: Wentworth Miller) — After India’s father dies in an auto accident, her Uncle Charlie comes to live with her and her mother, Evelyn. Soon after his arrival, India suspects that this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives but becomes increasingly infatuated with him. Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, Nicole Kidman.

Inequality for All / U.S.A. (Director: Jacob Kornbluth, dp: Svetlana Cvetko) — In this timely and entertaining documentary, noted economic-policy expert Robert Reich distills the topic of widening income inequality, and addresses the question of what effects this increasing gap has on our economy and our democracy.

Before Midnight / U.S.A. (Director: Richard Linklater, Screenwriters: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater — We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna. Before the clock strikes midnight, we will again become part of their story. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Xenia Kalogeropoulou, Ariane Labed, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick. Linklater, Hawke and Delpy’s two previous “Before” flicks are Before Sunset (’04) and Before Sunrise (’95).

The World According to Dick Cheney / U.S.A. (Directors: R.J. Cutler, Greg Finton) — Dick Cheney is the most powerful, most controversial and in his words, “most consequential” Vice President in American history. This dramatic and intimate examination of Cheney’s life, career, relationships and worldview features interviews with Cheney and those closest to him.

POSSIBLE GOODIES in no particular order (10):

Prince Avalanche / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Gordon Green) — Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind. Cast: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch.

jOBS / U.S.A. (Director: Joshua Michael Stern, Screenwriter: Matt Whiteley) — The true story of one of the greatest entrepreneurs in American history, jOBS chronicles the defining 30 years of Steve Jobs’ life. jOBS is a candid, inspiring and personal portrait of the one who saw things differently. Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons, Matthew Modine.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks / U.S.A. (Director: Alex Gibney) — The definitive story of Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks, We Steal Secrets explores the people and events behind the upstart website that rocked the U.S. government, ushered in a new era of transparency and ignited an information war. (Documentary)

Don Jon’s Addiction / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Joseph Gordon-Levitt) — In Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s charming directorial debut, a selfish modern-day Don Juan attempts to change his ways. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Rob Brown.

The Look of Love / United Kingdom (Director: Michael Winterbottom, Screenwriter: Matt Greenhalgh) — The true story of British adult magazine publisher and entrepreneur Paul Raymond. A modern day King Midas story, Raymond became one of the richest men in Britain at the cost of losing those closest to him. Cast: Steve Coogan, Anna Friel, Imogen Poots, Tamsin Egerton.

Very Good Girls / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Naomi Foner) — In the long, half-naked days of a New York summer, two girls on the brink of becoming women fall for the same guy and find that life isn’t as simple or safe as they had thought. Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Boyd Holbrook, Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Barkin.

The Spectacular Now / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt (Smashed), Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber) — Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to “save.” As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and “saving” and corrupting become inextricably blurred. Cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler.

History of the Eagles, Part 1 / U.S.A. (Director: Alison Ellwood) — Using never-before-seen home movies, archival footage and new interviews with all current and former members of the Eagles, this documentary provides an intimate look into the history of the band and the legacy of their music.

The Summit / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Nick Ryan) — Twenty-four climbers converged at the last stop before summiting the most dangerous mountain on Earth. Forty-eight hours later, 11 had been killed or simply vanished. Had one, Ger McDonnell, stuck to the climbers’ code, he might still be alive. International Premiere.

Citizen Koch / U.S.A. (Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin) — Wisconsin — birthplace of the Republican Party, government unions, “cheeseheads” and Paul Ryan — becomes a test market in the campaign to buy Democracy, and ground zero in the battle for the future of the GOP. (Documentary)

HEIGHTENED, SLIGHTLY GUARDED INTEREST (4):

In a World… / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell) — An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation. Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed.

Pussy Riot — A Punk Prayer / Russian Federation, United Kingdom (Directors: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin) — Three young women face seven years in a Russian prison for a satirical performance in a Moscow cathedral. But who is really on trial: the three young artists or the society they live in? World Premiere.

Lasting / Poland, Spain (Director and screenwriter: Jacek Borcuch) — An emotional love story about two Polish students who fall in love with each other while working summer jobs in Spain. An unexpected nightmare interrupts their carefree time in the heavenly landscape and throws their lives into chaos. Cast: Jakub Gierszal, Magdalena Berus, Angela Molina. World Premiere.

Wajma (An Afghan Love Story) / Afghanistan (Director and screenwriter: Barmak Akram) — A young man in Kabul seduces a girl. When she tells him she’s pregnant, he questions having taken her virginity. Then her father arrives, and a timeless, archaic violence erupts — possibly leading to a crime, and even a sacrifice. Cast: Wajma Bahar, Mustafa Abdulsatar, Haji Gul, Breshna Bahar. World Premiere.

RISKY, DICEY, BAD-CONSEQUENCE SEX (9):

Lovelace / U.S.A. (Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Screenwriter: Andy Bellin) — Deep Throat, the first pornographic feature film to be a mainstream success, was an international sensation in 1972 and made its star, Linda Lovelace, a media darling. Years later the “poster girl for the sexual revolution” revealed a darker side to her story. Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody, James Franco, Sharon Stone.

Concussion / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Stacie Passon) — After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can’t do it anymore. Her life just can’t be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor. Cast: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins.

Touchy Feely / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton) — A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother’s foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.” Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Ellen Page, Josh Pais.

Two Mothers / Australia, France (Director: Anne Fontaine, Screenwriter: Christopher Hampton) — This gripping tale of love, lust and the power of friendship charts the unconventional and passionate affairs of two lifelong friends who fall in love with each other’s sons. Cast: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frechevile.

It Felt Like Love / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Eliza Hittman) — On the outskirts of Brooklyn, a 14-year-old girl’s sexual quest takes a dangerous turn when she pursues an older guy and tests the boundaries between obsession and love. Cast: Gina Piersanti, Giovanna Salimeni, Ronen Rubinstein, Jesse Cordasco, Nick Rosen, Case Prime.

Afternoon Delight / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jill Soloway) — In this sexy, dark comedy, a lost L.A. housewife puts her idyllic life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny. Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch.

The Lifeguard / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia) — A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager. Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, Joshua Harto.

A Teacher / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Hannah Fidell) — A popular young teacher in a wealthy suburban Texas high school has an affair with one of her students. Her life begins to unravel as the relationship comes to an end. Cast: Lindsay Burdge, Will Brittain, Jennifer Prediger, Jonny Mars, Julie Phillips, Chris Dubeck.

Milkshake / U.S.A. (Director: David Andalman, Screenwriters: David Andalman, Mariko Munro) — In mid-1990’s America, we follow the tragic sex life of Jolie Jolson, a wannabe thug (and great-great-grandson of legendary vaudevillian Al Jolson) in suburban DC as he strives to become something he can never be — black. Cast: Tyler Ross, Shareeka Epps, Georgia Ford, Eshan Bay, Leo Fitzpatrick, Danny Burstein.Domingo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Adrian Martinez.

VAGUELY AFRAID OF THESE (6):

The Way, Way Back / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash) — Duncan, an introverted 14-year-old, comes into his own over the course of a comedic summer when he forms unlikely friendships with the gregarious manager of a rundown water park and the misfits who work there. Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Lowery) — The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine.

Breathe In / U.S.A. (Director: Drake Doremus, Screenwriters: Drake Doremus, Ben York Jones) — When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family’s relationships and alters their lives forever. Cast: Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Amy Ryan, Mackenzie Davis.

The East / U.S.A. (Director: Zal Batmanglij, Screenwriters: Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling) — An operative for an elite private intelligence firm goes into deep cover to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective attacking major corporations. Bent on apprehending these fugitives, she finds her loyalty tested as her feelings grow for the group’s charismatic leader. Cast: Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Toby Kebbell, Shiloh Fernandez, Patricia Clarkson.

C.O.G. / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Kyle Patrick Alvarez) — In the first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris’ work, a cocky young man travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm. Out of his element, he finds his lifestyle and notions being picked apart by everyone who crosses his path. Cast: Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario.

Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Francesca Gregorini) — Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper. Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O’Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard.

NOT THIS TIME:

Top of the Lake / Australia, New Zealand (Directors: Jane Campion, Garth Davis, Screenwriters: Jane Campion, Gerard Lee) — A 12-year-old girl stands chest deep in a frozen lake. She is five months pregnant, and won’t say who the father is. Then she disappears. So begins a haunting mystery that consumes a community. Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan, David Wenham. This six-hour film will screen once during the Festival. Wells comment: It couldn’t be cut to three or four hours? C’mon.

RECORDING STUDIOS (2):

Sound City / U.S.A. (Director: Dave Grohl) — Through interviews and performances with the legendary musicians and producers who worked at America’s greatest unsung recording studio, Sound City, we explore the human element of music, and the lost art of analog recording in an increasingly digital world.

Muscle Shoals / U.S.A. (Director: Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier) — Down in Alabama Rick Hall founded FAME Studios and gave birth to the Muscle Shoals sound. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Gregg Allman, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Bono and others bear witness to the greatest untold American music story. World Premiere.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Wrong Cops / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux) — Imagine a Los Angeles where crime is so low that a bored cop sells drugs and harasses a teenager to pass the time. Shot in standalone chapters, as it is being financed, screened and released, watch the 45 minutes of crazy. Cast: Mark Burnham, Marilyn Manson, Steve Little, Eric Wareheim.

DOC PREMIERES & COMPETITION in order of interest (8):

Anita / U.S.A. (Director: Freida Mock) — Anita Hill, an African-American woman, charges Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with sexual harassment in explosive Senate hearings in 1991, bringing sexual politics into the national consciousness and fueling 20 years of international debate on the issues.

Running from Crazy / U.S.A. (Director: Barbara Kopple) — Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, strives for a greater understanding of her family history of suicide and mental illness. As tragedies are explored and deeply hidden secrets are revealed, Mariel searches for a way to overcome a similar fate.

Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington / U.S.A. (Director: Sebastian Junger) — Shortly after the release of his documentary Restrepo, photographer Tim Hetherington was killed in Libya. Colleague Sebastian Junger traces Hetherington’s work across the world’s battlefields to reveal how he transcended the boundaries of image-making to become a luminary in his profession.

99% — The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film / U.S.A. (Directors: Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Lucian Read, Nina Krstic) — The Occupy movement erupted in September 2011, propelling economic inequality into the spotlight. In an unprecedented collaboration, filmmakers across America tell its story, digging into big picture issues as organizers, analysts, participants and critics reveal how it happened and why.

Gideon’s Army / U.S.A. (Director: Dawn Porter) — Doc follows three young, committed Public Defenders who are dedicated to working for the people society would rather forget. Long hours, low pay and staggering caseloads are so common that even the most committed often give up.

Manhunt / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Greg Barker) — Largely or heavily based upon Peter Bergen‘s Manhunt, I presume. This espionage tale goes inside the CIA’s long conflict against Al Qaeda, as revealed by the remarkable women and men whose secret war against Osama bin Laden started nearly a decade before most of us even knew his name. A friend who knows this realm admits that Bergen “has decent sources but his books all revise each other..the previous one, which came out months before raid, said CIA had no clue were Bin Laden was.”

Google and the World Brain / Spain, United Kingdom (Director: Ben Lewis) — In the most ambitious Internet project ever conceived, Google is working to scan every book in the world. Google says it is building a library for mankind. But some are trying to stop it, claiming that Google may have other intentions. World Premiere.

The Square / Egypt, U.S.A. (Director: Jehane Noujaim) — What does it mean to risk your life for your ideals? How far will five revolutionaries go in defending their beliefs in the fight for their nation? World Premiere.

CHICK FLICK: Austenland / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Jerusha Hess, Screenwriters: Jerusha Hess, Shannon Hale) — Thirtysomething, single Jane is obsessed with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. On a trip to an English resort, her fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman become more real than she ever imagined. Cast: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis.

MORE BEAT GENERATION MOVIES! MORE KEROUAC!:

Kill Your Darlings / U.S.A. (Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas) — An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHann, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen.

Big Sur / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Polish) — Unable to cope with a suddenly demanding public and battling advanced alcoholism, Jack Kerouac seeks respite in three brief sojourns to a cabin in Big Sur, which reveal his mental and physical deterioration. Cast: Jean-Marc Barr, Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Radha Mitchell, Anthony Edwards, Henry Thomas.

WHICH ONE IS PIGGY?: Toy’s House / U.S.A. (Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Screenwriter: Chris Galletta) — Three unhappy teenage boys flee to the wilderness where they build a makeshift house and live off the land as masters of their own destiny. Or at least that’s the plan. Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie.

CURSE OF MICHAEL CERA: Crystal Fairy / Chile (Director and screenwriter: Sebastian Silva) — Jamie invites a stranger to join a road trip to Chile. The woman’s free and esoteric nature clashes with Jamie’s acidic, self-absorbed personality as they head into the desert for a Mescaline-fueled psychedelic trip. Cast: Michael Cera, Gabby Hoffmann, Juan Andres Silva, Jose Miguel Silva, Augustin Silva. World Premiere.

NOT ENOUGH INFO (3):

Mother of George / U.S.A. (Director: Andrew Dosunmu, Screenwriter: Darci Picoult) — A story about a woman willing to do anything and risk everything for her marriage. Cast: Isaach De Bankole, Danai Gurira, Tony Okungbowa, Yaya Alafia, Bukky Ajayi.

May in the Summer / U.S.A., Qatar, Jordan (Director and screenwriter: Cherien Dabis) — A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. Cast: Cherien Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, Alexander Siddig.

Upstream Color / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Shane Carruth) — A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. Cast: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION (4):

Circles / Serbia, Germany, France, Croatia, Slovenia (Director: Srdan Golubovic, Screenwriters: Srdjan Koljevic, Melina Pota Koljevic) — Five people are affected by a tragic heroic act. Twenty years later, all of them will confront the past through their own crises. Will they overcome guilt, frustration and their urge for revenge? Will they do the right thing, at all costs? Cast: Aleksandar Bercek, Leon Lucev, Nebojsa Glogovac, Hristina Popovic, Nikola Rakocevic, Vuk Kostic. World Premiere.

Houston / Germany (Director and screenwriter: Bastian Gunther) — Clemens Trunschka is a corporate headhunter and an alcoholic. Drinking increasingly isolates him from his life and leads him away from reality. While searching for a CEO candidate in Houston, his addiction submerges him into his own darkness. Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Garret Dillahunt, Wolfram Koch, Jenny Schily, Jason Douglas, Jens Münchow. World Premiere.

Metro Manila / United Kingdom, Philippines (Director: Sean Ellis, Screenwriters: Sean Ellis, Frank E. Flowers) — Seeking a better life, Oscar and his family move from the poverty-stricken rice fields to the big city of Manila, where they fall victim to various inhabitants whose manipulative ways are a daily part of city survival. Cast: Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega. World Premiere.

There Will Come a Day / Italy, France (Director: Giorgio Diritti, Screenwriters: Giorgio Diritti, Fredo Valla, Tania Pedroni) — Painful issues push Augusta, a young Italian woman, to doubt the certainties on which she has built her existence. On a small boat in the immensity of the Amazon rain forest, she faces the adventure of searching for herself. Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Anne Alvaro, Pia Engleberth. World Premiere.

“More often than not, Guillermo del Toro sympathizes with the monsters more than any of the ‘regular’ humans who appear in the films,” writes Hitfix’s Drew McWeeny. “No doubt that was one of the things that drew him to Mama, a project that began as a short film and that is now a full-length feature starring Jessica Chastain. While the titular specter is creepy and at times very threatening, there’s a sadness that ultimately defines who or what Mama really is, and that seems more important than the scares.

“It’s an interesting choice considering how often modern horror films seem to exist merely to service cheap shock gags, but Del Toro is nothing if not a lover of the classic tropes of the genre. His movie The Devil’s Backbone is a good example of a ghost story that has more on its mind than just SCARE SCARE SCARE SCARE, and his movie Pan’s Labyrinth may include monsters and supernatural landscapes, but it’s hardly an empty thrill ride.”

If you can pick out little mistakes in a short little clip like this, what hope does the movie have as a whole? Lindsay Lohan is trying to call someone or find out something that James Deen would be pissed about if he knew, hence the three or four concerned looks. But imagine how much more interesting the scene would be if we knew Deen was awake the whole time, and when he busts her he says something pithy and cool instead of yelling at the top his lungs…right?