After the interview, I saw Casino Jack and the United States of Money, directed by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side). It confirmed something I've believed for a while: lobbying is nothing more than bribery, and the biggest corporations control the country.
If you don't already hate Tom Delay or Jack Abramoff, this movie will make you hate them. One of the most disturbing things I learned was about the sweat shops in Saipan and the Northern Mariana Islands. They made clothes that said "Made in the USA" (because the islands are a commonwealth in political union with the United States), but the companies there are exempted from federal immigration and labor laws. The workers there were paid next to nothing, worked 18 hour days, and they were sometimes locked in the factories and chained to their workstations.
Human rights groups were investigating and in order to shut them up, Abramoff and the company bribed a bunch of congressmen there. They brought them to the island, wined and dined them, and gave them a tour of the facility, where of course they found no violations. The company knew they were coming. Only one congressman bothered to actually talk to the workers, and the stuff he learned confirmed all the violations. But because the congressmen and lobbyists care more about money (campaign contributions) than they do about human rights, the factories continued to operate.
Enough depressing politics. The movie is one everyone should see, so more people understand how our government works. But most people are not interested in the subject, and even if they were, the movie is hard to sit through. It is too long and gives us way too much information. It didn't feel as focused as Gibney's previous documentaries. It's one of those that I give 4 stars for the subject matter's importance, but only 2 stars for the actual movie.
After that movie I decided to go check out Variety's 10 Directors to Watch. It was an event where they were going to give Phillip Seymour Hoffman an award. I had received an e-mail telling me about the event, and the e-mail said nothing about RSVP or credentials. But when I showed up at the event (which was located at Deer Mountain Resort), they said I wasn't on the list so I couldn't cover it. Thanks a lot, Variety!
Since that was a bust, and I missed the chance to see any movies for a couple hours, I decided to go cover the post-film Q and A of The Runaways. That's the movie about Joan Jett's first band. At the Q & A I saw Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, and writer/director Floria Sigismondi. They didn't have much to say other that how wonderful everyone was to work with. It was interesting to see how shy and nervous Kristen Stewart was, and how confident Dakota Fanning was (in person and on stage, I mean). Unfortunately I haven't seen the movie yet.
The last thing I did was attend the big Canadian party at Shobu's restaurant on Main Street. Since there are so many Canadian films at Sundance this year, they wanted to have a party with all the Canadian filmmakers. I hung out for an hour or so and got to talk to some nice people. The best exchange I had was with Gabriel Caldwell, Jesse Clark, and Enzo Zanatta. Their short film, Latte America, is about a country where coffee is illegal, and the entire movie was filmed in one take, performed in reverse. Here are all the Canadian filmmakers.
As the week goes on, I really need to see more movies. So far I am averaging 1.3 movies a day, but I didn't go up there at all on Saturday. We shall see what tomorrow brings.
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