Smiling in the Dark

Much more twisted terrors await the rich, decadent figures in Tom Kalin's "Savage Grace," which was featured in the noncompetitive Premiere section, reserved for more experienced filmmakers. Kalin's first film since "Swoon," it's based on the true, grisly story of volatile, narcissistic socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore), wife of the heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune, Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane), and her unhealthily intense relationship with her beautiful, unstable homosexual son, Tony (brilliantly played by Eddie Redmayne). Kalin and screenwriter Howard Rodman, working from the book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, transport us from New York high society in the 1940s to Paris in the '50s, Mallorca in the '60s and London in the '70s, a sensual and decadent grand tour that culminates in a shocking act of murder. Queasily fascinating, coolly compassionate, "Savage Grace" is a mesmerizing portrait of love run wildly, tragically amok. (It's scheduled to open in the early summer.)

These were the crème of the dramatic crop I got to see; as always, there were loads of good documentaries on view. In the Periscope section of next week's NEWSWEEK, I write about three of the best: "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," a revelatory look at the trial of the director which resulted in his flight to France. No mere rehash, it tells behind-courtroom-doors stories that change the way you'll think about the case. "Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)" is a moving, lyrical, 23-years-in-the-making epic of a Laotian family uprooted to the U.S in the aftermath of the Vietnam War—an impressive and original fusion of the political and the personal. "Man on Wire" shows, step by thrilling step, how Philippe Petit pulled off his astonishing tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. No doc—and no fictional film—was more purely entertaining.

Mention should also be made of the stirring, angry "Trouble the Water," which uses the home movies of Hurricane Katrina survivor Kimberly Roberts—who was still filming in her attic as the water was rising on her home—to cast a fresh eye on the natural and governmental disaster that we all watched on our TV screens. (The pregnant Roberts came to Sundance with the movie, and gave birth in Park City just days after its premiere.) The world documentary section unveiled Isaac Julian's "Derek," a lovely but inevitably melancholy tribute to the iconoclastic gay filmmaker Derek Jarman ("Sebastien," "Caravaggio") who died of AIDS in the early '90s. Written by his "muse," Tilda Swinton, who appears in the film, "Derek" was a reminder of what real independent filmmaking looks like, and an evocative trip down memory lane.

One wonderful documentary that everyone will get to see when in opens in April (I'll write further about it then) is "Young @ Heart," which chronicles the trials, tribulations and joys of a remarkable chorus of senior citizens who perform covers of songs by the likes of Sonic Youth, James Brown, the Clash and Coldplay. A crowd-pleaser in the best sense, this alternately hilarious and heartbreaking movie will send you out of the theater with a new lease on life.

© 2008