Holy Rollers

Holy Rollers is a movie about a Hassidic Jew falling into the wrong
crowd in an attempt to raise his standard of living so that he can
continue in the Hassidic tradition. This is a boy who works in his
fathers textile shop and is very devout. He is going into an arranged
marriage but is cancelled due to his perceived lower standard. He
falls into a Hassidic drug ring led by an Israeli drug kingpin.
Through the course if this movie the boy grows in his role as mule/
bookeeper until he gets "too smart" and is set up by the kingpin. Not
unexpectedly he attempts to return to his Hassidic ways. The acting is
pretty good - no award winning performances. Overall it was
entertaining and worth seeing. I am not sure it was a story that
needed to be told - I say this because it was a film inspired by
actual events. It is not a Hassidic version of "Blow" but a story of
going astray and finding out for yourself that you need to be helped
to get back on your path.

Waiting for Holy Rollers

Hesher

Hesher was definitely the high point to date for the films we have
seen here this year. It is a story about a father and son who deal
with the death of their wife/mother in very different ways. Thrown
into the mix is Hesher, aptly played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, a
nihilistic metal head who does what he wants when he wants. Also in
this film is Natalie Portman who plays a minor but meaningful role as
a means of transformation for the young boy. The young boy is played
by newcomer Piper Laurie, who shows the instantaneous emotions only
young children can but with measured pain behind his eyes the entire
time. It was a great film that makes me believe JGL is turning into a
character actor not unlike Ron Perlman but able to have a much larger
range. The cater in this film is played by Rainn Wilson, completely
breaking from anything we have seen him do before by offering a
soulful performance of a broken man. I highly recommend this movie and
I hope it wins the Sundance 2010 Audience Award!

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Waiting for Hesher

Lovers of Hate

Lovers of Hate was one of the least enjoyable films here at the
festival that we have seen so far. It is a movie about a man with self
destructive behaviors that lost his wife and who is struggling to
succeed at anything. His ex wife and brother get together for a
weekend getaway and the self destructive brother invisibly crashes
their party. There are some great comedic reactions to what
transpires, but overall there is a definite creepiness vibe throughout
the movie. I hope to have a more thorough review of this movie in the
coming weeks howeer I do not wish to spend the energy writig it now as
it was not that good.

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Lovers of Hate

Waiting in a packed line for Lovers of Hate. A movie about a two
couples sharing a cabin where one may or may not be sleeping with the
others wife. More to come later!