Sundance 2012 Round-Up

28) Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012) Dir: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim Date Released: March 2, 2012 Date Seen: January 20, 2012 Rating: 2.5/5

29) Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012) Dir: Lee Toland Krieger Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 21, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

30) Filly Brown (2012) Dir: Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 21, 2012 Rating: 1.5/5

31) Robot and Frank (2012) Dir: Jake Schreier Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 22, 2012 Rating: 3/5

32) For Ellen (2012) Dir: So Yong Kim Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 22, 2012 Rating: 2.25/5

33) Red Hook Summer (2012) Dir: Spike Lee Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 22, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

34) Smashed (2012) Dir: James Ponsoldt Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 23, 2012 Rating: 2.25/5

35) The Surrogate (2012) Dir: Ben Lewin Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 24, 2012 Rating: 3.5/5

36) John Dies at the End (2012) Dir: Don Coscarelli Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 24, 2012 Rating: 2/5

37) Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012) Dir: Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 25, 2012 Rating: 2.75/5

38) V/H/S (2012) Dir: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West and Adam Wingard Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 25, 2012 Rating: 3/5

39) Keep the Lights On (2012) Dir: Ira Sachs Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 26, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

40) Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) Dir: Benh Zeitlin Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 26, 2012 Rating: 4/5

41) Wrong (2012) Dir: Quentin Dupieux Not Yet Released Date Seen: January 27, 2012 Rating: 3.25/5

My 2012 Sundance Film Festival coverage, by outlet:

Esquire: here, here, here, here, here and here.

The Playlist: here, here, here, here and here.

Slant Magazine: here, here, here, here, here and here.

378) Nights and Weekends (2008)

378) Nights and Weekends (2008) Dir: Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig Date Released: October 2008 Date Seen: November 1, 2009 Rating: 4/5

Save for its redundant coda of an ending, Nights and Weekends is as completely charming and absorbing as it is because of how it perfectly expresses its heroine's need for intimacy. Co-directors, co-writers and co-stars Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig whittle down Mattie's (Gerwig) attempts to get closer to James (Swanberg) into episodes that miraculously gel together gracefully and economically. The best part about the film is that unlike most "Mumblecore" or even "End of a Relationship" melodramas, you get to feel Mattie's fears of incompatibility with James beyond their tentative conversations. By which I mean, there's a carnal component to the film that is neither guarded nor exploitative. We see both her flesh and his from focused, mid-level angles that ache with a frustrated kind of longing. If anything, the fact that we see her skin more than his should seem more than a little peculiar considering that James is continually distant and ungiving. But it never does: the camera doesn't ever discriminate between the pair's bodies, making the impossibility of their union that much more frustrating. Bittersweet and funny, in its own modest way.