The Hot Button by David Poland

It's the half-way point. Made it. Perhaps that middle of the festival reality is why today went right down the middle. Actually, today did have the worst of times, but not the best of times. And there was a certain overreaching calm that carried the day, so I am thankful and looking forward to the next five days of more movies, then interviews, chats and chasing talent.

But let's take a look at the buzz (there finally is some) before getting to my day. First, I heard a rumor on a bus (that's the primary mode of transport here at Sundance and a great part of what establishes the community feeling here) that at the end of a screening of a movie called Death: A Love Story, just as a man in the film flatlined, someone in the audience suffered a heart attack. The person on the bus claimed she was just coming from the screening and that the filmmaker Q&A continued and the paramedics came and took the man away as the Q&A ended. Sounds like a stunt to me. How about you? In other news, Mike Figgis told me that Robert Carlyle actually dropped out of Figgis' next film without explanation. So, when I mentioned Carlyle's role in Bond, he was surprised and then a little "pissed." Not that Carlyle had taken his opportunity, but that he hadn't called and explained. There is one more piece of gossip, about Val Kilmer, who came and went without calling me. (Ha, ha.) But I will leave that to the Reader of the Day.

The other buzz of the day came as the first film sold at the festival. The highly anticipated sale was Happy, Texas, a comedy about a gay couple and a beauty contest in Texas. The figure being thrown around was $6 million. Naturally, the Monday afternoon press screening became the hottest press screening ticket of the festival so far, as word got out. We are such whores. I didn't go, but I would have. The Source, a Chuck Workman documentary on the Beat Generation (more on the film below) was sold to PBS' "American Masters," but there are about three people who believe the deal wasn't made long before the festival. Definitely sold here was The Blair Witch Project, the psuedo-documentary "by" three filmmakers looking for the truth behind the legend of the fictional Blair Witch and finding more and less than they bargained for. (More below on this one, too.) This one sold for $1 million, according to my sources, to Artisan Entertainment. Daily Variety writes about being a score for Artisan, grossing $3 million domestic. If they are satisfied with that kind of return, Blair Witch will be another score. If not, they may be disappointed. But it's hard to see how they can lose with a million dollar purchase of almost anything.

Variety has on their list of other potential buys: Trick, A Slipping Down Life, Getting to Know You and Judy Berlin. I have heard people talking about how beautiful A Slipping Down Life, starring Guy Pearce and Lili Taylor, is and how it made everyone cry. I've heard nice things about Getting to Know You, though nothing overwhelming. And I have not heard a single word about Trick. However, I went to see Judy Berlin just before writing the column tonight. More on that below. (Bet you saw that coming.)

So, I woke up at 8:00 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. interview with the group from Kill the Man. You know, another movie that was supposed to be featured at our chat but fell through. (Be prepared. This is a theme of the day.) I had met Luke Wilson before, and he's a great guy. So, I was happy to do the interview. But there was one problem: I hadn't seen the film and I was completely exhausted. It tuned out that I got not only Luke, but co-directors/screenwriters Tom Booker, Josh Malina (who you know from "Sports Night"). But this slight of this very nice guy is par for this course. I think they figured out that I hadn't seen the film by about two minutes in and did their best to fill in my gaps. I appreciate it and apologize to them, though I still think, thanks to their humor, that the interview went pretty well. Except for when I mentioned Drew to Luke. Oops. The coupling is no more, apparently. More apologies.

Next, since I was awake, I ran to the press screening of The Source. I was hoping for the best, but got the middle. The footage of the leaders of the Beat Generation (Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs and Cassidy, in particular) were fascinating to see. And let me take this time out to slam Peter Bart once again. Why here? Well, there was footage of the McCarthy hearings that remind one of just how absurd the comparison of the current impeachment trial of Bill Clinton to those hearings really is. This film shows the real horror of that event. Bart happened to do a column this week that covers the trial and now adds the Scopes Monkey Trial to the singularly stupid list of false comparisons. I think that whatever side of this you are on, the political effort to create villains on both sides is far more dangerous to our nation than either Clinton's misconduct or the effort to impeach him for it. Anyway, great footage, truly mediocre filmmaking. Maybe it's me, but with Hoop Dreams and Errol Morris' work (I haven't yet seen his film here at the feat, Mr. Death) and Ken Burns, I think the bar should be pretty high. For all of his skill in choosing footage, Workman is not a great cutting room artist. He never has been. But still, watch this one on PBS. You'll get more than you paid for. Unless, of course, you are the Carnegie Foundation.