By Samir Mathur
This year, the Sundance Film Festival is taking some of its big-name films on the road for the first time. Last night, our very own Enzian was one of only nine theaters in the country chosen to play a title from the 2012 festival. ARBITRAGE (boy, that title is annoying and hard to say) received its world premiere in Park City on the 21st, and five nights later, it was playing here in Maitland. Not only that, but star Brit Marling (last seen in the award-winning 'Another Earth' ) was in the house to introduce and take questions afterwards. It was a great event, and hopefully Sundance Film Festival USA will bring more festival hits to us - it's always a frustratingly long wait between reading about the films in late January, and actually getting to see them, and many don't even make it here. (As far as I know, 'Tyrannosaur' and 'Pariah', two hotly-buzzed films from Sundance 2011, have never played in Central Florida.)
'Arbitrage' was acquired in Utah by Roadside Attractions and Lions Gate Films, so it should see a decent release sometime this year. I'm hesitant to write a full review of it here, just because it won't be out for a while, but let's just say that it's a slow potboiler where a billionaire played by Richard Gere is in some sort of corporate trouble which he's been trying to cover up. Additionally, he has a loving family and a sexy French mistress. The first twenty minutes play out kind of slowly, and I was worried that it'd be a fairly rote financial crimes/white collar crime piece, which I don't much care for. And then... BOOM! There's a fatal car accident, and the thing gets a lot more interesting. The film plays out as a study of a man who's desperately trying to keep many plates spinning, keep the right secrets from the right people, and do what he thinks is best for... himself? His family? His shareholders? The film is deliberately murky about where his strongest allegiances lie. Gere has never been better, and the strong supporting cast includes Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, and of course Brit Marling, who shares with Gere the film's most powerful scene.
The film will be here sometime this year, but until then, always keep an eye on Enzian's calendar. They've got amazing stuff all the time and that's why it's the greatest.