Who knew advertising was so inspired?

Art and Copy is a perfectly fine documentary from director Doug Pray. But as someone who works in the ad business, I’m not buying it.

Sure the campaigns featured in the movie are brilliant. They’re fun, human, even emotional. So it’s worth seeing the movie just for the advertising fun. The titans of advertising featured in the movie are legendary—it was really interesting to hear their thoughts on the industry. But advertising is nowhere near as altruistic as these folks would like us to believe.

This is a lopsided documentary. And when you learn that the movie was produced by The One Club as a tribute to advertising’s greatest leaders, it’s easy to understand why the movie is so worshipful. This is the advertising industry masturbating—stroking itself for its own pleasure.

I think people will find Art and Copy enjoyable. I just wish it presented a more realistic view of advertising and how it affects our lives.

Have I got a sponsorship idea for Kleenex®.

I’m not a fan of movies about current wars. I think it’s hard to make an objective movie when you’re still in the middle of a confrontation. So even though it involves the war in Iraq, I decided to see Taking Chance by director Ross Katz because the story involves my home state of Wyoming. (Interestingly, Katz has been involved with two Wyoming-based movies at Sundance. The Laramie Project premiered in Salt Lake City several years ago.)

This war movie avoided many pitfalls by not making political statements. Taking Chance is based on the story of Lt. Col. Michael R. Stroble (ret.). He volunteered to escort the remains of 19-year-old Chance Phelps who was killed while serving in Iraq. Stroble travels with body from the national morgue to Dubois, Wyoming.

Taking Chance is a powerful film no matter how you feel about the war. It’s a reminder that the cost of war is high, a fact that’s easy to forget when the horrors of the war touch very few of us. The film inspires strong emotions right from the beginning—and those emotions never let up. A constant hum of sniffles and muffled sobs filled the theater. A lot of people could have used a tissue or two.

The movie is a tribute to the beauty of the traditions of the American military. It’s also an insider’s look at military traditions that are seldom seen by civilians. I learned a lot from this movie. One woman in the audience admitted that her son had been killed and Iraq and took great comfort seeing the respect with which fallen soldiers are handled.

The handsome performance of Kevin Bacon in the lead role is powerful. Bacon never over performs. He simply let’s the story unfold around him. Bacon was at the screening as was the director and Stroble. Stroble is strikingly handsome, articulate, and soft spoken. This is one of the few times the real person was more attractive than the idealized Hollywood star. It was no surprise that Stroble was the author of such a sensitive story.

The film isn’t perfect. There are moments when it becomes overly sentimental. But it’s easy to overlook the flaws thanks to the beautiful production values, the well-told story, and the strong performances.

It just wouldn’t be Sundance without a couple of dysfunctional families.

Lymelife from director Derick Martini follows two less-than-perfect families largely from the point of view of the teenagers. Sure we’ve seen this story before. But writer Derick and Steven Martini add enough twists, that it feels fresh.

Having spent my childhood in Wyoming, I loved the panic associated with ticks. I’ve been there. I also liked the hunting themes which also felt familiar.

Lymelife also benefits from some strong performances. Rory Culkin in the lead role is good but Kieran Culkin is even better as the older brother. And is there a better bad dad than Alec Baldwin. No matter how evil he gets, you still want to like him.

Tension builds throughout the movie culminating in a final scene that induced gasps from the audience. This may not be the most inventive movie at Sundance, but I liked it for it’s solid acting and well-formulated story.

A movie about gay porn without the gays or the porn.

Director Lynn Shelton is great. I’m actually starting to believe that Sundance really is returning to its old-school support of independent film. Shelton makes it clear that she makes films as an artist. Even her way of funding films is more closely related to non-profit arts efforts than traditional film funding.

Humpday is her third film and the first to screen at Sundance. Here’s the premise. Two college buddies reconnect after not having seen each other for years. One is a free-spirited, wanna-be artist who’s spent plenty of time in Mexico exploring his creative side. The other has gone mainstream; getting married, buying a home, and embracing suburbia. On a drunken night with some sexually-fluid women, the two decide to participate in an amateur porn festival. But they realize that in order to compete, they must do something ground breaking. They decide that ground breaking equals two straight men having sex with each other.

OK, the plot is unlikely. Even the director admitted that. But somehow, it works and Humpday is believable. The director noted that while every scene (except for the last) was carefully planned, the dialogue was mostly improvised. And it was surprisingly natural. In fact, the natural dialogue made the movie. And the wife’s struggle with her husband’s sudden irresponsibility was fantastic.

Spoiler alert: I’m about to reveal the ending of the movie. The final scene takes place in a hotel room where the two male leads are supposed to film their man-on-man action. (Keep in mind this is the only scene in the movie the director chose not to script; she just let the actors decide the outcome.) In the end, the two men can’t go through with it.

Now before I get all critical on this film, I just want to say I really liked it. It was fresh, funny, and presented a new point of view. But I think it’s pretending to be something it’s not. The movie wants to be ground breaking in it’s liberation of sexuality. But in the end it just presents the same old clichés. Women who are sexually fluid, who are willing to have sex with other women and with men, are not only OK, but kinda hot. Two men having sex is uncomfortable, squirmy, even gross.

I’ve made this argument to other men who saw the movie and they disagree. But the movie sets up a different ending. One of the male characters admits that earlier in his life he had an experience where he was sexually aroused by another man. The other male lead is a freewheeling, open-minded artist who seems intent on finally following through with something. And throughout the movie, the chemistry between the two is sexual even though it’s obvious they’re straight. Yet when they kiss, the characters disappear and are replaced by their straight actors. We’re suddenly aware it’s impossible for two straight men to get naked and get it up. For me, that was a cop out.

Sundance surprise no 113: a chunk of clay can make me cry.

This year, the Sundance opening film was a first in more than one way. It was the first Australian film and the first animated film to ever open Sundance. The movie was Mary and Max from writer/director Adam Elliott. Loosely based on Elliott’s own 20-year correspondence with a pen pal, this movie tells the story of two misfits living on opposite sides of the planet. Mary Dinkle lives in Australia and through an act of happenstance, begins a correspondence with Max Horowitz, who lives in New York City. The film covers their relationship as it unfolds over multiple decades.

The stop-motion animation is stunning. As he introduced the film, the director noted that no computer generated effects were used in the film—it was made entirely “in camera.” A fact that seems impossible once you see the movie. (Elliott also noted that the water effects in the movie were made using over “ 60 tubes of sexual lubricant.”)

Even more brilliant than the animation is the art direction. Australia is cast as a land of browns (Mary’s favorite color) and sepia tones. While New York is a city of cold grays. The hand-drawn nature of many elements in the film and the stylized characters added to the melancholy beauty of the film.

This is like no other animated movie I’ve seen. Sure there are plenty of things to make you laugh. But there are also many darker moments filled with sadness. In the end, the movie provides a ray of hope for anyone who’s ever felt like an outcast. And I’ll admit, I had to wipe away a tear or two.

The Sundance Tattoo.

I’m seeing more movies than ever at this year’s Sundance. And that leads to what I’m affectionately calling the Sundance Tattoo. Anyone who’s gone to a Sundance screening knows that every time you go to a movie, you get your hand stamped with some random shape. And when you see lots of movies, you’re hand gets pretty colorful. Sure as you shower and wash your hands, some of the stamps start to fade. But you still build the mark of a true indie film fan. So here’s the start of my Sundance Tattoo.

Note to self: don’t dance in Afghanistan!

From the World Documentary Competition comes Afghan Star by first-time director Havana Marking. Once again Sundance delivers with an engaging documentary that I would likely not have seen if it weren’t for the festival.

Afghan Star follows several contestants as they compete in Afghanistan’s answer to American Idol. I got a lot from this film. First, if you want to feel really grateful to be living here in the U.S., see this movie. For a bunch of reasons, this film inspires gratitude for what you’ve got. Other Things I learned from this film:

• Religion really needs to get over the relegation of women to second-class citizens. This show confronts the issue in startling ways. But it also reminded me that we in the U.S. still have a long way to go before religion and the rest of society put men and women on equal footing.

• Don’t dance in Afghanistan. In the not too distant past music, dance, and TV were outlawed in Afghanistan. And they’re still really freaked out by the dancing. When one of the female contestants gets voted off the show, she sings her final song and dances without a scarf covering her head. The reaction is beyond belief. Her fellow contestants are horrified as they watch the performance back stage. And that’s just the beginning. Religious and government leaders are incensed and even men from the woman’s own region call for her death. Yes, I said death! It was hard to watch some of these scenes.

• Even Afghanistan has a bad music fashion history. Before the religious radicals took such a strong role in Afghanistan, the placed looks surprisingly European, complete with 80s bands wearing clothes that would embarrass even the most embarrassing American fashions from the same decade.

This movie is a little rough around the edges, but when you consider it was just the first-time director and a photographer who captured the story, it’s understandable. If you get the chance, see this show. As Americans, I think we need to be more aware of how difficult it can be to live in other parts of the world.