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Classified s a r R e c o r You'll find Hie Park Record and the classifieds on the internet at WWW.NeWSChoice.com Free Twin Prints Every Tuesday & Thursday Locally owned and operated Professional Color Processing Friendly, .Quality Service 1S90 Bonanza Drive Park City, UT 64060 601-655-0400 . Park City Plaza (next to Mtn. Chicken) I I i$2 Special processing Special ii Off Am AY1D Hi 1 7 I ni nnlv Some independent filmmakers at Sundance say: "Isn't it romantic?' PARK CITY, Utah (AP) The often dark, despairing and edgy world of independent film looks as if it's undergone megadoses of antidepressants, yielding a batch of upbeat movies with the sunny sensibilities of studio work. Amid frequently stormy skies and the occasional broody film, the mood at the Sundance Film Festival was remarkably sunny, with romantic comedies dominating dominat-ing the cinematic landscape. The good cheer was evident in the screwball-reminiscent titles of several of the festival's most talked-about films: "Next Stop, Wonderland," "The Misadventures of Margaret" and "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss." Many of these romances differ in ways both subtle and profound from Hollywood's big-ticket blockbusters. The protagonists might be gay, the messages might be ambivalent, the ever-afters might not necessarily be happily. Yet the trend toward tidiness is unmistakable: Miramax Films, the leading independent distributor, distribu-tor, insisted the writer-director of "Hav Plenty" shoot a new ending to his movie, even though the film's whole point is that Lee Plenty and Haviland Savage should not end up in each other's arms. The flood of peppy pictures follows Sundance lineups considered consid-ered too nihilistic for audiences and film buyers alike. In past years, many, moviegoers moviego-ers walked out of such off-putting films as "Clean Shaven," "God's Lonely Man" and "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist." The 1998 movies are typically far more palatable. As is always the case in the film world, the shift can be traced back to the marketplace. Consider two of last year's Sundance alumni: Ticket buyers certainly sampled the misogyny of "In the Company of Men," but the turnout was exponentially bigger for "The Full Monty." "Two years ago, almost every film was bleak you had the story of whiskey-slugging fathers presented by black-and-blue directors," says Paul Schwartzman, a Los Angeles talent tal-ent agent and longtime Sundance visitor. "There was nothing to buy except the romantic comedy 'The Brothers McMuIlen' Bleakness burned out and humor worked. Who wouldn't want to make romantic comedies after that," he said. The next question, of course, is what role independent filmmakers film-makers should play in the genre. Working without the money or supervision of the big studios is supposed to be a liberating experience, expe-rience, one in which dynamic storytellers sto-rytellers are free to challenge convention and take creative gambles. But how do you make artistic leaps with the romantic-comedy net below you? Brian Skeet, the writer-director of "The Misadventures of Margaret," chose to turn back the clock, building his romantic comedy on the foundations of 1940s movies, where the woman was smart and controlled her own destiny, rather than just sat around waiting for the right guy to walk through the door. " "When 1 first tried to make this, people did not want to make a movie about a smart woman," Skeet says. Producers were even more nervous about the idea that BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND... All-You-Can-Eat Crab Fest! Monday-Tuesda-'Wedneirlay - BAKER STREET RESTAURANT ; 333 MAIN STREET Reservations Suggested 655-8655 lb Grill & Pub We'll pa for ijour ni "NEW Bt IMPROVED" HAPPENI Main t free!' moil entertaining LarlenJe including Park City'f newet tupernero - cozy man ier, 1 FEEL. A UWT OF FOUL EVILNESS v- TKROU6M th BAftfAUDA TRIANGLE.' -t rmvuuj MOST SEIMICH OUT AN" - :1 THURS. Bt FRI. JAN 29, 30 SKY BOP FLY ACID JAZZ SAT. JAN 31 HIGHWATER PANTS ' NO COVER BEFORE 9:30PM! FRI. & SAT. FEB 6, 7 CHIEF BROOM ORIGINAL GROOVE MUSIC FROM BOULDER, CO. visit our web site: citysearch.comslcthe cozy OPEN DAILY AT 4PM 649-6038 438 MAIN ST., PARK CITY, UT. A PRIVATE CLUB FOR MEMBERS 14 a married woman (played in the film by Parker Posey) would initiate ini-tiate an affair. "People would say, 'Why can't Margaret be a man?" People can be comfortable seeing Michael Douglas having an affair with Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction," but they're uncomfortable with a woman seemingly happy in a marriage going off and having an affair," Skeet says. "People would say a happily married woman would never have an affair. And a lot of my female friends would say, 'Yeah, she would'" Like other independent filmmakers film-makers toying with the romantic-comedy romantic-comedy genre, Skeet chose not to wrap his movie's final frames into a neat bow: The audience can"t be sure if this marriage will work out. The same is true for "Next Stop, Wonderland," which Miramax bought early in the festival. fes-tival. "Part of the idea was two characters char-acters whose paths cross and the various mechanisms through which they don't meet," says Brad Anderson, who directed and co-wrote the film about a nightshift nurse's search for companionship. com-panionship. "We didn't want to play into too many of the genre rules but we wanted to flirt with them. There are melancholic moments that stray away from the formula." Anderson and co-writer Lynn Vaus also didn't bring together their protagonists until the film's closing moments. The lead characters char-acters in Tommy O'Haver's "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" certainly like each other. But is there more to it than that? The movie features Sean Hayes as Billy Collier, a gay photographer smitten with a stunning model named Gabriel. The two are fast friends, and Gabriel agrees to pose for Billy's chaste re-creations of famous Hollywood romantic images. But is Gabriel gay? Is Billy chasing, after someone who in the most definitive way is unavailable? "The movie is inherently going to read as political because the protagonist is gay," O'Haver says. "But I didn't think about politics while I was making it. It's about experience it's about something I've been through. I tried to stick with a story that has likable characters and a sense of suspense: Where will their relationship rela-tionship end up?" "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss,". O'Haver hopes, will appeal to audiences both gay and straight who know about chasing the wrong person. "I do like to think of Billy as a gay Everyman. He's an ordinary guy ... but he's also a romantic. I hope that sense of romance will appeal to everybody." every-body." Despite its new ending, "Hav Plenty" is perhaps the Sundance film that most challenges the rules of romantic comedy. Lee Plenty, played by the film's writer and director, Chris Cherot, is a slacker-writer on a holiday weekend week-end with Haviland Savage's family fami-ly and friends. Plenty and Savage are attracted to and repulsed by each other. "This is about two people who should be together who don't get together for very silly reasons." Cherot says. "They deserve to be together togeth-er whether they get together or not." After Miramax bought the film last year, Chairman Harvey Weinstein urged Cherot to somehow some-how bring Plenty and Savage together. His new ending, with a wink to the audience, suggests Cherot doesn't really believe in the resolution. Which isn't to say he doesn't believe in making movies about romance. "Romance, more than violence vio-lence and even sex, is the universal univer-sal emotion we all understand and all feel," Cherot says. "Not everyone knows what it's like to shoot a gun, but we all know what it's like to be in love." Please slow down while driving through the scenic streets of Park City. And, please do not drink and drive. HAPPY NEW YOU! r.. . . J,AllfLA1A vv i iy puy up iu ?g,jgv ciiewiieic; '995 (or first 250 grafts Thru Jan 31, 1998. New patients only. Not good with other offers. 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