Steeped for a few days in shameless showbiz hype, watching reel after endless celluloid reel, glimpsing the occasional celebrity, some are awed by it all.
Others are just, well . . . odd.And as always, the pictures at the Sundance Film Festival this year are like the people who show up - some upbeat and mainstream, others dark, unfathomable and eccentric.
Maybe the variety of entries was best critiqued by Laurentina Guidotti, producer of an Italian film noir showing at the fest, who said, "Some interesting, others less."
Indeed.
"I've never fainted before," said a woozy woman at the Park City Library Center who joined several others Wednesday in walking out of a screening of "Clean, Shaven," a study in grotesque, schizoid behavior.
"I'm finding a lot of nihilistic films and that makes me kind of sad," said Juliet Green, who works as a personal manager for actors in Los Angeles and attends the festival regularly. "There are some wonderfully talented filmmakers, but I wish there was a little more heart."
Among the dozens of young directors in town Wednesday was Roger Roberts Avary of Los Angeles, talking to reporters about his French-American movie, "Killing Zoe," which he dubbed "a cross between an exploitation film and a coffee-house film."
At high noon on Main Street, a man passed out fliers to a "wack-, wack-, wacky comedy" not even on the official Sundance roster but touted as "the first intelligent film about cannibalism."
"It's part `Oklahoma' and part `Friday the 13th,' " said the man.
Meanwhile, at the Morning Ray Cafe & Bakery across the street, a Hillary Clinton look-alike in a leopard-skin pillbox hat chatted over coffee with a pipe-smoker sporting dreadlocks.
Waiting in line for tickets at Z Place, Nelson Woss, an Australian scouting independently made movies for Universal Studios, had nothing but praise for local residents.
"I think the people here are very tolerant, putting up with so many weird and obnoxious filmmakers," he said.
Lounging in a nearby doorway, a nervous New Yorker who identified himself only as Phil said he couldn't allow much time for an interview.
"I don't know," he said. "Maybe a minute."
Other festival fans were less reserved.
During a question-and-answer session with Arthur Penn in which the famous director talked about his life and times, a man at the back of the room popped up to ask, "What do you think of Freud?"
Penn, briefly disconcerted by the query, wasted little time moving on to another topic.
Many festivalgoers demonstrate unusual culinary needs, said Melissa Hyde, a waitress at Texas Red's on Main Street.
"We get a lot of special ice-cube requests. They don't want any ice cubes or they want a few or they want a lot," said Hyde. "But they're nice."
Los Angeles producer Carl Bressler said the great appeal of Sundance is its blending of Hollywood and the heartland.
"People can come together without the normal trappings and you have no idea who I am. I might be a big guy, I might be a middle guy, I might be a little guy."
Murray and Arlene Rubenstein of New York said even though they aren't in the movie business and don't live for films, they planned their vacation around Sundance because they have a good friend in Utah and because there's nothing quite like the festival.
"We saw Andie MacDowell at a Japanese restaurant," said Arlene Rubenstein. "And Peter Yarrow - of Peter Paul and Mary - sat behind us in a theater."
"Yeah," said her husband. "I love this place."