How I Met Your Mother.<\/em> <\/p>\nIndie darling Elizabeth Olsen stands out for transforming a cookie-cutter role as na\u00efve college student Zibby into something altogether more compelling. But from the buzz at the festival \u2013 in the ladies\u2019, at least \u2013 it seems like Josh has a few admirers of his own. Good to know that sometimes the nice guys do win. <\/p>\n
Day two <\/strong><\/p>\nThe festival\u2019s second day felt a little like watching The Wire<\/em> boxset on the big screen. First, creator David Simon popped up in hard-hitting documentary The House I Live In<\/em>, and then Baltimore\u2019s mean streets made an appearance in coming-of-age drama LUV<\/em>. <\/p>\nThe House I Live In<\/em><\/p>\nIf you condensed the HBO epic into a two-hour documentary, you might come up with something like The House I Live In<\/em>. A sprawling, take-no-prisoners documentary that traces America\u2019s failed war on drugs, it took director Eugene Jarecki years to make. <\/p>\n\u201cI slammed my head into the wall for years, \u201c the veteran filmmaker told Wonderland<\/em>. \u201cMorning, noon and night, like I\u2019d never made a movie before.\u201d The sheer amount of effort shows \u2013 by the end of the film, you\u2019re ready to take to the streets. No wonder Jarecki was later swarmed by people demanding to know what they could do to help. <\/p>\nLUV<\/em><\/p>\nLUV<\/em> is a no less gritty proposition, though first-time director Sheldon Candis puts a romantic spin on it. \u201cIt\u2019s a tragically optimistic love fable between a boy and his uncle,\u201d he says. The director drew on his own childhood in Baltimore for the drama, following shy 11-year-old Woody as he gets schooled in the art of hustling from his ex-con uncle (played by Common). <\/p>\nThe film occasionally stretches the limits of credulity by indoctrinating Woody into a life of crime in under 24 hours, but a coming-of-age story ultimately lives and dies by the strength of its child actor. Luckily, Rainey, all wide-eyed vulnerability, is a revelation here. <\/p>\n
Shut Up And Play The Hits<\/em><\/p>\nAfter all that inner-city angst, thank the indie gods for Shut Up And Play The Hits<\/em>, the LCD Soundsystem doc that got people clapping along in the cinema. Fans piled into the sold-out screening for its British premiere to watch the concert film of the beloved rock band\u2019s final gig at Madison Square Garden. <\/p>\n\u201cThe day we did the location scout at Madison Square, Bon Jovi were in there and they had everything \u2013 cranes, dollies \u2013 the exact way we didn\u2019t want to shoot our show,\u201d says director Will Lovelace. <\/p>\n
Instead, Lovelace and co-director Dylan Southern gave their crew handheld cameras and instructed them to film the concert as if they were experiencing it as fans. <\/p>\n
The gambit pays off handsomely. Shut Up And Play The Hits <\/em>is as close to being at an LCD gig as you\u2019re ever going to get, with the added bonus of backstage footage and close-ups of Petunia, frontman James Murphy\u2019s French bulldog. (Cutest rock pet ever? We think so.) No wonder the crowd kept cheering long after the lights went on. <\/p>\nWords: Zing Tsjeng <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain might be gripped by the wettest drought in decades, but the rain didn\u2019t deter film buffs from turning up in droves for the first ever Sundance London film festival at the O2 arena. Wonderland joined them to see if the cinematic magic of Park City, Utah would translate to er, North Greenwich. For your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9416],"tags":[1472,1856,2216,2033,1793,2211,2215,1078,2047],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
REVIEW - Sundance London 2012 | Wonderland<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n