I'm an artist. Veteran Sundance filmmaker Richard Linklater, director of such films as Slacker and the commendable Before Sunrise , had two entries in this year's festival, one of which was Tape , shot in digital video and featuring stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, as well as Robert Sean Leonard. Set entirely in a motel room with a three-member cast, not only is the film annoying and monotonous but it also looks bad. The digital format lacks the beauty and dreaminess of film, and emphasizes imperfections in actors' skin and overall appearances. Sundance is no different.
Indies can be boring, pedestrian pieces of work, ill-conceived and poorly executed.
Others are simply too depressing, weird, or offensive to appeal to mass audiences. The woman next to me walked out. An Unfinished Symphony , by directors Bestor Cram and Mike Majoros. Although it drags in places, it's an interesting and thoughtful look back at Vietnam Veterans Against the War, containing some especially poignant 1971 footage of current Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Winning both the Dramatic Directing Award and the Dramatic Audience Award was Hedwig and the Angry Inch , director John Cameron Mitchell's screen version of his off-Broadway hit.