This last weekend I had the chance to attend the ’08 Sundance Film Festival.  It was me, Jareth and my cousin (And student of the coveted “Corruption” program, wherein I warp the growing minds of youngsters) Ein.  It was actually sort of an accident, really.  I never had any intention of going to Sundance this year.  I was just looking up the release date of the film “Be Kind Rewind”, the new Michel Gondry picture show that I was looking forward to.  I found that it would be playing at the Tower Theater downtown only once this upcoming Saturday.  I was excited until I realized (Or rather, Jareth brought to my attention) that it was probably playing there as a part of Sundance.  Damn.  You have to get those tickets some 3 months in advance!

Ein was coming up to visit that weekend (In fact there was a miscommunication and Ein arrived at 2:00 in the morning, finding Jareth’s house locked tight.  So he called yours truly, waking me from a wonderful dream involving Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Ziyi Zhang) and I knew that he was also interested in seeing the movie.  I told him that I saw it was playing downtown and he beamed with joy.  He now had no other purpose in life other than seeing “Be Kind Rewind.”  

“Okay,” I said, “But you understand that this is a Sundance film, right?  We’ll have to get on a wait list and even then who knows if we’ll get in.”   But there was no detouring him.  You know how young boys are. “If worst comes to worst,” said Jareth, “We can always do a blow.”  “What?”  “You know…  You just find an alley somewhere and there you’ll find a dirty old man and he’ll say: ‘I’ll give you these tickets to “Be Kind Rewind” if you do some of this blow.’”  “I don’t think you know what that means.”  I said.  “Sure I do.  What’s not to understand?”  “Well,” I began, “Let’s start with grammar.”  A lengthy and completely asinine argument about the meaning of the term “Do a blow.”  I won’t bore you with the details.

So we headed up there and had just a lovely time.  We were able to get into the movie and get a meal (At the both memorable and forgettable “Barbacoa”) out of it too.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of me and Jareth’s first Sundance encounter…  Where lives flashed before eyes.  The reason we didn’t go again until 3 years later.

It was Sundance ’04.  First off, the last time and the year before the movies we’ve seen have all been playing downtown.  This is a good thing.  Seeing a movie in Park City itself?  Not so good.  Think of a Toyota Corolla, then add a snowstorm and mountain slopes.  That isn’t a good combination.

The movie we got tickets too (What was the only thing left available) was a collection of short films, brilliantly dubbed “Shorts Program VI.”  Hey, look…  I still have the ticket on my wall.  I’m sorry whether to be proud of that or ashamed.  Anyways…  The films were all highly disturbing.  They ranged from sickly man dying to strange avant-garde cruises to an urban form of jiggling one’s body called “Krumping” to Heroin addicts (Including overdoses and homo-erotic servitude).  Lovely, just lovely.

That isn’t the worst part though.  The worst part was the drive back home.  The snowstorm had gotten worse.  Jareth, who was driving, said that it was so bad you couldn’t see the cars in front of you.  I fell asleep (Mind you that the movies started at midnight, so all this occurred some time between 2:30 and 3:00) so all I remember is Jareth suddenly saying: “Hold on!” and I awoke to find that we had lost control and were spinning around in circles.  After what seemed like forever (But what must have, in actuality, been a few seconds) the car came out of it’s spin, heading straight for the cement divider.  The brakes final found solid ground and stopped us a foot before we hit.

I don’t remember what happened after that.  I’m sure that I laughed and Jareth shot me a sharp look.  Anyways, it just goes to show yah…  Don’t go to Park City during Sundance!!!

Love and Madness,
D. Bradford

p.s.-