You never know whom you'll be sitting with when you go to movies at the Sundance Film Festival.
You go to one film, and Spalding Gray is behind you. You go to another, and there's Steven Wright. At another you see Jeff Goldblum - and hope he doesn't sit in the seat in front of you.You might run into Cheryl Ladd. Gedde Watanabe. Faye Dunaway. Sara Gilbert. Jennifer Beals.
Most interesting for me was the premiere screening of the bizarre "silent" movie "The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez." After he introduced his motion-picture debut, avant-garde stage director Peter Sellars zoomed up the aisle and, to my surprise, sat down next to me.
He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, laughing and bouncing in his seat in the film's opening moments. I didn't want to be rude, so I stayed awake.
As festivals go, this was a good one, with some terrific movies.
Among the crowd-pleasers were the premiere films "Raise the Red Lantern," "Hear My Song," "Night on Earth," "Light Sleeper" and "Monster in a Box," along with the competition films "A Brief History of Time," "Brother's Keeper," "Finding Christa," "Gas, Food Lodging," "In the Soup," "Jumpin at the Boneyard," "Reservoir Dogs," "The Tune," "Waterdance" and "Zebrahead." (For competition winners, see A-1.)
Anyway, as yet another film festival slowly sinks into yet another Super Bowl Sunday, it's time to reflect on the past 11 days with bleary-eyed fondness.
Here, for better or worse, are some memorable moments:
Best slap to the tabloids: Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp, sitting together at the premiere of her new movie, "Night on Earth."
The Utah connection: The short film "Air Time," which played in the midnight screening program, "Shorts at Midnight," had a Provo native as its cinematographer, Bruce Douglas Johnson.
Best comment to the crowd by a filmmaker: Animator Bill Plympton, after hearing the laughter during the first public screening ever of his first feature, "The Tune": "You're a pretty sick audience."
Second best comment to the crowd by a filmmaker: Peter Sellars, introducing his film: "What's the plot? I don't know." And, when the film was over: "While you're watching it, you're really annoyed - it's hard to watch."
Third best comment to the crowd by a filmmaker: Quentin Tarantino, when asked after a screening of his movie if he would explain the title "Reservoir Dogs": "Huh-uh. Next?"
Most deft sidestep in a public interview: L.A. Times critic Kenneth Turan asked actor John Turturro to comment on directors he's worked for but told him he could plead the Fifth. The first name Turan tossed off was Michael Cimino, who directed Turturro in "The Sicilian." Turturro shot back: "I'll plead the Fifth."
Best surprise performances: TV stars Cheryl Ladd (a former "Charlie's Angel") and James Brolin (anyone remember "Hotel"?) turned in excellent performances in two competition dramas. Both were cast against type, Ladd as a bedridden emphysema victim in "Poison Ivy" and Brolin as a boozing absent father in "Gas, Food Lodging."
Worst publicity for a film: Drew Barrymore got sick after a screening of "Poison Ivy" and flew home.
Best screen credit: Jim Jarmusch, credited in "Night on Earth" as writer, director, producer and for doing the subtitles.
Biggest hair on film: The title character in "Johnny Suede."
Biggest hair in person: Jim Jarmusch.
Weirdest feeling: Getting your hand stamped at the Cinemas III Theaters if you left an auditorium. I felt like I was going into the parking lot at Lagoon.
Worst complaint: For the first time in several years, some showtimes were so close you couldn't get from one screening to another without being late for the second.
Best example of getting your priorities in order: Mark Frost. At the morning screening of "Storyville," it was announced that filmmaker Frost wouldn't be there for questions - he was off skiing.
Worst example of having priorities mixed up: Me. I skipped a posh party to review "Freejack."
Most disappointing dropout: Carly Simon, who was supposed to be at the opening night premiere of "This Is My Life" (she wrote the music). Simon canceled at the last minute due to her fear of flying.
Worst interview situation: The Mountain View Room at the Yarrow Hotel, where the interview subjects sat at a raised table, which caused them to look down on the journalists who were asking questions. Robert Redford tried to soften the situation during his press conference, saying, "The table was not our idea - it's not meant to intimidate you at all."
Worst fashion statement: Newspapers are using color more than ever, but, to the chagrin of photographers, an amazing number of celebrities at the festival wore black.
Best reason for someone to publish a thesaurus for screenwriters: Park City moviegoers probably heard the "F-word" more during the past 10 days than ever before. It was used as an adjective, adverb, noun - and occasionally even as an expletive - an amazing number of times in an amazing number of movies this year.