Sunday Sundance round-up

It's 2 a.m. again after another day of many movies, so here's a quick rundown of what I've seen and what people are talking about:

"Half Nelson" - a solid indie drama about an inner-city junior high teacher (Ryan Gosling) who's both a gifted educator and a drug addict, and the 13-year-old student (Shareeka Epps) who discovers his secret and befriends him. A lot of people loved this film and there were rumors that at least two companies were bargaining for it (or, alternately, looking to sign up director Ryan Fleck), but the performances by Gosling and striking newcomer Epps are the best things about this earnest, harrowing, occasionally schematic character study of two lost souls. The implicit message here seems to be that having parents who were unsuccessful leftists will make you a junkie, but that can't be right.

"The Illusionist" - What on earth is this doing at Sundance? A lushly filmed period drama about magic and revenge set in late-19th century Vienna, it's the antithesis of the scrappy, willfully hip features and documentaries that define the festival. Oh, right, Paul Giamatti's in it - the actor's such an indie-film godhead at the moment that any film he makes instantly qualifies. He's a gruff, hammy hoot as Chief Inspector Uhl, head bloodhound for the evil Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and implacable foe of the celebrated illusionist Eisenheim (Edward Norton wearing an industrial-strength goatee). Somehow Jessica Biel fits in here, too, as Sophie, Countess of Teschen. Yes, it's a big old piece of cheese but it's watchable and fun, and Giamatti is clearly in on the joke. I'm not sure that director Neil Burger is, though.

"The Science of Sleep" - the much-anticipated new film by Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), who seems to have set out to prove he could make a Charlie Kaufman movie without a Charlie Kaufman script. Close enough for horseshoes - "Sleep" is probably the film I've enjoyed most of all the ones I've seen at Sundance so far. What plot there is concerns a man-child named Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) who falls in love with the free spirit next door (Charlotte Gainsbourg) only to be driven from her by his own insecurities. Really, though, it's about our dreams and inner fantasy lives and the way they rule our waking hours. Lots of sight gags and extremely funny flights of fancy, and the two leads are endearing, but the film is much less structured than "Eternal Sunshine." Instead, the reference points are "Amelie" and the early, playful Godard, and that ain't bad at all. I loved this quirky little romance and hope you get to see it soon.

"The Foot Fist Way" - a midnight comedy about a pottymouthed small-town Tae Kwon Do teacher (Danny McBride, coming on like Billy Bob Thornton's chunky cousin) and his struggles with his students, his trampy wife, and the Hollywood action star who comes to town. Made in Concord, NC, by hometown director Jody Hill, it's a labor of rude, crude love, and the bellylaughs come fast enough to disguise the thinness of the material. Playing a potbellied legend in his own mind, McBride is fearless and the film's a cute low-rent diversion, less stylized than "Napoleon Dynamite" but in the same general chicken-neck of the woods (albeit with much rougher language).

I'm also hearing very good things about "Come Early Morning," the directorial debut of actress Joey Lauren Adams ("Chasing Amy") that stars Ashley Judd, and the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us," about the lost boys of Sudan. Two movies that made a splash at Toronto last fall, the outback western "The Proposition" and the acerbic comedy "Thank You For Smoking," are also finding new converts.

In general, though, the deal-making is soft this year and there's a general sense that the best movies are good without being great. But it's early yet, and tomorrow it could all change again.