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SUNDANCE ‘09: Sunday, January 18th

Six movies today. Almost seven but I didn’t want to sell myself short with Tze Chun’s Children of Invention, which is one of my most anticipated films of this year’s festival. Therefore, I’m seeing that first thing Tuesday morning. Once again, I’m not overtly disliking anything I’m seeing—I still feel strongly that this year’s lineup is generally much stronger than last year’s—though I certainly haven’t had a Momma’s Man type of moment. But for now, here are yesterday’s all-the-way keepers:

Lunch Break — This is the first Sharon Lockhart film that I’ve seen, and it might very well end up being this year’s true revelation for me. A slowww-motion dolly through the longest warehouse ever in one unbroken, eighty-minute take? Yes, please! Lunch Break makes Bela Tarr look like Road Rules. There is a hypnotism at play here that gets a viewer’s brain working in an unusual way. As the film evolves and we approach the next worker in line, they start to blend in with the equipment and appear to be pieces of machinery themselves. I’m dying to know more about how Lunch Break was made. And I’m also finding it hard to leave that warehouse behind.

The Carter — Another one of my most anticipated films of the festival, Adam Bhala Lough delivers with this glimpse into the weed-clouded, syrup-glazed mind of Lil’ Wayne, who confirms his standing as one of modern music’s truest geniuses. Bhala Lough’s style is a perfect fit for Lil’ Wayne, who we get to see behind closed doors, recording-recording-recording (he says he records two new songs every day), getting interviewed, and performing to screaming fans all over the world. In some of those interviews, the The Carter has a Don’t Look Back feel (note to interviewers: don’t get too analytical about Wayne’s process or you’re out the door). My favorite moment might be when Wayne pantomimes without actually lip-synching–he’s too busy smoking weed–to a track that is blasting out of a stereo. Bhala Lough superimposes the track’s lyrics over the image, and the stream-of-consciousness lyrical flow confirms Wayne’s mad genius. I can’t wait to see this movie again.

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Michael Tully is an award-winning writer/director whose films have garnered widespread critical acclaim, his projects having premiered at some of the most renowned film festivals across the globe. He is also the former (and founding) editor of this site. In 2006, Michael's first feature, COCAINE ANGEL, chronicling a tragic week in the life of a young drug addict, world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film immediately solidified the director as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a reputation that was reinforced a year later when his follow-up feature, SILVER JEW, a documentary capturing the late David Berman's rare musical performances in Tel Aviv, world-premiered at SXSW and landed distribution with cult indie-music label Drag City. In 2011, Michael wrote, directed, and starred in his third feature, SEPTIEN, which debuted at the 27th annual Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects banner. A few years later, in 2014, Michael returned to Sundance with the world premiere of his fourth feature, PING PONG SUMMER, an ‘80s set coming-of-age tale that was quickly picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures. In 2018, Michael wrote and directed the dread-inducing genre film DON'T LEAVE HOME, which has been described as "Get Out with Catholic guilt in the Irish countryside" (IndieWire). The film premiered at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Cranked Up Films and Shudder.

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