Winter '08

...at the Sundance Film Festival with Krista and Sam. The Sundance resort and Park City are beautiful, situated high in the snowy, snowy mountains. It was cold but bearable- the excitement of the weekend kept the fires burning. We ate well and saw four compelling movies in the 3 days we were there. No, we didn't ski. No Bob sightings either, but we did see Quentin Tarantino. A quick review of the movies we saw:

A Japanese movie about stillness...zen-like and gorgeous filming, nice story with moments of humor; Dinner With The President, a documentary that converses with all strata of Pakistani society in trying to answer the question, 'what is democracy in Pakistan?' and gives a glimpse into Musharraf's thinking; Incendiary, about a terrorist attack in London that takes away a son and husband from a wife. Emotional, Michelle Williams was great. Dealt more with grief than anger, so I don't quite get the title.

Our last night there we saw Anywhere, USA, which won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for 'independent spirit. From the Sundance website: "the phrasing of the explanatory language in that award says almost everything you need to know about his film, and at the same time doesn't say nearly enough...Anywhere, U.S.A. feels more like a modern art project than a film. Haney-Jardine's film mixes striking still photos, text overlaid the images on the screen, a wry sense of the absurd in the everyday, the capacity to see the banal in the extraordinary, and the capacity to find the extraordinary in the every day." Quirky and funny but with depth.

All in all, we'd love to go back. Great atmosphere, lotsa places to eat and drink, beautiful scenery. Park City is like Manayunk, but more extensive. And expensive. Still, a great time.