Sundance Day 6 -- Mayday, mayday

It seems surreal to be in Park City given what's going on elsewhere: the tragic passing of Heath Ledger (see below), the studiously wacky Academy Award nominations ("There Will be Blood" gets 8 nominations?! And not one for Jonny Greenwood?!?)

But here I am, in a town without pity or much in the way of compelling movies, it seems. The first film one screens in any festival is almost always pot-luck, and it usually turns out to be the worst thing you see. All I can say in the case of "Pretty Bird" is that it had better be. Written and directed by the engagingly rumpled young actor Paul Schneider ("Lars and the Real Girl," "All the Real Girls"), this strident comedy about a deluded entrepeneur (Billy Crudup) trying to invent a rocket belt with the help of a paranoid scientist (Paul Giamatti) is notable for having no real people in it whatsoever. The stars must have realized they've been dealt a set of mannerisms rather than actual characters, so they mug endlessly and mirthlessly. Schneider has a tin ear for dialogue, too, and even a reliable farceur like SNL's Kristen Wiig flails. It's the kind of precious oddball whimsy that Sundance used to take to the bank and that here reaches a thundering dead end. It's not a good feeling to start a festival with what feels like the death of indie cinema.

I'm going to see "Choke," based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel, followed by "Sugar," about which I'm hearing very good things. Fingers crossed.